Vanilla Fizz

 

You might come home from work and find yourself tripping over the pile of shoes cluttered around the front door. You even might have more shoes stashed throughout the house under your bed and piled into closets. How can you organize this mess without having to toss out some of your favorite pairs?

Discover the best ideas to organize your shoes even if you have the biggest shoe collection ever!

If you’re frustrated by all of the shoes cluttering your house, consider looking for ways to better store and organize your shoe collection. It might be a good time to tackle all your shoe organization tasks and deal with the shoe clutter.

Since disorganized shoe pairs can seriously hurt the fashion routine of a modern woman, make an effort to organize them today and speed up your mornings!

There are a number of different types of shoe organizers available to buy, but you can also create a good storage system utilizing the space you already have.

First things first, you do need to take a hard look at your shoe collection and decide which pairs should stay and which should go. When you take stock of your own assortment of shoes, you probably will be shocked by how many pairs you own.

You tend to hold on to things on the premise that you might wear them someday, which is probably why you still have a few pairs of shoes that you distinctly remember wearing back in high school.

Our policy is that if you haven’t worn something in the past six months, then it goes to the donation bin. The one exception here is for shoes suitable only for specific events, matching items such as party dresses and other formal wear.

Once you have pared down your footwear collection, sort them based on season and use. For example, separate work shoes, dress shoes, summer shoes, and winter shoes. Next, you will need to decide which shoe organization system works best for you.

 

Closet shoe racks are a great option if you have plenty of closet space to devote to your shoes. These shoe racks come in a variety of sizes and can often hold a large number of shoes, depending on which size you choose.

Closet organizers for shoes can be made from metal with a plastic coating, particle board with melamine cover, or even the real cedar. Wire racks are good if you need something reasonably light that can be moved, while wooden racks work well as a more permanent fixture.

 

Where do you keep your shoe rack?

Choosing shoe racks that have stackable components can help you utilize your closet’s vertical space. You can try raising your closet rod up to at least 72 inches then positioning your shoe rack down the floor. Such type of arrangement can provide shoe storage space while at the same time allowing plenty of vertical space just above the shoes where you can hang other items or garments.

About 8 to 9 inches for every shoe pair is required so a lineal space of 24 inches on your shoe rack will be able to accommodate the storage of 3 shoe pairs placed on each side. In general, shoe racks of this type are manufactured with a width of 24 inches.

The other style of shoe organizer for the closet is the type that hangs from the clothing rod. It’s usually made of canvas or plastic and is inexpensive. A hanging closet shoe organizer comes with shelves or pockets that are adjustable, tilted for optimum visibility and designed so shoes face forward. This shoe storage unit hooks to and hangs on the closet’s clothes bar.

 

 

Clear plastic shoe boxes are inexpensive and allow you to stack your shoe collection just about anywhere you have space. These are suitable storage for the shoes you don’t frequently use. Choosing the clear plastic type of boxes can help you easily identify and see which shoes are inside. Remember, if you can’t see your shoes, you’re less likely to wear them. Make sure to use the same type of shoe storage boxes for you to be able to stack them together.

Plastic shoe organizers are light in weight and easy to clean. If you’re always busy and don’t have enough time to clean the furniture where you store your shoes, then the organizing with shoe boxes method is the appropriate one for you.

 

An over the door shoe organizer is a great way to store your shoe collection if you are short on space. Essentially all over door shoe organizers function in the same way, they are to be attached over the top of the closet door with a bracket and the storage unit itself hangs on the inside of the door.

There are several styles and options to choose from depending on your preferences, closet size and door options. They come in many varieties ranging from foldable fabric and plastics to metal or wire racks.

Styles vary from pocket pouches that hold one pair of wire loops that each holds one shoe. Most come in white, but there are chrome finishes and combos of both with 12 to 36 pairs or more shoe capacity. Some feature accessory hangers and adjustable spacing to accommodate high tops or boots.

An over door shoe organizer is most practical for a swing open door, but some can be wall mounted for people with wall space in a walk-in closet. For over-door mounts, there are some models that require no tools at all – just assembly and hanging. The pocket style works best for this mostly because as you open and close the door, the shoe organizer tends to swing out a bit. Pockets keep the shoes from falling to the floor.

Over door shoe racks where the shoes sit on a bar type design may not always come with additional mounting brackets, but for the reason mentioned above, it’s a good idea to configure a way to fasten them directly to the door and not rely entirely on the over door brackets. Some models of this type have adjustable angle bars that will help mitigate the tendency of shoes to fall off when the door is opened and closed, but it’s still advisable to attach the rack securely to the door, unless the door it’s mounted on is always kept open.

One type of over door shoe rack that will store shoes more securely provides rounded wire frames that fit in the toe of each individual shoe. If you have a lot of open-toed shoes or sandals, however, this may not be your best choice, though for men’s shoes this may be the most secure and practical method.

An over door shoe rack organizes and stores shoes while making use of otherwise wasted space – a feature that the efficiency-minded modern woman finds most appealing. This is an inexpensive solution to the challenge of shoe storage for the budget-minded as well.

 

Should you keep shoes in boxes?

Don’t just throw out the cardboard shoe boxes that your new shoes came in! Shoe boxes can be one of the easiest and most affordable shoe organizers available. Simply leave your shoes in the box or reuse old cardboard boxes and stack them in any available space you have. Remember to take photos of each pair of shoes and use the pictures to label each box so you will know what is inside.

Another clever shoe storage solution would be to build your DIY cardboard shoe organizer, which is killing three birds with one stone – helping save the environment and keeping your closet a little bit easier to manage – while costing you next to nothing.

 

Simple DIY shoe rack instructions:

Use two layers of cardboard laid one on top of the other at a ninety degree angle for the platforms for the shelves. This orientation of the cardboard will increase the amount of weight that the shelf can hold because the waves of internal cardboard that make up the corrugation will be perpendicular.

This is the same concept that gives plywood its strength. Changing the direction of the grain means there are fewer weak points. Also, like plywood, the two sheets of cardboard should be glued together.

Once the 2-ply boards are dry, notch the boards so that they form horizontal and vertical dividers. Design the DIY shoe rack so that the boards fit in a bookcase.

You can still do this project, even if you don’t have an extra bookcase by putting your cardboard shoe organizer inside another re-purposed cardboard box. That second box will remain intact and your new grid of 2-ply boards will go inside it.

 

 

A shoe storage bench is the perfect choice for providing a place to sit down and either put on or take off your shoes. Whether placed by the entryway or in your bedroom, a shoe storage bench is a great way to store your shoes and add to your home’s décor.

In the most basic of terms, a shoe storage bench is just a bench with storage. These benches come in an assortment of styles. Shoe storage benches with cubbies are benches that feature open cubby hole styling. Other benches camouflage their role as a storage bench with a faux drawer edifice.

The storage compartment may have sliding doors, cabinet doors or it might just be a simple tilt out compartment. They can have the appearance of a piece of fine furniture or they have a very functional appearance. Whatever their appearance, they are a dual duty ultra-convenient addition to any bedroom, hallway or entryway.

Not only do shoe storage benches provide a place to sit down and put on or take off your shoes, but they provide space to store shoes until you need them again.

Perhaps the most comfortable styles of shoe storage benches are those with a cushioned, padded seat. A shoe storage bench with a seat is usually a fine, stylish bench made of wood and hardwood veneers that will complement any traditional home décor.

If you have a large family and they are continually losing a shoe here and there, perhaps you should consider a shoe bench that has an open face cubby-hole design that can store even 24 pairs of shoes.

These are only a couple examples of shoe storage benches; there are many more styles such as those that offer both shoe and boot storage or leather covered cushions instead of fabric. No matter what space limitations or your personal taste, there is a shoe storage bench that will fit perfectly and please your sense of style.

 

There are now products that can fit the space under your bed, which is usually unused or wasted. With underbed units, these are either made of soft plastic boxes or boxes made of rigid plastic with lids that are hinged.

An under the bed shoe organizer can be another idea for storing footwear you do not often use. You can also raise your bed to a couple of inches if you still need more space under your bed as a storage unit. Products called the “bed risers” are available, which you can definitely use to lift your bed some inches higher to convert the unused horizontal surface area under your bed into a space for storage.

You can also visit a big box type of store to buy bed casters, which can be adjusted to various heights and might also provide the needed extra inches.

Keeping your shoes organized with under the bed shoe storage with wheels is yet another convenient option.

 

For modern women who have really huge collections of shoes, a shoe storage cabinet is the best option. By using this kind of shoe storage solution, you’ll be able to enjoy near limitless storage opportunities for your collections. If you have a huge shoe collection or are planning to add a ton of shoes to your collection, you can opt for a cabinet that comes with a great deal of compartments. You can easily find cabinets that have room for 36 or even 48 pairs.

The main benefit of having a shoe storage cabinet is that no one knows what’s stored inside because the doors will hide your shoes. This is cool for your more boring pairs of everyday shoes or work shoes. Now, for your sexy, party shoes, which you want to see and display, you need a cabinet with glass doors.

 

Finding enough space for your shoe storage can simply mean utilizing the space available, knowing the products you’ll need to use, and using your creativity. When storing shoes, you don’t necessarily have to use products designed and created for the storage of shoes. You can also make use of other furniture or items when storing your loose shoes such as book cases, metal lockers, storage baskets, or even laundry baskets.

For your shoe storage, there are at least three ideas where you can make use of products that are designed for other purposes, and these can include the following:

 

Clay Pot

Do you own a large decorative type of clay pot? Why not use it in storing your shoes by the entrance way instead of using it for your plants and having to deal with the dirt as well as the constant watering?

 

CD Holder

If you own a vertical type CD holder, you can also use them for your shoe storage.

 

Entertainment Unit

Another creative idea of storing shoes is by using your old media unit or entertainment unit and placing it at the foot of your king size type of bed. Finding a bench, which spans the bed’s entire king size width can be difficult, however, an entertainment unit will perfectly fit and you can also use the cubbies for your shoe storage. This can also be an ideal area to sit down while putting on your fancy boots.

 

PVC Pipes

You can build a fancy shoe rack using the versatile, sturdy and inexpensive PVC pipes. A PVC pipe shoe organizer would act as a perfect footwear storage for the garage.

 

In coming up with a new or original idea of storing your shoes, try “thinking outside of a shoe box”. Be creative to get your shoes in order!

 

End your frustration with cluttered shoes and follow our tips for the organization process of your shoe collection.

Whether you have a lot of available space or none at all, you can build your own shoe storage or purchase the equipment of different styles, shapes and sizes which you can utilize to have a perfect shoe organizer for your home.