I have a no-shoes home too with a back entry that comes off the driveway and is accessed by a small set of stairs and a front entry that is off the front porch. I live in southern California so our weather is not extreme but I have guests take off their shoes at the door and leave them just outside where they are protected from the weather. (I take mine off there too but immediately carry them to my bedroom closet.) I also keep the surgeon's booties in a storage closet near to the back door that people can use over their shoes if they prefer not to remove them.

Can we see a picture of the entry? In our old house, we used a basket tucked under a desk/console table. Currently we have no space for that so we remove our shoes as we enter and then place them neatly just inside.the door. We then put them away in our bedrooms so a big pile of shoes doesn’t collect. It’s not ideal but we’re adding a mudroom eventually.

You might state the climate, tell us if there's a garage ? Is this city, a suburb of a city ? What is the climate?

You haven't moved yet; are there photos from a real estate listing?

I'm not a "no shoes" type. I am a strong proponent of obvious WEATHER removal, which I have always found easy to accomplish, even in the snowy north of boot removal. and a switch to indoor shoes.

That said? Shoes, at one time not so very long ago, did not all live at the entry/exit point in a home. They lived in the room, within a closet, where one stored the clothes for their backs. This concept? Within my lifetime, and I am not nearly dead.

Economics - the relative price of footwear compared with income , has led an average family to own ridiculous numbers of shoes singly and collectively. The concept that all of them can be stored near an entry , has cluttered homes across America.

Do as you will. Remove shoes, and carry them to the room with the clothes of the owner. If the floor of that closet must be protected from any possible germ? Use boot trays on the closet floor and sanitize. Or put a bench in your foyer, tuck an attractive box with sanitizer wipes beneath and wear the shoes INSIDE. Toss the wipe.

To me? Unless you are quite fragile, immune compromised?

Floors and rugs are meant to be walked on. Bare feet? Hah! .......what do you think lives on those tootsies? I've seen " clean socks" I would have throw in the trash a year ago. Keep your shoes on please, simply wipe the weather on the mat. I don't eat from the floor.

We have ( in this country) sanitized our way to every kind of bug/virus one can imagine. Use the head above your feet. Let your body do what it is meant to do. Protect you. Let your shoes do same for your feet- support and protect.

I don't think it's helpful to enter into a debate about whether it's reasonable to remove shoes when the question is asking for a solution of what to do with the removed shoes in a specific situation. No one really cares what others do, nor do they need a lecture. OP has a shoe free home and your pontificating about that is unnecessary.

@my B can you post pictures of the entry? No one can really suggest solutions without seeing the space.

You are wanting a solution as to what to do with shoes.

I can help you if you provide photos of the front hall area.

Also, in this house, is there a garage entry? Most people in houses enter the house through the garage. Would that make more sense to you?

Thanks.

For everyday we use our garage access door. Chair there with shelves for shoes/boots. For guests we have a plastic shallow pan, it's not everyone's first choice but it works.

Jan, I think you are being a tad sanctimonious. You have your way to prefer to live; my B has hers/his.

my B - do post a photo or schematic of your foyer, and if there is an outdoor covering available for people to place shoes.

A garage entry would work, perhaps - but in my case I have a one-car garage and not very welcoming for house guests to enter through. Even if it is one of those allegedly-horrid front facing ones.

I do not have a foyer, but I do have a bench that I love that was picked up at a flea market, hand made and rather attractive. This means I and others can sit down and remove footware to place in a tray underneath. I have bad knees - I HAVE to sit down for this process. Depending on your general weather, and any overhang, you could sit the bench or a chair outside. But we can best give a potential solution with some sort of diagram.

Yes, please post photos.

Is there not a corner by the front door?

You may have to put some sort of shelf unit or stand in one of the openings to the living or dining room, if they’re large enough. Something that doesn’t have to be put against a wall.

Anyway, I’ll bet we can all think up some ideas if we can see the space. :)

.

.

“I think Houzz needs a dislike button for comments …”

I’d much rather have a block button for an unhinged stalker. (And I don’t mean anyone on this thread. Yet.)

IMO we need a bit more context so pics of the house listing or a floor plan. I happen agree with Jan we have a shoe OK policy as long as they are not full of mud and in winter we ask you take off your boots and put them on the mat beside the door . We put the ones we wear in our closet when changing shoes .Our kids all took off the shoes they wanted to change and did so in their bedrooms . We lived for a very long time with no mud room and a tiny entry I think guests use their common sense , we have floors that were done on purpose for 3 huge dogs who can't take off their shoes . Please give us a bit more to work with. Maybe a nice hall runner that can be easily washed would help guests take shoes to the coat closet.

PS to my post … OP, if you haven’t already, do searches for ’shoe storage in small entry’. Lots of good ideas and images come up.

Since you haven’t moved in yet, I understand if you can’t get a bunch of pics for us yet.

My niece lives in a narrow row house (13 feet wide?) and they do not wear shoes in the house (cultural thing) and some people have to sit on the steps to take their shoes off, because there is not really depth for a bench. Maybe people will have to sit on the steps. If you keep them clean this should not be a huge issue for most people.

i see this Ikea piece in tons of smaller entries - it is called the Hemnes

Ideas

inside coat closet door

Simplest solution sit on stairs leave shoes there

I grew up in a town where it was standard practice for a lot of people to remove their shoes at the front door, except if you were invited for dinner or a social gathering, and even then many of the women would come with a tote with "inside shoes" in it. There was not an expectation that every dressed up adult would do it--particularly if they were elderly, but for kids and sort of everyday occasions it was pretty standard. There was sort of a common sense approach, were these shoes you went everywhere in or were they dress shoes where you got into a car, and got out of a car and went right inside kind of shoes. It was a sort of environmental thing where I lived.

This? My mom would have strangled us.........

"Hellllooooo? You are going UP? How 'bout you take those with you?! "

LMAO.....especially given the hand rail is same side/right headed up? Gimme a break.....!

Cats have nine lives, we have one.

The transition from shoes inside to not occurred between generations at my house. My husband and I did not, but somehow our children remove their shoes. We did not teach this.

I really try not to make any judgments about this one way or the other and will do what someone wants, because obviously it's a complex issue. My mother had a thing about not ever wanting to be barefoot because she was the oldest girl in a family of 9 children and they were Not Allowed to wear their shoes in the summer during the week, unless they were walking into town, and even then they were supposed to go barefoot until the sidewalk started. It was expected that her shoes would be able to be passed down to one of 5 younger sisters. Obviously this Depression mentality has died out with that generation.

We are a no shoes house. We have a mat outside the house and a rug inside. Guests leave shoes in or out depending on preference. We take ours off and then carry to closet. We do have a garage entry and mud room so also come in that way when weather bad which is often here. The ikea dresser type shoe storage is great in a tight spot. We have friends that have one in their entry

Jan, and the guests take the shoes and boots upstairs with them, too?

I admit that this particular stair design is impractical for shoes (and that I love the cat). But I do look for a good way for the OP to solve the dilemma AND keep his or her standards as desired regarding footware. Without your lectures.

There are many good solutions here for ways to stash shoes in or near your entryway. But please, OP, be mindful that for some people taking off and putting on shoes will require a chair or a bench. If your set-up can't accomodate that, please be flexible with your no-shoes rule. Enjoy your new home!

What does the outside of the home look like? You could always have a small bench there.

Shoes on or shoes off, I don't care. Whatever my guests are comfortable and feels safe with. Not all people can remove shoes. Diabetics for one should always wear shoes, inside or outside. My hubby for work was in and out of many homes. It was mandated that his steel toed slip resistant boots remained on at all times for safety . Of course he made sure his boots weren't muddy or full of snow. You never know what is on peoples floors. It could be a sliver of glass, staple, pin, anything. Plus socks and paper booties offer little traction. I am more concerned for my guests than my floors. Floors can be cleaned.

I have a small entry also. Some of my kids and grands when they come over are just more comfortable without their shoes on. They just go into the living room to take off their shoes and stick them under the end table so nobody trips on them. I keep a little rug under the end table. Maybe the OP guest could remove their shoes in a chair in the living room close to the entry.

l did have occasion one time to deliver a small tiered wedding cake to a no shoes household. Removing shoes while holding a cake is an awkward maneuver. The entry door was at the foot of the stairs leading to the main living area. no table or bench in sight. Thank god for clogs.

If there's a closet, that would be a great place for shoes.

Funny story-my daughter and her husband take off their shoes in the apartment, and have a shoe rack right inside the door (which is basically outside the kitchen). They now have a toddler crawling around, and he decided he wanted to put the shoes in his mouth (Ugh!). So my daughter decided that the shoes would go inside the closet and the baby's toys are now on the shoe rack!

If it’s mainly guests and OP is describing a wide - open floor plan with no typical wall space , then you might need r to place more substantial pieces of furniture near entry door- similar to how furniture is floated away from walls in open plans.
A settee with a back, abd a nice cabinet or chest next to it; a nice/ looking bench- maybe cushioned & covered, with or without back would Dept on room layout& style, hence request for photos when possible. Under that could be boot tray or similar.
None of these may work great if need to store shoes for an entire family plus guests. And I have always assumed that “ shoeless” hosts provide some kind of slippers for guests unless all of them know how to come prepared.

You may also go down a fun rabbit hole of whether some custom build item or remodeling would create an entry, whether a pony wall, columns, decorative divider shelving or something.

I think some of the issues are, there’s shoe storage ( racks, trays, shelves, bins) and then there’s where to sit, whether that’s inside entry or on a porch, and if a porch, not all are full protected from blowing rain etc.
it is good balance exercise to take off your shoes while standing, but not all can do it.

Which is partly a rant about how few houses are designed with PRACTICAL entry in mind, rather than some grand height or view. Because even if you have garage entry for family, and can more easily outfit that, most people are not directing guests to enter through there.

Anyway, you can always do some temporary chair and bin arrangement, but if you do get some good ideas about what could work and also look good, it would be worth saving up for.

Look

Without pics of the space, it is difficult to make specific recommendations.

As you mentioned, you and your family can take off shoes at the door, and carry them to the small closet; or you can just take shoes off right in front of that closet.

I think you should be able to carve out an area, somewhere in the LR, and create an entry space for your guests. You could place a bench on a wall, with art or mirror over it, and guests can put their shoes under the bench.

Or you could use a console/cabinet type of piece that has shoe storage space and perhaps have a chair or two flanking it. The right cabinet piece could also serve as a bench, itself - if it is sturdy enough.

For you and your family - maybe as an alternative to the closet (or to supplement the closet) - a slim piece like this cabinet, placed in entry, may possibly fit (?) (This cabinet is one of the ideas mentioned in the article, below).

@artemis_ma

It was hardly a lecture, nor was it sanctimonious. It was a comment on the totally absurd "storage" picture . I do believe you knew that . The op is looking for a good looking and logical solution - it may or may not be possible. I find a very visible shoe collection not all that attractive- and I commonly see fifty pair at an entry point in a family home with kids. Ugly sneakers for the most part . (jmho).

If the new home has another entry for family? A side door, a garage ? Family uses it, if possible. "Front door guests" are by nature, temporary. A rug with shoes/boots on it is not a big deal for even a full day.

The op hasn't provided a floor plan . For all we know it's possible to close up some obviously open living space, or dining space and add wall/closet.... etc

With no photo or floor plan, solutions at this point are guesses.

Thank you all for the thoughts--I did not mean to start an argument. I don't have a floor plan but here is a photo from the stairs looking at the small foyer and another from the living room looking at the foyer. I think @freedomplace1 idea about a place to sit in the living room near the foyer is the way to go. Thanks again to all!

You didn’t start an argument at all. People on this forum are impatient and judgemental when they don’t feel they have all the info. In reality you posted a mere 48 hrs ago and owe us all nothing.