11 DIY Shoe Organizer Hacks

Shoes can be difficult to store and organize. They take up a lot of space, are often dirty or wet, and come in huge varieties for every fashion sense and season.

Whether you have a family and need to store shoes in multiple sizes and styles or simply need a way to keep your closet tidy and efficient, these DIY shoe organization hacks will help you keep your boots matched, organized, and in peak condition.

DIY Shoe Organizer Hacks

DIY Shoe Organizer from PVC Pipe

PVC pipe is rugged, weatherproof, affordable, and so easy to make a shoe organizer with. It’s a great storage solution for flats, flip-flops, sneakers, and other compact shoes. To make a PVC pipe shoe organizer, you will need a large diameter PVC pipe cut into tubes that are approximately 12” long (or long enough for your shoes).

Clean any ink or manufacturer’s marks off the pipe with acetone, then use PVC glue to glue PVC tubes together in a stacked pyramid, square, or whatever shape best suits your space. Paint or decorate the structure if you like—store shoes inside the tubes.

DIY Shoe Organizer from Cardboard

If you have old cardboard boxes and some glue, you have everything you need to make a DIY shoe organizer. Use a large cardboard box as the framework for your shoe organizer, setting it on its sides with the opening facing forward and cutting the sides down to be the desired size of your organizer.

Add more layers of cardboard glued around the outside of the box to create a sturdy structure. Inside the box, use more cardboard pieces to build shelves and the side panels that support them. Finish the shoe organizer with paint or decorative paper.

Consider using shelf liner inside the shoe compartments to keep shoes in place.

DIY Shoe Rack for High Heels

Hanging high-heeled shoes from the wall is a great way to keep them organized, visible, and protected from accidental scuffs. To make a DIY shoe organizer for high heels, hang a row of crown molding from a wall (or simulate the look of crown molding on a budget with a rain gutter and a decorative border.

Hang pumps by their heels from the molding or gutter, and keep them convenient and organized.

DIY Shoe Storage

Many shoes are seasonal and can be stored when out of season. The easiest way to keep shoes clean and organized in storage is by using the box they came in. To make DIY shoe storage boxes, start with the shoebox from the manufacturer.

Invert the lid so it is on the bottom of the box; the shoebox can be used as a drawer. Cover the box with decorative paper or paint and add a handle with a label to the box’s front panel. Store the boxes on shelves for easy access and organization.

DIY Shoe Organizer with Bench

Combining a shoe organizer with a bench is a simple way to keep your entryway or hallway efficient and organized. This is also a great DIY project for beginners or advanced woodworkers, allowing you to grow or show off your skills.

Use a sheet of plywood cut to size to create the bench seating surface. Build or attach bench legs. Use the side stretchers as a support to create a shelf beneath the bench for shoe storage. Consider making your shoe shelf out of boards with spacers between them to allow air to circulate around the shoes, helping them dry more quickly.

DIY Shoe Organizer from Wood Pallets

Wood pallets are a great way to make a fast and easy DIY shoe organizer, and they have a rustic, appealing style. To make a shoe organizer from wood pallets, determine which side of the pallet is more attractive and will be the front.

With the “front” placed downward, cut the wood pallet into long pieces with two horizontal boards per section. Working with each two-board section individually, remove the upper front panel. Move that board to the bottom of the section and screw it into place, or use corner brackets to re-attach the board.

When you are finished, you will have 3-4 shoe racks with two panels on the back for attachment to the wall and one board on the front to hold shoes in place. Paint or stain the wood. Then store the shoes in the rack with their soles against the wall and toes down inside the pallet.

DIY Industrial Shoe Organizer

If you love the look of industrial pipes and want to use them to make a shoe organizer, it’s a fun and straightforward project. You can do the project with cast iron pipe, but the pipe can be challenging to cut and rethread.

Instead, consider cutting wood dowels or PVC pipe segments to size and painting them black, then connecting them with industrial pipe fittings. This system lets you build a shoe organizer of the perfect size and structure for your needs and even hang it from a wall as a floating system.

DIY Boot Organizing Hack

Boots can be a challenge to store and organize because they are bigger and taller than ordinary shoes. Tall boots often slouch over, which can ruin their looks and take up additional space. This clever boot rack hack allows you to store boots with their soles up, allowing them to hang downward and preserving their shape over time.

Mount a row of long wooden dowels onto a wood backing board, or use a row of floating shelf brackets. Place boots sole side up between the pegs to hang them and keep them conveniently organizes.

DIY Shoe Storage from Wood Crates

Wood crates are a great way to keep shoes organized. Crates can be arranged in an entryway, providing shoe storage for every family member. Crates can be placed beneath a bench or hung on a wall for convenient access.

You can also use multiple wood crates to create a fast and straightforward hall tree. Simply paint or finish your wood crates, and stack them into your desired configuration. Use corner brackets to secure your crates in place.

Add coat hooks to hold scarves, keys, bags, and other accessories. Adding a basket allows you to also store sunglasses, gloves, and other small items. With a few wood crates and some simple hardware, you can build a complete shoe and accessory organization station anywhere you need it.

DIY Ladder Shoe Rack

Ladders are a convenient way to store and display a wide range of household items and keep them off the floor. A ladder can easily be used as a shoe rack in a variety of configurations. Leaned against a wall, you can hang high-heeled shoes from a ladder by the heel.

Attach a pair of ladders together at the top in an A shape, and lay boards on top of the rungs of the ladders to make fast and easy shelving to store shoes. Or attach shorter boards to the rungs of a single ladder, making a ladder shelf perfect for a smaller shoe collection.

DIY Shoe Organizer from Floating Shelves

Floating shelves are a fantastic way to organize shoes because they can be hung near the floor in an entryway, used the line the wall of a closet, or tucked on the back of a coat closet door, so you can keep shoes in the most convenient location for your home.

It is also easy to find or decorate floating shelves to match your existing décor, creating the look of built-ins in less than an hour. Floating shelves with a lip can be used to store shoes flat on the shelf sideways, hang pumps by the heels, or place flats and sneakers vertically, with their heel against the wall and their toe resting against the front lip of the shelf.

Floating shelves can also be grouped with shoes to store handbags and accessories, helping you keep entire fashion looks coordinated and accessorized in one convenient system. 

Conclusion

Because shoes come in such a wide range of styles and materials, are often dirty and wet, or are fashion items that need special care, there is no one-size-fits-all perfect shoe storage solution.

But these shoe organizing hacks give you a vast range of creative ways to DIY your own shoe organization system, so all your shoes can be stored and organized in the best way for your home and your family.

Taking proper care of your shoes helps them last longer and get more value from your investment, so feel free to invent your own DIY shoe organizing system.