DIY Shoe Rack

Since moving into our apartment a short 4 months ago I've had a mental to-do list of things I wanted to accomplish.

Well folks, I can now check one of those things off of my list :)
I looked around for a shoe rack to fit behind our front door, but they were all kind of big, or pretty pricey, etc.
I figured we could make one.
My son loved helping me with this project. This is what we came up with.

We have this square of hard floor around the front door, and then carpet in the rest of the front room.
That's where the shoes end up. Just kicked right off once we come in the house.
Living in a smaller space makes it look more messy, so I decided to fix this problem.

(This is what I've been dealing with...
and this is on a good day, only 2 pairs of shoes are out per person...usually there are more strewn around...)

So I gathered all of our supplies...(I ended up not using the Gorilla glue).

I have kept extra screws from past projects, so I was able to just look through our stash and use what we already had.

 We went to Lowe's for the wood. They will cut pieces of wood for you for free, which is very helpful since I don't have access to all my dad's saws and tools anymore.
I bought two 1/2" dowels that were 48" long and had someone cut them right in half at 24".
I also got a piece of wood measuring 1"x 2"x 48" and had the guy cut it into 4 equal 12" pieces.

I decided on the height I wanted the 'shelves' to be, and marked it at 4 1/4" and 10"

Using my power screw driver I drilled 2 small holes at my marks.

Drill a hole in the end of each dowel.

Then, using a screw attach the dowels.

Attach the other side the same way.
This is the back of the shoe rack.

For the front of the shoe rack I marked the holes at 3 3/4" and 9 1/2", so a 1/2" lower than the rack on the back so there will be a slight slant for the shoes to rest on.

I don't know how, but I forgot to get some wood that would attach the front of the rack to the back...yeah.

So, we went back to Lowe's the next day and picked out one more piece.

This one was a 1/2" across and 36" long.

I just cut it myself at home with my hand-held saw into four 5" pieces.

The edges were a little raw from the saw, so I just quickly sanded them down.

I measured down 1 1/2" from the top, and 3" from the bottom,

and drilled a hole through the wood.

Attach the four pieces to the back of the rack.

There ended up being a random nail in our bag of screws, so my little helper nailed it in with his little hammer.

I was so proud, he nailed it in all the way all by himself :)

(Look at that concentration! The tongue is out!)

 After all four pieces are attached, screw or nail in the front of the rack, and done!!

 Can you see all of the scuff marks on the wall?
Yep, that's from us just tossing our shoes. Maybe now that they have a place to go I can clean that wall...
I'm debating on whether or not I should paint the shoe rack..? Or stain it? Or just leave it...
Thoughts?