Shoe Storage DIY – Sole Searching

I finally came up with a shoe storage DIY that works for me. But only after a lot of ‘sole searching’ (the kind of searching you do when you can’t find the pair of shoes you really want to wear, that is)!

Before I get into the nitty gritty, I have an amusing story about my shoe fetish. I worked for a downtown creative firm many years ago and was known for keeping a ton of shoes under my desk. One year at Christmas time, because we were a creative bunch, the party committee decided to shoot a video. Every time they shot a scene, they would cut back to someone counting shoes under my desk. This was a running joke that went on for the entire length of the video! Anyway, that ‘amusement’ soon faded when the reality of the situation finally sunk in. That resulted in having to come up with a solution to store more of my shoes at home 🙂

Shoe Storage DIY Supplies

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Shoe Storage Ideas for Small Spaces

Even though I have a walk-in closet,  it is fairly small space and is a cluttered mess.  I want to be able to easily locate shoes at a glance.  It would take a mega-storage solution to organize my myriad of shoes, but I have to think small!

The as-is section at Ikea is a great resource for finding items at a fraction of the price. When I happened upon a Pax 2 wardrobe frame floor model, I just knew that it would work perfectly as a DIY shoe cabinet!  The metal shelves it came with were meant to be used for shoe storage, as shown below, but I really wanted a dust free solution so I reinstalled the shelves in a horizontal position instead.

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Source: Ikea.ca

Here’s how the shelves look:

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Shelves positioned horizontally

Shoe Storage DIY – Take Pictures

This pack of ‘self laminating cards’ is only $3 for 50 at the dollar store!

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Dollar store bargain!

For each pair of shoes, arrange them on a white board to neutralize the background. That way, you can see the shoes from the side as well as from the top. If you’re consistent with this layout, it will look organized once stacked on the shelves. Then it’s just a matter of taking digital pictures of every pair of shoes.

You’ll need to practice a little to get everything into frame. Some of my pictures got cut off a touch because of the size of the laminated card. So be mindful of this as you’re taking pictures. Leave enough white space around your photos so you won’t have to retake them again!

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They might not be able to smile for the camera, but they sure do shine!  Can you tell I love shoes?

Our local photography store was having a sale on 6×8 prints. So I set the pictures up collage-style (four to a page) to fit them into the self-laminating cards. The card size is only 2 1/2″ high x 4″ wide. I suggest a test print in your home printer to make sure the photos will work with that size.

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Laminate

After the pictures are processed, trim them to size to fit into the self-laminating cards and press around the edges to seal them.

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You’ll need stackable containers that will fit within the wardrobe. Because I needed so many, I waited until one of our local organizing stores was having a sale. I was able to get perfectly sized containers for $2 each. For anyone wondering what I used, the boxes are from IRIS (13.63″ x 8.13″ x 4.38″ – 6 quart containers). There’s a similar one available at Amazon in the supply list above.

Once all the laminate cards are complete, put double face tape on the back and stick to the outside of the box. If you prefer, you can use clear double side tape and stick the picture onto the inside of the box facing out instead.

Then, put the matching shoes into the box, pop in a silica packet (for moisture), close the lid and stack onto the shelf.

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The wardrobe is the perfect size to hold up to 40 pairs of shoes in these plastic storage containers (it measures 19 5/8″ wide by 13 3/4 deep by 93 1/8″ high). In addition to the metal shelving, I bought a few more so I could stack the shoe boxes 3-high between each shelf. Stacking them in this way makes it easy enough to pull one out from the bottom without risking an avalanche of the ones on top.

After a lot of 'sole searching' (the kind you do when you can't find the pair of shoes you want to wear!), I came up with a shoe storage DIY that works. Birdz of a Feather | closet shoe storage diy | shoe storage diy ideas | diy shoe cabinet | diy shoe cubby | shoe storage ideas for small spaces | shoe storage solutions | shoe storage solution | perfect shoe storage solution | best shoe storage solution | shoe storage | shoe storage ideas | Ikea shoe storage | Ikea shoe storage hack

Stacking boxes 3-high on each shelf functions well

The beauty of this project is that it takes up little floor space in the closet. It’s only two shoe boxes wide – the rest of the space is essentially vertical air space, leaving me plenty of room for clothes storage too!

Shoe Storage DIY

With some plastic storage containers, self laminating cards, a camera and some double face tape, here’s the final shoe storage solution.

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At a glance dust free storage!

This turned out to be the best shoe storage solution for me! I can store up to 40 pair of shoes in this tower. Because of the height, I need a step stool to reach the very top but I store less-used shoes on top.

After a lot of 'sole searching' (the kind you do when you can't find the pair of shoes you want to wear!), I came up with a shoe storage DIY that works. Birdz of a Feather | closet shoe storage diy | shoe storage diy ideas | diy shoe cabinet | diy shoe cubby | shoe storage ideas for small spaces | shoe storage solutions | shoe storage solution | perfect shoe storage solution | best shoe storage solution | shoe storage | shoe storage ideas | Ikea shoe storage | Ikea shoe storage hack

Even if you don’t have a walk-in closet and don’t have space to devote to a tower of shoes, you can still utilize the self-laminating card idea on the outside of your shoe boxes to see what you have without having to open the lid! Easy peasy and dust free to boot!

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After a lot of 'sole searching' (the kind you do when you can't find the pair of shoes you want to wear!), I came up with a shoe storage DIY that works. Birdz of a Feather | closet shoe storage diy | shoe storage diy ideas | diy shoe cabinet | diy shoe cubby | shoe storage ideas for small spaces | shoe storage solutions | shoe storage solution | perfect shoe storage solution | best shoe storage solution | shoe storage | shoe storage ideas | Ikea shoe storage | Ikea shoe storage hack

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9 thoughts on “Shoe Storage DIY – Sole Searching

  1. It’s been on my mind to do something to organize the shoes in my closet. You’ve inspired me to get on that project with how beautifully you’ve organized your shoes. Thanks for sharing this idea at the #ThisIsHowWeRoll Link Party.

    • Happy to hear it helped to inspire you with your own project. You’ll have to keep in touch and let me know how it turns out 🙂

    • Thanks Tina – glad you like it. As much as I love shoes, I hate dust and clutter even more! The way I’ve stored them mostly takes up vertical space so it’s more practical for me and still leaves lots of room in my closet to store other things.

      I tried the business card inserts too so I could switch out the pictures but found the pictures would fall out. When I found the laminated cards at the dollar store I couldn’t believe that 50 of them were only $3. You could easily get away with using only one pack for your quilting fabric 🙂

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