Toward the Terribly Practical: Boot Storage

Happy Autumn Embertide everyone!  Autumn is a most delightful time of year for us!  Windy days, falling leaves, brisk temperatures, surprising treasure-filled walks, gardens tucking in....and rain...and mud.  Well, ok...here in North Alabama, not mud, but red clay.  Fall brings such delights, and that means it's time to set out the fall boots.

Anyone that has children knows that when it comes to removing outside shoes before coming indoors, children (and husbands...who am I kidding?) usually drop shoes right where they are standing, resulting in a mass of collected shoe material immediately outside the back door.  And, for the most part, that's what happens here.  I have, with no small effort, demanded, threatened, cajoled, convinced the children (and aforementioned husband) to drop their outside shoes and boots in a laundry basket by the back door.  A little person has, as his weekly job, to order and tidy the boot basket.  But...remember these adorable Christmas puppies?

A-DOR-ABLE!!!

Yeah.  Well, they're not little any more.  At 10 months old, they weigh in around 80 lbs each now...and they eat...everything.  Including shoes.  Delicious.  Scrumptious.  Mouth-watering.  Savory.  Right-at-their-noses-piled-high-as-an-all-you-can-eat-buffet-in-the-shoe-basket...........dramatic sigh.......SHOES!!!!

They're fantastic pups!  And great watch dogs.  They're super smart and adore the children, whom the dogs believe to be givers-of-treats and leavers-of-shoes.

Nutmeg is on the left, and Ginger is on the right.  (In case you're wondering, their Mom was a pure bred Yellow Labrador, and their Dad was a pure bred German Shepherd.  Makes for a great family dog!)

So, the time came to brainstorm outside shoes, fall boots, and precious (yet large-ish) puppies with a voracious appetite for....anything that fits in their mouth.  I asked Rob to build me a boot rack for the wall right outside the back door.  Something like this which I found online:

wellyracks.com

The boot rack I envisioned would need to:

• securely hang on the wall
• support our voluminous collection of outside boots and shoes
• be out of reach of the large dogs
• be easily accessible to the small kids
• be at hand when you walk out the back door
• and be ridiculously inexpensive!! 

I challenged Rob to complete this project for under $30....because that's what I had left in my little weekly stash of cash.  He laughed, but in the end, he loves a good challenge!  Here's what he came up with, and I think you'll be amazed at the cost.  I'm so pleased with the results!

We used (1) 8 ft. length of 1 x 4 which Rob cut into 3 sections which fit our space.  He mounted the 1 x 4 to the wall using deck screws (you'll need to mount your 1 x 4 in studs if you don't want the weight of the boots....or the kids hanging on them...to pull your boot rack down - you'll want a studfinder if you don't have one).  (By the way, do you know the amazing versatility of the deck screw?  Leave us a stack of scrap wood and a box of deck screws and we can build almost anything!  But, I digress!)

Rob, with his constrained budget, chose (20) 6 1/4" heavy duty lag bolts because they were super strong and inexpensive! 

The bolts are only threaded on the bottom inch.  Drill a pilot hole in the appropriate size after determining the best spacing for your boots and footwear.  

We have a bottom row with bolts that are spaced more closely than the top two rows.  This accommodates shoes and boots.

The larger boots fit right between the lag bolts.

On the bottom section, Rob spaced the lag bolts closer and found that the little kid boots fit better with the upper calf of the boot fitting directly over the bolt. 

Like this:

How helpful!  Would you like to know the total cost?  

• 1 - 8 foot section of 1 x 4 -- $4.00
• 20 - 6 1/4 lag bolts at 91 cents each -- $18.20
• Not counting a box of deck screws in our total because those things are like toilet paper here - we're NEVER without 'em!  But a box of them would run you about $10 bucks.

TOTAL FOR THIS PROJECT:  $22.20

Hope your autumn days are lovely and your boots are always covered with mud!