Plain Or Upholstered Shoe Storage Carousel Or Turntable

Ever since featuring an article on using a lazy susan bearing to create a rotating or turntable storage, I have been inundated with requests on instructions on how to make one.

We have added a DIY Divas workshop for those who prefer a more ‘hands-on’ approach, but here is the step-by-step project on how to make your own shoe carousel or turntable.

• 3 of 600 x 600mm 12mm SupaWood – base/shelf/top
• 8 of 160 x 200mm 12mm SupaWood – dividers
• 3 x 35mm wood screws
• White plastic screw caps (16)
• No More Nails adhesive
• Wire nail
• Length of chain
• Rust-Oleum 2X blossom white spray paint
• 4 casters and small screws

TOOLS:
Hammer
Drill/Driver and assorted bits
Sander plus 80- and 240-grit sanding pads
Clamps
Workbench
Tape measure and pencil

Optional: Fabric, foam, batting and upholstery strips

I decided to make this shoe storage carousel a mobile unit – on casters – with a padded top – as shown at the top of this page. Now I can use this as a seat as well as for storing my favourite shoes. This carousel is a bit too large to fit into the wardrobe, but you can easily cut the circles to fit in your closet. But if you want to leave off the padded top – you can. You can also make this a larger tower if you have shoes galore!

Step 1
The first thing you need to do is to draw a circle on the three 600 x 600mm squares. To do this, draw diagonal pencil lines from corner to corner to hammer in a wire nail at the centre point.

Step 2
Place one end of the chain over the nail and insert a pencil in the link closest to the shape of the square. You want to be able to draw a complete circle in the square shape.

Step 3
Use a jigsaw and clean-cut blade to cut out the circle shapes by following the drawn pencil line. Do this slowly so that you make as few mistakes as possible, and you will find out why below.

Step 4
The rougher the cut-out circles – the more time you will spend sanding them. Clamp the boards together on top of each other and sand all three at the same time. I used 80-grit sanding pads and a random orbit sanding pad to remove the really thick differences.

Step 5
Finish off by sanding with 240-grit sanding pads so that you have a nice perfect edge. You also want to ‘polish’ the edge of the circles as well so that when it comes to painting these edges will be less absorbent

Step 6
Now you need to draw an inner circle on all three circular boards. This circle should be approximately 170mm in from the outer edge of the board to allow for fitting the 160mm wide dividers.

Step 7
One at a time, place a divider along the diagonal line so that the inside edge touches your drawn inner circle. Use a tape measure and pencil to mark on both the circular board and both edge of the dividers at 40mm and 140mm. Do this for all circle sections and dividers.

Step 8
Use a 2mm wood bit and countersink bit to drill pilot holes into the top of two of the circles – the ones for the top and bottom – and also drill pilot holes (not countersunk) into the top and bottom edges of each divider. This will prevent the wood from splitting when joining the sections together and also make it easier for placing.

Step 9
Place the screws in all the pilot holes and partially drive in the screws, so that only a 2mm tip of the screw comes through on the other side.

Step 10
On the bottom circle, one by one, position the dividers against the side of the circle with the screw tips showing, and use the screw tips to position the dividers. As each one is in place, drive in the two screws before moving on to the next divider.

Step 11
On the centre circle – the one that fits between the bottom and top circles – repeat Step 9. Now turn the circle over and draw new diagonal lines between the existing lines. Drill 2mm countersunk pilot holes and partially drive in the screws.

Here is a more detailed look at adding new diagonals and then screwing through the underside and the top. In this way you can easily fasten this section to the dividers already added onto the bottom circle.

Step 12
After attaching the centre circle to the bottom dividers, place another layer of dividers on top of this centre circle and drive the screws through from underneath – as shown left. You will also have to remove any holder and put the screwdriver bit into the chuck of the drill/driver in order to have enough room to fit the drill/driver into the space.

Step 13
Now you can add the top section by driving screws through the top and into the dividers. Make sure to line everything up before you do. I added a small blob of No More Nails Adhesive to all the visible screw holes and then popped on white plastic screw caps. However, it’s better to do this after painting. I was a bit too hasty and the paint peels off the screw caps.

Step 14
I used Rust-Oleum 2X satin blossom white to paint the entire carousel. Because the paint is quickly absorbed into the cut edges I spray on a couple of coats before painting the rest. Allow each coat to dry before applying the next coat and don’t spray on too thickly or you will have runs.

Step 15
Once dry, I turned the carousel upside down to add the casters. Put a piece of cloth under the top to avoid scratching your newly painted finish. Here is the completed shoe storage carousel before I added the padded top.

Padding the top
To pad up the top for a comfy seat I cut a thin piece of foam to the same size.

I also cut 4 pieces of batting; two pieces are the same size as the top and two pieces are slightly smaller – just to give it a nice domed top.

After cutting a piece of fabric (Hertex El Scripto) slightly larger than the size of the top I used a staple gun to secure the top snugly on the top. The staples will hold everything in place while I add the upholstery strip. Using an upholstery strip is much easier than hammering in individual pins. There are holes in the strip every 10 fake pins and this is where you hammer in your single upholstery pins.

Desiree and Patricia shared the shoe carousel that they made using the plans above. Not just for shoes, this shoe carousel now stores books and small toys and has a padded seat that matches the decor of a little girl’s bedroom.