3 Creative Ways I Store Shoes

The one thing my kids are really consistent about (besides asking for a snack every 5 minutes) is taking their shoes off when they come in the house.

I’m not sure if that’s because my husband and I did an exceptional job of training them or if my kids would just prefer to be barefoot. Hmm. Let’s go with the exceptional training. Yeah, I like the sound of that.

In reality, if you only knew how many times I’ve left the house and one of my children wasn’t wearing shoes. *sigh*

Anyway, shoe containment is a real problem. I’ve never lived in a house with a proper mudroom to hold all of the shoes. Instead, I’ve had to rely on my fallback mantra – get creative.

Here are three ways I keep our shoes contained, but easily accessible.

1) By the patio door I have a milk crate that holds a pair of shoes for each person in the family. The location of this shoe crate gives me easy access to a pair of flip flops when heading out to the BBQ or the backyard.

The red placard on the crate identifying the dairy farm still makes me swoon. Based on a quick internet search, I don’t think this particular dairy is still in business. Similar milk crates can be found on Etsy. Just search ‘metal milk crate’ on their landing page.

2) I also use an old cooking pot to hold flip flops by the back door. It was used as a flower planter at one point and does have a hole drilled in the bottom of it. This incidental feature makes it even easier to hose the pot out when it’s time for a cleaning.

The bench was a recent DIY project made from the bed frame off our son’s bed.

3) Last, my most favorite piece of IKEA furniture is the narrow Hemnes Shoe Cabinet. This $99 piece of furniture is a lifesaver when you are short on space. I have it in 2 different sizes.

As much as I love shoes, I really don’t like tripping over them. Nothing makes me happier than walking into the house and having a place to contain our shoes.