Sometimes a little piece of furniture alone can bring in a world of happiness.
I have always loved doing mini home projects every now and then. Usually, they are inexpensive, quirky, one-day projects that I take up after a ton of Pinterest browsing. This time around, I decided to transform old boring shoe rack.
It didn’t start directly with the idea to change up the shoe rack. This last month I was visiting my in-laws, and one day I just came across this beautiful lampshade that my mum-in-law had in her collection. She was willing to part with it, and I jumped at the prospect of having it in my collection.
Now, what is so special about a lampshade? Well, a, I have a weakness for all things lightings. B. It was an antique silver finish study lampshade. C. It was g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s. Need I say more?
When I finally unpacked it at home, I knew I wanted to create a space worthy of keeping this treasure on display. The only possibility I had was an old boring shoe rack which was currently acting as my mini library stand in the living space.
- Currently, the shoe rack was acting as a mini library with some seriously boring MBA books.
- This is how it looks when it is empty
Can you see the problem? It’s ugly and it just had to go.
But, you know me. I am a that crazy budget, conscious person. That plus, we are living in a rented apartment. It didn’t make financial sense to junk it altogether to buy a new set for the corner. So instead here was the plan to transform old boring shoe rack.
- I chose the balcony for the project coz of more space, less problems of cleaning afterwards.
So, What’s The Plan to Transform Old Boring Shoe Rack :
- Apply a fresh coat of paint. Canary Yellow Colour.
- Change the contents of the Shoe Rack.
- Transform it into a Photo Library.
- Add the lampshade and other accessories to make it beautiful

What a single coat of spray paint looks like.
P.S. Please note that a single can of spray paint is not enough to finish this project. It hardly has paint enough for a single layer of paint coat. So try to avoid spray paint and go for a regular wall paint.
Cost of the Project / Things Needed:
- One can of Canary Yellow Spray Paint ~ INR 190
- Alternatively, use one litre of regular wall paint (more affordable) ~ INR 140
- Some accessories
- Few Photo Albums + some photo frames
- A Paint Brush ~ INR 30
- Old Newspapers to cover the floor while painting
- All the accessories included in the project were already present at home
What to keep in mind while painting:
- Mix the raw paint with 3-4 spoons of paint (kerosene) oil to give it a shiny lustre.
- Apply a think coat of paint the first time.
- Allow the paint coat to dry for at least 3 to 4 hours
- Apply a second coat of paint. Repeat the process to let it dry.
- I let my shoe rack dry overnight just to make sure there were no wet paints anywhere
- Apply a third coat wherever required till you see a bright shade of yellow throughout the shoe rack.
- Accessorize the shoe rack.
What the final transformation looks like:
- The cube is a collection of all our engagement snaps.
- Accessories I am using to highlight the newly transformed shoe rack
- I stacked all our wedding and other photo albums on display
- This one is my bird show picture from Singapore
The time it took to complete the project: 1 day