apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I have some flor tiles that I cut to about 12" wide and placed a row of them by the front door. I take off my shoes just outside the doorway and put them on the tiles to dry.

I attempted to follow Martha's advice that was linked in an earlier post, but I couldn't find garden stones within walking distance in the middle of winter. Instead, I use an old ugly black rubber boot tray, covered with birch firewood for the boots to drain through and cover up the body-shop style underneath it.

Note: I have to coat the wood in Bitter Apple to protect it from my curious canine bandit.

yeah, we're in the process of thinking about/creating our landing strip in our split-foyer house. so it's small and has required creative thinking. i was considering cork tiles, the flor tiles think sounds interesting as well.

Yes please help! Since the newspaper on the floor is a *tad* unseemly haha

Well, I have 3 young kids here in midwest- so our mudroom is busy and full...
I have commercial grade black door mats on the floor, boot trays along edges of the room, and then - this is where it gets unique and might I add brilliant (imho), I bought 2 microfibre rugs http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=1&SKU=109308 and cut them into stepping stones. We use these to make our way into the house in our stocking feet without stepping in an unseen wet-spot. Even the kids' friends know "Don't step on the green spots with your boots!"

My main question is where did you get those AWESOME grey and black boots?!?

Same problem here in Michigan. I bought 2 trays at Bed, Bath and Beyond, that hold 3 pairs of shoes each, put small stones on the bottom. Everyday after we walk the dog, we take our shoes off and put them there to dry. Once a week, I wash those stones and put them back into trays. It'll still be a bit messy. I have FLOR tiles in the foyer, we step on them after taking the shoes off. Works for me :)

I have standard black boot trays at each door, and near the front door I placed a big basket with slippers of various sizes. I bought them all after Christmas on clearance for about $5 each. A little extra comfort of home for guests in our carpetless house, and it prevents anyone from stepping in the occasional cold puddle of melted snow left by the dog. I was thinking about getting some of that Krylon spray paint for plastic to make the trays a little nicer-looking.

I re-purposed an old, unused bath mat that was taking up space in my linen closet. It's one of those looped / shagged numbers, so it actually does a good job absorbing the wetness. I just throw it in the wash every couple of weeks.

to answer riian, those boots look like traditional russian felt boots. http://www.rusclothing.com/traditional-russian/felt-boots/

Does anyone know where the green rubber ankle boots are from?

I registered just to respond to you Rick....

The green rubber boots are the Tretorn strala.

http://store.tretorn.com/US/details.asp?catalog%5Fname=tretorn&category%5Fname=MensRubber&product%5Fid=47148060&mainCategory=Men

They come in black too.

I use an indoor-outdoor floor mat, the kind you see inside the foyers of retail stores. It's not terribly attractive, but it's temporary and keeps my bamboo floors and wool carpets salt- and sludge-free.

i got a nice rubber boot tray from target, flexible and a good size. not hard plastic like a few i have seen. However it has that rubber smell like crazy. I have left it outside for a few weeks to air out (just damn cold here right now, no snow) and it still smells. So this weekend it is getting scrubbed down in the tub with some soap and water, and we'll see if it gets rid of it. If not, it's going back.

Plastic trays from Dollarama work fine for storing boots.

And I'm glad we haven't heard from the crowd that thinks it's rude to ask that footwear be removed.

I wonder if you could get some of those rubber bar mats that have fun designs on them. Maybe from a kitchen supply store? I don't have snow here in So. Cal. but after seeing some cool ones recently in bars I was wondering how I could find/steal some to put my dog's water dish on. They're somewhat shallow so you'd have to empty them out but they have really fun designs on them nowadays and would be easy for boots.

Recycled a half-sheet pan that some stuff had burned on, placed it under an IKEA wooden shoe rack that never really worked in any of our closets. It lives in the attic during the summer.

During the winter, I keep a drying rack out in the open near the front door, with an old bath mat underneath. The wet gloves, scarves and umbrellas go on the drying rack, the coat gets hung up, and the boots immediately get taken off and put on the bathmat.

Wash the bathmat - easy cleanup.

I saw something quite a long while ago where a family put down extra large cookie baking sheets and on top of those put cookie cooling racks. You put the boots on top of the cooling rack and the much, water, melt, etc drops off into the baking tray underneath. Of course, you have to have a tray with an edge around it...not just flat.

I also re-purposed our old bath mat, works like a charm!

I have a very scratchy rug at the front door, and that's where I take off my shoes. I'm still looking for a better system, though, since I don't have a foyer, and there's absolutely no heat on the front porch, or back mudroom. I'd love to have some sort of shoe storage in the living room, so that I won't have to go out to the porch, and put cold shoes on every day.

what about just wiping them off & putting them away?

The dog gets wiped down outside the front door, and then I have 2 mats - one outside and one inside for stomping/wiping off boots. Once inside, they go immediately under the console table in the entryway, on ceramic tiles to dry, while I change into slippers to wear around the house. I just need to sweep/vacuum that area regularly to keep up with the little sand/dirt that does make it inside. It's working pretty well!

I have a galvanized serving tray filled with large smooth black rocks. I can't remember where I purchased the tray, but here is something very similar: http://www.smithandhawken.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=prod540390p&categoryId=cat120235&sku=540390p

And if you don't want to do rocks, Gardner's supply suggest using humidity grids (seen here: http://www.gardeners.com/Large-Boot-Tray-Set/Mudroom,37-314,default,cp.html), which seems really smart to me.

I like plain ol' bath mats or bathroom rugs- which have rubber backsides to protect the wood or carpet below and absorbent topsides to keep all the sludge in one place (unlike a lot of regular door mats). Since most bath rugs can easily be thrown in the washer and/or dryer, cleaning is a breeze and you don't have to worry about a rusting metal tray or sporting an unsightly plastic beast. Since bathmats are in abundance at any home decor store, it's easy to find one that fits with entryway decor...
http://www.vitafutura.com/rugs/Default.asp?p=4

or something completely ridiculous and irrelevant just for the fun of it...
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20101871

Also - because they are often inexpensive and easily stored, you can use several when you have company coming, and then just keep them tucked away when company isn't around, and when the season is over.

I also like the idea of a wood bathmat or iron door mat for just outside the door:
http://www.organize-it-online.com/itm_banumat.html?cmpid=Froogle

Uh, take them off?

We keep all of our household's shoes on a shoe shelf outside our door (it's a three-family home, so there's a door to each unit and a large landing with room for a coat tree, shoe shelf, etc.). We take off our shoes and leave the current pair on the landing so it doesn't muss up the shoe rack. If that person wants to wear a different pair next time they go out, they brush off the now-dry previous pair and put them on the shoe rack. Sweeping and wiping down the landing is a quick task every week or so, and we only find the need to deal with the tedious task of cleaning out the shoe rack a couple times a year or so.

If you don't have a landing or foyer or whatnot, trays for boots are really nice. Note: the ones that are marketed for boots are often $60 or something for a freakin' plastic or aluminum tray. Hardware stores have tons of couple-dollar trays meant for plants or tools or whatnot

flor flor flor! they're perfect for entryways. i have 6 in front of my door. i take off my boots on the flor tiles, then put in a plastic boot tray. easy peasy!

I had a friend who had coconut rug installed into her mudroom floor (flush with wood floor).

NO Shoes in the house! (why is this such a hard thing for most americans to understand?)

Boots come off in the landing, and are propped toes-up against the trim. Work shoes come off immediately inside the foyer and are left on the heating register to dry. When they are dry they are put away on a mat under the coat rack.

Lots of door mats: outside the front door, inside, at the bottom of the landing, at the top of the landing, and inside the foyer - help.

Nothing people haven't already said, but I love those boots a lot. Both pairs!

Modfan, I'm with you. No shoes in the house, ever! Few things gross me out more than going to a house, especially one with wall-to-wall carpeting, where people are wearing "outside" shoes indoors. Why would you even want to--bare feet or socks/slippers are so much more comfy!