Ask ShoeperWoman: Shoe storage for flat shoes

Over at my new questions page, Alison asked:

“How do you store flats? I know you have shelves for heels, but what about flats?”

My own answer to this one is pretty boring, unfortunately: I’d love to be able to say I’ve come up with some kind of wildly innovative type of shoe storage for my collection of ballet flats, but actually I just have them on shelves at the bottom of my closet:

These shelves are just above floor height, and they were originally put in just to make the closet look a little neater (underneath them, there’s just enough space for some storage boxes, which I have filled with scarves and other accessories), but I quickly started using them for ballet flats. Because flats are… well, FLAT, basically… they don’t take up a huge amount of space, so this works out fine for me. I also have a small selection of flats right next to the front door, inside one of these:

OK, OK, ya got me: my cabinet IS from Ikea, but it’s actually the cheap plastic version of this one. I bought it when I moved into my first house, with the intention of upgrading it as soon as possible, but, well, here we are, a long time later, and it’s still going strong. Mine might be looking a little past its best these days, but it’s still a great way to store flat shoes, especially the ones you wear on a regular basis. I tend to use mine for some of my Melissa flats: they’re waterproof, and super-comfortable, so they tend to be the shoes I grab when I’m walking the dog, or popping out for something- it makes sense to have them next to the door, and in a wipe-clean shoe storage box!

I also really love this storage bench: lower the lid and it’s a cute seat, which would good look at the end of the bed, or in a dressing room. Open it up, though, and you’ll find lots of little compartments for your shoes.  As you can see, these are large enough to hold heels and even some boots as well as flats, but if you were using it purely to store flat shoes, you’d probably be able to double the storage capacity.

Finally, if you’re short on space…

OK, it’s not exactly glamorous, but in-closet shoe storage doesn’t really have to be, does it? This extendable shoe rack looks like the perfect shoe storage for small spaces: again, it’ll work for heels, too, but I reckon it’ll be much less bulky with flats!

So, tell me: how do YOU store your flats? You can either answer in the comments, or over at the question itself!  And if you have a question of your own, feel free to post it here – I’ll pick the best ones to feature on the blog!

Shoe storage ideas for flats