The steps below follow the order of the work for this furniture project.
Build a tall narrow Handmade shoe cubby shelf, inspired by a vintage wood mail sorter! Detailed woodworking plans make this a great first-time project you can finish in a weekend.
Add storage cubbies to every room and build a toy organizer cubby shelf, entryway shelf with cubbies, and a wall cubby shelf, too.
Vintage Mail Sorter Shoe Cubby
GET THE WOODWORKING PLANS HEREThis post contains affiliate links. See our full disclosure policy here.
Hi guys, I’m Sara from Sincerely, Sara D. I am overjoyed to be here with you all today on Bekob!
Although I believe I’m a misplaced southern girl (I love the sun and heat), I was born, raised and (still) live in the midwest. I’m mom to three cute kids, and a wife to an memorable man who puts up with my never ending projects and options.
I blog about my Handmade home decor endeavors, and I will paint anything. My painted faucets walkthrough is one of my most popular posts along with my walkthrough for well fitted chalkboard lettering.
We moved into our current home a couple years ago, and one of the first areas I tackled was our mudroom. It’s a long, narrow space, and it’s our family’s main entrance into our home since it’s right off the garage.
Our kids are pretty good at remembering to remove their shoes when they enter the house, but that can leave an ugly pile of shoes by the doorway.
Luckily we hadn’t lived in our home long before I randomly came across an old post office mail sorter. It was love at first site at a local antique mall and a steal for $80! I had to have it and was crossing my fingers it would be the right size for my kids’ shoes.
The guy I bought it from was gracious enough to drive it home to me, but I had a lot of explaining to my husband when I drove up the driveway with a panel van sporting the words “mystery machine” in tow.
He watched as the muddy, wasp infested mail sorter was unloaded – not quite seeing my vision. However, a little elbow grease, and the piece was cleaned up and a well fitted fit in our space.
With three kids, we’re always running off somewhere – school, sports, piano or church. A Handmade chalkboard calendar was a great finishing piece for this space to keep us going in the right direction and the well fitted companion to the mail sorter. Two years later, and we’re still loving and using the mail sorter turned shoe cubby!
When Bekob asked if they could create plans so you could build one, too, I was happy to share dimensions.
I also suggested that the cubbies would fit shoes better (especially larger kid and adult shoes) if they were a little bit deeper and a little bit wider than the original mail sorter shelves.
How to Build a Handmade Shoe Cubby Organizer
We asked Amy from Hertoolbelt to draw up some modified plans to build a vintage shoe sorter shoe cubby shelf like Sara’s.
The 12-page woodworking plan is first-time-friendly and ready to build in a weekend! The complete plan includes detailed diagrams and dimensions, and assembly instructions.
Shoe Cubby Dimensions
This tall shoe cubby can be easily adjusted to fit your space (like Kristi did below). The plans include detailed measurements to build a mail sorter cubby featuring 35 cubbies:
- Overall dimensions: 55” W x 48” H x 11 ¼” D (9 ¼” at the base)
- Individual cubby dimensions (interior): 7” W x 6” H x 9 ¼” D
Materials
This tall shoe cubby is built using 1×10, 1×12, and 1×3 boards, plus 1 1/4″-2 1/4″ trim molding.
If you have a narrow hallway or entryway, you can conserve a few inches of space by using 1×8 and 1×10 boards instead.
You’ll also need
- 1 1/4″ pocket hole screws
- 1 1/4″ – 1 1/2″ brad nails
- wood glue
- sandpaper
- wood filler – optional
- stain
- polyurethane/top coat
Tools
You could make this shelf using just a hand saw and miter box with screws and glue/nails for assembly… but for joint strength and ease of cutting and accuracy (plus saving time!) we recommend these tools:
- Compound Miter Saw
- Jig Saw (or small hand saw)
- Brad Nailer
- Table Saw (optional)
- Rafter Square
- Kreg Jig (pocket hole jig)
- Tape Measure
- Pencil
Get the complete shoe cubby woodworking plans here.
Reader-Built Mail Sorter Shoe Cubby Shelves
We love seeing readers use our plans to create great storage solutions and striking furniture for their homes!
If you’ve built something using our plans or inspired by something you’ve seen here on Bekob, send us a brag post here.
Dan’s Shoe Cubby
Our reader, Dan, used our plans to build a shoe cubby for his daughter. Turned out great! (January 2017)
Here’s what Dan had to say:
I built the shoe cubby for my daughter’s house and she loves it in her redecorated entry way. I used Kreg pocket screws and biscuits to join the shelves and partitions. She stained the pine with white stain and 5 coats of polyurethane.
What a great gift, Dan. No wonder your daughter loves it! Thanks for sharing.
Kristi’s Narrow Shoe Cubby Organizer
Kristi was so inspired by Sara’s shoe organizer, that she headed to Home Depot for supplies and made her own!
From Kristi: We used 1×8’s for the cubbies and sides, a 1×10 for the top piece, a 1×2 under the top piece and a piece of decorative trim in front of that under the top lip!
look at more building plans from Hertoolbelt
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Shoe Shelf Bench // Scroll Console Table // Kid’s Step Stool
More shoe storage options:
- Build a rotating shoe rack
- straightforward entryway storage bench
- Handmade wood shoe storage ladder
- Build a shoe cubby bench
- 10 more ways to store and organize shoes
Published 21 Dec 2015 // Updated 07 Jan 2021
