Every woman may be shod like a princess...

December 28, 2009 10:49 AM

Where can I get a cabinet or armoire to store 100 pairs of shoes?

Our house is small. My shoe collection is large.

After a ruthless cull I've gotten my collection to exactly 100 pairs of shoes which includes 10 pairs of boots. Since we have no closet space, I need to find some sort of cabinet to store these babies. I don't want to use under bed storage unless I can find some divided boxes for that purpose, preferably on wheels. I'm looking for something like this that can store 100 pairs of shoes. I'd like to be able to see them and not go digging into bins. Reviews of the cabinet linked indicate that the slots are too small to hold a pair of my size 10's.

Mr. 26.2 has maybe 15 pairs of shoes to add to our total inventory, but he's willing to use under bed storage and leave the cabinet to me.

Please help me hive.

Notes:
This is my only collection. Other than this, I'm clutter/collection free.

posted by 26.2 to Home & Garden (13 answers total)

Best answer: So, Mrs. Jeffamaphone aspires to have the same problem as you. :) We got 5 or 6 of these expandable systems from The Container Store.

You could do that, then go hit up Ikea for some appropriately sized mini-armoire that fits your taste. I was just at the local Ikea and they had a ton of these free-standing guys and many were on sale, post-xmas.
posted by jeffamaphone at 10:52 AM on December 28, 2009

Perhaps you could get hangable boot shapers (Container store version here) and look for storage for 90 pairs?
posted by mynameisluka at 11:24 AM on December 28, 2009

I have no personal experience with this product, but maybe this will help?
posted by crankylex at 11:28 AM on December 28, 2009

Best answer: Maybe you could find a local craftsman or furniture store to build it for you. I had these people build a completely custom 7 ft. armoire with shelves, drawers, and hanging bar for me about 10 years ago. It cost just under US$1,000 and was built exactly the way I wanted it. I'm still using it today.

Not the most cost effective solution, but it's a sure-fire way to get what want.
posted by ElDiabloConQueso at 11:30 AM on December 28, 2009

I wear size 9.5-10 (US) women's and got a version of that cabinet from Home Decorators Warehouse, and my shoes fit just fine in it. I think the person complaining about size 10s not fitting was talking about size 10 men's, which is size 12 women's.

I've had that cabinet from that vendor for something like six years now, and it looks good as new.
posted by Sidhedevil at 11:36 AM on December 28, 2009

The one I got was the double version of this one, actually.
posted by Sidhedevil at 11:39 AM on December 28, 2009

The cabinet you linked to is only 36 inches high. Can you stack 2 of them on top of each other?
posted by CathyG at 11:51 AM on December 28, 2009

Most Korean houses have floor-to-ceiling storage for shoes by the front door (this is because you don't wear shoes inside the house and so shoes are kept where you'd be taking them on or off). Basically they're wardrobes or armoires but of a depth appropriate for shoes, and just lots and lots of shelves. As jeffamaphone suggests, you could replicate this by getting a suitable unit from Ikea and using their own shelving, or filling it with shoe organizers.
posted by needled at 12:11 PM on December 28, 2009

The cabinet you linked to is only 36 inches high. Can you stack 2 of them on top of each other?

If you mean me, I got the double version, which is like two of those stacked on top of each other. I don't see the double version on the website, though--hopefully it's just out of stock, not discontinued.
posted by Sidhedevil at 12:18 PM on December 28, 2009

I would go with a local carpenter to build exactly what you want. The cubby holes for the shoes can be made of MDF or cheap pine to keep the cost down, with nice quality doors on the front and finished exactly as you want it.
posted by essexjan at 1:11 PM on December 28, 2009

A family friend of mine had a similar problem. She bought a ton of shoebox-sized storage containers (these were actually for photograph storage, I think? They looked like shoeboxes to me, but had a spot in the front for an index card/label) and had her mom come visit for the weekend. They took a photograph of her feet wearing each pair of shoes, and attached the photo to the front of the box. Whenever she got a new pair of shoes, she took a picture and used the box the shoes came in.

You could use the same technique and fill up a normal cabinet with big, open shelves that way. Perhaps an armoire, or something like this? Then there's no rooting around in bins and you can see everything at a glance.
posted by Mizu at 6:27 PM on December 28, 2009

I solved that problem by getting two black Billy bookcases from Ikea with a few extra shelves. The end result is not unlike this. The beauty of the system is that you can customize the height of each shelf, from super short for flats to high for boots. I then added a few of these storage boxes for accessories also in black and now I have all my stuff readily accessible. I didn't have room for doors, but Ikea offers a selection that works with the Billy series.
posted by Dragonness at 6:42 PM on December 28, 2009

Response by poster: Thanks everyone - after many trips to the container store it looks as though we're going to need to build something. We're going shopping for armoires today and the handyman is going to come and modify the shelves.

Thanks for the suggestions.
posted by 26.2 at 8:22 AM on December 31, 2009