Unfortunately, our previous shoe rack solution isn’t as sturdy as we’d hoped. The rods are secured with just one screw and break off very quickly. In addition, the rod isn’t “deep enough” in the wood and therefore receives very little support. That’s why I built a shoe rack this year that will hopefully last longer.
For this you need
Tools
- Wood saw ( I cut everything with a Jigsaw since we didn’t have anything else with us. However, long, straight cuts are easier to make with a circular saw)
- Brush
- Sandpaper
- Meter measure
- Set square
- Mounting Bracket
- Drill and wood drill
Material
- 10 mm birch plywood (quantity depends on the size of your shelf) for the shelves
- 10 mm birch plywood for the back panel (optional)
- Wood color
- Screws
& Here’s how to build the shoe rack
Step 1: Measuring & preliminary considerations
First, I measured our shoes. My partner’s shoes are about 12–15 cm wide, and mine are about 10–12 cm wide. Also, the larger shoes are about 33 cm long, and the smaller ones are 27 cm long.
Next, the available space. The lower section is 44.5 cm, the upper section is 37 cm, and the total height is 84 cm. Since the folding table is attached to the upper section (see the instructions for the folding table), only the lower section is available for the shoe rack. The back panel and the folding table remain in place; I’m only replacing the shoe rack.
A depth of 20 cm can be accommodated inside the space. The shoes will “stick out” a bit at the end, so my side panels are about 15 cm deep. In addition, the shelves where the shoes will eventually sit will be tilted to make the best use of the space. More on that later.
Step 2: Determine the angles of the shelves
- Saw
- Plywood
- Pencil
- Set square
My partner’s shoes are very large. To see if the shoes would even fit, I built the lower part as a test.
To do this, I first cut the side panels and the shelves to size. The shelves are 19 cm deep and arranged at a 45-degree angle. The spacing between them is 19 cm.
Unfortunately, that didn’t work out very well. The shoes stuck out beyond the available 20 cm of space.
From this, I have gained two insights:
- The slopes need to be steeper. I ended up setting them to 55 degrees.
- The spacing between the individual shelves needs to be increased. To fit as many shoes as possible, I left 20 cm above the two bottom shelves (for the large shoes) and 17 cm above the two top shelves (for the small shoes and our slippers).
I also created a model of the plan in SketchUp. The dimensions are as follows:
Floors
- Sections 1 and 2 (from the bottom): 19 x 42.5 cm
- Floors 3 and 4 (from the bottom): 19×35 cm
- Shelf 5 (storage compartment): 18×35 cm
Side walls
- left: 84×15 cm
- bottom right: 28×15 cm
- top right: 44×15 cm
Step 3: Sawing
- Saw
- Plywood
Once I had the measurements, I cut all the boards to size.
Step 4: Mark the Parts and Do a Test Assembly
- Pencil
- Set square
- Meter measure
- Drill + Drill Bit
- Screws
Since all the shelves are installed at an angle, I first marked their exact positions on the side panels.
Next, I pre-drilled the side panels wherever a bottom panel would later be screwed into place.
Then I screwed all the bottoms to the side panels.
I assembled the shoe rack as a test to see if everything fits together properly. Also, I don’t want any pencil marks on the finished piece. The marks will be sanded off later, and the drill holes will serve as guides.
Step 5: Considerations for Rounding and Sawing
- Saw
- Wooden boards
I then made a note of which corners and edges needed to be removed or rounded off. It’s also important to remove all pencil marks. I jotted this down in a sketch and also marked it directly on the wood so I’d know exactly where to cut.
In the picture
- yellow: here, the corner is completely cut away, parallel to or along the edge of the floor
- Red: The corner is rounded here so people don’t get caught on it.
- Green: On the bottom panel for the storage compartment, the corners at the top and bottom protruded slightly beyond the side walls. I sawed those corners off. You can do that with a router machine. Unfortunately, I didn’t have one available. On my jigsaw, you can adjust the angle of the saw blade so that you can cut at an angle. I set the saw blade to the correct angle relative to my marked line and cut it off.
Since all the pencil markings will be removed in the next step, I took a few pictures before taking it apart so that I can use the measurements to figure out which board goes where when I reassemble the shelf later.
Step 6: Sanding & Painting
- Sawn wooden boards
- Sandpaper
- Brush
- Color
I’ve now sanded everything down thoroughly, paying special attention to rounding off the edges. Then I applied several coats of paint. After each coat, I gave it a light sanding.
Step 7: Assemble
- painted boards
- Screws
- Drilling machine/drill
Now all the boards are screwed together.
Step 8: Attach to the back panel
- Back wall
- Shoe Rack
- Screws
- Drilling machine/drill
To do this, I removed the back panel and attached the shelf to the back panel from the rear. I used 3x18mm screws for this. Be sure to pre-drill the holes so the wood doesn’t split.
After that, I reinstalled everything in the camper.