I'm convinced Valentine's Day was invented to ward off mid-winter blahs and give people something to look forward to between the holiday season and St. Paddy's Day. Of course that's assuming St. Paddy came before St. Valentine, which I'm not exactly sure is the case. Nevermind.
What I mean to say is that in spite of the freakishly good weather we're having here in Chicago, it's still February. The days are still short, the nights still long, and without so much as a moment's notice temperatures could drop, snow could fall, and there you'd be, shoveling your driveway. I thought we all could use a fun little series just now, and specifically saved this one for the express purpose of providing a little mid-winter lift. The subject: Shoe organizing. Because that's as good as it gets when it comes to organizing.
As it happens, I've had more than my share of shoe organizers: over-the-door wire racks, canvas shelves suspended from a rod in the closet, wooden floor racks. I've tried lining my shoes up in rows on the floor. In terms of alignment, I've tried the one-shoe-toe-first/one-shoe-heel-first approach, in addition to the more conventional toe-by-toe arrangement. I've tried returning my shoes to their rightful box. I've tried using little felt shoe bags. What else? There was the fling with the stackable acrylic shoe drawers. There was the achingly beautiful--and painfully expensive--birch shoe box with front window so you could see the contents without lifting off the lid. Shoe trees. Boot trees. Baskets. Pull-out shelves. This is what happens when you don't have kids. You develop strange obsessions.
So over the next few days, I thought I'd share some thoughts on what works and what doesn't in terms of organizing shoes. In the process, I'll review the pros and cons of several organizing methods/ products and include price and sourcing information, as well as discuss storage specifics and ways to customize options to get your closet shoe-sensational.