My family has a very serious shoe problem. If you walked into my house house unannounced (i.e. I did not have time to scramble and hide all the evidence), you would think at least 10 people lived there. Seriously, there are only 3 of us... and still this is what our front entry way typically looks like:
We are all equally guilty in this mess. The hubs and I have apparently done an excellent job of passing this bad habit on to the little bear. All I can say is thank goodness the dog does not wear shoes... I would not even want to think about shoes for her 4 feet!
Clearly the mat system here was not working for us... so off I went to find a new solution. I started surfing for shoe racks at Target, but then did not really want to spend that much money. Then I thought I would try Goodwill and see what I could re-purpose. This was on Sunday morning, and the Goodwill by my house did not open for another 4 hours. So I decided to try shopping at home and see what I could find!
When I got to my son's play area inspiration hit! There was a bookcase in there that I had been trying to use for his book storage, but it was not working well. He's only 3 and getting books on a shelf the right way just seems like too much... at least for my three year old. Plus he could never find the book he wanted when he wanted it. hmmmm, my wheels were turning!
I empty the books and toys, and moved the bookcase to the entry way. It is just the right size for the space, and the shoes!
That's the same # of shoes, just organized better. I think it works pretty well, and the best part is that it still looks like this! This system is working much better.
Of course now I just had a giant pile of books in our play room. Another sweep of the house turned up a nice sofa table that was not being used in the basement. I knew I could work with that. So into the play room it went!
I like the open table better in here any ways. Being able to shove the toy storage containers under the table saves a lot of space. Aren't those canvas bins just the cutest? I love them, and they hold tons of toys! Check them out here:3 Sprouts Storage Bin, Grey
My son's books are now all lined up on top of the table. I used an empty storage container turned on it's side to act as book ends. My little bear loves the new set up and has been pulling out his books more often!
All in all, I'd say it was a pretty productive day of organizing. I'm actually pretty happy that the Goodwill store was not open yet. It forced me to get creative with items I already had!
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