Who knows what tomorrow may bring? There used to be a japanese restaurant in Atlanta many years ago that made you shed your foot wear at the door. It was a novelty then. We would eat there when we were in town for a play or some other such event. We were in Charleston a few years back doing the plantation tour fund raiser. It was pouring down rain when we went to one beautiful place. I can't remember the name now but it had a golf course. We had to take off our shoes at the door and don those hospital type things. I totally understood. The mud and water would have ruined their floors and carpets. Once in Russia I laughed because we were touring a palace there and we had to put shoe covers on. The shoe covers were squares of carpet pulled up by two corners and a piece of elastic holding it together. I remember thinking then that it was a good idea but wished they knew about the hospital shoe covers. I also wondered why they didn't do a similar thing at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg to protect those beautiful old floors. In private homes,I suppose "when in Rome" would be the thing to do. Just think what a whole new world of opportunities for yet another shopping trip it would bring if it became the norm to take off one's shoes before entering someone's home. You'd have to have a pedicure at least every 2 weeks and you certainly wouldn't want to wear those tacky little shoe or foot covers or anything that someone else had put on their feet. The very thought of catching a fungus or some other such thing would be enough to drive one to drink. There would be a rush to design little shoes and foot covers of every color and material. Fabric would have to be imported from all over the world. There would be a scramble of designers to come up with the best the quickest. Milan would probably devote a whole show to shoe covers alone. Television commercials would have to be made showcasing beautiful feet wearing the very latest from Paris in shoe and foot covers. Oh! My! God! we would then have to make yet another decision. Which shoe covers to take to wear with the dress. I can't think about this today. "I'll think about it tomorrow y'all" she says as she presses the back of her hand to her forhead and sighs. No wonder the Wall Street Journal was so interested. Janis

boots are a problem, bcs the stuff you usually can buy for shoes won't actually hold them. And I actually think that HIGHER shelves are better than on the floor. We think somehow that because we wear shoes near the ground, they should be STORED near the ground. But I found, w/ my shoe cabinet that I made for myself, that having them higher up was easier--I wasn't bending over to pick them up and then AGAIN to put them on. How big is your closet? Can you devote a vertical 1/4 or 1/2 to shoes & boots? or, can you have people keep their SHOES in their bedroom, and only their snowboots in the closet? Stacks and Stacks has a huge collection of organizers. Here's one that has a boots compartment, which would be less bending, bcs you could grab the boots by their tops. But it would be nice to have this taller to accommodate more. You *could* just get a basic bookcase of some narrow size that will fit in there, and buy some extra shelves so you can space them very closely together in the places where you want shoes. And, you could have a "tall boots" section and a "short boots" section and an "even shorter shoes" section or three. The shelves would have an advantage that you could put baskets on them to hold mittens, etc. (though those could also go on the back of the door in pockets). Or spare tote bags, or whatever else you thought you'd need. Here is a link that might be useful: Stacks and Stacks, search on

I have been using those Closet Maid or whatever shelf-stackers on my top closet shelf and line all my frequently used shoes there, plus on top I have a group of plastic 6-compartment (open at the end and in the top layer ) shoe storage things from Stack n Rack. I like those because they're smaller per compartment than shoe boxes, and so I can get more shoes on my top closet shelves (stored with one shoe to the front and one back, as noted above), and in theory I can pull the shoes out from the from the front without taking down a box or anything, but the shoes there do get very dusty. Also, they're too small for clunky slip-ons or laceups--best for pumps and sandals--so I tend to keep seldom-used shoes in those. So I'm tempted to revise my system and go to clear closed boxes for lesser-used shoes--especially if I reduce the # of shoes! I've been encouraged here to be a bit bolder in discarding some shoes, but I think I will always keep a group in somewhat long-term "storage". These are ones I think I plan to keep for a long time despite not wearing very often because they're for a variety of more special occasions and I have a hard-to-fit foot, and find most dressy shoes dreadfully uncomfortable, and don't care if the style is not perfect--so I have never been able to just go out and get a just-right shoe whenever I want. So, I keep several pairs of black or neutral-colored pumps, dressy sandals, etc in different styles, heights that I can bear to wear, but are likely (but not guaranteed) to "go" with different styles of clothing that I may acquire over the years as styles go in and out. In theory, these could be put away in a less-accessible area (the historical shoe area) but I've been afraid that even I will forget what I have when I do get an outfit they might go with. Or maybe that is just rationalization.... But if you have a narrow or hard to fit foot, you'll know what I mean. I have gotten pretty good about trying to get rid of anything that seems to duplicate something--so if I do luck out upon a new sandal or pump, I try to coompare it to my archive of shoes and see if an older one now looks similar but shabbier, and then I feel good about tossing it. For many years now I always store my shoes up high, rather than on the floor. Maybe it's the lighting, my vision, or whatever, but I like seeing them up high. Then because I wear mostly separates, I use of double-hung rods and my hanging clothes go down to the floor. A professional colleague once came to work wearing one black shoe and one navy (they were the same style--my kind of gal) and that's when she changed her shoe storage system.....

Ok so now i don't feel so bad. My good shoes are either in clear or the cardboard shoe boxes that they came in..labelled..planned on photos to label them..but haven't gotten to it.. I am a person that seldom..if ever..wears a dress..although i have lots of beautiful dressy dresses and shoes..they seldome get worn..so the beautiful dress shoes are in the boxes..as well as some of my summer sandles. I have cubbies for my other shoes..mostly garden shoes..and walking shoes..and running shoes..and sandles..and a few slippers and flippy floppies..which i hate. they are in cubbies and the few i wear daily are generally around the house. boots are on a shelf on the floor of my coat closet