To build a shoe box style storage box, cut six panels from 18mm plywood or MDF to form a rectangular carcass roughly 60cm wide, 35cm deep and 35cm high, glue and screw the sides to the base, fit the back panel to square the frame, then attach the lid with two hinges. The whole job takes an afternoon with basic tools, and the finished box holds around six to eight pairs while doubling as a seat or a surface near the front door.<\/p>\n
The appeal of this project is that it is forgiving. A storage box has no complicated joints, no drawer runners and no alignment problems, so it suits a first attempt at furniture making. Get the panels cut squarely and the rest follows.<\/p>\n
Work backwards from the shoes and from the space. A pair of adult shoes stored flat occupies about 30cm by 12cm, so a box with an internal depth of 32cm allows shoes to sit front to back without pressing against the lid. Internal height of 30cm lets you stack two shallow layers of flat shoes, or one layer of trainers and boots laid on their sides.<\/p>\n
Length is the variable you can adjust to the room. A 60cm box tucks beside a door. A 90cm box works as a bench along the wall and holds up to twelve pairs. Beyond 100cm the lid becomes heavy and the base needs a central support to prevent flex, so it is better to build two boxes than one very long one.<\/p>\n
Also measure the sitting height you want. If the box will be used as a perch for putting shoes on, an overall height of 40cm to 45cm is comfortable for most adults. Below 35cm it becomes a low box you crouch at rather than sit on.<\/p>\n
Birch plywood at 18mm is the best all round choice. It is stable, holds screws well in the face and gives a clean edge you can leave visible with a coat of oil. Moisture resistant MDF is cheaper and paints beautifully, but it does not hold edge screws as reliably, so it needs dowels or biscuits at the corners. Softwood boards glued into panels look lovely but move with humidity, which can make a lid stick.<\/p>\n
You will need a saw or a cutting service, a drill driver, wood glue, 40mm screws, two 50mm butt hinges or a pair of soft close lid stays, clamps, 120 and 180 grit abrasive paper and either paint or a hardwax oil. A right angle clamp helps enormously if you are working alone. Most timber merchants will cut sheet material to your dimensions, which removes the hardest part of the job and guarantees square panels.<\/p>\n
For a box measuring 600mm wide, 350mm deep and 400mm high overall in 18mm sheet material, cut two side panels at 350mm by 382mm, one base at 564mm by 350mm, two long panels at 600mm by 382mm, and one lid at 600mm by 350mm. Sizing the base to sit between the sides keeps the outer faces clean and hides the end grain of the base panel.<\/p>\n
Label every panel in pencil as it comes off the saw. Plywood offcuts look identical after ten minutes and mixing up a side with a long panel is the most common cause of a box that will not close.<\/p>\n
Start by joining one long panel to the base. Run a thin bead of glue along the base edge, clamp the long panel flush and drive three screws through pilot holes. Pilot drilling matters in plywood: it prevents the layers splitting and stops the screw wandering off the centre line of an 18mm edge.<\/p>\n
Add the second long panel the same way, then fit the two side panels to close the box. Check the diagonals with a tape measure before the glue grabs. If the two diagonal measurements match, the box is square. If they differ by more than 2mm, push the longer diagonal gently until they agree, then clamp and leave it.<\/p>\n
Wipe away squeeze out with a damp cloth straight away. Dried glue seals the surface and prevents stain or oil taking evenly, which shows badly on plywood.<\/p>\n
Lay the lid on the assembled carcass and mark the hinge positions about 100mm in from each end. Recessing the hinge leaves into the top edge of the back panel gives a neater closure, but a surface mounted hinge is perfectly acceptable and much quicker.<\/p>\n
Safety deserves attention here. A plywood lid is heavy enough to hurt small fingers, so fit either soft close lid stays or a friction stay that holds the lid open. In a household with children this is the single most important detail of the build. Adding a 3mm gap between the lid and the carcass at the front also gives a finger pull and allows air to circulate inside, which helps with odour.<\/p>\n
Drill two 20mm ventilation holes in the back panel near the base if the box will hold trainers. Airflow makes a noticeable difference over a season of use.<\/p>\n
Sand every face with 120 grit, then 180 grit, paying particular attention to the exposed edges where the plywood layers show. Round the top edges very slightly so they feel pleasant to sit on and resist chipping.<\/p>\n
For a painted finish, apply a solvent based primer to seal the plywood edges, sand lightly and follow with two coats of eggshell. For a natural look, a hardwax oil applied thinly and buffed after twenty minutes gives a soft surface that repairs easily when it gets scuffed by heels.<\/p>\n
If the box will be used as a seat, a simple cushion transforms it. Cut 40mm high density foam to the lid size, wrap it in wadding and staple upholstery fabric to a plywood sub panel, then attach the panel to the lid with four screws from underneath. A hardwearing weave suits a hallway better than a delicate finish, and it can be unscrewed for cleaning.<\/p>\n
A shoe box style unit is at its most useful at the point where shoes come off, which in most homes means the hallway. It works well under a run of coat hooks, in an alcove beside the stairs or at the foot of a bed for out of season footwear. In a bedroom it also serves as a blanket box, so consider whether one build could do both jobs.<\/p>\n
Building your own makes sense when the space is an unusual size, when you want an exact finish or when you enjoy the process. If you would rather not cut sheet material, our modern shoe storage cabinets UK sale<\/a> covers the same brief in factory finished form, and our modern blanket box UK<\/a> designs offer the lift up lid format if you want a ready made version. For a seated option with open storage beneath, look at the shoe racks and bench UK sale<\/a> range.<\/p>\n The first is skipping pilot holes. Screwing directly into plywood edges splits the veneers and leaves a weak joint that loosens after a few months of use as a seat.<\/p>\n The second is making the box too deep front to back. A box deeper than 40cm swallows shoes at the back and encourages a jumbled pile. Two shallower boxes side by side are far more usable than one deep chest.<\/p>\n The third is a lid with no support. Unstayed lids fall shut, mark the front edge and eventually loosen the hinge screws. The fourth is finishing only the outside. Sealing the interior as well as the exterior keeps the box smelling neutral and stops moisture soaking into raw board.<\/p>\n Finally, do not overload it. A box is a bulk store, not a daily access point. Keep two or three pairs on an open rack for everyday use and reserve the box for footwear you reach for less often. If you would like inspiration on coordinating a whole entrance, our team at Furniture in Fashion<\/a> stocks a wide selection of hallway pieces across the modern hallway storage furniture UK<\/a> collection.<\/p>\n Use 18mm sheet material. Thinner 12mm board flexes under an adult sitting on the lid and will not hold corner screws securely. If you want a lighter box that will not be sat on, 15mm is acceptable for a shorter length.<\/p>\n A 60cm box with a 30cm internal height holds roughly six to eight pairs of flat shoes, or four to five pairs of trainers and boots. A 90cm version increases that to around twelve pairs of flat footwear.<\/p>\n No. A drill driver, a saw or a cutting service, clamps and a tape measure are enough. A right angle clamp and a countersink bit make the work easier and the result neater, but neither is essential.<\/p>\n Seal the interior with paint or oil, drill two small ventilation holes in the back panel, and leave a small gap at the lid front for airflow. Adding a cedar block or a small bicarbonate of soda sachet keeps the interior fresh between cleans.<\/p>\n Yes, as long as you used 18mm board, glued the joints and allowed the glue to cure fully overnight. Adding a foam cushion on a screw fixed sub panel makes it far more comfortable and protects the painted lid from scuffing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Building a shoe box style storage box is one of the most approachable furniture projects there is, and this guide walks through it from sizing to finishing. It explains how to work backwards from shoe dimensions and sitting height, why 18mm birch plywood is the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":58749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3334],"tags":[5680,2522,5865,5283],"class_list":["post-58748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to-guide-for-your-home","tag-diy-storage","tag-hallway-ideas","tag-shoe-storage-box","tag-woodworking"],"acf":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Common Mistakes to Avoid<\/h3>\n
Frequently Asked Questions<\/h3>\n
What thickness of board should I use?<\/h3>\n
How many pairs of shoes will a homemade box hold?<\/h3>\n
Do I need any special tools?<\/h3>\n
How do I stop the box smelling of shoes?<\/h3>\n
Can the box be used as a seat straight away?<\/h3>\n