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The Easiest DIY Boot Rack for an Organized Mudroom

Our budget friendly mudroom (more like a drop zone) was the first DIY I completed in our home after we moved in. My pet peeve since then has been getting my family to place their shoes and boots where they belong. The biggest hurdle has been where to store our boots! Most of our boots don’t fit in the small cubicles in the bench. After almost three years (this project is long overdue), I’ve decided to create a DIY boot rack to help organize our mudroom. I can’t believe I didn’t do this sooner.

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When I started looking at options for boot racks I came across tons of ideas mainly from Etsy. Most of the boot racks for purchase on Etsy cost anywhere from $125 and up! Whew that seemed steep.

When you can’t buy you DIY right?

This has been my motto since before this blog was a thought in my head. You see, it doesn’t require a lot of skill or a lot of money to make something this simple. Let me show you how.

First let me show you the state of our very messy mudroom (I should have probably titled this the “drop zone)” and the wall that the proposed boot rack will go on.

Before I get ahead of myself, let me show you my little “tip” to planning a project. Do you see it? Yep, I use blue painters tape to tape off the area where the project will go. This is a great way to get a good visual of your future project. I would recommend taping off an area especially when hanging pictures like a gallery wall.

First let’s gather a few supplies:

  • Wood base – this can be a scrap 2 by 4 or a nicer finished piece of wood. Just make sure it can be cut easily. I’ve chosen to use a left over piece of Weaber Lumber wood that I used on the wall next to it.
  • Wood dowels – I purchased three 1/2″ dowels that were 48″ long. This gave me more than enough scraps if I wanted to make another rack.
  • Wood screws to drill into stud- make sure they are long enough to drill at least 1″ into the stud (this will depend on the width of your board).
  • Wood screws to attach the wood board to the dowels – I used a #6 wood screw at 1 1/4″
  • Paint – I chose to use Chalked spray paint in the color charcoal to paint the dowels
  • Painters tape

Tools needed:

  • Miter saw – not necessary but helpful. If you don’t have a miter saw a good jig saw will work
  • Level
  • Pencil or pen
  • Drill and drill bits
  • Stud finder

Before you begin your project, you need to know if and what will be painted. Since I was only painting the wooden dowels, I chose to paint them before I did any cuts.

If you are going to paint the entire boot rack, you can wait until it’s already assembled. If you are painting only one part of it, I would suggest painting it before you cut and assemble it.

The Easiest DIY Boot Rack

Like I said earlier, the first thing I did was use painters tape to tape off of where I wanted the boot rack to sit. This also helped me visualize how wide I wanted the board to be. I use painters tape for a lot of project hacks, like when creating a gallery wall and hanging pictures.

using painters tape to tape off the boot rack measurements

Next use a stud finder to find a wood stud (maybe you’ll find two). Mark the board where the stud will go. Make sure you don’t place a dowel over a stud(s).

Measure the wood board against the painters tape and use your miter saw to cut the board to the correct length. It’s a good idea to mark where the studs are on the back of your wood board.

After that, I put a boot up to the tape and tried to figure out where I wanted the dowels to sit and how far apart, etc.

measuring the wall for boot rack

You can also measure on the piece of wood. Side note; use different sizes and types of boots.

measuring distance on the wood for dowels

Once you’ve created your marks, now you can take the screws and start drilling the screws through the marks you made on the wood. Don’t drill all the way down, just enough to break through the other side of the wood.

Once the dowels are dry (if you painted them), grab your miter saw and make cuts. I cut each dowel 5″ long. I cut three at a time.

making 5" cuts on the dowel rods
making 5″ cuts on the dowel rods

Once the dowels were cut, I used the appropriate drill bit to drill down the middle of one side of the dowels.

Next, I placed the pre drilled hole over the screw on the board. Then I used a drill to drill the rest of the screw through the dowel. Refer to the video for more details.

I was ready to drill the board to the wall now.

A little tip; use a longer screw to drill into the stud first. Then grab your level and adjust the board to make sure it’s level. Once it’s level, drill one screw on each side.

Here it is!

DIY boot rack

I know the dowels don’t look 100% straight, but close enough.

I love that I don’t see boots on the floor anymore!

DIY boot rack

My boot rack compliments the mudroom wall decor so well!

You like my milk jug repurposed to an umbrella holder?

DIY boot rack
DIY boot rack
easiest DIY boot rack

Was this easy enough for you? No joke, this project only took me about 30 minutes (minus paint drying time).

I’m thinking of making another smaller boot rack for my kids rooms now! Oh the possibilities are endless.

See more small space organization hacks here.

Lindsey**

How to make a DIY Boot Rack

DIY boot rack

Learn how to make the easiest DIY boot rack to get those boots organized and off the floor! This is a simple tutorial to help you create a boot rack with a wood board and dowels.

Prep Time 15 minutes
Active Time 30 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Difficulty Easy
Estimated Cost 10-20 dollars

Materials

  • wood board
  • wood dowels
  • wood screws
  • paint 
  • pencil
  • painters tape

Tools

  • miter saw
  • level
  • drill and drill bits
  • stud finder

Instructions

  1. Use painters tape to tape off where the boot rack to sit and how large you want it to be.
  2. Use a stud finder to locate the stud(s).
  3. Paint the dowels (if you are painting them) and let them dry while you continue to measure.
  4. Measure the board against the tape and use a miter saw to cut the wood board to the length of your painters tape.
  5. Mark where the stud(s) is on the back side of the board.
  6. Place a boot (I recommend multiple sized boots) up to the tape and measure out how far apart the dowels need to be.
  7. Place the wood up to the tape and mark where the dowels need to be installed.
  8. Double check that the boots will fit well on the board where the marks are for the dowels.
  9. Once the dowels are painted, use your miter saw to cut them down to about 5" each.
  10. Use the appropriate drill bit to drill down one side of each of the dowels.
  11. Place the pre drilled hole over the screw on the board. Then use a drill to drill the rest of the screw through the dowel.
  12. Drill the wood board with dowels to the wall making sure it's level. Make sure you have at lease one wood screw in a stud.
  13. Add boots to your new boot rack and enjoy!

Notes

You don't have to use painters tape to "tape off" the project area. That being said, I find it useful to help with measurements and better visualize the project.

Refer to the full blog post for all the details on wood screw sizes and dowel sizes.

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