Shoe Tower - a free standing, multi-tier floating shoe rack

Shoes take up a lot of space. This is a known fact.

In a room as small as mine, space is valuable and the shoe pile that I used to maintain in one corner of my room often became unmanageable as the shoes spread out across my room and enveloped what little floor space I had.

Not any more! With a combination of the Ikea floating shoe rack and some ideas of my own, I've created this free standing shoe rack/tower which stores my shoes in an attractive way without the need for cardboard boxes or shelves. WIN!

This design is easily expandable and the strength of the steel bars I've used to support the shoes means it could easily be extended to house 3 pairs of shoes side by side. It would also be easy to build one which extended up higher to accommodate more shoes than I have.

I've entered this into the Homemade Christmas competition as I think it'd be a great gift for any of the disorganised people in your life.

I hope you like it! Comment and rate please.

Step 1: Gather tools and materials

Here's a list of tools and materials that you'll need to complete this project.

Tools:

• screw driver
• tennon saw
• hacksaw
• carpenters square
• some clamps
• pencil
• pretractor
• drill with 3mm and 5mm bits
• a scrap of sandpaper

Materials:

• 1 2100 x 70 x 18mm planed timber
• 3 1m lengths of 4mm threaded steel
• 6 1.25" x 8 screws
• 18 4mm nuts

Approximate cost: £10

Comments

[pjdubber]

I finally got around to making this shoe rack and I expanded on it a bit. My total width was 3'6" or 42" or 1067mm (for you brits!) with an additional "leg" in the middle. I stained the wood, spray painted black enamel on all nuts, washers, and threaded steel (1/4") and got some clear vinyl tubing (1/4" inner diameter) to cover the threaded steel where it contacts the top of the shoe (not bottom).  I tried to slide on the tubing but it was a bit too snug, so I sliced the tubing lengthwise and slipped it on.  I also varied the spacing for each level and made the top level two different sizes (see SketchUp pic for the middle "leg" measurements).  Please feel free to use these pics in your final step and thank you very much for posting such a great idea!

And yes, I did have to thread the nuts all the way to the middle leg!  :p

[Jayefuu]

Nice! It looks great!

[alopgeek]

Nice wood selection, what is that? Pine?

[lets play]

Thanks for the great idea and everyone's photos of their adaptations. Here is mine. This is a weird nook in my kitchen that was totally useless. Now we have 4 shoe shelves and 4 shelves for other stuff.

[Sunbanks]

I think when I do this I'll use wooden dowels instead of the threaded steel, and then I'll paint it a nice color :D Like purple.

[Houdinipeter]

 did you ever finish that? That looks like a good way to go..

[Sunbanks]

Not yet, I still need to get the dowels. 

[Jayefuu]

How about now? :)

[Sunbanks]

Haha I STILL haven't gotten them!

[dvnfntn]

NOW?????!!!!!

[Sunbanks]

Nope :P

[Jayefuu]

Now?

[Jayefuu]

That would be cool. You'd have to use slightly thicker dowel than i did steel, but you wouldn't have to drill all the way through the wood so it'd look nicer.

[j626no]

 if you used acorn nuts on the outside surface, it might make it look a little nicer (since you were worried about the threaded rods sticking out beyond the wood)

[CrawJac]

 It's a great idea, I used the same hole spacing and used 1/2" dowel rods. It worked great and I was able to paint it. But, I would suggest NOT drilling all of the way through the sides b/c the ends can be tough to sand and paint.

[Jayefuu]

Can you post a photo please? :D

[Greenehouse]

Great project idea, thanks for posting it. I agree with the suggestions of threading a nut on BEFORE cutting the rod. Once it's cut you just unscrew the nut and it cleans up any burrs or nicks and it's easy to re-thread the nut. You could recess the outside nuts into the legs so they don't stick out if that is a concern. Again, great project!

[Hibatchi cow]

Ok i am sorry this is kinda unrelated but i have those black Salomons and they are awsome

[Eye Poker]

I'm thinking some brass colored rods and a bit of stain....

[ah-el]

merci for live

[EggHead101]

Great idea.
Also instead of using metal rods, you can use wooden dowels and wood glue for a more "natural" look. Maybe even Bamboo for a splash of oriental flair..

[Jayefuu]

Definitely. I just used threaded rod because I had some spare. No doubt it would look better with some dowel or even bamboo. Be sure to post a picture if you make it. :)

[Coleman Demo]

For us yanks that don't have a metric measuring tape, including standard measurements would be helpful.

[Jayefuu]

Well that's certainly more polite than your last comment. Google's quite good at converting mm to inches.

[Kryptonite]

I have wanted to make a cardboard one for a while now but have been preoccupied with other passtimes.

[belti]

Awesome I'll try that , thanks.

[McGrep]

Finally, an affordable, economical DIY shoe rack with a polished outcome. It certainly surpasses the original ideas I had in mind for my shoe organization woes.  Excellent!

[Jayefuu]

Glad you like it! Be sure to post pictures if you make one, I'd especially like to see one more than 1 pair of shoes wide :D

[seth556]

So far I've made 2, the first one didn't turn out very well but the second turned out great. The first I used cheap wood and thought using wooden dowels would look better and be cheaper than the threaded rod but that didn't turn out as planned. Stick to the threaded rod if you're going to build this, trust me.

The second turned out great. Well it's not quite done, I still need to go get some more washer and nuts for the rods. But other than that still yet to be completed it looks awesome. I used pine wood which looks great and is pretty cheap, about $9 on wood and $4 on the rods, so under $15 with all the hardware. Great simple project.

[Jayefuu]

Yayyy :D

Will there be pictures when it's done? :D

[seth556]

of course

[Jayefuu]

Heh cool. It looks like mine! You have exactly the same amount of space for a shoe rack too. ^.^

May I include the image in the last step please?

[seth556]

Abolutly.

I also changed the angle for the tower from the 75 degrees to 60 so it wouldn't want to fall backward.

[k7_avenger]

I'd suggest putting the nuts on the bar before cutting it. Sometimes cutting a threaded bar leaves a really gnarly end, and it can be next to impossible to get a nut on there. The other option is to thread the nut all the way down from the other end, which would get pretty irritating.

[Jayefuu]

Step  5 updated :)

[Jayefuu]

putting the nut on before you cut it would mean having to thread it all the way along as you said. I tried that at one point... it's annoying! I just was really careful when cutting the rods that my hacksaw blade was fresh and I didn't go to fast so as to skip out of the groove I'd started.

[yokozuna]

Also, getting a nut started on such a cut can sometimes be a task.  If you take it back off, that will knock off the extra shards meaning you can then start the nut on it where you couldn't before.

[Jouda Mann]

 How does this effect the toes of the shoes? I would love to make this for my wife, but if the toes get damaged, she will end up wrapping this thing around my neck.

[ourmoneypit]

LOL  from what I read in one of the comments, I think Jayefuu was originally planning to heat-shrink wrap each of the rods.  This might not be a bad idea in order not to scuff the tops of your spouse's shoes.  Maybe some type of foam covering could be had, to be really safe. 

The rods under the shoes wouldn't matter, and I think the threading on the rods probably helps to grip the shoes.

[Jayefuu]

Yeh I thought it might make it look nicer. I might add electrical tape to the bars to see what it looks like, will post a picture if I do. I decided it'd be too much faff to get the heat shrink in the right place.

[Jayefuu]

Ha ha. My shoes have been in the rack for a month now, 1 week in this one and 3 weeks in the prototype. Not suffered so far. Shoes are pretty light and the only force on the toes is much less than their own weight.

I don't imagine it'd affect them any more than walking in them would, but I wouldn't want to promise you that and incur your wife's wrath on you. :p

[ourmoneypit]

Excellent!  My daughter could use one of these...maybe she'll get one for Christmas.

Remember, though, if building for a woman who wears girlie-shoes, or men's dress shoes, the rods would have to be closer together as those shoes are thinner.  If building for parties, you could build two, one for thicker shoes, one for thinner shoes.

[Jayefuu]

Remember to post pictures if you do make one! (please)

With respect to different types of shoes, you're totally right. I had a thinner one at the top for flip flops, it was 2.5cm between rungs. 7cm between rungs for trainers so probably about 4 cm for pumps or less for heels.

[steveastrouk]

Nice job. What happened to the heat shrink ?

Steve

[Jayefuu]

I forgot all about it. And it looked okay silver :D

[duderton]

good call.  i'm making one tomorrow.

[Jayefuu]

Awesome. Post a pic if/when you do please :)

[Ninzerbean]

 Brilliant!

[Jayefuu]

Thanks Ninzer. ^.^ Hurry up with your candied peel ible, I'm hungry! *cheeky grin*

[Hiyadudez]

Soo, are you going to do another Knex challenge?

[Jayefuu]

Your challenge is to make this in knex.

[Hiyadudez]

Set me another challenge! One that is pretty challenging, one that will take at least a week to do... something...


_{^{FUN :-)}}

[Ninzerbean]

You need to start another thread as I (who am 50, a mom and know nothing of Knex) keep getting your comments, sounds like fun, but you need to start a thread in the new comment section instead of under mine.

[Hiyadudez]

Ok, sorry.

[Hiyadudez]

If you are seriously challenging me to this, what would I win??

[Jayefuu]

A patch.

[Hiyadudez]

:-) Do I win??

[Jayefuu]

Ha ha yes. That's pretty cool! I'll draw you up a patch today :D

[Hiyadudez]

Also, guess what Im making out of Knex. Its a roman warship model (you know, the one with the paddles out the sides) And its going to be about 2 meters long!

[Hiyadudez]

Thanks!

[Hiyadudez]

I have finished it! Its not exact to your, its has an extra stand in the middle of the bars because the knex rods are not strong enough to hold them without support.

But I will get pictures up in about half an hour.

[Hiyadudez]

Hmm... I accept! I will get to work immediatley!

[knexsuperbuilderfreak]

can this be made wider to hold more shoes because my aunt would love this for when we have partys

[Jayefuu]

Of course. The steel I bought came in 1m lengths, it would be even easier if you used these instead of cutting them up, and it'd be three times the width, probably wide enough for 4 sets of shoes per level.

[Jayefuu]

You could also change to butterfly nuts on the outsides. They'd look nicer and it would be more easily collapsible,

[KnexFreek]

VERY NICE!! 5 stars!

[Jayefuu]

Thank you :)

[KnexFreek]

no prob :-)

[lemonie]

Yea that's nice! But I wouldn't want a rack of sweaty-trainers next to my bed...

L

[Jayefuu]

Just as well I don't sleep in it isn't it. :D

[lemonie]

The guest-room?

L

[Sunbanks]

This is amazing! It looks like it works really well :D I want one!!! 

[=SMART=]

Lovely Jubly !
Nice place to store shoes, very space saving.

[Doctor What]

Very nice!  BTW, I like your bed frame, did you make it yourself?  It's very low to the ground (my preferred sleeping arrangement).

[Jayefuu]

He he. No. It came with the room. I don't even use it, I'd like to convert it into a desk soon. :)