three {part 1}

as i have mentioned before, i have 3 kiddos... therefore, 976,087,672 pairs of shoes.  i have gone back and forth trying to figure out the best way to contain these and not tear my hair out looking for matching pairs, certain requested shoes etc.  i have scoured the internet and pinterest looking for creative ways for them to be stored.  

not too many homes in california are blessed with mud rooms, so i have to use my front entry hall as a substitute. 

my first attempt was this large, wicker trunk my mom gave us.  it used to 'house' blocks, but they never played with them, so i thought it was the perfect fit for shoes.  plus i didn't mind the way it looked in our entry & it closed.  perfect! well not so much.  this ended up being the bain of our existence.  the 'shoe basket'... what this would end up becoming, was a huge mess of shoes on the floor whenever someone went hunting for a particular pair.  the basket was too big.  it was just impossible to actually find a pair.

my second attempt was using the 'shoe basket' again, but this time keeping 3 small baskets inside, each child had their own bin.  this idea lasted about 2 days...

*side note: in addition to the horrid 'shoe basket' i also had a tin boot tray right by the front door which was just supposed to house our rain boots.  so in all, i had 2 different systems going at the same time, in the same room, about 5 feet from each other.  yea, not so pretty.  the boot tray itself is awesome.  but random shoes were now being dumped into either container, thus spreading the frustration.

thank god for the amazing pinning power of the family/friends i follow on pinterest, because this came across my computer.

gorgeous right?! i'm pretty sure this particular shelf has been pinned and re-pinned about a bajillion times.  plus when i went to redoux.blogspot.com i was instantly hooked.  she is amazing!

so my thought was that i could use the smaller bin idea but put them into a bookshelf!  plus i love anything i get to add pretty paper or fabric to spice it up.

i couldn't believe how lucky i got when i went searching for the bookcase.  the third thrift shop i went into, i found it, $18! & it just so happened that all furniture was 50% that day! what luck, $9 for a basic small bookcase.

the before picture i took somehow never made it from phone to computer... so you can see the original 80's yellowish colored wood in the back.  my entryway & living room are gray, so i thought to keep in the same pallet would fit best.  i went for spray paint.  the color i used was rust-oleum, ultra cover in dark gray gloss.  a good cleaning, a light sanding and i was good to go.  i bought 2 cans & still have most of can 2.

it came with 2 shelves, but i only needed one, so i just painted and put one of the shelves on the bottom, just in case i want to reuse the bookcase later on for something else.

*check back tomorrow for the rest of the project