Last Saturday in Ikea we happened on a conversation between two customers about boots, which turned into us all complaining about snowy shoes messing up the house and what we were doing about it. One woman was excited to share an creative and stylish solution she invented using two unrelated IKEA products! Katie's solution combined two inexpensive items from neighboring IKEA departments- things you'd never dream of putting together. We were so entranced with it, we tried it at home ourselves! Click after the jump to see what our stylish, new snowy shoe area looks like...
So here's what she did. Took just the lid from a black "Ladis" plastic storage bin (these are sold separately from the bins in two sizes for $1.00 or $3.00) and arranged a layer of smooth shiny garden stones on top). These stones were out on display in the garden department for $1.49 a bagful. We used just under 6 bags to fill our mat, and we purchased the large lid which easily holds 2 or 3 pairs of boots (total cost <$11).
The lid has a lip so the stones stay in place, and any water that drops off the boots stays off the floor (and underneath the rocks, you don't even see it).
Boston AT Readers were just talking about this the other week so we were motivated to add Katie's inventive solution to the mix. We absolutely love the look, and the whole thing is easy to rinse off every few weeks to keep it looking like new. If you're reading this, thanks Katie!
Small Cool Lessons: Discovering Small Space Design Ideas That Really Work
Beatriz's Fun & Functional Workspace
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Sheex Bedding
A Work Week Menu Plan That You Can Do
How to Make Fresh Pasta Dough in the Food Processor
didn't we already see this yeasterday?
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/organizing/look-apartment-therapy-and-boot-tray-ideas-in-time-out-075036
Yes, it is a great idea. But I'm sure I've seen it on AT at LEAST a half dozen times. This is beyond just one repetition of the idea.
Seriously. This same post was up yesterday. Why are you posting about this?
and the boots were cooler looking yesterday too...
I'm thinking of a making a stop at Ikea this weekend...I think this is definitely going on my list of must-buys!
I use the same stone idea for soap dishes - stops the soap from going soggy and nasty!
Yep, it's a great idea. Thanks!
Seen this before, done with pea gravel.
Well, to be fair, I think the point is more that you can do this improvised mat for underneath, instead of the much more expensive mats with lips that they showed in the other posts about the idea.
I pulled this idea from Martha Stewart's website a while ago. Only problem is I have 30 secs to pull off my winter boots, deposit them neatly onto my zen shoe mat, and run across the house to turn off the security alarm. Maybe I should make a whole pathway out of these things!
Hi folks, its Jeanine here-
Hey, pretty amazing about the duplicate post! Many (most?) of us bloggers also have full-time jobs and depending on our schedules don't always have time to read all of the posts every day. I'm always surprised when we don't duplicate each other more and find it interesting more than annoying. :)
In my case I've been taking care of a sick kid with strep throat for several days and didn't even see the post on AT Chicago until now (pretty amazing how similar they are in idea and timeframe for being a coast apart!). I hope that those of you who didn't see the post yesterday can appreciate the cool idea- I actually love it. And tough crowd home body, I didn't realize my boots and Sam's were going to be critiqued...?
I like this better than the cookie sheet. The cookie sheet looks like, well, a cookie sheet. The lid was unidentifiable to me until I read the post.
So now instead of just draining the tray, you have to remove the pebbles, probably wash them clean and then the tray itself. What's that about? I use a large round Home Depot plant dish and just vacuum whatever dries into it from shoes and boots.
No thanks. This looks like one of those things where I would constantly be knocking the little rocks out of the little tray and then would have to bend over to pick them up and put them back but I'd accidentally kick them down the hallway and have to chase after them. I'll stick to a folded towel.
For the person with the dirty-boot-alarm problem: consider going to a medical supply store and getting a stash of surgical over-the-shoe booties to keep by the door. Pull them on, turn off the alarm,return to door, shoes covered in booties the whole time. Not ideal, but an idea...
jeanine--
good for you! I didn't see any of the other posts, and even if I had, I don't think a repeated idea would have bothered me. some of these commenters need to calm down.
I like it, and I'm adding it to my IKEA shopping list, too. We have rock salt tracking in from the back steps and porch, and this would help capture some of it.
Okay, so I love this idea....but yours looks better than mine turned out! I used a much larger/longer lid (lots of boots in our house) and b/c our house is very earth-tone-y I used mixed colored rocks that have a browner tone. It looks *awesome* but not quite as sleek as your neat little black and grey mat.