We’re going to update and organise your wardrobes. Space is always at the top of a buyer’s mind and, if you plan to sell your house, the best overall mantra is to make your house look as if it has abundant space. Particularly when you’re talking about property presentation Sydney, where the market is as keen as it can be, you want to ‘free up’ as much space – even visual space – as you possibly can. In terms of wardrobes, this means clearing the floor.
Shoe organisers come in a variety of styles and can be purchased for a song. Okay. You have to pay money for them no matter how well you sing, but you don’t have to shell out much in the way of cash for them. If selling your house is your goal, invest in a shoe solution that is clearly visible to the buyer.
• If you buy a piece of cabinetry for this purpose, it’s likely to have doors or drawers to hide the shoes. Somehow the magic is lost here. Talk to your property stylist, but we are of the opinion that demonstrating your organisational wizardry will capture the attention of the buyer better than just another cabinet. (If your walk-in wardrobe is big enough to comfortably hold a cabinet, use it for sweaters or seasonal items to make more space elsewhere.)
• The exception to the above rule occurs if you have an entire collection of shoes. (Do you wear them all? If not, toss the ones you don’t. Don’t adopt the Imelda Marcos motto. She who owns the most shoes doesn’t win.) We’ve seen some dandy shoe racks online that are tall, slim and have as many as 10 racks which will hold about 45 pairs of shoes.
• Blessed with shelves? Look into a set of clever ‘shoe stackers’. Each of these double-decker space saving devices holds a pair of shoes and stores them one atop the other, using vertical space. How brilliant is that? They come in white, black, and an array of bright colours. They are very inexpensive – about $15.00 for a 10-piece set.
• Over-the-door shoe organisers are certainly not a newidea, but they have been improved upon in a big way. Generally, the size is compatible with the size of an ordinary wardrobe door and has pockets to hold about a dozen pairs of shoes. Unlike your grandmother’s shoe organiser, though, these pockets are made from mesh for air circulation and big enough for your high heels and running shoes. Hiking boots may not fit.
• Our favourite shoe-lution is the sort of hanging rack that affixes to your hanging rod or shelving system. This vertical system has extra wide compartments that will easily hold a pair of shoes – some are too narrow and can only accommodate one shoe at a time. These are also constructed with a rigid exo-skeleton that keeps the compartments from sagging. These hanging racks are inexpensive enough to buy two if necessary and are perfectly adaptable to your spouse’s wingtips.
• Boots can be difficult. If you have a collection of these fashionable shoes, you will likely find that they won’t fit into the usual storage compartments we’ve suggested here. You don’t want to fold the tops down and squish them into cubbies, of course, so we suggest you look into the boot-shaper clippies that hold your boots upright and work to keep their shape. There are also inexpensive boot racks that hold the individual boots upside-down and will hold up to three pairs. These would fit under your hanging clothes or in the linen closet where Millennial buyers might consider them to be a genius way to stash wet-weather gear in an otherwise uncrowded space.
An internet search for shoe organisers will reveal a number of great options at very reasonable prices. Just as long as you meet the original goal, whatever you do will be an improvement. That goal is to move shoes off the floor into some kind of orderly, vertical display. Using vertical storage has a magical way of saving space and keeping everything within view, the second most important factor in closet organisation.
