Monday, June 13, 2011

Shoe shelving display via an Ikea hack


So the wife wanted some more shoe storage for *ahem* not her shoes, but mine! Unsatisfied with most of the storage solutions out there I came up with a plan to kill two birds with one stone. Building shelves which would take up a minimum of space and also cover up our unused ugly hallway door which has about 11 layers of paint on it (but probably a beautiful wooden door underneath!)

As luck would have it, IKEA were having a special on Ekby Laiva shelves for $1.99 each:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30178704
(they might still be if you're lucky!)

After some measuring, designing and number crunching we came up with a plan to cut the shelves in half lengthways, leaving a nice narrow shelf for a single pair of shoes, using the other half as an anchor for the shelves so that no brackets are needed. As you can see each piece mounted to the door also helps prevent the shelf below it from pivoting upwards;

The whole project took me around four hours, but I'm pretty pleased with the results and can happily report that the raw materials cost a mere $30!

Oh yes, and I also had to repair the door jamb first to re-hang the door;


There was a lot of sawing but luckily I have a circular saw :)


Here I am, part way through. Drilling pilot holes so as not to split the particle board (or MDF as we like to say in the UK). On the right hand side you can see the wood glue ready for the next shelf. My first couple at the bottom were a little wibbly so I used a more generous amount for the rest.


And here we have the finished product !



5 comments:

  1. Maybe I'm strange but I like to store my shoes in a cupboard, not in my hall, they will get VERY dusty very quickly.

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  2. super cool i love it - and we say MDF here in the states too :) I would love to adjust this so I could fit all my high heels on the shelves....by the way I just named my baby Oliver:)

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  3. Nice. Have you opened the door with the shoes on it yet?
    By the way, MDF and particle board are two different things. MDF is made of wood fiber (or dust) and is much heavier than particle board which is made from chopped up wood...

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  4. Hey ! this is so stunning and amazing !! good job dude!Dental care at any age

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