DIY: Shoe Rack


Materials Needed: 1 Piece of Thick Plywood, Wooden Dowels, Furniture Casters, Wood Screws, Drill, Tape Measure, Sandpaper, Circular Saw.

 

The fun thing about a DIY project is that you can completely customize them to fit your needs and style.  In the case of this shoe rack, you can make it exactly the right size for your shoes and the spot you intend to put it (in our case, the entryway).

 

Instructions:

Step 1: We started by measuring our entryway and determining how long we wanted the shoe rack to be.  Then, we measured the longest pair of shoes to get the depth.  Lastly, we measured the tallest pair of boots to get the height.

Step 2: Once we had all our measurements planned out, we carefully marked the length and depth on our sheet of plywood and cut out two boards at that size, using a circular saw.  We then sanded down any rough edges.

Step 3: Next, we marked the height of our tallest boots on the wooden dowel and cut four equal pieces at that size.

Step 4: Once we had the top, bottom, and tallest dowels cut, we worked on the inside portion of the shoe rack.  We wanted the inside to hold heels, sneakers, and sandals.  So we measured a pair of heels to get the height, and determined the length of the inside shelf, allowing room for a pair of tall boots at either end.  We kept the depth the same.

Step 5: We cut the shelf to the determined length and cut the dowels to the determined height (again, making four equal pieces).

Lastly, we also cut a smaller shelf with four shorter dowels, to hold flat shoes like flip flops, etc.

At this point, we had: two long shelves with four tall dowels, one middle shelf with four medium height dowels, and one small shelf with four short dowels……ready to be assembled!

Step 6: We pre-drilled holes on either end of each dowel and through the four corners of each board.

Then we screwed the boards and dowels together, starting with the inside pieces and ending with the tallest dowels and the longest boards.

Step 7: The last thing we did was screw on the caster wheels.

Step 8: Then, we brought the shoe rack inside and filled it up with shoes! I may eventually upholster the top so it’s more of a comfy bench to sit at and tie your shoes!

If you decide to create this project for yourself, keep in mind that you don’t have to make yours the same size or configuration as we did. If you have a larger entryway, you could make yours way longer. If you don’t care about it functioning as a bench, you could make it way taller. Or if your space is small, you can make it just the right size to fit in your closet or a little nook somewhere! That’s the beauty of a DIY project–you can take an idea and put your own spin on it.

 

This DIY project was found at: http://blog.homedepot.com/diy-shoe-rack-for-the-entryway-or-mudroom/