Homemade Wood Shoe Rack
After spending hours cleaning the kitchen floor, frustration can mount quickly when the first person entering the back door drops his dirty shoes in the corner. And once the second and third person do the same thing, a trend has been established that is hard to break. You need a way to get all these shoes organized and off your clean floor at the same time. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Drill
- Skill saw
- Screws
- Electric screwdriver
- Tape measure
- Level
- one-by-three piece of lumber
- one-by-six piece of lumber
- L brackets
- Pencil
Instructions
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1
Measure the width of your wall where you would like to mount your wood shoe rack using a tape measure. Mark with a pencil exactly where the wall's studs are. These are the wooden beams that are typically inside the wall. If you can't use the studs, you can use drywall anchors.
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2
Cut two lengths of wood--one from the one-by-six board, and the other from the one-by-three board. Make sure their lengths are equal and that they fit on your wall. Also make sure the pieces of wood are long enough to at least cover the distance between the outside edges of the two studs into which you will be screwing the rack.
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3
Hold the boards up to the wall where you have marked the studs. Make matching marks on the underside of each board.
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4
Lay the boards on the floor, and place the L brackets on the same edge as where you have made the stud marks. One side of the L should be sticking up. Make certain the corner of the L is flush with the edge of the board. Screw the brackets to the board. You might need to drill a small, shallow hole to get the screws started, but if you are using pine, they should go in fairly easily.
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5
Flip the boards over, and hold them to the wall down low, about where you would like the shoes to be. The 6-inch board goes on the bottom, and the 3-inch board goes on the top. They will be mounted 2 inches apart vertically. If you add a second set of shelves above, leave 3 inches between the sets.
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6
Place the level on each board while holding it to the wall. Once the board is positioned correctly according to the level, use your pencil and mark where the bracket holes are on the wall. This is where you have either wall studs to screw into, or where you are going to sink your drywall anchors.
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7
Screw your brackets to the wall, with the brackets on the underside and "wall-side" of your boards. The metal "L" which was pointing straight towards the ceiling when you screwed them onto the board is now pointing down towards the floor. These should be flush against the wall. Screw the larger bottom shelf to the wall first. This is going to support the underside of your shoes. Then screw the smaller top shelf second. This is going to run across the top of the toes of your shoes.
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8
Place your shoes on the shelf, toes in, and sit back and enjoy your clutter-free floor!
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Tips & Warnings
If you would like your shelves to blend into your decor, you can stain them and seal them to match your wood trim, or you can paint them to match your wall color. If you are going to stain and seal them, be certain to do that before mounting the L brackets or mounting them to the wall. If you are going to paint them to match the wall, you can do so once they are mounted to the wall if you wish.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit shoes image by Dubravko Grakalic from Fotolia.com
