Gentlemen--I have a problem that has caused no small amount of disruption in my otherwise high degree of marital bliss over the years. I suspect many of your can identify with it.

I have an unusually large collection of footwear (especially for a man). I love shoes and have been building my collection for many years. Where to keep all these shoes has long been a problem--though we have a fairly large amount of closet space in our house.

My wife constantly complains (justifiably so) that she has no where for her own rather large amount of shoes and clothing--did I mention I have a lot of clothes as well?

But shoes are a real problem because one can't fold and stack them. They work their way out of the closet or off the rack on to the floor and then we have a problem. I just ordered another pair! Of ptbs! I'm beginning to feel like a pathalogical "hoarder".

Ideas and advice (besides giving away those I seldom wear) please! Surely uncle Mac has dealt with this at least in some measure? Perhaps custom made shelving in the spare bed room that reaches to the ceiling. Only in America I suppose...:icon_scratch: But I don't apologize.

you need a shoe closet!

 

I managed to "borrow" some space in my children's closest. Our oldest son provides suit overflow, our middle child provides shirt overflow and the youngest shoes. Now I maintain that this occurs because Mrs.Wisco hogs the master bedroom closet... but she's not buying it.

Luckily the kids are small enough (small clothing) thay I can get away with this... for now.

 

....They work their way out of the closet or off the rack on to the floor and then we have a problem.......

I enjoy having everything in it's place. I can be very hard on myself sometimes, but I need things (my things, not other peoples') to be orderly. Then again, I only have........12 pair. Had to do a mental count. Maybe I'll sell a few...
Anyway I keep them in their little bags in their boxes in my closet. If I am running around and a few pair end up on the floor waiting for the Mac method I clean and brush ASAP and put them where they belong.

I am working on being more relaxed......:icon_smile:

 

I picked up some stackable wooden shoe racks from the Container Store which work for me.

 

I managed to "borrow" some space in my children's closest. Our oldest son provides suit overflow, our middle child provides shirt overflow and the youngest shoes. Now I maintain that this occurs because Mrs.Wisco hogs the master bedroom closet... but she's not buying it.

Luckily the kids are small enough (small clothing) thay I can get away with this... for now.

amazing.

 

Sort of under the bed, some in the closet, laying around the house...did I mention I live alone?

 

I have a shoe closet in the garage. I tried basement, humidity was too much.

 

I use these from the Container Store, and here's a picture from a few months ago:

Fits under our vallet table, and the wife has her own to hold hers too. The great thign about these containers is that they have more than enough room (don't buy the women's one, as you can see they are smaller), and it keeps 99% of the dust off. I use to have to polish my shoes before every wear and sometimes the unworn bi-weekly because it is so dusty next to the door so it is a time saver too. I actually had to bring up the wood and tube racking because we didn't have enough room. The out of rotation shoes, a dozen+, are stored in my closet under my suits.

 

Not to pry, but how many pairs do you have?

In my case, the answer is more than 30, and more than 40 counting casuals (Clark desert boots, Topsiders, Doc Martens, driving moc's, sandals and tennis shoes). Shoes, actually, are the easiest clothing items to store, at least at my house (sport coats and overcoats are the biggest space hogs). I use stackable wooden shoe shelves from Target, each holds, IIRC, five pairs per row, with two rows per shelf. Two fit inside my bedroom closet. The others go into an alcove in the bedroom. Doesn't take up much space at all. The only downside is dust, but that hasn't been an issue since I scored an electric shoe buffer at the thrift shop a few months ago. It's a stand-up model. When I get dressed each morning, I just give the shoes a quick buff--it's the last thing I do before going downstairs to face the day.

Gentlemen--I have a problem that has caused no small amount of disruption in my otherwise high degree of marital bliss over the years. I suspect many of your can identify with it.

I have an unusually large collection of footwear (especially for a man). I love shoes and have been building my collection for many years. Where to keep all these shoes has long been a problem--though we have a fairly large amount of closet space in our house.

My wife constantly complains (justifiably so) that she has no where for her own rather large amount of shoes and clothing--did I mention I have a lot of clothes as well?

But shoes are a real problem because one can't fold and stack them. They work their way out of the closet or off the rack on to the floor and then we have a problem. I just ordered another pair! Of ptbs! I'm beginning to feel like a pathalogical "hoarder".

Ideas and advice (besides giving away those I seldom wear) please! Surely uncle Mac has dealt with this at least in some measure? Perhaps custom made shelving in the spare bed room that reaches to the ceiling. Only in America I suppose...:icon_scratch: But I don't apologize.

 

I used to have a cedar closet, so I built an upside-down shelf like |-------| to "double stack" on the shelf there. Upon moving, my closet for dress clothes is actually bigger, and the rack just sits on top of the wire-rack shelving. Also picked up a 9-pair wood rack at a thrift store that goes on top of my little carpeted stomach-high area in the closet (it's over stairs). Indy boots on the floor, and a few sitting on the little carpeted area. It works okay, but I'm going to have to extend the rack out one because the shelf is six pairs wide while my shelf only holds 5 - so there are 11 pairs instead of a full 12 on the shelf. I'd add a third level, but I'm not certain the wire shelving can hold it - my suits & dress shirts & dress pants go on there too, and I had to install additional bracing just to make sure things stayed in place. Anyone have any experience with weight loads on that type of "white wire shelving?"

I'll take some closet photos one of these days... when I'm done, doncha know?!

 

Nerev, good suggestion. I will look for a container store and head out there this weekend.

 

I live in an older home that generally lacks closet space. I keep my casual shoes (boat shoes, desert boots, Chuck's, etc.) in the foyer coat closet, my dress shoes in the closet of our spare room on racks and my boots (snow, work)in the basement. In an ideal world I would have a walk-in closet/dressing room.

 

Saltydog: So many of us feel your pain, LOL! In my case, with more time on my hands, than good sense, I picked up some lumber from Home Depot and customized my closet, to incorporate a shoe rack that measures approximately 60" by 60" (seven shelves, for shoes, if you count the top of the unit!) for the storage and display of my most frequently worn shoes. Boxed shoes are stored in closets located in rooms, formerly occupied by our daughters. Make no mistake, we love our children but, we are talking shoes here and we do have to keep our priorities straight. (Please note: Another plus here, as the kids leave, all that money we used to spend on orthodontia, college tuition, etc., can now be spent on more clothes and shoes and hence, you will need even more space for storage of such!). And finally we have our upstairs TV and reading room (formerly our oldest daughters bedroom), appropriately titled 'The Elvis Blue Suede Shoe Room', the decor of which reflects my wifes arguably pronounced fascination with the King of Rock and Roll and the presence of a couple of racks of my shoes (to include my recently acquired AE blue suede wing tips!), which wouldn't fit anywhere else in our house. Life is indeed, good!!

 

wouldn't plastic boxes capture moisture?

 

wouldn't plastic boxes capture moisture?

I would think so. In my house I have the smaller closet in the master bed room and my wife uses the larger closet in one of the guest rooms for her clothes and shoes. My shoes go back in their boxes and get stacked in my closet and hers do the same in her closet. I don't have that many pairs, maybe 10 so I don't have too much of a space issue yet but if I couldn't stack them in the boxes I'd have a problem

 

As with Eagle: our kids flew the coop a few years ahead of their wardrobes, which were abandoned, for the most part. Then one day my wife and I got rid of them, and whole closets opened up. However, nature abhors a vacuum ...

 

I'm working on sorting this out myself. We're planning on moving into Manhattan next year and however cramped I feel now it will be worse when I'm paying shell cordovan prices per square foot! We're contemplating floor to ceiling wardrobes as well as a higher bed so that we're not limited to a few small closets, but things are looking grim for a growing collection.

 

I would think so. In my house I have the smaller closet in the master bed room and my wife uses the larger closet in one of the guest rooms for her clothes and shoes. My shoes go back in their boxes and get stacked in my closet and hers do the same in her closet. I don't have that many pairs, maybe 10 so I don't have too much of a space issue yet but if I couldn't stack them in the boxes I'd have a problem

that's essentially what we do.

 

wouldn't plastic boxes capture moisture?

There are ventallation holes.

 

amazing.

You make do with what you have.... and the master closet is actually a bit smaller than our children's room closets.

 

Mine are sort of here and there. Some are in a hanging organizer on the back of the bedroom door, some are on a rack that sits on my closet floor, and some are on the closet floor itself.

Of course, many of my more recently worn pairs come to rest here and there around the apartment until I go through and return them to their homes. Much to my wife's consternation, sometimes. But she has her own quirks in this area, so neither of us casts first stones at each other.

 

I bought the Container Store plastic shoe boxes. Haven't found moisture to be a problem. I stack 'em outside my bedroom closet. I wish they were out of sight, but we don't have that much space. At least having them this way keeps them organized.

 

You make do with what you have.... and the master closet is actually a bit smaller than our children's room closets.

The joys (and there are lots) of older homes. We live near the home of (The Unsinkable) Molly Brown, the wife, if you remember the story, of a Colorado silver baron. Her home is a museum now and I was surprised that her closets were no larger than my own non-mansion 1885 era closets. Little.

I suppose it requires more careful editing, and like many, mine are in Container Store plastic boxes, stacked just inside the closet door, with room for three of the more-frequently worn pairs on the floor of the closet. It is dark in the closet so I have labels for the boxes. Tall stack. Move the summer shoes to the bottom, and vice versa come summer. We have what we need and are pretty much in the replace-what-wears-out mode.

 

I guess I'm fortunate that I have multiple extra bedrooms to absorb clothes, shoes, etc. I'm going to take one of the bedrooms and gut it and turn it into a real walk-in closet.

 

I guess I'm fortunate that I have multiple extra bedrooms to absorb clothes, shoes, etc. I'm going to take one of the bedrooms and gut it and turn it into a real walk-in closet.

I have a bedroom we could convert. How would you go about it? Would you do it yourself, with impliments from Home Depot or somewhere else that carries storage items? Call in a "closet and storage expert". Or do you have an idea about what you want and plan to hire a carpenter to do it. PM if you like--since I'm sure to have questions