DIY Rustic Shoe Storage Crates

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You probably know by now that I’m trying to be as intentional about this summer as I can! 🙂 I’ve outlined several home projects that I wanted to accomplish before fall comes. The first major project I completed was a blast! I gave our lovely little coffee table a makeover and we were so pleased with the results. You can check out the before-and-after of that makeover here.

The next project I knew I wanted to conquer was finding a more logical, aesthetically-pleasing way to store our shoes. In college, we girls (7 of us in an apartment!) just flopped our shoes wherever we felt like it, which usually meant a pile by the door. Bjorn and I have been doing much of the same thing – but I wanted to stray from the college mentality of keeping things in piles. 🙂 We went with a little wire rack for a while, but it was time for a change!

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^^ DEFINITELY a before picture 😉 ^^

I bought 5 ultra-simple wooden storage crates at SuperWalmart…along with a couple 99-cent plastic drop sheets and wood stain (okay, that was leftover from this project).

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I stained one side of the crates and let them dry outside all day before carefully bringing them indoors overnight to continue drying while it sprinkled outside. 🙂 In the morning, I flipped them over and proceeded to stain the rest of each crate. Since I was going for a simple rustic look, I wasn’t super concerned about a “perfect finish” or flawless layers of the stain.

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^^ What I stained on Day One. I’m a messy stainer but I don’t care. 🙂 ^^

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^^ Flipped over and ready for Day Two of staining! ^^

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Once the crates had dried for another day, I played around with different configurations of them. I settled on this setup:

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Finally, I got our shoes organized (with shoes for other seasons in storage), added a couple home decor items we already had (including one of the tree-slice chalkboards I made for our engagement photos!), and hung up our initials.

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The rustic details just added more character to this little corner of our home! I am so pleased with how our shoe crates turned out. We’ve got a new, easy-to-use storage system now – and we’re thrilled!

How about you? How do you store shoes at your place? If you try out this crate idea, let me know! Tag @hannahbeeolson on Twitter or Instagram and show us your creation! 🙂

Happy Friday, friends!

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10 Comments

  1. Oh my goodness, girl, you did GOOD! I absolutely love that look. My husband and I definitely clash when it comes to where to store our shoes. I like to kick off my shoes when I come in, and he insists they be upstairs and out of the way. I think he would really love this idea of a catch-all spot for the shoes. Adding this to my to-do list!

    1. Aww, thank you, Jenna!! You are so sweet! Yeah, I think oftentimes there’s one spouse who is a bit more casual about shoes and stuff…while the other tends to be more particular! 🙂 I’m the more particular one – but this is such a fun system, we’ve been able to stick to it well so far! 🙂 I’d love to hear how your crates turn out! Have a happy 4th! 🙂

  2. This is such a cute idea! We struggle with where to put shoes in our home because of having two stories. Currently we have a basket downstairs for shoes we can wear to just slip on and take the dog out. All of our other shoes are stored upstairs in our closets. I wish we had room for something like this!!

    1. Thanks, Julie! I can see how that would make shoe storage more difficult! I like how you guys have shoes within easy reach for taking the dog out – that’s a great idea! We’ll probably have to do something like that by our back door once we get a dog 🙂 Happy 4th!

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