Shoe Racks Blog

This Week’s Product of the Week proves that shoe racks do NOT have to be dull.  Read on for what is probably one of the most luxurious shoe racks you’ve ever seen.  And, it’s more affordable than a custom built shoe organizer.

All I can say is WOW! This shoe organizer packs a punch in terms of style and function!  You choose your wood tone, your size and your configuration to make a custom shoe rack that fits your needs exactly, at a fraction of the cost of a real custom built model.  The Shoe Traps Modular Shoe Cubby System is one of the coolest shoe racks I’ve seen on the market.  There are three different sizes of shoe boxes to choose from, large, medium and small.  Each shoe cubby has a glass door on the front with a magnetic closure, it couldn’t be simpler to use!  The glass doors are cool for three reasons.  First, they look beautiful lined up next to one another, each framed in a wooden box.  Second, they allow you to see what’s inside, and show off your colorful and beautiful pumps, flats and men’s shoes.  And third, they keep dust, moisture and insects off of your shoes.  A Spanish cedar lining offers the benefits of aromatic cedar, which acts as a natural insect repellent and also a natural deodorizer.  So choose whatever variation works best for your shoe storage needs, and simply stack them together using the provided adhesive strips – very easy to use and looks great in the closet or anywhere in the bedroom or hallway.  The wood choices include cherry, mahogany and maple finishes.  For a more finished look, each color also has a platform available that can hold a couple of your choice of cubbies.  All in all, I would say for the price, this is one of the best high-end style shoe racks available!

This week’s shoe organizer is a new item, designed just for sandals, my personal favorite footwear! 

March is the official start of flip flop season where I live, so imagine how excited I was to see this new over the door shoe rack that is designed just for sandals!  We all know that thong sandals are very inexpensive, and therefore it is perfectly legitimate that you have to have one in every color, shape, form and style.  This over the door shoe rack is from the Jokari bamboo accents collection.  Bamboo is an eco-friendly renewable resource so that makes this an environmentally friendly shopping choice.  Simply use the included elastic straps to tie this shoe rack to the back of any door, and you can instantly have easy access to all of your sandals throughout the season.  You can fit up to ten pairs on this rack, and it is really easy to use.  All you have to do is slide a pair of shoes under each of the elastic straps for an instant closet makeover.  Got more than 10 pairs?  These shoe racks are narrow enough that you can put two side by side to hold up to 20 pairs of either dressy or casual sandals. And at ten bucks a piece, they are definitely budget friendly.   If you don’t have quite that many pairs of sandals, you will find that many other items can be stored in there as well, scarves for example.  So don’t resist buying sandals this year just for lack of storage space, this over the door sandal rack has finally solved that problem for you.  Of course, if you are resisting buying shoes for financial reasons, that’s another story.  But either way, you can enjoy the benefits of this affordable shoe storage rack in your home.

Floor to Ceiling Shoe Rack offers space-efficient shoe storage!

We’ve all heard of tension curtain rods, shower curtain rods, and I’ve even seen shower caddies that were of this style.  But this is the first tension shoe rack I’ve ever seen!  A high capacity and easy to use design make this shoe rack very popular.  This shoe rack reaches from floor to ceiling and has six levels of shoe racks with to hold up to 36 pairs.  The individual baskets are height adjustable to accommodate shoes of all types.  Each basket has prongs that stick up to hold shoes securely.  Better yet, each basket is actually a spinning carousel, perfect for revolving your shoe selection to see exactly what you have at any time!  This shoe organizer is made of steel with a chrome finish, elegant and modern and ready to make your life easier.  The upper portion of the shoe rack has a tension pole, so it can be mounted from floor to ceiling without drilling or doing any damage to the walls.  A great place to put this shoe rack is in the corner of the closet.  Since the baskets spin individually, it won’t matter that it is in the corner of the room or closet, you will still be able to see what’s in the back!  And, for a bonus, an additional basket is loaded on the bottom for accessories, perfect for small handbags, wallets, socks and scarves! Made of heavy duty chromed commercial grade steel, designed to last for years to come!  Give this cool floor to ceiling shoe rack a try, it’s a great example of taking one technology and using it for another purpose, a great invention!  Can be used on ceilings up to 8’ high (a standard ceiling height).   Affordable, stylish and ready to help you clean up your closet!

A tilting Shoe Cabinet is a stylish and discreet option for Shoe Storage!

A Shoe Cabinet is a great choice for shoe storage.  It is roomy enough to hold a large collection and, best of all, it hides clutter.  This is particularly useful if your shoe rack has to be out in the open, in the bedroom, hallway, or entryway.  You can close the doors on your shoe rack and no one will even know what’s inside!  There are many different types of shoe cubbies and shoe cabinets.  A traditional cabinet with doors looks like it could hold anything, but when you look inside you will see built in shoe cubbies.  These are available in a variety of finishes, usually made with a sturdy MDF design.  An alternative to the traditional shoe cabinet is a tilting cabinet.  These hide shoes and organize them at the same time, just as the old fashioned shoe cabinets.  But, instead of opening doors fully to access shoes, on these cabinets the door tilts down and brings with it rows of shoe organizers.  These are very handy for use in the closet or out in the open!  The doors don’t have to open as wide as the other cabinets, so it’s also a great choice in awkward spaces and small homes.  Best of all, you can find these tilt out shoe cabinets in a stackable form. This Triple Shoe Cabinet is a great example – it’s available in five different finishes, and also in different sizes.  Choose from single level and double level models.   Made of sturdy MDF, these are an affordable shoe organizer choice.  Each cabinet holds 12 pairs of shoes, so three cabinets equals 36 pair storage capacity – plenty for even the best shoe collector!  Next time you are looking for a new shoe rack, consider one of these tilt-out style shoe cabinets!

Being environmentally friendly is in.  Here’s one way you can do your part in your closet!  Read on…

I’ve blogged before about eco friendly shoes, and what you can do with old shoes to help the environment instead of harming it, and now I’m going to take it a step further.  If you are in the market for a new shoe organizer, and you like to shop green, an environmentally shoe rack may be the right choice for you!  There are many different ways you can go with this.  One way is to buy a product that is chemical free, like a cedar shoe rack that is left unfinished.  Just make sure first that it is made of a replenish type of cedar, like a farmed red cedar.  Another way is to use something you already have around the home, or search ebay or craigslist for something used.  Better yet, get yourself to the goodwill or Salvation Army for a pre-used shoe rack.   If you really want to buy one, though, this environmentally friendly shoe rack gets two green thumbs up from me.  This shoe organizer is made of 70% recycled plastic bottles, a fine way to make good use of wasted materials, turning them into something nice and new so that consumers have a choice of buying green planet friendly products.  This shoe rack has 20 pockets, for holding ten pairs of shoes, but is also great for organizing socks, scarves, and other accessories.  Best of all, it hangs over the door, one of the most space-efficient shoe storage options on the market, and requires no assembly or drilling.  Use it in the hall closet as the family shoe rack, in the kids room for small toys and stuffed animals, or in your own closet for easy access to your most used shoes!

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!

Traditional Shoe Boxes get a makeover with updated materials and style.  Read On.

There’s no question about it, shoe boxes are one of the best ways to protect your footwear from dust, insects and moisture.  I remember that my grandmother always kept her cardboard shoe boxes from the shoe store and piled them high on her upper closet shelf, mostly for dress shoes that she didn’t wear everyday.  There were probably about 20 boxes.  This was great for protecting more expensive shoes. 

The cardboard could certainly keep dust off of the shoes, and she would even stuff the tissue paper back into the front of the shoes to maintain their shape (this problem can now be solved with shoe pops or shoe trees, both affordable and readily available at StacksAndStacks.com).  The problem with this system of shoe preservation and shoe organization was that you had to dig through dozens of boxes to find the right pair of shoes to match your outfit.  So while the cardboard boxes are protective (for a while, at least, until they start collapsing), they are also very secretive, each protecting the identity of its contents from our eyes. 

This problem can be solved with some great new inventions in shoe boxes.  These are permanent solutions that will last for years.  They are not free, like the cardboard variety, but they are a wise and cost effective purchase, because they will protect shoes (not cheap either) from the usual damage.  Clear plastic shoe boxes is the choice of many people, because they really let you see what’s inside, and allow you to almost create a display of your favorite shoes, perfect for shoe lovers like me!  A more discreet choice are fabric shoe boxes.  Now you may think that you can’t see through the fabric, and you are correct.  But, the manufacturers thought ahead and made these shoe boxes with a little window, so you can still see what’s inside – a great, neat look for any closet!

A Multi Purpose Modular Shoe Rack is this Week’s Product of the Week!

This week, the featured shoe rack has just about everything you could ever want from one. 

• Style:  Made of beautiful hardwoods with a natural finish, this shoe rack will match almost any decor.  The natural wood is left to shine through the clear finish, so you get the benefits of a finished piece and still have the beauty of the hardwood details.  Natural light colored woods match most decors, they are a very neutral color, so they can blend with colorful decors and muted ones alike. 
• Size:  This shoe rack is the perfect size for being left out in the open in a room or shoved to the back of a closet.  Alone, it holds between nine and twelve pairs of shoes, perfect for a seasonal assortment of footwear for anyone.  In closets and bedrooms, this shoe rack can be used one per person to hold their whole seasonal collection of shoes.  In open areas like the hallway and entryway of the house, a whole family can each put one or two pairs of their most frequently used shoes on this rack. 
• Foldable:  This shoe rack is foldable. Simply fold the shelves down and then the sides in for an easy to use and transport shoe rack.  This is a great idea for formal guest rooms, bring the shoe rack out when you have overnight visitors, and fold it up and put it away at the end of their visit for storage. 
• Stacking – if nine to twelve pairs of shoes isn’t enough, you can stack two units on top of each other, secured in the back with a simple plate and screw to amp up the storage to 24 pairs of shoes.  This is great in the closet where tipping isn’t an issue, and maximum shoe storage is a must.

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.

Footlockers are a Traditional and Fun Way to Store Shoes!

What is a footlocker anyway?  (And, let’s clarify from the start, I’m not talking about the athletic shoe mall store here.)  I’ve heard that word, footlocker, my whole life, and generally thought it was a large metal chest.  I feel like usually I have seen these chests in the trunks of the cars of rock bands, and also, for some reason, associate them with magicians. 

Anyway, I also used to sell these in a retail store and I can’t tell you how many different ways people actually use them.  And, truth be told, people did purchase them for their shoes.  But more on that later.  First, a definition of a footlocker:  NOUN: A trunk for storing personal belongings, especially one kept at the foot of a bed, as in a barracks. 

And, with more investigation I have learned that the term footlocker was, originally, a military term.  Soldiers used these boxes at the foot of their bed, hence, a “footlocker”.  Go figure!  I think they originally were very plain, made of plywood, and then as pressed board was developed they turned out that way.  Officers and superiors got deluxe models with metal frames and leather handles, and were allowed to hang pictures in them.  Anyway, I do think this would be a fun way to store shoes in the house, a great alternative to a traditional shoe rack for shoes that are out of season, probably not a good idea for ones you use each day, as that would require a lot of digging. 

Here are some other fun things to do with footlockers (and check out the pink one I found, above!!!) 

• Kids Trunk – Store toys for young kids, and let teens decorate the inside of the box with their favorite posters. 
• Keepsake box – Keep your children’s keepsakes throughout their life – artwork, school papers, blankies and give it back to them when they get married!