DIY Cardboard Shoe Organizer

I recently moved into a new apartment and decided it was time to find a good solution to store and display the shoes that I don’t use all that often. Looking at some cardboard lying around, inspiration struck for creating this DIY shoe organizer: it took only minutes to build, the cubbies are surprisingly sturdy and I love how you can easily customize the size and even stack them up if you want to. This DIY shoe organizer has given my shoes a proper home in my closet, and I even got to recycle in the process!

Here’s what I used to make them: cardboard - approx. 10″ x 50" x 2 and 10" x 40" x1 (free), 2 plastic corner guard (4 ft long)  ~$5.00 from any hardware store, 3M adhesive transfer tape (you could also use heavy duty double sided tape).

Here’s the overall design for 4 cubbies:

Cut pieces of cardboard to size using heavy duty scissors so you have 2 top pieces that are 10″ wide x 50″ long , and 1 bottom piece that is 10″ wide x 40″ long. These dimensions will give you 4 cubbies that are 10″ x 10″ x 10″.

Then take the bottom piece and 10″ from both ends, bend the cardboard 90 degrees using a straight edge.

For the top pieces, bend the ends 10″ from the ends, like the bottom piece, and then on one side, bend the cardboard again, 10″ from the previous bend (see diagram below). I chose to leave the cardboard as is but you could also cover it with contact paper for a more finished look.

Cut the corner guards into 6 pieces the depth of the cubbies (10″ long in my case) and transfer the adhesive tape onto both outside edges.

Glue one corner guard to each end and glue another corner guard to the bottom of the horizontal section so that the edge sticking out has the glue side facing the middle ( see diagram below).

Join the bottom piece to the top pieces by pressing the sides of the bottom piece to the corner guards and adding some tape where the 2 top pieces meet to further secure them together.

And that's it, the shoe cubbies are ready for shoes!