So I bought a new friend, a lovely new shoe tree friend. She was only $20 in a discount store (Fields for those of you in Canada) so I just couldn’t pass her up. These go for a lot more in specialty organizing shops for sure. Besides she called my name when I walked by and I could tell she was lonely.
I originally thought I’d put her in my bedroom closet for my dress shoes because there wasn’t any room in my entryway closet. However I’d really rather have all my most frequently worn shoes in the entryway closet as that’s where I need them as I’m walking out the door. It just makes sense.
I forgot to take a before picture of the entry closet before I got started but here is an old picture. However see those empty shelves on the tall white shelf? Well just imagine them stuffed full of shoes instead because that’s what ended up happening. With 5 people in the house and a daughter that now wears the same size shoe as I do, shoes were everywhere.
The shoes were piled up on top of one another and it wasn’t ideal because shoes would get pretty dirty that way. So I removed the white storage unit (I haven’t quite figured out what to do with it next) and added my brand new shoe tree instead.
Better right? We also did some shoe purging as well which definitely helped 🙂 I’m using the shoe tree to hold mostly mine and my daughter’s dressier shoes for now. I love that it spins around for easy access!!
Unfortunately there’s a kicker though. This shoe tree is supposed to hold six pairs of shoes per ring for a total of 18 shoes all together. However I found I couldn’t fit all the shoes side by side without them bunching up and overlapping one another. So I had to leave a space between each pair which meant I could only get four pairs of shoes per ring for a total of 12 pairs of shoes. Still a decent amount in a small space though so I am happy with it so far. If you were storing all small kid’s shoes on it you could definitely use all the spaces I’m sure and store more.
You’ll notice that we also store shoes in different ways on either side of the shoe tree. We have the shelves on the left which hold quite a few and then my shoe organizer that hangs from the bar on the right. Whew, 5 people generate a lot of shoes!
Do you use a shoe tree in your house? What do you think of it?
ter@waaoms says
I like the organization but I’m not sure I’m a fan of the shoe tree, personally. Over the weekend I found an awesome deal to help me with my organization, check out my blog post today about it! 🙂
Susanne says
I’ve seen these at Winner’s and hummed and hawed about them.
Melisa says
I’ve never even heard of a shoe tree before. It does look like you can store more shoes in less space with one.
Melissa R says
Laura if you put a non accordion door on that closet you could hang another shoe rack on the inside of it!
Amy K says
I bought one of these about a month ago with the intention of organizing our “by the door” shoe problem, and have yet to put it together. You’ve inspired me to go upstairs, get it, and put it together. I’ll let you know how it works out for our family.
Melissa says
I have a horizontal shoe shelf in my closet, 3 rows of shoes. It works pretty well, but some of my shoes don’t balance very well on it so they fall through and it frustrates me and ends up a little messy from time to time. I might think about swapping that out for something a little more useful. In our entry way I recently got a RealSimple bench with shelving and swapped out a shelf spot for a fabric box to hold the little girls shoes. The shelves could hold two pair, but the fabric box can hold much more, maybe even ten pair. I loved that swap.
Cathey Eastman says
My granddaughters had one of these. As they have grabbed shoes off the rack, it falls over. Then it completely falls apart! Not a fan at all. I use the shoe storage that hangs on a closet door. It is so much more practical!
Megan Pettigrew says
I have the same problem! Not a fan of shoe trees.
Carlyn says
I saw this shoe organizing idea today, and thought of your blog post. Another option for those looking for ideas to tidy up the shoe storage. http://grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.ca/2012/04/cute-shoe-hanger-tutorial.html
Allysgrandma says
I repurposed my white shoe shelf in the linen closet to organize it. I have huge shelves so it is nice to break it up and put like feminine products, my Therma-care products, etc on it. It also holds a shoebox, sometimes with the lid off, depending on the brand. Love you!