Laundry Room

 I grew up with a laundry closet.  You know the kind, right?  It has just enough room for the washer and dryer, and maybe it has bi-fold doors to close it off.  When hubby and I started building our house I knew I wanted an actual room.  (not that there is anything wrong with the closet type.)   I thought having a room would solve all my problems!!  OK, maybe not!

 I've been working in my spare time in the spaces that don't work for me.  The Laundry room is one of those spaces.  Today I'm going to share just one thing we did.  I hope within the next couple of weeks to share the whole room with you! 

So my first problem...shoes.  Don't get me wrong I LOVE SHOES!  I would love to have a pair for every outfit, but I don't!  Something with having 4 kids, not enough money, and who are we kidding....I don't really have "outfits"!!!
So back to the problem at hand.  We put our shoes in the laundry room.  It's where we come in from the garage, so it makes sense.  Naturally coats, boots, snow pants, shoes, etc. end up in there.  It's a small room, and it has a lot of stuff in it.  It's pretty common for someone to be missing a shoe.  (Of course it's always when you're running late!!!) The other problem is.... it just always seems messy.  I believe that in life some things are going to be messy, especially with kids!  Does that mean that my laundry room is destined to be messy until hubby and I are empty nesters?  I hope not!!!
 So below you can see a few pictures of how it normally looks.  Shoes stacked up on top of each other. (no wonder they get misplaced so easy)  Some more shoes (OK they're boots!) over by the dryer!  A dirty sock on the floor, a hair thing in the boot tray.  (you never know when you'll need one of those!)  A big yucky mess in my book!!

 OK, are you still with me?  I'm going to share what I happen to think is a brilliant idea!  I'm proud to say I came up with this all on my own!  Maybe that's why I think it's brilliant!!!  Anyway, I've been looking around Pinterest for ideas on shoe storage!  I found some cute ideas... (If you click on the picture it should take you to the source I found it at!)  (If not let me know)

I love this cabinet!  It doesn't take up a lot of space, but it costs money!!!
 
 Same thing here, it costs money!!! Really cute though!
 

 I thought well we could just put some boards on the wall, like a 2x8 or 2x12.  You know what, boards cost money too!   (Unless you're one of the cool people who just have them laying around your house!!!)


 Then I saw this and thought...hmm that's interesting.  It really doesn't take up a lot of space, but it had the same problem...it cost money!!!



Are you all noticing a theme here!!!  One day I was walking through the house doing something, and I saw a gutter shelf in the school room.  I looked at it and thought about the picture above, they're similar looking.  I went and got a pair of kids shoes and they fit...I then tried a pair of mine and they fit too!
 So, because I change things around a lot I had several gutter shelves in my closet, just taking up space!  I could hardly stand  waiting to share my brilliant idea with the hubs! ( I know the gutter shelves are not the prettiest things in the world, but right now I'm about function!)  He thought it sounded like a great idea so I present to you...

The gutter shelves that used to hold books,

 but 

now hold shoes!!!

 I know these aren't the best pictures, sorry!  Like I said it's a small room!  The boot tray on the ground we are actually using to hold boots!  
Do you have any brilliant uses for a gutter shelf? 

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