What Can You Use a Shoe Rack for?
Shoe racks are pretty straightforward, right? You put your shoes on them. But if you think about it, this simple piece of furniture can be used for a lot more than just shoes.
Think about it: shoe racks are typically built with shelves and storage compartments, so they’re perfect for any small items that need an organization overhaul in your home.
Because they come in all sizes and styles, you can pick the one that works best for your own space. And because they’re made of metal or wood, they’re durable enough to hold just about anything you need to store.
Here’s a look at some of the endless uses we’ve found for shoe racks. They may be small in size, but they solve big problems.
25 Things You Can Use A Shoe Rack For
A shoe rack can be used for more than just shoes. In fact, there are many fun, unique ways to use a shoe rack in your home and bedroom. Whether you’re looking for something creative to do with your old shoe racks or are simply interested in learning about some new uses for the inexpensive storage system, here are 25 ideas you can use a shoe rack for:
1. Shoe Storage
The most obvious, but still worth mentioning – a shoe rack is great for storing your shoes. You can simply place them on the rack and have them organized and ready to go whenever you need them.
2. Hat Storage
A shoe rack can also work as a hat rack. Your hats will be organized and ready to wear when you need them, without having to dig through your closet or bedside table drawers. It’s also a great way to keep your kids’ hats off the ground and easy to find them before they leave the house on cold winter days.
3. Scarf Organizer
In the same way that shoe racks are great for storing hats, they are also wonderful for storing scarves. Not only does this free up space in your closet, but it also makes it easier for you to see what scarves you have and decide which one you want to wear with your outfit each day.
4. Bra Storage
Many women suffer from a lack of drawer space in their bedroom dressers, especially when it comes to their bras and underwear drawers. A shoe rack is ideal for giving you more space for your undergarments as well as helping you keep your drawers more organized because everything will be visible.
5. Storage for Toys
If you have children, you know how easy it is for toys to take over a room. Even if you have a toy box, toys can find their way everywhere. With a shoe rack like the Whitmor 20-Pair Shoe Rack, you can keep those toys off the floor and neatly organized in your child’s room or playroom. It’s perfect for smaller items like dolls, action figures, and toy cars (and keeps them from getting lost under the bed).
6. Storage for Linens
Whether you’re looking to organize your linen closet or store extra linens in another area of your home, a shoe rack like this one will do the trick! It’s great for storing sheets, pillowcases, blankets, and even towels.
7. Storage for Cleaning Supplies
Is there ever enough storage space in any home to hold all of one’s cleaning supplies? Probably not. But with a multi-tier shoe rack, you can organize everything from mops and brooms to cleansers and more.
8. Store computer accessories
Each shelf is the perfect place to store power cords, cables, flash drives, and other computer accessories.
9. Organize DVDs
Use a small shoe rack to organize your DVD collection by genre (action, comedy, drama), time period (1950s-present), or some other category that works for you.
10. Store garden tools
The compartments are just the right size for hand gardening tools such as trowels, pruners, and more. Plus, if you don’t want to look at the plastic on your shelves, you can easily cover it with wrapping paper or contact paper.
11. Display greeting cards
A small shoe rack is a great way to display greeting cards from holidays and special occasions that are too nice to throw away but too bulky to keep in a box somewhere. You can either put one card per slot or group them by occasion and write the name of the occasion on each shelf (e.g., Christmas).
12. Keep socks organized
You can either use a shoe rack to store each pair of socks together or use the slots to separate clean socks from dirty ones. If you have kids, this is also a great way to keep their mismatched socks organized until you find their mates.
13. Hold craft supplies
Many types of craft supplies — especially smaller items such as beads, sequins, and buttons — need to be sorted and stored in containers for easy access and portability. A shoe rack is a space-saving alternative to multiple storage boxes, and you can use different colored tags or labels to differentiate between the contents of each shelf.
14. Organize your closet
Shoe racks are designed to help you organize your shoes and keep them from getting scuffed but they can also be used to organize pants, sweaters, and other items.
15. Organize your bathroom
You can use a small shoe rack in your bathroom to organize your hair tools, nail polishes, makeup brushes, and other small items that you want to keep handy without leaving out. You could also use it as a towel rack by hanging towels over the top bar of each shelf or installing two parallel racks and folding towels in half so they hang over two shelves.
16. Organize the pantry
Use a small shoe rack to store bags of chips, cookies, pretzels, or other snacks that you want to keep organized in your pantry. You can either store them flat or stand them upright so they face forward for easier access. You could also use a small shoe rack for boxes of cereal or other large food items that are too tall for one shelf but not enough for an entire cabinet.
17. Store nail polish
Most people keep their nail polish in their bathroom cabinets, but if you want to keep them easily accessible and easy to see what colors you already own, consider putting them in a small shoe rack instead.
18. Organize spices
Spices in your cupboard can be difficult to organize, especially if they are different shapes and sizes. Use a three-tier shoe rack to lay the spices flat so that you can see the labels and easily find what you’re looking for.
19. Organize makeup brushes
If your makeup brushes are always jumbled up in a drawer, they may need some organizing help! Here’s another idea from Simplicity in the South: Using a shoe rack to store them upright, so that you can see what you have at a glance, and they’ll dry faster after cleaning (because air will circulate better).
20. Store canned goods
A typical shoe rack has 10 or more shelves that are just the right size for holding cans of food. If you run out of cabinet space in your kitchen and you don’t want to stack any more cans on top of each other, then put a shoe rack in another room (like the dining room or living room) and use it to store canned goods instead.
21. Books and magazines
Use it to store books and magazines in your bedroom, living room, bathroom, or wherever else you may want them.
22. Bags
Store all of your purses and bags on one shelf so they’re easy to find when you need them.
23. Accessories
Accessories like scarves, belts, and ties. If you have a lot of accessories, this is a great way to keep them organized, especially if you’re short on closet space.
24. Jewelry
Hang up all of your costume jewelry on a shoe rack so you don’t misplace any pieces or lose any earrings. You can see all of your jewelry at once when you open the door, making it easier for you to find what you’re looking for faster than if it was stored inside a jewelry box.
25. Pet Supplies
Keep pet supplies like leashes and dog food stored in one spot by hanging them on an over-the-door shoe rack. You can also hang bowls from the bottom pockets so that each pet has its own bowl for food and water.
In summary, there are many cool DIY shoe storage solutions out there, but what about those times you don’t have enough shoe space? You need a shoe rack! A shoe rack is a great way to store shoes without taking up much space or damaging your walls or floors. And you can use it for more than just shoes.
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