Seven clever shoe storage solutions

'They're a literal trip hazard. You open the door, walk in, and the first thing you see as you come home after a busy day is a pile – or worse, a scattering – of shoes littering the hallway. Not only do they get in the way, but they manage to totally overshadow any sense of order or decorative decency you might have been trying to instil.' So says interior designer Irene Gunter, the founder of the London-based studio Gunter & Co and a big believer that shoe storage is one of the most important things you can build into a home. 'Clients rarely get excited about where they're going to put their shoes, and tend to be far more interested in paint colours, furniture and lighting choices,' she adds, 'but we factor shoe storage into any project as soon as we're starting on floor plans, because we know that without it a house will feel like a cluttered-up failure.'
Yes, built-in shoe storage is the designer's favourite trick. The small touch that makes a big difference, alleviating the entryway shoe mountain and ensuring that there is a place for everything and that everything has its place. The good news is that shoe storage doesn't always have to be part of the fabric of a home. 'Sometimes we design or find a bench with a single-layer shelf for you to tuck your shoes on that you've worn that day, so they're at least out of view and not a stumbling block,' says Gunter.
Read on for the six ways designers have factored shoe storage into their projects, and some well-heeled buys you can make that will have an equally transforming effect.
The right angle
'We have so many shoes between us, and couldn't think of anywhere to put them,' says Margot Tsim, an interior designer, who requisitioned the under-stairs area in her home. 'I came up with pull-out drawers with angled shelving underneath the staircase so that they can be accessed easily, and we tried to maximise all the space available, even if it meant some of the shelf heights were slightly poky,' she says. 'The children's shoes can fit in the shallower shelves and the adult shoes can go in the taller ones.' Tsim's shelving was made from hand-painted MDF boards, as she 'didn't have a big budget to play with', 'but it has meant I can hide between 40 and 45 pairs of shoes, depending on their sizes,' she says. A joiner would be able to create something similar bespoke, or try a company such as Clever Closet, where under-stairs drawers start from around £1,200.
Hide and sleek
Designer Lindsay Bosonotto was working on a project where the entrance to the flat was in the basement – a dark room that was also a laundry zone, a walkway and, inevitably, a place to kick off shoes. 'It needed calm, order and a more thoughtful welcome,' she says. 'As it is a basement and ground-floor flat in a period property, there was no loft or existing built-in storage, so every square inch had to earn its keep.' With a background in aviation design, Bosonotto knew the value in hidden storage compartments utilising any bit of space she could find, so she turned each stair riser into a pull-out drawer, tucking a discreet seating nook by the front door so that the homeowners could take their shoes off in comfort. 'We used hard-wearing birch plywood to form the core of each drawer, and added hand-painted timber fronts that match the existing hallway flooring, for a seamless, built-in look,' she says. 'Soft-close runners ensure each drawer glides effortlessly, even when loaded. Discreet brass pulls, chosen to echo the hallway's other door furniture, sit neatly beneath each tread for a refined, unobtrusive finish.'
Niche interest
Initially, the above hallway, belonging to a client of interior designer Leoma Harper (@styletheclutter and @interiorsbyleomaharper), 'struggled with a lack of identity and function,' she says. 'It felt disjointed and dark, with awkward corners, bulky furnishing and a dated finish. Except for a couple of hooks, there was no storage, resulting in clutter gathering around the doorway. Shoes lined the floor, with nowhere purposeful to go.' Harper's redesign was all about creating storage while giving the space cohesion and a visual flow. 'Creating a little boot-room-style nook in the unused space to the side of the stairs, with a built-in bench for shoe storage and a practical spot to sit, was a perfect solution,' she says. 'Painting it all in the same tone as the bannister and walls (Slaked Lime Mid by Little Greene) helped it blend seamlessly with the rest of the new decor. The hallway feels a lot more spacious and welcoming as a result.'
Space invader
Irene Gunter made the surprising choice of eating into her living room's floorplan to create better shoe storage in her home. 'It was a very small front room, so we took some of it as hallway cupboards and the rest for the kitchen,' she says of how she reconfigured the layout to find space in her classic London Victorian house. Fabric-encased cupboards now flank the hallway, where there once was just a wall (and a pile of shoes), with shelves for shoes and hangers for coats. 'Shoe storage doesn't need to be as deep as normal cupboards – only 43cm [17in] instead of 65cm [25½in] – and you can get still get size 12 shoes into it,' she points out. She lined each shelf with Xylocleaf, a melamine with the texture of linen, that looks smart but is wipe-clean and waterproof – perfect for muddy boots. Gunter adds that good storage may not totally change your life, but it gives you a fighting chance to achieve order. 'I still have to encourage the kids to use it, and sometimes I don't have it in me,' she says, 'but it gives me a space to put shoes in before I go to bed each night so I come down to a tidy hallway every morning. It makes a big difference to my mood.'
In the pink
'People ask me what my favourite room in my house is, and I always say the hallway,' says Emily Murray, an interiors writer who shares her home projects on the Instagram account @pinkhouseliving. Murray reconfigured the entire space to make multi-purpose shoe storage the star of her home. 'You used to open the front door and be met by a wall into a horrible bathroom and an old kitchen, which you could only get to by turning left and going through the living room,' she says. Knocking down the walls, making the hallway seem less congested, and building a bespoke storage bench front and centre, has been life-enhancing. 'It's comfortable to sit on, and it makes me smile to see it,' she says of the seat, which is covered in a bouclé fabric by Romo, under which are two deep drawers with brass trim handles, one for her sons and one for her, painted in Pink House by Mylands. 'I'll admit, the shoes often get thrown in rather than placed, but at least they're out of the way,' she says, adding that every so often it needs a declutter. 'The cleverest part is that the underfloor heating continues beneath the drawers, so it dries damp footwear in no time.'
To the point
The hallway isn't the only problem area for shoes, and interior designer Clare Gaskin likes to include space for them in her bedroom designs, to alleviate the messy lower levels of wardrobes. For one project in Kingston, south-west London, she was trying to make sense of a bedroom on a mezzanine level with a full-height apex ceiling that vaulted into the roof. 'While the room was full of natural light, it felt dated and lacked impact, and offered no opportunity to showcase the clients' extensive shoe collection,' she says. 'Most shoes ended up scattered on the floor due to the lack of dedicated storage.' A new layout included full-height, back-to-back wardrobes for his-and-hers storage, with a striking display wall of shoes at the end of a run of wardrobes. The effect, as she puts it, is 'turning functional storage into a design feature', so that the shoes – a passion of the owner – are displayed almost as works of art. Each shoe cubby has a mirrored back and has integrated lighting to increase attention.
Hole in the wall
For a project in Putney, south London, Gaskin found herself with another bedroom littered with shoes. 'An unused fireplace had become a dumping ground for anything without a home,' she says. 'With limited wardrobe capacity and a lot of clothes to house, there simply wasn't enough space for proper shoe storage, leading to overflow and clutter. The solution here needed to be quick, effective and budget sensitive. We sourced simple chrome shoe racks from John Lewis (that both extend and are stackable) that fitted neatly into the fireplace void, making use of wasted space in an unobtrusive yet practical way. It's a fun moment in the room, and proof good design doesn't always require a big spend.'

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