Hi everyone! Popping in with our third post for
re-run week! I have to say that I’m having fun pulling up past posts. :) And I have had such a productive week! So many new house decisions have been made and I am getting really excited. So thank you for being supportive of the re-runs. :) I’ll share a new house update next week with the latest. Right now I’m sharing a past post on how I organize my shoes in my current house because I spent some time today finalizing the design on my new mudroom. To say I’m excited about that space would be a huge understatement! Since I have been thinking a lot about shoe/coat/backpack organization I thought it would be fun to re-visit what is working for us now in our current house. Which as you know, does not have a mudroom. :) I truly believe you can turn just about any little wall, nook or whatever you can come up with into a nice dropping spot for shoes, coats, etc. I hope this post gives you a few ideas!
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I dream of having a mudroom. A big beautiful mudroom complete with lockers and shoe drawers. And in our next house, I will hopefully have more room than I currently do to make that happen. But for now, the only place for shoes, coats, and backpacks is in our garage. I shared how I organize our shoes a while ago when I did a post on
garage organization. That was working ok…but a little something made me decide to re-think things. And that little something would be the new mini van. Since I’m now a mini van mom (sad how easily that rolls off my tongue these days) the new ride is taking up more space in the garage than the old one leaving no space between it and the shoes. Luckily the van beeps like crazy every time I park so I am able to avoid hitting the shoe rack, just not able to avoid the beeping van headache that often follows.
Plus having our shoes this close to the door always resulted in a messy pile of shoes just waiting to be tripped on.
Plus I bought the girls new summer flip flops. And flip flops this cute just seemed to need a fun new home! Plus let’s face it. I was just in the mood to organize something.
I didn’t do anything major, but just a little rearranging made a huge difference!
Wa-la! I bought one more shoe rack and moved all of the shoes from the front of the garage to the side under the racks we use to store garage tools, coats and backpacks. As cute as the mudroom I’ve designed in my head? No. As practical as the mudroom I’ve designed in my head? Definitely.
Do you love how our coats are mixed in with yard tools? Ha! Lovely I know. If we were planning on staying in this house longer, I would have put in a new rack and separated things better, but I’m still holding out hope that we’ll find a house we love sometime in the near future and this set up works great in the meantime.
I decided to bring down all of the girls shoes from their bedroom to free up more space in their closets. Most of mine and Kenny’s shoes are in our closet other than our “slip on quick and go shoes” (Uggs for three months out of the year and flip flops for the other nine)
Speaking of flip flops, this fun little basket is a new home for ours! So easy for the kids to grab and go AND easy for them to keep picked up and put away.
All boots fit on the top shelf. Want to see my secret for keeping boots standing up straight and tall?
Floppy boots bother me so I’ve always just stuffed a few paper towels in them! When Jen posted on her shoe organization, she mentioned using magazines for her boots. I loved that I wasn’t the only person bothered by floppy boots! And magazines are another great solution!
Want to see my favorite part about my new little shoe system?
When the kids come home from school, the van door opens, kids step out, and immediately put their shoes away on the rack. They empty backpacks and hang them along with their jackets. The “after school mess” is taken care of before my kids even enter the house!
No shoes come in the house, no shoes in front of the door to trip on. I had to snap these pictures so quick to catch Ellie in action! Luckily she’s so used to me taking pictures of every mundane thing we do she didn’t even question why I was running around snapping pictures of her taking off her shoes from all angles. All par for the course around here! :)
Our Bougainvillea vine, while beautiful on the outside of our garage…
always creates a lovely mess for me on the inside of our garage. I have to sweep the garage out at least every other week. So worth it though. I just love that vine!
Then I bought a new rug that matches the one in my kitchen to complete my little project.
Now that my shoes are out of the way it feels like the mini van was made for my garage!
See what I mean…rollin’ right off the tongue…
xoxo, Erin
This post made me smile the first time I read it and it made me smile this time too! Great idea!
I use the empty roll that foil comes on in my boots. Much harder then a paper towel roll.It works great.
Sounds like you are getting a lot of house stuff accomplished. :)
Can’t wait to see you house post.
Such a big fan of your blog!!! Helpful tip for your boots. Put old magazines in them to help them stay up. They are sturdy and help prevent bunching and folding over.
Thanks Cathy and Christina! Both of those are great ideas! Yea! :)
I’m kind of thinking about my boots that are flopping over now! Glad you have had a productive week … love that feeling!
I’m totally appreciating these re-runs. Thank you!
BTW I think that you should contact the Martha Stewart folks and tell them that you love their folders/organizers and feature them on your blog regularly. That would be an awfully fun package to receive in the mail if they were to decide to allow you to preview their new products! : )
Erin, I have question for you. I have 3 girls (5years old, 3 year old and a 9 months old). Would you buy your girls single or full size bed? Would you still keep toys in their bedroom when you move into your new house? Love that you girls get a long so well. My two older one always just fight which make me sad.
Chyn
Thanks Holly! Can you imagine!? Now that would be fun! :)
Hi Chyn! My girls sleep in bunk beds right now and they are full sized. I am going to buy them full sized or queen in our next house. It’s nice to be able to lay next to them in bed to read them a story at night. It’s also nice to have extra room if a friend sleeps over or if you need to put your kids together in a bed if company is in town. So I would buy full sized for sure! I will keep some toys in their bedroom and some in the playroom. :) Hope that helps!
Erin, I really love reading your blog. You have very sweet kids. Do you always buy the same clothes and toys for your two girls? I dont like to buy matching outfits for my two girls but find them always fight for things…
We would freeze if we kept our shoes and coats in the garage! I do hate having to have all the snow covered shoes in our entry, though.
Hi Erin – You have a gift in being so organized! On Pinterest I’ve seen people put pool noodles (cut to size) in boots to keep them upright!