apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

We take off our boots in the hall, outside our front door. One of the perks of living in an apartment building.

No shoes in the house, ever. I don't want snow and slush, or anything else from NYC sidewalks, tracked around my floors and rugs.

I yell at people.

It's happened here in Rochester. In fact, it hasen't stopped yet. LOL. I need one of these badly.

I really don't understand the "reaction" of people who DON'T remove their shoes upon entering my (any) HOME.

Between seeing people & their animals spit, hocker, poop,pee, drip,drop,dribble and further pollute our streets and sidewalks- how often do you look at the bottom of your shoes- to see rocks/pebbles/chewing gum,etc- stuck to the bottom of your soles....
AND YOU WANNA TRACK THAT INTO MY HOME???!!!
yecccchhhh..

Come on- The Japanese (and many other cultures) people do many things, "right" by me...from eating lots of Seafood & greens, to removing their shoes b4 entering a HOME.
This should be a NON-ISSUE I.M.H.O.!

Remove shoes in the entryway. I think this is a given in pretty much any place that gets snow. No one wants puddles of melted snow, dirty street slush and salt tracked around the house. I've never noticed a problem with guests once the snow hits. People either just take them off at the door or ask. Having some clean slippers to offer guest with thin socks or a tendency for cold feet is nice though, especially with wood or hard floors.

I have all three- the only person I have trouble with taking their shoes off is my father. He just won't, and I don't know why. My mother in law won't take her shoes off unless you ask her- every single time. It never seems to sink in that shoes are removed at my house. They just seem to be indoor shoe people (which I don't understand at all)

I can't believe this is an issue for people. It's incredibly rude NOT to offer to take your shoes off when entering a person's home. Is your outfit really more important than the basic courtesy of not dragging crap (sometimes literally) into someone's house. So selfish and irritating. I'm Indian and we always have taken shoes off whenever we go into someone's house. It is a cultural practice. I'm also irritated with trades people, cable people etc who come in and refuse to take shoes off. It's one thing if you're doing construction, it's another if you're fiddling with wires. If you can't take your shoes off for insurance or health and safety reasons, be prepared to wear bags over them in my house. Anyway, enough of the tirade. Where is that shoe rack from in the photo, it'd be a good idea here for the Canadian winter (hasn't stopped snowing for weeks where I am)...

So true everyone! - no shoes should ever be worn in a home. However, it's not always practical to have someone take their shoes off outside of the front door. We don't keep carpets in our house due to allergies and it's always a nuisance when water from wet shoes puddles on our wood floors as the snow melts. BAD for wood floors and annoying when a nice warm socked foot steps in it. We lay down a bath mat. It's absorbent and can be washed.

I like this tray and am thinking it would work well by my doorway. Unfortunately, I live in a large apartment building and don't really have the luxury of leaving boots and shoes out in the hallway. They could get stolen (though I hope not) and management would consider them some sort of fire hazard/eye sore. Maybe two of these trays will do the trick?

With the exception of our dear ol' Dad's (they both have very bad feet, orthotics, surgery, etc....) everyone removes the shoes! I have found a furnace drip/leak pan to be a nice cheap solution...and they're much bigger (possibly too big for many places but we usually have a collection of shoes in it all year 'round) than the Smith & Hawkins equivalent. I have a nice one out of copper sheet that has aged nicely that I made after using the furnace drip pan for a few years...but I really like the idea of river rocks or pebbles on the bottom.