Organizing shoes?

[Chava_Raizel]

Currently, we have a bakers rack in the kitchen by the door to the garage. It has become a huge clutter trap, but it's where we keep any and all paperwork, cookbooks, hats, coats, purses, and the bottom shelves is where we keep the shoes.

 

My goal is to get rid of the whole piece of furniture, because try as I might, it's impossible to keep it clutter free. My only problem is what to do with the shoes. Right now, since they're out, the 2 year old loves to throw all the shoes all over the kitchen all day. She loves to just drag them all over the house, play dress up in them, and generally wreak havoc with shoes ALL DAY. Ideally, I'd have them contained somehow so that she cannot get at them. I just don't know how to do that. We really need to keep the shoes where they are, but I can't think how to organize them in a better way. We're talking 12 pairs of shoes here, by the way. I've seen some fancy shoe shelves that can close up, but they're expensive. I'd like to do this either cheap or free, but still look nice, so not just dump them all in a big rubbermaid bin with a lid--though that's tempting. Any ideas?

 

Thanks for any and all suggestions!

[extendedforecast]

:bigear: Our old house had a mud area. This one doesn't, and all the shoes were scattered around the entryway. When I was mopping one day, I found an empty bin and tossed all the shoes in there. So far everyone has been good about putting their shoes in the bin. I did go back and take out all the winter shoes, boots and dress shoes and put them in their owner's closet. All that remains are tennis shoes and sandals. The bin will do for a little while; it will eventually drive me crazy, so I'd like to see what other big families are doing.

[HS Mom in NC]

I live in the PHX area and have no need for a mudroom, so my needs may be different than yours.

 

We almost always enter through the door that is between our laundry room (that barely fits ONLY a washer and drier) and our garage. Then we walk through the other door that between the laundry room and the kitchen. The back of that door has a wire shoe rack on it for the most frequently used shoes. They hold 12 pairs of shoes.

 

The other less frequently used shoes hang on a shoe rack on the back of the downstairs coat closet (we hardly ever use coats) or they hang on shoe racks on the back of each family member's bedroom closet door.

[NancyNellen]

We keep shoe organizers on the inside of all our closet doors. Everyday shoes are kept downstairs and dress/special shoes are kept upstairs.

[MaMa2005]

We use one similar to this - http://www.organizeit-online.com/p/1558/3tier-revolving-shoe-tree-bronze?osCsid=b17db1d1a5b1f832ff865b15f040cba0 I found mine at Wally World for like $15. While it isn't contained where the toddler can't get to it, it does have a handle on top that makes it very easy to move around, even fully loaded with shoes.