A Shoe-per Improvement!

A weekend where I pick up a drill is a weekend I consider productive, and this was one of those weekends! Of course, it would have been more productive if I had picked tiles too, but a girl can't fulfill all her dreams in 2 days, can she?

This weekend I decided to tackle this problem:

Can't see the problem? Let's move in closer:

Yes, this may sound shocking, but my $10 shoe rack completely fell apart and I had a total shoe-valanche. This rack is pure evil. First, it was like 2 inches longer than the box said. And then it would NOT go together and constantly fell apart. I finally got it together and then 6 months later, this happened. I guess you get what you pay for! So it was time for something a little more permanent and less breaky-breaky.

I picked out a simple white metal shelving thingy online, but my Canadian Tire didn't stock it. Therefore I call on Mr. Dad to find it and went to his hardware store and got an inexpensive rail unit that attaches to the wall. I have no idea what it cost- sorry! But I don't think it was terribly expensive and he already owned the rails that I used.

First thing to do was clean out the closet.

This obviously led to the question- why do I own so many shoes?

I seriously wear two pairs of shoes. My expensive and uber-comfy Clarks flats and my Rockport boat shoes. This fall and winter I will add in a single pair of boots, which I will wear every day. Yet I own like 20 pairs of shoes! And I realize this is probably 1% of some women's closets, but it is still silly. I don't even wear heels (at the tender age of 26 I am already turning into a crotchety old lady). But shoes are beautiful and I cannot stand to toss them. They decorate my closet!

Back to the closet- it was now cleared and ready for install!

But before I got to that, I wanted to see how many shoes I could fit across. I wanted to install along the side, instead of the back, because I like to tuck my vacuum in the back and out of sight. The side wall is 35" deep and the back is only 31" across. That is 4" of pure shoe space. I put a rack together and saw how many shoes could fit before I hit 35". Luckily four pairs could easily fit in 30" so I could install my bars anywhere I like (they are easily adjustable from 24" to 42").

Installing the racks on the wall is super easy- IN THEORY! I would have never ever guessed that the stupid wall in the closet is stupid CEMENT. I get the outer walls being cement- but a tiny closet wall?? I could only get my drill to go in about a centimeter, I swear. argh.

Ok, I will admit that is irrational. But I was tired. It was probably just some tough studs. Should have used my pointy drill bits (technical term).

To remedy that, I did this:

Yup, I cut my plugs down the size. Because the screws are not terribly long and the rails being about half an inch deep, they actually didn't need to go super deep into the wall. At least I hope so, because I don't want to deal with another shoe-valanche.

Then I had rails installed and they were level! Go me!

The actual shoe racks just snap into place and through the magic of the internet they quickly went from this:

To this!

They stuck out much farther from the wall than I expected (There are three depths for men's shoes, women's and kids. I chose the women's one, even though I have giant man feet). I kinda think maybe I should have put this rack along the back...but then I'd have to move coats and vacuums and crap to get back there. So I don't know!! But for now I am too lazy to move it.

Yes, I did end up shifting the height of each shelf so I could hang my organizer for gloves and clutches. And I added a wall hook for my bag of reusable bags. I think it is looking nice and organized now! I also have a couple more rails I may install up higher to put shelves on for more storage.

I also purged a couple shoes. Maybe I should start wearing heels again??