How to Build a Shoe Storage Cabinet from Closet Shelving to Help Organize Your Entryway

DIY shoe storage cabinet from closet shelves to hide the mountain of shoes blocking your homes entry.

At the beginning of September Larisa and I introduced our entryway refresh challenge and asked you to join us.

Don’t forget to send us photos at [email protected] or DM us on Facebook or Instagram. We’d love to see how your projects are coming along this month.

It’s always more fun when you share your ideas with your friends!

What is a room refresh?

We’ve been having a lot of people asking us what a room refresh is and how it is different from a room makeover or remodel.

A room refresh is like a mini makeover. It’s when you have a room that you like parts of but there are areas that need improvement, so you work on those areas.

You might paint the room, or change the rug, or make a new piece of artwork for the space or even a combination of those things. But you’re not changing everything in the room or doing any major construction.

A room makeover is when you change most everything in the room.

And a remodel is when you are doing construction in the room.

Table of Contents

• What is a room refresh?
• How to Organize Shoes in your Homes Entryway
• How to Build a Shoe Storage Cabinet
• Supplies to Build an Entryway Cabinet
• Tools to Build cabinet
• Step 1: Build Shoe Cabinet Frame
• Step 2: Add Furniture Legs to the Cabinet
• Step 3: Assemble Cabinet Doors
• Step 4: Add Shoe Storage Finishing Touches

How to Organize Shoes in your Homes Entryway

There are many different entryway shoe storage ideas.

Previously I had been trying to use a small storage bench to organize shoes in the entryway of my home. But it didn’t work for me because the bench was too small and difficult to get to the shoes.

In Larisa’s entryway design plan she explained how she is going to use a shoe rack that she found hiding in her closet to store her shoes.

I’m kind of obsessed with hiding the everyday use, mundan, “ugly,” things in my home. So I had to find a way to remove the shoe clutter from our entryway and put it behind closed doors.

In my modern bohemian entryway design plan, I describe how I decided to use a two-door storage cabinet to organize our tons of shoes in the entrance to our home.

I found some awesome storage cabinet options when I was searching the internet for ideas for a shoe storage cabinet for my entryway.

But I fell in love with this modern boho cabinet.

And once I thought about it, I already owned several of the materials that I could use to build it myself.

How to Build a Shoe Storage Cabinet

I already had most of the materials for this do-it-yourself storage cabinet in my garage leftover from other projects.

And I already owned all of the tools I used to build it.

So, it just made more sense for me to try to recreate the cabinet I loved myself.

If you don’t already own most of the tools, it would probably make morse sense to buy a cabinet and maybe add some adjustable shelves yourself because some of the tools I used can be a bit of an investment.

I used melamine (plasticy coated) closet shelving that I had left over from a closet makeover. It was my first time using it to build a piece of furniture.

I like how the shelving was already cut to width, so I didn’t have to get into ripping down pieces of plywood. And it is already finished with a white protective coating, so no painting.

Then, I repurposed a geometric wood wall hanging that I already owned and made it into the doors for the cabinet.

After that I just added metal furniture legs, cabinet door pulls and door hinges and magnetic door catches to make the doors function.

I would say it was an easy project for someone with some simple furniture building experience.

Supplies to Build an Entryway Cabinet

• White laminate closet shelf 15.75-in W x 97-in D x 0.75-in
• 1/4 inch plywood
• Melamine veneer edging white 0.75-in
• 1 1/4 inch Kreg Screws
• RooClear Melamine Glue
• Metal Furniture Legs
• Door hinges
• Hidden Cabinet Door Pulls
• Shelf Pins
• Contact Paper
• Magnetic Door Catch

Tools to Build cabinet

• Kreg K4 Pocket HoleJig System
• Kreg Accu-cut
• Drill
• Iron
• Circular Saw
• Kreg Shelf Pin Jig

Step 1: Build Shoe Cabinet Frame

The first thing I did was cut the white melamine closet shelf down for the pieces that I needed for my cabinets frame.

I used my circular saw and Kreg AccuCut to cut four pieces 32 inches long (for the frame) and one piece 30.5 inches long (for the middle support shelf).

Next, I drilled pocket holes along the ends of two of my 32-inch-long boards and my 30.5-inch-long board.

After that I used an iron to attach melamine edge banding to the unfinished edges of the other two 32 inch long boards because those ends will be exposed in the final cabinet.

I’m kind of obsessed with adjustable shelves, as you can read about in my diy adjustable macrame shelf post. So, I knew I wanted to make the shelves in this cabinet adjustable too!

To make the shelves in this cabinet adjustable, I drilled holes on the inside of the two side pieces with my Kreg Shelf Pin Jig. I find that it is easier to drill shelf pin holes before the cabinet is assembled.

Then I started assembling the four pieces of the shoe cabinet frame.

I attached one side to the top and one side to the bottom using melamine glue and Kreg screws.

Then, I assembled those two parts to make a square.

Make sure the unfinished edges are all facing the same way when assembling. This will be the back of the cabinet.

The cabinet is a large box, so I added a fixed middle shelf to make sure it is sturdy.

I used the 30.5 inch long piece that I had cut at the beginning and attached it in the middle of the cabinet using melamine glue and Kreg screws.

After that I made sure everything was square and glued and nailed a piece of 1/4 inch plywood to the back of the cabinet.

Step 2: Add Furniture Legs to the Cabinet

Once my shoe storage cabinet frame was assembled I added legs.

I love these fun, modern, brass furniture legs that I found online.

And easy, just screwed them to the bottom of cabinet at each corner.

Step 3: Assemble Cabinet Doors

Does something look familiar about these cabinet doors?

I used my geometric wooden wall art as the doors for this project.

The doors are the same size as the measurements for the front of the cabinet. Then cut that in half to make two doors.

I was thinking that another fun way to achieve a similar look would be to use a 3/4 inch piece of plywood and apply wallpaper to the front to add a design.

Once I got the cabinet doors cut, I attached them with non-mortise hinges.

And I added my new favorite cabinet brass hidden door pulls.

I also added magnetic door catches inside the cabinet and door to hold the doors shut.

Step 4: Add Shoe Storage Finishing Touches

To finish this entryway shoe storage cabinet I added the storage to the cabinet.

I cut two more shelves to fit inside the cabinet for my adjustable shelves.

Then I lined them with contact paper to protect the white shelves from the dirty shoe bottoms that will be stored on them.

Then, I just slid the cabinet in its home in my entryway and filled it with all the shoes I had been tripping over for years!

It feels so good to have our shoes off the floor and out of the way and be able to walk into our home without walking into a mountain of shoes!

I’m happy with how my entryway shoe storage cabinet came out.

What do you think?

I like how it looks and functions. The doors open up wide so I can see all of the shoes. And I love the modern brass legs and hidden door pulls and the bohemian look of the rustic geometric wood doors.

I also like the size of it. It’s pretty big and I think it will be able to tame our entryway shoe problem.

And I can’t wait to show you a few more entryway projects and the final entryway refresh reveal at the end of the month!

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