Closet construction (Or: My plastic arch-nemesis)

My old shoe storage system was a disaster. It consisted primarily of an Ikea shelf stacked to the ceiling with shoe boxes, most of which bore multiple labels scribbled in various colours of sharpie. In all honesty, it was generally impossible to find anything without pulling down most of the boxes. Being someone with a morning routine timed to the second, I never had time to replace all the boxes, meaning there was typically a heap of boxes within throwing distance of the shelf.

This is not to mention the corresponding heap of loose shoes by the couch upstairs within throwing distance of the front door, as I also didn't have time to put everything away at the end of day, and why would I when I could just as easily toss them in a pile to be worn again in the near future, anyways.

So, less than organized, to put it kindly. (I'm not going to even go into my current clothing storage, that's a whole 'nother disaster!)

While in New York in September, my mum took me to The Container Store and I started thinking closet options. They had a few really nice shoe options, but they were a little pricey ($80.00 for a rack holding 50 pairs, and I was going to need two...), so I opted not to buy anything, but keep looking.

Being the bargain hunter that I am, I shopped around and found this one at Walmart. It looked like it had potential to be a little flimsy, but I figured for $40.00, I could try to build it and then return it if it was terrible. So, I ordered two.

One week later, to my delight, my mum dropped them off, and I was ready to go! As reported on Valentine's Day, I was planning to put the first one up that night, and, after setting up my mum's Etsy store, I got to work.

It was tricky work, because the bars didn't really want to cooperate, but I got it together and stood it up. I wasn't exactly sure if I had done it right, as there were no instructions, so I went to move one of the bars to see if it would be better in a different position, and all the bars popped out and the whole thing fell into a heap on the floor.

Not one to be beaten by a few pieces of plastic and metal, I went to work again. Deciding that the original positioning was best, I threw it back together like an old pro, and tipped it back up to standing.

Now, the fun part! I started loading shoes onto it, starting from the top. At about the third row, I noticed that the sides were starting to bow a little, but it was holding up, so I wasn't too concerned.

About twenty pairs in, the sides had had enough! They bowed so much that the bars all fell out again and the whole thing fell to the floor once again. By this point, it was nearly 10:30p, and, for someone who starts her day around 6:00a, past my bedtime. Feeling frustrated and tired, I decided to call it night and left the whole mess on the floor, looking like this:

The next morning, I glared at the pile as I walked over it and went to work. Through the day, I thought about how I was going to deal with the situation. Should I box the damned thing up and return it? Try to build it again, and see if I could lean it against something? Was there some way that I could reinforce it? I settled on attempting to hot glue the bars into the plastic frame and keeping my fingers crossed through the process.

I got a manicure with a good friend of mine after work (the shellac, thank god, can handle a lot of punishment, because this was no dainty project) and then came home to attack the beast.

And, after about an hour of battling with it, I managed to get it together, glued in place, and upright! Very gingerly, I loaded on 50 pairs of shoes, and, to my surprise and delight, it held!

(Forgive the terrible lighting, there was laundry hanging in the way. Like I said, the clothing system is no gem at this point.)

Looks pretty good, no? It's part of a closet overhaul process, so it's in the middle of the floor at the moment, but I'm pretty pleased for the time being.

What is your shoe system? I saw this DIY option here and thought it was quite brilliant, not to mention beautiful! It's made from painted molding.