Fix your shoe chaos — a bit more order
Too many shoes, always landing right inside the front door so you trip over them? We built a shoe shelf for our crooked, narrow hallway — here's the process.
Do you just have too many shoes, and do they always end up right inside the door so you trip over them? You may live in an apartment where space is tight, or where everything is a little charmingly crooked. Then read along. Our hallway is crooked and narrow. We wanted a piece of furniture that could just about hold all our shoes — one that blended into the room and that we could place a few flea finds on top of, to make the small hallway feel more personal.
Since the hallway is crooked, we'll only share the overall measurements of the piece and a few process photos, which will hopefully get your own idea generation going.
The first step was measuring the length of our shoes. With Frede's size 44.5, the shelf had to be 30 cm deep. Chris' tall boots also meant at least one of the compartments had to be 25 cm tall. We measured sneaker height, the width of a HAY box and the slope of the floor too.
We used 12 mm MDF. We'd actually recommend 16 mm — there's less chance of it splitting across if you don't pre-drill enough during assembly. We had the boards cut to size at a hardware store. It costs 20-30 kr per cut. So if you need 3 boards in the same size, you pay for 1 cut. If you need 2 different sizes, you pay for 2. You're paying for the cut setting itself. Spend the extra kroner on it — it saves you so much time and effort. We primed the shelf and painted it once before assembling. Once it was put together, we filled the screw holes and gave it one final coat.
If the above sparked your interest but you have any doubts, please reach out via the corner here or on Instagram. We're ready with answers and good advice.
On Instagram you can also find the whole process saved in highlights.
