apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I solved my shoe storage problem by simply turning my multiple pairs of lovely high heels into art. I painted two matching bookcases the same shade as the wall I was placing them against, which created the appearance of built-ins. I then curated my shoe collection and placed the winners organized by color on the shelves, arranged in a very pleasing manner. It looks SO nice! The rest of my shoes, the more shoddy knockarounds, etc. are stowed in the closet. Fashion as art is a good thing :)

Shoes belong in pairs on shelves - not on the floor in a pile.

I just put mine back in their boxes when I take them off.

I like very much your idea miss jess. If one day I have my walk in closet - I will implement your idea. I feel bad that my pradas and sergio rossis linger inside shelves despite the fact that I treat them real nice.

me too, heather77

we have a standard shallow closet that's wider on each side than the doorway, so we built in shelves on both sides for shoes, sheets, blankets.

Hanging boots on a closet rod would take ridiculous amounts of valuable closet space for most people. There is not an inch of unused closet rod in my house, even with the stacked rods. The truth is that unless you have a lot of closet space or a dressing room, shoe storage is always a problem.

Back in the box and shoe bag, stacked on a shelf.

I use a plastic shoe bag that hangs on the closet rod all the way down to the floor. Ikea has them real cheap. They have compartments for around 9 pair of shoes so I have two of these hanging side by side and it doesn't take up much room at all. Plus you get to see the shoes in the cubbies for easy selection. Some of the shoe styles you can fit two pair to one cubby space.
Katy
http://fengshuibyfishgirl.com

I have several of the plastic boot shapers from the Container Store and they really do work great. The only downside is that if your boots are made of stretchy material (I have a pair made of stretchy micro-suede), the boots can slide right off when you hang them up.

I couldn't afford to buy boot shapers for my many pairs of boots so I opted for water bottles. Smart water bottles seem to work perfectly for me, but I am not hanging them up. I keep mine both on an upper shelf in the closet and on the bottom shelf of a custom made shoe shelf that my Grandfather-in-law made me when we moved into our home. I think Real Simple also showed them hung up in one of their closet organizing articles.

If shoes didn't come in boxes, we'd all be clamoring to buy boxes to keep our shoes in.

we have the jumbled shoe pile problem, only it's next to the front door, not in the closet. I swear there are 12 pairs of shoes next to the door, for only 2 people.