Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Closet Part 1 : Shoe Shelves

As I mentioned before, we're on an organizing kick. This past weekend we tackled part 1of a million many projects that we'll take on to get our closet up to par.

We ladies love our shoes, and although I was a late bloomer at developing that love, it has become a mild obsession.  We have these dividers that separate Chris's side of the closet and my side of the closet, which the previous owners used to store their shoes.


Initially, I put some of my shoes on these shelves, and some of them on the floor.  After that became somewhat of a nightmare with shoes on the floor, I tried to stack them on top of each other without much luck.  Everytime I'd take a pair out, I'd have to pick up at least 1 pair off the floor.

So a few months back I came up with the idea of putting baskets in these cubbies and putting our shoes in the baskets.


The idea was supposed to be that the blue baskets were Chris's and the pink baskets were mine.  The idea was that I'd share.  Bad idea...I took over with the exception of one lonely basket that Chris got.  The only basket of these that actually worked well was my flip flop basket on the bottom right.  I can see all of my various flip flops and just take out the pair I want.


For the rest of my shoes though, inevitably the pair that I want is at the bottom, so all of the shoes that are in the basket wind up all over the floor.  I'm one of those panic great ready people too...my bedroom and closet area slightly look like a war zone when I'm done.  I can be holding what I want in my hand and not be able to find it.  Point being, the basket method isn't a good one for me!

The main problem with the cubbies are that they're SO high.  My shoes get lost in there, and the top 75% is just a waste of space if I set my shoes out individually.

So what's a girl to do?  Add in extra shoe shelves with the help of her handy studly hubby, of course!

We had an assembly line going of mitering 1x2's (the braces for the shelves to go on), and sanding.  After we finished up with 18 of those, we got out the circular saw and continued our assembly line of cutting and sanding.


This was the basic idea of what we were going for.  1x2's for braces, and a shelf lying across them.

We measured half way up, got out our handy pocket level, and I held the 1x2's tight while Chris screwed them in.


Then we slid in the shelves, and wala!  We have ENOUGH shelves for my shoes!


The idea is to paint all of this.  You can see from the image above that we removed the closet doors for this project, so it's not a big deal that it's not painted yet.  We've got 8 trillion quite a few steps left to work on for this closet project, so we're waiting to paint until we're close to done.  It'll save us the headache of moving clothes in and out of the closet multiple times!


Do you see my empty shelf?!?!  I told Chris that means I get to go get TWO new pairs of shoes!!!  He put two pairs of his shoes in that shelf and then a few pairs on top of his jeans instead.  Sigh...I guess I have to share!





Shoes glorious shoes!!!!  I actually can't wait to paint this section.  I want to do a fun blue like my mail holder.  I know it generally stays behind closed doors, but the completion of this project makes me so happy.  It's hard to explain!

Oh, and the best part about this project?  It cost us absolutely nothing to create.  We already had everything!

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I'm linking up the parties on my links tab...go check out what everyone else is creating!

41 comments:

  1. Cute! It looks like a little boutique in your closet!

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  2. I love it!! I'm also jealous, our closet is literally like a closet!! Tiny!!

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  3. Oh this is just fab, been trying to sort my shoes too and been thinking about a bookcase with extra shelves in my closet..it just might work. TFS

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  4. Love it! When I organized my closet a couple years ago and made a special place for my shoes, I had about 2 spots left. I now have about half of the spaces doubled up and overflowing onto my floor again. hmm, never ending battle. I guess it's time to purge my shoes :-( ....or find another special place for my overflow! :-)

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  5. Oh-SO-Jealous! Wanna come do my closets? Looks Really Nice! Excellent job!

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  6. This looks great - wish I could do something like this BUT I would need three of these units - LOL

    Stop over to enter my giveaway!

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  7. Wow, that looks like a real store! Nice job :)

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  8. Looks great!! I am not a shoe person but I may be now =)

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  9. Fantastic! Isn't it nice to see all of your shoes???

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  10. Beautiful! I love seeing all those pretty shoes lined up like that. Way to go! I'd love to feature you as a Storage Star...I'll send you an email!

    Laura

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  11. I'm so jealous! As soon as I have a walk-in closet I'll have shoe shelves galore!!! Yours looks great!!!! =)

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  12. What a great job! I think I would wear my shoes more if I could see all of them. Great Job.
    Donna

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  13. Bravo! I'm currently redoing out closet. This is great inspiration.

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  14. Kara, you crack me up girl. I think something is going around, maybe it's in the water, and we are all getting sick, with the need to organize. I don't know about you, but I've actually had this illness for many years now. I really LOVE your very simple idea to create instant storage for more shoes. What's up with the design of most shoe shelves, they simply are too big, and waste so much empty space. I wish I had a shelf like that in more than one place in my home. I will have to come up with something, and you have just given me even more ideas. Thanks girl.

    Speaking of organizing, like I said I am on a binge right now for sure. I have a set of goals I am trying to work on and I have until the end of the month. I have also started a NEW linky party for all of us who want to share the inspiration with others, and if you want, I would love for you to share this, and any other projects, diy, or tips at my party. Hope you can take a peak, and I will keep up with you for sure :)

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  15. Just noticed you are a gator, my husband is a gator, and while I am not a football, or any kind of sport fan, we are GATORS all the way. Living in Ga, my oldest has literally gotten in fights over gators being better than the bulldogs, and you know they are, lol. Just made me laugh reading your about me page.

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  16. Nice! What a great idea and, by the way, you have great taste in shoes. :)

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  17. I'm popping over from Hope Studios and I am in love with your closet. I have the hardest time organizing our shoes and my closet looks like a war zone when I'm in there too! Can't wait to check out your blog!

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  18. How nice. Isn't it great to be able to see all your shoes. And to have them lined up like soldiers.

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  19. as a fellow shoe collector and closet space horder, i love this!

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  20. So great!! Your closet is HUGE! I would be in heaven with the shelving you just put in!! :)
    So cute! I'm visiting from Tute In Tuesday! Great blog! Come by Sassy Sites and say hi! :)

    Marni @ Sassy Sites
    www.sassysites.blogspot.com
    MY blog is all about YOU!

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  21. Love it!! I need all a shoe holder like that.

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  22. You've done an excellent job it's always hard to store the zillions of shoes us girls love to have. Room for more is always a good thing!

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  23. My daughter's name is Kara - so - I had to pop over and check out your site.

    I just wish my Kara was half as organized

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  24. I found your blog via Remodelaholic. I love your organized shoe closet! Great job with the creative use of space.

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  25. We are so glad you joined us for Anything Related! Come back tomorrow for another great party!
    {Rebekah}

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  26. BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!! And I am in LOVE with your closet!!! Mines the size of a shoebox so I'm having closet envy at the moment ;)
    Thanks so much for linking at gettin' crafty on hump day!

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  27. VERY nice! So neat and organized- you can actually see all the shoes you own! ...I wonder what that feels like...

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  28. Hi Kara,
    I found you on my sisters blog House of Grace and I love your shoe closet. I have a similar way I store / display my shoes but I love how you added more shelves. I will have to try this for myself. Thanks for the tip! You have a new follower today!
    ~Elisabeth

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  29. I am so jealous! I'm linking you up to SHOESday at my place!

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  30. I just love it!!I'm in so need of organizing my shoes!! Anyway, thank you for stopping by my blog! :)

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  31. Looks great! I organize my shoes the same way, in a white bookshelf type of thing.

    If you wanted a back to your shoe shelf, you could get one large piece of beadboard and just nail it on the back. You could also paint it a pretty color if you like to serve as a backdrop for your shoes. Great job!

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  32. great idea...I never would of thought to put a book shelf down the center of the closet in the first place...but I see that it works :)

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  33. WOOOW I love this blog is amazing.

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  34. Wooow..I found you on my sisters blog House of Grace and I love your shoe closet. I have a similar way I store / display my shoes but I love how you added more shelves. I will have to try this for myself. Thanks for the tip! You have a new follower today!

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  35. I think this is the best way to have ordered our shoes!!!
    Muebles

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