Storing wine properly will make sure it tastes as good as possible when you do want to open the bottle. The right racking and storage methods make all the difference, especially if you want to lay down a high quality bottle or two to mature for a special occasion. There is no reason you can’t buy a good but young wine at a nice cheap price then let it age for a few years in your own cellar.

In fact, you don’t really need a cellar. Not everyone has a one and not everyone has a huge amount of time and money to devote to building a fine collection, but that doesn’t mean you can’t keep your own wines. A garage will do just as well as long as the temperature stays more or less constant. The storage room should feel a little chilly but not freezing cold.

Bottles should be placed on their sides. This keeps the corks from drying out and shrinking, which can let air into the bottle and spoil it. If you place each one with the label side up you’ll be able to tell if sediments are forming just by looking at the bottle. You don’t need special racking – cardboard boxes full of horizontally stacked bottles will do just fine.

In fact, boxes are sometimes helpful. Ideally a wine space should be dark, and if you want to use the cellar or garage for other things it’s a good idea to ensure the wine is kept away from the light.

Most parents are busy parents and that means they probably don’t have the time to build their kids’ furniture from scratch. The idea is appealing- making something lasting your children can use with your own two hands sounds like a wholly satisfying activity but it’s not always practical. You would need a garage or workshop big enough to make a full sized storage rack and still be able to get it up to where it will need to be. You’d need the right wood, the right tools, and quite a lot of know-how.

Still, you don’t have to abandon the idea completely. Most shelves ordered over the internet come flat packed (as do those bought from a number of large furniture retailers). It’s a far cry from building a storage rack from scratch, but you can assemble these yourself. They usually come with instructions and you won’t need a whole toolbox.

Teenagers can help with the assembly of their own flat pack furniture but younger kids should be kept out of the room in case of accidents. If you want to add a personal touch or get younger members of the family involved, you can always paint the shelves yourself. As long as you put down plenty of newspapers and old sheets to prevent spills and stains there is no reason why little kids can’t help. They can pick the colours for their own furniture and have fun helping mum and dad.

Kids of all ages should be supervised at all times, especially around paint thinners and oil-based paints, but it’s a fun and simple job. A good tip is to pour just a little paint into a try and keep everything else safely out of reach.

As the old carpenter’s saying goes, you should always measure twice because you can only cut once. When a plank is sawn there is no going back so to avoid waste it’s important to always make exactly sure you’re going to make the cut in exactly the right place. Even the most experienced carpenters and cabinet makers measure everything twice and mark the sawing lines in pencil and so should you – if you make your own shelving that is.

These days most people don’t. It’s quicker and much more convenient to order it ready made or flat packed. The finished racking is much better looking and stronger than anything most of us could hope to build and few people have the workshop space or the time required to make furniture. Aside from professional and hobby carpenters most of us aren’t all that great with a saw.

There is still value in the old saying though. Measure twice, cut once has become measure twice, order once. If anything the second version is even more vital. Saw a plank in the wrong placed and you’ve wasted a plank. Order the wrong sized shelving and you’re really stuck- sometimes literally, halfway up the stairs.

Always measure the space available for new racking or furniture carefully. Take note of all three dimensions (including height) and if you’re ordering ready made rather than flat packed consider how you’re going to get it into the room. That’s often the hardest part, especially if you want to put your new purchase upstairs.