My wife was going crazy with having nowhere to put coats and shoes. She showed me a few pictures of handy coat-racks and shoe-racks and we designed and made one together that is easy to make (it was our first real project in the Techshop San Jose woodshop! if we can make it, anyone can!), cute, and functional.

I include full CAD files and photos. We made it at Techshop (www.techshop.ws). Actually, we cut and drilled wood at Techshop then took it home to paint/stain and assemble it -- because we only have a small car so couldn't transport it home if it were assembled.

Step one is to take a look at finished product photos and screenshots, and download the CAD file from: http://davidnhutch.com/fileshare/CASR.sldasm (Solidworks 12), http://davidnhutch.com/fileshare/CASR.zip (STL files and assembly)

Step 1: Get All the Components

You will need:
1) Enough wood to cut all the pieces shown in the diagrams. We used "stain grade panel" from Lowes which is actually Ponderosa Pine but was still tough enough for our purposes. (Pine is a softer wood, you may like to choose a harder (but probably more expensive) wood). However we used Particle Board for the back since it is cheaper and we couldn't buy wide enough Stain Grade Panel at Lowes. Note: We could fit the tallest (~72") wood cuts in our small Toyota Corolla, in the trunk with the back seats down.
2) Enough "two by fours" (actually 1.5" x 3.5") to make the base. Take a look at the diagrams to see how much you need. We used Douglas Fir 2x4's because they are cheap (<$3 for 8ft long, if I recall correctly)
3) Coat hooks. We used a set of four coat hooks that come already attached to a board, from Lowes. You'll see it in some of the pictures. However you can use any hooks you like.
4) Wood stain and/or paint (plus paint primer). We used a color called "Celestial" from Lowes for the back, and some "Espresso" (black colored) polyurethane/primer mix which was also from Lowes. You also need some paintbrushes (we used those things that are like a square sponge on a stick because it coats more uniformly), some latex gloves to keep you hands clean, and some turpentine to clean splatters of paint up.
5) Two sets of 18" Euroslide drawer sliders, for the two sliding shoe racks. We used Richelieu brand from Lowes.
6) Table saw. We used Techshop San Jose.
7) Hand drill with drill bits and screwdriver bits. Also a fair number of wood screws. We had some 1" long, some 1.5" long, about maybe 50 in total (excluding the pocket hole screws which are mentioned below)
8) Several clamps to hold things together. I have four 2ft "G" clamps and two 90deg clamps, and this was enough. I show these in some of the pictures.
9) Wood glue. You'll use maybe 100 mL.
10) (Optional but recommended) Kreg Pocket Hole set and pocket hole screws (pocket hole screw length depends on what wood thickness you are joining. For the 2x4 wood, the screws should be 2-1/2" long). If you haven't used a pocket hole set before, it
The pocket hole set will make assembling the base (in the next step) a lot easier, but you could assemble it with regular screws or any other joinery technique.

Note that I don't really know what I'm doing. This is our first wood project and I've just watched a few youtube videos on woodworking, along with some common sense. So if you're familiar with wood working I wouldn't be surprised if I am not doing things in the way a pro would do it. Nonetheless the finished product looks great, is completely sturdy, and works just fine.

Also note that I don't include any screw locations in the plans. We just put in screws neatly wherever it made sense to do so.

Step 2: Make the Base

I designed a strong base (also known in this instructable as the "stool") so it is easily strong enough for you to sit on while putting on your shoes. This base is made from 2x4's. Assemble the 2x4's as shown in the pictures, using pocket hole screws. To see how to use pocket hole joinery, just google/youtube it. Basically:
1. drill the pocket hole holes in one piece out of the two pieces you are trying to join. Insert the screws but don't drill them through yet.
2. glue both sides of the attachment point, put them together, clamp it securely. Make sure you clamp it with a 90degree clamp if possible, to ensure that it is actually 90deg.
3. drill the previously-inserted screws in, so they enter the second piece of wood
4. remove the clamps

Note that the CAD file shows some metal angled brackets underneath. I found that these were unnecessary as it was already strong enough.

One other note is, there is one strange joint there. You will see it zoomed in and exploded in some photos in this step. Basically the reason I designed it this way is so you would never have to see the end-grain. From the front it looks like a 45degree mitered join, but from the side (which is not visible in the final assembly) it is clear that it is stronger than a 45degree mitered join because the flat side of one 2x4 is resting on the flat side of another. I actually created another separate instructable to just talk about this join -- see it here: instructables.com/____

Now just sand off the edges as shown, especially the side edges so you have a nice flat side to lay the side panels against. you have a kind of ugly looking stool! Next to cut all the paneling...

Step 3: Cut the Paneling

Cut the wood panel to the dimensions shown in the images. Note that we used Stain Grade Panel from Lowes for all wood, except for the back which we used Particle Board (because Stain grade panel doesn't come in widths that are wide enough, and particle board is cheaper. Sand any rough edges.

Note that you should take note which edges of wood will be showing, and cut the wood so the edge-grain is not showing. i.e. cut it so it is always the nice-looking side-grain that is facing outwards.

Also note that one of the cuts I could not do with the table saw because it is that 90degree acute angle near the bottom front of the side panels. I cut this with a hand-saw as shown.

Next step is to lay it out on the floor as shown to make sure everything fits together. Then take it all home for staining/painting and assembly.

Step 4: Stain, Prime, and Paint

We found that one coat of stain was dark enough since we were using dark "Espresso" paint. However we were a little surprised to see that the dark stain on the yellowish wood somehow seemed at first to have a slight unwanted green tinge. However that either went away or else is not evident in indoor lighting as it appears fine now. (Or maybe we got used to it! :-) There are lots of other colors of stain too.

To stain, you want to first set it up outside as the fumes can be bad. Brush it all on one face at a time, wait 5-15 min (5 min in sunlight, 10 min in cloudy lighting), then wipe off the excess gently using a cloth. Wipe in the direction of the grain. Watch youtube for more videos on how to stain wood.

Note that while most of the panels are stained once, some of the panels we stained twice, on purpose, as this would give some panels the wood-like look while the others are jet black and it is hard to make out the wood-grain. See for example the top of the stool, which is lying down facing you in one of the pictures. There are two jet black panels with a stripe of single-stained panel between, which gave it a bit more originality than just being all stained the same tint.

You do not need to stain most faces of the "stool" (by stool I mean the 2x4 assembly that goes around the shoe drawers) as only the front face and inside will be visible once assembled -- I show this in a picture.

Next we wanted the back to be a bright color -- to "pop," as my wife puts it. You simply get some primer and paint it on as if it were paint. You will probably need a second coat once the first coat has dried. The point here is to cover any black marks on the wood and the primer also sinks into the wood a bit so that the paint does NOT sink in. Next you paint it. A roller gives best results without streaks. You may want a second coat of paint but we just did one.

Step 5: Assemble and Done!

Last step is the assembly.

[Make sure to click "SHOW ALL ITEMS" below the pictures]

First attach the top "seat" to the "stool"

Next lay the back down on flat ground on an old blanket. Lay the "stool" on it. Lean the two sides against the stool. Now screw the two sides into the stool. (By stool I mean the strong part underneath where you sit to put your shoes on.)

We have not attached the back yet, it's simply sitting on the back so we can align everything. Next attach the top and the top shelf, and the divider. Next, stand the whole thing up and attach the back. Note that this is the only step where more care has to be taken -- since you are screwing in to particle board, there is the risk of the particle board splitting or not holding tightly if too few screws are in. To combat this: (1) Make sure to drill your hole first, drill through both pieces so when the screw goes in it's not wedging apart the particle board but it's simply sliding in with the screw thread catching the particles; (2) Don't put a screw in closer than 2-3" from the corner of particle board. Putting one in too close to the corner can make it split at the corner; (3) Put screws in every 6", this seemed to me to be a good distance.

Note that some of the wood was bowed outwards, so in one of the photos I show us clamping the sides together so we could screw into the particle board. We didn't have a clamp long enough but you can improvise as shown. Worked great and now there are no gaps.

Last two items (1) Put the Euroslide runners on the sliding shoe shelf, then the complementary part on the inside of the "stool". Note that the sliding shoe shelf is designed to be 1" narrower than the opening in the front of the stool, as this is required for the particular Richelieu brand Euroslide runners (0.5" each side).
(2) attach the coat hooks as desired. We were a little concerned about the coats tearing out the hooks since the hooks would just be screwed into particle-board, so we cut another 2x4 as shown and then placed that as a cross-bar, and attached the hooks to that. Since the cross-bar is screwed not only into the back but also into the two wood sides, it is much stronger and will last a long time.

You can buy baskets from target that fit in the square holes at the top, but we haven't bought these yet.

My wife made a cushion and we found some baskets to go in the top.

Voila, a handy place to put coats, shoes, bags, etc no more frustration for my wife!

[Make sure to click "SHOW ALL ITEMS" below the pictures]