Dresser into Shoe Organizer {DIY repurpose}

At my house we keep all of our shoes in those big Rubbermaid drawers by the front door. (I have always hated them). But my hubs is one of those "I like my things where I use them" type of people which means everything goes where he leaves it and never gets moved until he uses it again; or else he can't find it.
I was finally fed up with the drawers. They look gross. They are overflowing with my daughter's and my own growing shoe collection. I mean, we kept all our shoes there, for every season. It needed to change. That's when I decided to take an old dresser my friend was selling and make it into a seasonal shoe organizer to keep by the front door.
Long gone are the days of the ol' Rubbermaid drawers (well not really, they are keeping our out-of-season shoes locked away by our back door.

So my friend was selling an old dresser, it was old, falling apart, half the knobs were coming unscrewed, one drawer wasn't staying together, etc. I bought it for $10, and this is what I came up with:

Here is the steps I took to make this:

Materials:

• Old Dresser
• Hammer
• Nails
• Screwdriver
• Drill bit
• Shelf brackets (I used 4)
• Knobs from the drawers (or new ones)
• Spray paint (2 colors for inside and for outside)
• Saw (optional)
• Cardboard boxes of various sizes
• 3 yards cotton fabric
• 1-2 yards burlap fabric
• Hot glue
• Spray adhesive
• Scissors (or rotary knife and mat)

Step One:

• Take the drawers out of the dresser and pull them apart so you have the bottoms.
• Place the bottom on the rungs that hold the drawer in place, and nail into place so you have your shelf bottoms.
• If you want one large opening (see my bottom shelf) cut out the rung in the from the front of the dresser that divides the drawers. 

Step Two:

• If the dresser outside isn't painted how you want; paint it now. 
• Screw in the shelf brackets on the bottom of each drawer bottom to add some extra support for weight.
• Paint the inside of the dresser.

Step Three:

• Screw the knobs into place where you want on the sides to add hanging storage. (You may need to use a drill bit to create a hole for the screw)
• Add the knobs - I put two in the center on one side of the dresser, and four on the other side of the dresser)

Step Four:

• Make the shoe storage boxes out of the cardboard boxes (or use baskets if you want)
• Cut the top flaps off the cardboard boxes.
• Measure the length of each box (length of all four sides)
• Cut a large fabric strip that will wrap around the box (I left about 2 inches at the top of each to be covered with the burlap, and wrapped it under the box to make it look like the entire box was covered with the fabric)
• Since shoes are going in the inside, I didn't put fabric on the inside, because it would get dirty and ruined quickly. These are cheap enough that I can make new ones whenever I need to.
• Using the spray adhesive to adhere the fabric to the box.
• Spray the box, then rub the fabric on over the adhesive.
• Repeat this with the burlap, but I found I needed hot glue to keep the burlap stuck over the top edge of the box.

You can see the insides of the boxes aren't covered with the fabric, I just brought the burlap in and tucked it in the inside and glued in place.

Step Five:

• Touch up spots with paint
• Fill with your seasonal shoes, purses and anything else! One side is for my husband's work hat and backpack; the other is for my purse and my daughter's purse and jacket.
• I added a basket on top to hold gloves and stocking hats since it is winter right now.

With the cost of the dresser included, I made this for $27. 

Don't toss out those sides to all the dresser drawers! I have a few more things I have made with those, and I will be posting those soon also!