{Wine Wednesday} Wine barrel cocktail table

After we did our big remodel last summer we moved our table from the deck to the lower patio. In doing that, I noticed a lack of horizontal surfaces on the deck. I’ve been thinking long and hard about different options and settled on a wine barrel cocktail table.

Finding the barrel was the hard part. We go to Woodinville a lot, and I’ve had my feelers out for awhile. Finally we found one! Efeste had a barrel available for purchase. We bought our other barrels at Efeste too and their price has gone up. This barrel cost $65.

Our wine barrel table — the “before” photo

Barrels are heavy. We hauled the barrel up the back stairs and that was enough. Not only was it going to be a pain to move around, it also dented the decking a bit. I had envisioned adding wheels on the bottom for convenience, but quickly realized it was a necessity to preserve the deck.

We used three 2″ rotating wheels (without brakes) from Lowe’s. They fit snugly in the rim of the barrel and provide about 1″ of clearance. It looks like the barrel is floating over the deck.

Three 2″ wheels, screwed directly into the barrel

The underside of the barrel — evenly spaced wheels

The barrel had some gross black spots on it (which were more of a stain and less of a black mold), so I knew I needed to clean it up. I started with a good soapy-water scrub. From there, I used a sanding block to continue scrubbing. It got a lot of the black out.

I’m pretty experienced in staining and had all of the necessary tools on-hand: a latex glove, sponge brush (I only ended up using one 1″ brush), paint can opener, and plastic drop cloth. Not pictured and totally necessary: a stain-removing cloth. We use Brandon’s old undershirts for this purpose.