Sunday DIY: It's a shoe in

DIY shoe rack. Photo / Getty Images

Greig Morgan says no to shoes cluttering the front door.

I don't know about you, but one of my pet hates would have to be a pile of discarded shoes left lying in a messy heap in the front entrance way - it looks unsightly and is an accident waiting to happen. So, rather than take the "if you can't beat them, join them" approach, I thought I'd make an attractive shoe rack to put a stop to the growing heap.

Step 1
Measure and cut your 150x40mm side pieces and enough shelves to the required lengths. I cut my shelves 250mm wide to suit our entrance way, and cut the side pieces long enough to trim off at the top when the top screen piece is in place.

Step 2
Lay the side pieces next to each other and flush top and bottom. Starting at the bottom, measure and mark with the aid of a square for your shelve spacings, I made all of my spacings the same at 180mm. Also measure, mark and pre-drill the shelve centres about 25mm in front and back.

Step 3
Starting with one side piece, fit the shelves to the pencil line then countersink the screw below the surface in the pre-drilled holes and repeat the same process with the other side.

Step 4
Measure and cut enough screen pieces of 100x25mm to length to cover the side pieces front and back. I cut a bottom and two top front pieces and two top pieces as a top shelf at 400mm, with the remainder pieces cut about 70mm. This allows for an even overhang

Step 5: DIY Shoe rack. Photo / Getty Images

Step 6
Starting with the notched out bottom screen, apply glue to the required front side piece and fix in place by skew nailing (on an angle) and punch the nail head just below the surface as you go. Using a packer of about 7mm thick to give the right gap spacings, glue and nail your way up either side, with the 70mm screen pieces flush with the inside side pieces.

Step 7
Finish off the screen effect with the two pre-cut 400mm pieces, before marking and cutting the side pieces with a hand saw to the finished height, with the same gap spacing for the top shelve to be fixed in place with screws.

Step 8: DIY shoe rack. Photo / Getty Images

Step 9
Fill all nails and screws with wood filler and allow to dry. Using a finishing sander with 80grit sandpaper, round over all the end edges to the same profile as the decking and finish off using 120g sandpaper. Remove all dust before painting your masterpiece.

Tip: Before fully fixing the screws into the shelving, check for square by measuring diagonally top side piece across to bottom. Measure both sides and, if needed, adjust by putting pressure on one side until both measurements are the same.