Here is the finished product of my husband’s DIY shoe rack made out of 150mm PVC pipe. It actually turned out quite well and I’m very impressed. It also clears up the clutter in the doorway, which is always a bonus. The only downside is that it only just fits all the shoes that we have, so no more shoe buying for me unless I cull a few pairs.
Storage For Pumped Up Kicks
PVC pipe shelf FAQs
I can’t believe this is the most popular post on my blog.
Here are a couple of handy hints to assist you to make your own shelf.
We sourced the pipes just from our local Bunnings (hardware store in Australia). They’re 150mm in diameter and easily fit 1-2 pairs of my shoes (flats, heels, work shoes) or one shoe each (runners, husband’s shoes). Just pick a size that will fit your shoes. Most hardware stores should be able to cut the pipes into smaller lengths. Unfortunately Bunnings wasn’t very helpful in this regard so the husband used a hacksaw. I’m sure there are better ways to do it, but that’s how we did it. To determine how long the pieces would be, we just measured the longest shoe and made it a few centimetres longer than that.
He washed all the pieces down in our shower and then started stacking them in a formation we were happy with. We used some bookcases as a guide and placed the pieces flush against the wall so that all the pieces would be aligned at the front. They’ll probably be some writing/print on the pipes, so just place these bits where the joins will be to hide them. There are lots of different formations that would work for this rack, but we just decided to go simple.
Pipes in the shower getting a clean. Wasn’t too impressed when I came home from work to see this!
To glue it all together there’s a special pipe glue/cement that’s sold near the pipes. Just brush it along where you want the join to be and press together. Clothes pegs were used as makeshift clamps and we added some old textbooks on top of each layer as it set to weigh it down. I know, we’re so fancy and high tech. This glue smells pretty bad and I’m pretty sure it’s toxic so make sure you do it in a well ventilated area.
Shelves as guides and stabilisers. Wall to get a nice flush front of the rack. Used pegs and textbooks to hold it all together as the glue dried.
Once the shelf was done, we just put it up against the wall, no need to mount it as it’s very stable (depending on how deep you made it I guess) and there was very little risk of it toppling over. Once the shoes are it, it makes the whole thing pretty heavy and sturdy. The husband was very annoyed when he discovered I had some secret hidden pairs of shoes, so he went out to buy more pipe and added a few extra columns.
Original shelf with no shoes in the hallway. The husband added more columns to accommodate all the shoes and make it look more balanced, as seen in the finished product above.
There are much better tutorials out there, but I hope this gives you an overview of how we did it, well, how the husband did it I mean. Feel free to leave a comment or ask me any other questions. Thanks for visiting!
Apr 12, 2012 @ 00:34:47
This is something I wanted to do for a long time. Love it!
Sep 06, 2012 @ 19:24:57
very clever – looks good and effective use of space! how did you connect the pipes?
Sep 06, 2012 @ 19:41:43
There’s a special glue to use on PVC pipes sold at hardware stores. We just painted the glue on and clamped the pieces together with clothes pegs, waited for it to dry and kept adding layers.
Sep 13, 2012 @ 06:37:26
Great.I want to make one.I just don’t know how to put it on the wall.Can you tell me?
Oct 15, 2012 @ 11:29:10
How much did you pay for your pipe? And did you only use one?
Oct 15, 2012 @ 20:47:33
I’m not sure how much the pipe was because the husband did it, but I’m sure you could find out if you head down to your local hardware store. He got a few pipes about 2m long so they would fit in the car and then cut them down to size. I guess it depends on how long your shoes are as to how much pipe you would need.
Jan 04, 2013 @ 23:21:12
Fantastic idea, how did you fix the pipes on the wall?
Jan 05, 2013 @ 00:43:54
The pipes are deep enough that they just stand on their own without toppling over, just like any other shelf. It’s actually a very stable structure. Once they’ve got shoes on them the shelf is pretty heavy as well.
Jan 17, 2013 @ 01:39:07
Lucky you brought out those extra shoes – the rack looks so much better with the added columns ;) Great job by your husband!