Remove shoes?
18 years ago
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- 18 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
- 18 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
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Is shoe removal a Canadian culture thing?
Comments (18)I’m born and raised Canadian. I’ve lived in Alberta & BC and have visited many places across Canada, the US & Mexico. Im not sure I would say it’s a “Canadian Custom” but rather a “respect” thing. Growing up on an acreage, I was taught to remove my shoes at the door of anyone’s house out of respect for the homeowner & their house. I’d like to mention the size of someone’s house had nothing to do with this, nor did the flooring within the house. My parents had hardwood & laminate flooring in the whole house with the exception of our bedrooms which were carpeted. Even in the summer my dad wouldn’t allow flip-flops to be worn into the house. It wasn’t just about tracking dirt through the house... my parents had me do floors in the house as I got older and I came to understand the reasoning behind shoe removal. After sweeping, vacuuming and washing over 1800 sq. Ft of house I didn’t particularly want anyone walking on my hard work with dirty shoes. Now, as an adult with 2 teenagers, 3 dogs and 2 cats I live in the City. My house has NO Carpet, but my kids were taught to remove their shoes at the door of any house unless they’ve been told otherwise. In the summer, I’m not as strict with shoes but come fall, winter & spring I am. We vacuum our floors on a daily basis and they get mopped every 2nd day. This would be done regardless of having pets. I’ve taught my children about the cost of living, the cost of replacement and their responsibility to keep things intact. If my husband or I went into someone’s home and wore dress shoes that scratched their hardwood floor or damaged property in someone’s home I would be responsible for that damage. It wouldn’t be “Right” for me to say, “oh well, it’s just a floor.” Or “Oops, sorry I broke your vase.” The proper thing would be to help fix the damage I did or replace the item I broke. If someone came into my home and damaged my flooring I wouldn’t be very happy paying out of my pocket to fix damage done by someone else. I have family in B.C. who don’t mind if your shoes are on as long as they’re not dirty, they won’t scratch or destroy the flooring and it has to be dry outside. If it’s been raining, shoes aren’t allowed in and you are asked to leave your wet shoes at the door. However, at my Oma’s place shoes are off regardless and she wasn’t born and raised Canadian, nor was my close friend from Israel or my other who was raised in the US. Canadians are a huge mix of various ethnicities, cultural, religious, financial backgrounds from all over the world. Simply put, I think most Canadians show more respect to one-another, are more respectful of our neighbours and have more respect for their property....See MorePlease remove your shoes?
Comments (150)Wow, I can't believe I've resisted posting to this thread for soooo long! lol I'm pretty convinced after reading thru the entire thread that it must be regional (?). I've got an incredibly high arch & when I was a kid oxford shoes were popular for play & casual wear (think Buster Brown kind of shoes). Nobody could stuff my foot into those shoes! For school, I wore fancy black patent leather shoes & Dad punched extra holes in the straps so they would fit over my arch. Well, those shoes were expensive so Mom/Dad had me play at home barefoot to keep my shoes lasting longer. I still have trouble finding comfortable shoes...5" spike heels are the most comfortable shoe in the world when you've got an arch like mine! lol But, even today I'm almost always barefoot even in a New England winter (hey, I'm not that tough...I wear socks). Then, fast forward 20 years & my son was born. He walked the week before he turned 8 months. Whew, what a PITA that was but that's another story. His doctor said NOT to put shoes on him until he was at least 2 years old or his little feet would be ruined. So, my DS learned to also love being barefoot. Neither of us wear shoes in the house. My DH, OTOH, has foot problems & finds being barefoot very uncomfortable. I've always had a "No Shoes In The House" policy...sorta. I bend to individual situations. DH wears sneakers that don't go outside & I don't request elderly people or those I know who have foot problems to remove their shoes. For those who are physically able though I expect them to take off the dirty shoes before coming inside. I live in CT & prior to that NH...both firmly in the northeast. I don't have to have a sign on the door because people just automatically take off their shoes. Even repairmen bring those blue booties to wear inside. They take the booties on/off every time they go out to their truck & come back inside. Guess I thought repairmen did that everywhere??? Sounds from this thread like I'm wrong...not every repairman wear booties. It's common here to have booties available at Open Houses. Not at all Open Houses but enough that it shouldn't surprise anybody. Also, we are boat owners & most of our friends are boat owners. You do NOT go onboard someone's boat with your shoes without asking permission. That's just a "no no"...period...same as saying, "Permission to board?" before just hopping on the boat. It's part of boating ettiquette. Boaters spend an inordinate amount of time swabbing decks & having a guest walk across the clean white deck with either mud or grass stuck to their shoes is reason to "walk the plank"!! I'm joking, of course! Anyway, it's habit to remove our shoes so we do it in each other's homes as well, I guess. I find it a bit amusing how worked up people get over the topic. For those of you who don't like the germ aspect...do you have pets, do you hose your kids off outside before allowing them in the house after a good game of touch football on a rainy Sunday afternoon, & for the women...do you put your purse on the floor & then plop it down on your kitchen counter/table? For those of you who don't want to remove your shoes...I have a question. My Dad would never remove his shoes when he came inside my home. I finally had a little father/daughter spat with him over the issue. He told me, "Patsy (his nickname for me), when I take off my shoes I feel less in charge, more vunerable, & less in stature & I don't like it!" I never asked Dad to take off his shoes again. Do any of you feel that way? /tricia...See MoreEtiquette Question re: Shoes Inside
Comments (54)My old (tired, worn) house was built in 1952. I wish I could say it's a mid-century modern gem. LOL, it's not. I have the original, 1 1/4-inch wide, hardwood (white oak) floors in the livingroom, hallway, and two original bedrooms. We refinshed the floors ourselves. They weren't perfect to begin with; they weren't perfect when they were finished, but they are beautiful, IMHO. We used a matte finish, no shine top coat. Shine/high gloss finishes shows every speck of dust and magnifies marks. I have two huge hunting dogs and a rough-and-tumble DH that live here. The floors are not pampered. They get mopped, once a month or so, with hot water and Mr. Clean. They are swept nearly daily. I think they are beautiful; not perfect, but beautiful. Some people remove their shoes when they come in. I encourage them not to; their socks will be matted with dog hair. Some people leave their shoes on. I have PF, too. I must wear shoes all the time; I cannot walk without my support shoes. I can't wear house slippers; no support for the arches. Here's part of the sewing room floor and Harry's toenails that keep everything real! Here's part of the office floor, showing an 8-ft. long cut in the hardwood. It runs at an angle to the bookcase. The previous owners cut a piece of plywood laying on the floow with a power saw. There's a perfectly straight, 1/"8 - 3/16" wide cut crosswise to the floorboards. There's no hiding it; there's no disquising it. It's just part of the floor, just like the dog scratches. (The ceiling is not "dirty;" it's actually painted the same camel color as the top part of the walls but the lighting makes it look darker.) Everyone is welcome to walk on my floors with whatever is on their feet....See MoreThinking seriously about a kitchen remodel - layout advice needed!
Comments (41)Little update - after talking this over with DH and consulting a stucco guy, we are leaning away from plans that involve moving doors or windows in ways that would require patching of the stucco. Making a patch blend in will be difficult (our stucco is natural and we don't want to paint it), and overall it seems like it will probably be more expensive than it's worth. However, the window on the back could be eliminated without stucco repair because it is under a portico (where I believe the original back door was) and the entire portico area is trimmed in wood. We could easily seal that off and use the area on the exterior for floating shelves, etc., plus it gives me a lot more options inside. We'd lose light, but that's easy to remedy by expanding the current door to a slider and/or expanding the side window. Here are two new ideas with all of that in mind: Island plan (we'd lose the back window, but DH prefers this, as he likes to sit at the island and chat with me while I cook): Galley-esque plan (keeps the back window and I like the separation of mudroom/laundry and kitchen here, but not sure I want to eliminate the possibility of kitchen seating):...See MoreRelated Professionals
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