Monday, October 1, 2007

My Now Very Organized Shoe Closet

I was inspired by this month's Real Simple magazine to organize my shoes. I keep most of my shoes in their original boxes so that they keep their shape and are not smashed by other shoes, and then I stack all the boxes together on shelves. It looks really neat at first, but the downfall is that not all shoe boxes are the same size or the same colors, so I end up with a mish-mash of shapes and colors. The other thing is that since I have to remove the lids to get to the shoes, if a pair of shoes that I want has two other boxes stacked on top, I have to remove those boxes or do a really quick move on the bottom box and pray that everything doesn't topple over. I know its just as simple as putting the shoe in the box and then putting the lid back on, but its such a pain. So by the end of the week, my neat stack of shoe boxes are empty, and my shoes are on a pile on the floor waiting to be put back. argggh. Totally defeats the purpose. Well, Real Simple's great idea is this shoe storage box that holds one pair of shoes and has a clear front so that you can see what's inside (ingenious! why didn't i think of that?) and opens in the front so that you don't have to unstack anything! Its great looking too, made of tweed fabric. But for the whopping retail of $17, even if I just bought one for the 10 pairs of shoes that I wear most often, that's already $170! So I started looking around for inexpensive versions of the same thing - and the closest thing I found was from IKEAOK, so it doesn't look as pretty, but it basically functions the same way, is sturdy and easy to clean, and best of all - comes in a pack of 4 for $10. Not bad.

What I wanted: Tweed drop front shoe box from the Container Store. $17 each.

What I bought: Komplement shoe box from IKEA. $10 for 4.


Final results = a very organized shoe closet that makes for easy access to each pair of shoes. And also a pile of empty shoe boxes in my hallway. Yay! Mission accomplished. It made me really happy!
My shoes in the Koplement shoe boxes.

A close-up. I stacked a couple of flats, and then positioned the shoes with one facing the front and one facing the back, so that I could see how high the heels are. Let's see how long that lasts.

One thing to note - tall boots do not fit. That blob on the lower right is a pair of boots that I have laying on its side. I still have other boots sitting in their boxes until I find a good boot organizer...

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