YOUR BEAUTIFUL HOME

What do you get when you combine 7,300 wine corks, 15 tubs of silicone and 15,000 nails? If you’re Del Mallery, you get a privacy wall that’s a work of art.

Mallery, who lives north of Spokane, has been collecting wine corks for 20 years. Friends who know of his collection have sent him corks from around the world. This summer he decided to build a privacy wall on his deck, and in the middle of the night it came to him – why not use his vast collection of wine corks?

The result is one-of-a-kind. Mallery built the wall using Orient Strand Board and framed it with cedar trim. He soaked the corks in weatherproof sealant with a cedar hued stain, and then affixed them to the wall with silicone. Nailing the corks one by one to the frame, he made sure that no two are alike in any row.

“When I started this project I thought I was one of the smartest people in the world,” he said, “but by the time I finished it, I thought I was one of the dumbest.”

Wine corks from France, Portugal, Spain and Yugoslavia are featured next to corks from domestic wineries. More than 400 vineyards are represented.

Mallery handcrafted a garland of copper leaves to adorn the privacy wall, and mounted a lion’s head water fountain in the center. He concealed the electrical cords within the wall.

A halogen light was installed opposite the wall, and at night, the light shining on the water and shimmering over the corks adds to its unique beauty.

While Mallery is pleased with the privacy wall, he isn’t ready to attempt another project with the 2,000 corks remaining in his collection. “I’d really like to never see another wine cork again,” he said.