Shoeper Shoe Shelves Mark 2!

I mentioned in my Shoe Collection post that my new shoe shelves were finally ready, and here they are!

shoe shelves | shoe storage

Shoe Storage Ideas: ShoeperWoman’s Shoe Shelves

The shoe shelves are located on one wall of my new dressing room, and were built from scratch by the amazing ShoeperMan, who re-purposed the wood from my old shoe shelves to create this boxed design. We did look at buying a ready-made solution (Ikea have a bookcase which uses the same kind of “cubed” layout, for instance), but because the shoe shelves had to be functional as well as attractive, and to hold as many pair of shoes as possible, we realised the best solution was to custom-make them to fit the wall.

When we first started to think about creating another shoe wall, our first thought was to simply recreate the shoe shelves I had in our last house. I loved those shelves, and would’ve been happy to have had something similar in the new place, but I have to be honest: while those shelves started off nice and neat, as my shoe collection grew, and more shoes got added to them, they started to look a lot messier. By using this “boxed” layout instead, in which each pair of shoes has its own separate compartment to live in, we were able to make the collection look much tidier, and more like a “display” than a simple shoe storage solution.

shoe storage shelves

shoes on shelves

shoe room with shoe shelves

shoe wall

(The edges here have yet to be finished off properly: that’s this weekend’s task!)

The boxes also allow me to play around with the placement of each shoe, and display the best features of each one. With the last shelves, the neatest way to store the shoes was to have them all facing the front, but with these shelves it’s easier to emphasize interesting heels…

Casadei Blade heels

heels

… or other elements of the design which stand out, like a great silhouette or an interesting detail:

shoe room

ShoeperWoman's shoe room

Of course, the most important thing was for the shoe shelves to be practical, so there’s still plenty of storage: there are 72 individual compartments, but the top level can also serve as a more shelf, with storage for many more pairs if I really wanted to. At the moment I’m trying to avoid doing that: there’s some additional storage in this dressing room which I’ve used for the less interesting shoes, and my boot collections lives in a closet elsewhere in the house, so I have plenty of extra space… for now! In all honesty, though, although I don’t think I’ll ever stop buying shoes altogether, having most of my collection out on display for the last couple of years (not to mention taking part in the Shoe Challenge!) has definitely changed my shoe-buying habits, and (with a few exceptions), if I find I’m not wearing a particular pair regularly, I don’t hesitate to donate/sell/bin them, so I don’t see the size of my collection growing TOO much. The shoes on the shelves might change as my taste and lifestyle does, but I’m hoping not to need additional storage any-time soon. Mind you, I’m pretty sure I remember saying that at the start of my first shoe challenge, when I had “only” 71 pairs, so I guess time will tell!

One thing’s for sure, though: having my shoes unpacked and out on display will definitely make this year’s shoe challenge a whole lot easier, so massive, massive thanks to ShoeperMan for all of his hard work!

15 Comments

  • What do you do for flats? Also, my concern for shelves like this is dust/maintenance issues, esp with suede or silk items. Maybe it’s not a big deal in Scotland, with clean air and all, but in Moscow, with its epic pollution, I would have to do a full dusting/wet cloth clean-up every other day AT LEAST.

    Pragmatism aside, I am having such a massive shoe/organizational envy. I got tingles when I saw the photos.

    • As I mentioned in the post, there’s additional storage in the dressing room for the shoes that aren’t on the shelves. Anything that’s kept on shelves obviously has to be dusted occasionally, but I’ve been keeping my shoes on shelves for a couple of years now and have never found it to be a problem…

  • Oh I absolutely love the look of those shelves and of shoes on them. It’s the environmental impediments of big cities that I lament.

  • Wow!!! I’m so jealous of these selves…

    A very nice way to keep your shows and look at them as well!!!

    Chadlen

  • I started looking for clusters of shoes by colour (say green for example?), but then realised the “studded Loubies” are in the middle, with the Vivienne Westwards at the perfect height – no stooping or reaching for these babies 🙂

  • I loved the shelves! Such a great work, congratulations! I used to have the Ikea bookshelf, re-purposed for shoes (it was posted on my “old” blog, for the first challenge, with 125 pairs) .This year and in one city, I thought of having the same style again, but decided for “continuous” shelves, for the case I want(ed) to use them for books and ornaments, if I have to donate the shoes… 🙂 (I’ll have to do so for sure). So 180 pairs are in one room, and 90 in another, plus many in another city and many still in boxes. I’m donating at least 10 next week for “flood victims”.

  • This looks amazing! I have an expedit but I don’t use it for storing shoes – the cubes are a bit too big and I think there are only about 20 of them, so it’s definitely not as efficient as your shelves. Maybe Terry should think about starting a new business in shoe storage solutions! 🙂

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