Shoe Rack Tutorial

In the winter months, since we're stuck indoors so much,  I start to notice projects around the house that I haven't gotten to yet.

This would be one of them.

When we first moved in to this house over 2 years ago I was bound and determined to make some sort of shoerack/shelving in our master bedroom closet. 

It bothers me when stuff is spread out when I can have it stack up, if that makes sense.

Well, throw in yard projects, painting projects, being pregnant, and having a baby, and our closet kind of got pushed to the back of my mind for a while.

A few weeks ago we made a trip to The Home Depot to buy some stuff to organize our hallway closet and while we were there my husband grabbed some shoe racks that were like $30 each (!!)

He told me it's been 2 years of me talking about building something, and he just wanted to get the shoes off the ground. 

Reluctantly I let him buy the racks and the next day I put one together.

I hated how it looked and it was too small and way too boxy.

This kicked my butt into gear and I took it apart, boxed it back up, and made shoe racks myself.

For a ton cheaper.

I was able to make these shoe racks for so cheap because this is leftover wood that I got from my parents from their remodeling project. (I also used this wood to make Temple String art plaques for a Relief Society Super Saturday, you can find that post here).
This wood is originally 1" x 8" x 48".
I had four pieces that had been cut to 12" long that were leftover from our string art project, so I figured they would be the perfect size for the ends of the rack.
I had 4 pieces that were still the full length of 48", so I left them that long and decided to use them for the shelves of the shoe rack.
So my supplies were:
Four 1" x 8" x 12" pieces of wood
Four 1" x 8" x 48" pieces of wood
Power drill
Leveler
Drill bits
Screws

I started out by taking a 12" piece, that wouldbe one of the ends, and measuring 6" from the bottom and 2" in from the sides. I marked two dots and then drilled a hole in each one.

I then took a 48" piece of wood, one that I would use for the shelf, and drill two holes 2" in from the sides.

I grabbed two screws and put them in the pre-drilled holes of the end piece.

I then lined up the holes on the shelf end with the ones on the shelf and screwed them in all the way.

I then did the same thing on the other side.

Before tightening the screws all the way I made sure the shelf was level.

One shelf of the shoe rack complete!

Another shot for you to see how it's looking.

They are long, but that's what we needed!

Like I said before, I made this shelf 6" off the ground, make sure to check the height of your shoes to see if they will fit in that space, and if not you can make changes accordingly.

For the top shelf of the shoe rack I drilled the holes 1/2" down from the top, and 2" in from the sides.
I did this to both ends of the shelf.

I then drilled in the screws.
And that's one shoe rack done!!
I was debating on painting them, but I actually kind of like the look of the wood with the black screws.

After this one was complete, and I had finished admiring it ;), I got started on the other shoe rack for my husband's side of the closet.
I made the one for my husband the same way, with the exception of the top shelf.
I attached the middle shelf to the ends and then went to attach the top shelf.
It was at this time I noticed the last piece of wood I had for the top shelf was actually a 1/2" longer and it wouldn't fit between the shelf ends...
I didn't really have a way to cut off the excess bit, so I decided to place the piece on top of the shoe rack ends instead of inside of the ends...does that make sense??
You can see what I mean in the picture below.
The shoe rack at the back has the shelf on top...
To attach the top shelf, I screwed the screws down into the top of the shelf ends.
Can you see them on the top instead of the side?
It actually ended up working out perfectly that way because some of my husband's shoes are taller, so they needed that extra space in between the shelves.

 Here was my side of the closet before the shoe rack...and that wasn't even all of it...and somehow my husband's shoes started making their way over to my side...

and the after.

 My husband's side of the closet before the shoe rack...

and after.

I love walking in my closet to get ready now.
I don't have to worry about kicking shoes out of the way to get to my clothes.