Winter in Upstate New York is a messy proposition. There is snow. There is rain. Sometimes there is even mud.
Yippee. Not.
What does that mean to your average household? Boots & shoes everywhere.
There are the shoes & slippers you wear inside the house-because it is way too cold to be running around barefoot. Then there are the boots that you wear outside. You switch back and forth and back and forth-especially if you have young children going in and out to the bus, a dog that needs walking several times a day (which necessitates those shoe footgear changes) and any kinds of errands to run that take you in and out of the house.
This results in the dreaded “shoe pile”-normally located just inside the door.
Photo by Madflowr. . . . . Ok, this isn't at my house, but it could be!
For the last couple of years the shoe pile has been secreted away underneath a bench right inside our back door. (Note: in Upstate NY only strangers come to your front door. Everyone else comes in the back.) But this fall we got a puppy, and since we are a family who believes a crate trained puppy leads to a happy home-well, we had to put that crate somewhere. So guess what got moved.
You got it, the bench.
So now when people walk in the door there is a big crate, and nowhere for the shoes to go.
They were taking over. Something HAD to be done.
Then a few weeks ago when I was in the Salvation Army I saw it. . .
Remember these? From before we all had MP3's. . .
An old wooden CD stand for $2.99.
Woohoo! Bargain!
Slide a boot tray underneath-or even an old cookie pan-and you’ve got a boot rack!
Tada!
Of course I could dress it up a bit by painting it-I’ve got some red spray paint that I bought at a local dollar store chain downstairs. . . but that can wait till the weather warms up. I have a feeling that spray painting in sub freezing weather would be an exercise in frustration. Meantime, I’ve got the shoes & boots corralled. I’ll even keep my eyes out-if I see a second one out there I’m going to snap it up!
What a fabulous idea…kudos! Wish I had thought of it when we were living in upstate NY!
great idea – and we’re having some of that Upstate weather downstate right now! off to teh basement to look for an old rack… thanks
That is a great idea.
In our house, we don’t have room for that kind of storage. Shoe corralling is a big problem for us because we don’t have a large or even small entryway.
M
What a neat idea. I don’t live in upstate New York but the first thing that I do when I get inside is to take my shoes off (no organized or designated spot). Something like this would make my life a lot easier and more organized. Thanks.