Shoe Racks Blog

Shoes:  Front and Center!  Give your shoes a prominent location in the closet to avoid clutter and damage. 

A custom closet allows you to design a closet organizer that fits your needs exactly.  Custom closets, though, can be pricey.  But now you can buy closet organizer kits to give you the “custom” closet of your dreams, at a fraction of the price.  If you have a lot of shoes, pick one that has a tower capability, so that you know that your shoes will be front and center, ready for putting on, taking off, organizing and keeping neat and tidy in general.  This shoe tower kit is made of laminated MDF which is a great choice for shoes, as it is a very easy to clean material, so you don’t have to worry about scuffing, dirt and mud.  Another good choice would be wire, although of course then the dirt can fall through to the floor, but hey, that’s why vacuums were invented, right?  Some of these closet kits have adjustable shelves, if you choose one that does have adjustable tower shelves, you might want to take a careful look at what types and sizes of shoes you have before you build it.  For example, high heels can lie flat on the shelves, so that’s not a problem, but high top shoes (your husband’s) will take up a lot of room vertically, so you’ll want to plan accordingly when setting up your closet.  The nice thing about a shoe tower is that it is perfectly suited to this important piece of apparel, because it is narrow and tall, making the best use of what is usually wasted vertical space in the closet.  Some closet organizers allow you place the tower anywhere you want.  If you would rather look at your shirts and dresses hanging than stacks of shoes, you might put the tower in the corner or back of the closet.  If you are like me, then you will love to put your shoes away every night and pick out the next day’s, meaning the shoe rack should go front and center!

A True Celebration of Spring Starts with Cleaning out Your Closet

Yesterday was the first day of Spring!  To me, spring means the start of my favorite time of year (the sunny, warm part).  I enjoy fall somewhat and the holidays are fun, but by the time February comes around, I have just about had it with clouds, low sun angles and wearing socks.  Spring cleaning is a time to start fresh, open up the windows and let fresh air in while you go through each room of your house and give it a thorough cleansing.  While cleaning with a sponge, soap and water is imperative, organizing is just as important. 

The places that need organizing most are the places where you tend to “store” things – that is, you put things somewhere that you don’t have to look at them (for the moment, anyway).  This usually starts in the closets, followed by the office and the garage.  Since the garage fortunately is not my problem, and the office is not fun, I always like to start with the closet.  And somewhere in that closet is a shoe rack, begging for attention. 

Here are some tips on how to organize your shoe rack and clean it, if need be. 

• First, sort through your shoes and decide what can stay and what has to go.  If I find a pair of shoes that I neglected to wear through an entire season (sandals in the summer, boots in the winter, etc.) I donate or sell them.  The rest of them I take down in preparation of cleaning the shoe rack.  Even in the closet, shoe racks can get dusty and dirty and, in turn, make your shoes dusty and dirty.  Get a wet cloth and wipe it down, getting inside each corner and crevice.  TIP: Baby wipes work really well on this (and many other) cleaning jobs, as they are thin and thus easy to get into hard to reach places. 
• Now you are ready to put your shoes back on the rack and enjoy another year of shoe wearing!  (Bonus:  If you get rid of a few pairs, then you have space for a few new pairs throughout the year!) 

Here is a helpful article about organizing shoes.