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Having a Home for Wines

Playa Vista is a sprawling community located just north of LAX in California. In recent years, the influx of startups and businesses has transformed this sleepy beach hub into a profitable city which resembles what San Francisco’s ‘Silicon Valley’ has represented since its early days: an innovative spirit coming from the unlikeliest of places. Of course, no one will bat an eyelash if we say the same for a project we recently completed involving California wine cellars.

The Mullers had just moved to Playa Vista where they got a great deal on a two-story house they bought. Looking at the place, they were wholly satisfied with it. Well, that was until they encountered a rather large space under the stairway that simply looked too wide for its own good.

This was when the client had an idea so crazy it just might work: what if that area under the stairway could be converted to a functional wine cellar space? Of course, the client knew that this would be a very hard job to pull off, and that was why he decided to ask for our help here at Coastal Custom Wine Cellars. Below is a short documentation of the three-month project we did for the Mullers.

Keeping the Temperature Just Right

This was the Playa Vista under-the-stairs wine cellar project before completion.

The client already knew the basics to wine storage and preservation, so communicating what he wanted from our team was definitely the easiest part of the project. What was not easy, though, was figuring out how to fit all 348 of his wine bottle collection in such a limited space. The usual strategy to projects like this–enclosing the area in question with a seamless glass wall and keep it cooled to a strict 57-degree Fahrenheit temperature– was just impossible, considering that we had to manage to build around the contours of the stairway.

Thankfully, the client then revealed that 200 of his wine bottles were already being stored inside a self-contained refrigeration cabinet manufactured by Le Cache. This was the solution we were looking for during the planning stages; rather than including all the wine bottles in a single space, those bottles that needed more maturation could be stored in the cabinet.

The space under the stairs, on the other hand, would then serve as a “display area” for wine bottles that were ready for consumption. At the very least, we had been able to save the client thousands of dollars that would have otherwise been spent on additional refrigeration equipment, and contractor services, and on the stairway itself. We then went on to designing a custom wine rack for the California wine cellars project.

A Unique Wine Cellar Rack for a Unique Project

This is the original blueprint for the Playa Vista California wine cellar project.

It should probably come as no surprise to anyone reading this that the custom wine rack fashioned for this purpose was conceived as a way to respect the boundaries set by the client’s house. In a way, this is a project that is very similar to a job we did where we converted a closet into a makeshift wine cellar, in the sense that we had to find a way of working around the boundaries of the house to pull off the assignment perfectly.

If you look at the plan above, we decided to include a high-reveal display row at the center to make the wine bottle collection be the “highlight” of the whole space. It turned out to be a highly perfect plan too, since the client was also planning to put up ribbon lighting above it. You can also see how the entire wine rack was pitched at a fifteen-degree angle, lending it a highly modernized look while making sure the liquid content of the bottle would remain in contact with the cork.

This is the Playa Vista California wine cellar under the stairs.

The aim of the wine rack was for the light wines to be stored above and below the display row. That is why you could see wooden storage bins and rectangular openings that were meant for storing boxes of wine. A diamond bin was also included to provide additional bulk storage for wine bottles. The openings were also constructed large enough to hold large-scale bottles like champagnes, Oregon pinots, burgundies, and magnums.

Finally, as a way to drive the point home that the wine rack really is made for displaying the client’s collection, an extended ledge was placed in front of the structure to serve as a modified tabletop where people can place their wine bottles and glasses when the client decides to have an impromptu wine tasting session.

California Wine Cellars Can be Made From Anything

If the Playa Vista wine cellar project has proven anything, it is that we are open to designing wine cellars that are truly tailored to our client’s needs. This is Coastal Wine Cellars excellent brand of service, and it is one we also offer to you as well!

If you believe we can help you in any way, please don’t hesitate to call us at +1 (949) 200-8134 or Click here to email us to get a FREE 3D wine cellar design!

This is the finished product of the Playa Vista California wine cellar