Back to the Mudroom PT2: DIY Shoe Storage

 

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Yesterday, I put in some serious work to finally complete the shoe storage niche in the mudroom!

If you’ve been following along with this space from the beginning, you know I originally built a massive shoe storage bench that holds a ton of shoes.

Sounds great in theory, right? Well… not quite. Here’s where things went sideways:

1️⃣ Shoes were getting tossed inside and basically lost forever.
2️⃣ The inside of the bench? A hot mess
3️⃣ The bench seat became a catch-all for book bags, Amazon returns, and whatever else landed there, making the shoes even less accessible than I’d planned.

So, it was time for a new solution: Tthe shoe storage niche! Originally a doorway leading through the pantry into the house:

Later became a little recessed nook when we decided to create a direct entry into the house and close off the pantry doorway to create more cabinet space. We drywalled it in, and at first used it for coat storage:

But that was not serving us well either–not enough space! So I created a peg rail on the adjacent wall and started thinking about my shoe shelf.

 

My goal with the shoe storage shelf was to make it crystal clear where shoes belong—no guesswork, no excuses. By keeping it visible and out in the open, it’s impossible to miss. Shoes go here, period.

 

Here’s the inspiration I had for this niche:

While I had fully intended on building the shelves, I remembered that I actually had two stacking bamboo shoe shelves in our basement that weren’t being used, and they were the exact width to fit into the niche. So my wheels started turning.

”How can I make this look custom and built-in?”

First things first I separated the shelves from the racks . . .

then I created a face frame out of 1x2s on the inside of the niche.

 

Since my niche is only 12″ deep, I needed to make sure the shelves—and the shoes—didn’t stick out past that.

To maximize space, I added horizontal supports to the back wall and used square dowels as shelf brackets, angling them slightly for a more compact, efficient design.

Once that was complete I needed to build out the top. I started by adding another 1×2 across the face frame. And another on the back of the niche to support the top or counter.

For the counter, I went with a pine stair tread because I loved the look of the rounded front edge. I cut it to size and secured it to the supports with brad nails. Instead of running shoe shelves all the way to the top like my inspo picture, I decided to turn the upper portion into a convenient drop zone. To define the space, I framed it out using scrap wood.

Next it was time to caulk, fill nail holes and paint.

 

And here is what it looked like after all that was done:

We ended up hosting Easter, and this shoe rack came in quite handy, although I had to train my family to use the soace-every time they walked in the door😁.

Still, lots to do here!  This week my main focus was filling in trim, touching up paint, and working on the floor.  Be sure to head to my Instagram Mudroom Highlight to see behind the scenes.

I’ll be back shortly to discuss the dreaded floor!

Check Out the finished mudroom here: