shoe peeve

One of my biggest pet peeves is the pile of shoes by the door. We are a shoe off-at-the-door-kind of family. It keeps my house cleaner, and with four little ones, we spend a lot of time on the floor -playing, reading, wrestling, hosting stuffed animal & baby doll tea parties, eel hunting -the list goes on forever.

But I just hate that pile of shoes at the door. Even if each person only has one pair of shoes at the door, with six people, it quickly becomes a pile of at least a dozen loose flip flops, sneakers, boots, or sandals -just sitting there.

I don't mind a small basket of shoes, or a few tidy shoe cubbies, but with my crew, even a small basket doesn't really accommodate us.

Not to mention, our little yellow cape doesn't have a proper entryway or a mudroom. Remember, my family room layout here. There's not a coat closet in sight. (We do have a coat closet, but it's past the kitchen and down the hall. Not exactly handy for our frequent comings and goings.)

Enter the best thing I found ever . . .

Ikea's Shoe Cabinet from the Hemnes Collection

The larger one is not only taller, but deeper and includes a drawer. Prior to now I've never been a big Ikea furniture fan. I love all their space saving strategies and their organizational goodies, but their furniture, not so much. But this shoe problem was starting to make me desperate for a solution.

And I love it. The drawers slide open, easily accommodating even my husband's big ole shoes. The taller one has a double row in each compartment. In fact, I loved it so much, I bought two.

How do you solve your shoe problem? Or do you even have one? It's not just us, right?

Other post you may like: family room

Linked up to Miss Mustard Seed, Finding Fabulous