Tips and Tricks Tuesday- Shoe Storage

So most of you know that we just moved into a smaller home in and AWESOME city!  We are loving the new place and discovering all the great advantages of living here.  Yesterday, we found the walking trail and took a little adventure.  Fun, fun, fun.  When we got home though, I was reminded of the PROBLEM that has been vexing me for the last week.  What is that PROBLEM you might ask?

Shoe Storage! Since we don't have any, we've morphed into the annoying "shoe pile" family.  Ok, maybe this is only annoying to mom...and dad when he can't open the door from the shoes blocking his entry, but we've got it bad.  The kids just don't seem to mind a bit though.

Growing up in California, shoe storage in the entry way was never a problem.  People don't usually take off their shoes in Cali when they visit someone's home.  Here in Colorado, everyone takes off their shoes or at least ask if they should take off their shoes.  Since I now live in a home with white carpet, shoes are coming off in Lewisville, at least for our family. (Still optional for guest)

The problem is that our entry way is tiny, carpeted, and with out any kind of closet.  I have this entryway table that I spray painted a few weeks back, but that's a temporary placement. 

What I really need is some kind of shoe storage so that as soon as we walk in the front door, we can NEATLY put our shoes away.  (I know.  This might be just some kind of fanciful dream from a mom, but go with me on this.)  Right now, we have a shoe explosion like the picture above with everyone's shoes everywhere.  Help is needed here so that sanity is not lost and the tripping ceases.

 Here's looking at our entry from the living room.  The stairs going down have become the temporary holding zone for the kids' shoes.  They're doing a good job placing them there when they come in, especially since we've threatened to take their phones away if we trip on shoes ONE MORE TIME.

I'm looking for something small with a big impact, meaning it can hold several shoes from this family of five who regularly wear boots in the winter.  That's the challenge, really.  Shoe storage that includes room for boots.  Oh, and I don't want our shoes out in the open either to be seen (or smelled) by our lovely Lewisville guest.  Open shelving is not an option for me, so what's left?  Here's what I've found so far.

This happens to be my favorite of all the solutions I found.  A white chest that you can sit on with a coat rack above.  It's beautiful but far to wide for my space.

 Then there's this smaller chest with seating also.  I like this and it's a great possibility, but boots in these small compartments are going to be a problem.

Oh, I just love ottomans.  I could always throw something like this in my living room and use it as a "coffee table" too.  Maybe.  Possibilities.

 This seems like an easy solution too and boots could go in the middle.  I'm a sucker for fabric lined anything.  I may just be looking for a chest on my next thrift store outing.

 I've always loved these "chest of drawers" shoe storage.  It would be really easy to just go buy something like this at Ikea, but I also really like the idea of have a place to sit to take those shoes off and set them back on.  Bench storage is winning right now, but we'll see. 

 If I can't find anything that fits our family and the space we have, I could always make my own shoe storage.  Right now, this options seems a little overwhelming since this involves using tools that are somewhere deep in the crevices of my garage that is filled to capacity with the furniture that doesn't fit in the house.  But we'll see.

So do you all have any suggestions?  What do you use for you shoe storage/ entry space?  I'd love to hear from you.  Until then, I must get to unpacking another box.  Oh the joy!

Blessings,

Lisa