Shoes are the biggest contributors to clutter in every home, and they tend to pile up in a messy heap in the most inconvenient spots. This is even worse when space is limited, and it can be a major source of stress for those who want to maintain a tidy hallway… or just want to stop having nightmares about shoes every day.
That’s why it’s well worth looking towards our Swedish space-saving saviours for handy IKEA shoe storage hacks, and I’ve found one that turns even the smallest of nooks into a useable space for a whopping 20 shoes. In fact, as soon as I spotted Ali from @shemadehome turn a tiny space in her hallway into the ultimate shoe storage area, I knew she was onto a winner.
Not only is this IKEA shoe storage hack extremely practical, but Ali managed to create that built-in look on an incredible budget of under £85. This is how she did it.
A post shared by Ali✨Home | DIY | Painting Queen (@shemadehome)
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Like many looking for shoe storage ideas for small spaces, Ali was inspired to bring this IKEA shoe storage hack to life when the jumble of shoes in her family home had become too much.
She told me, ‘As a family of five, we have a lot of shoes. We wanted to maximise this dead space in our porch, and found that the Ikea BISSA units fit perfectly.’
And while these BISSA units are already marketed as shoe storage thanks to the different pull-out compartments, Ali wanted to take her hack one step further. So, she bought two different sizes - the smaller BISSA Shoe cabinet with 2 compartments (£30 at IKEA), and the slightly larger BISSA Shoe cabinet with 3 compartments (£45 at IKEA).
She then stacked the smaller cabinet on top of the larger one, attached them to the wall to prevent toppling, and added some decorative trim to enhance the built-in look. This cost her just a few pounds from Wickes.
To finish it off, she colour-drenched the units in the same colour as the rest of her hallway - Little Greene’s Clay Mid Paint, which starts at just £5 depending on the pot size. And as you can imagine, Ali was over the moon with the result, especially as she turned what was previously dead space into a stylish shoe storage solution for up to 20 pairs of shoes.
She told me, ‘The result is a huge amount of shoe storage, on a shoestring budget, that looks incredible too.’ However, she’s not the only one who has turned to IKEA’s BISSA units for an organised hallway.
Ideal Home’s Editorial Assistant, Maddie, recently moved in with her boyfriend and raved about her IKEA Bissa shoe storage too. And while she didn’t add trim or paint it like Ali, it still totally transformed her hallway - and she hasn’t had to deal with shoe clutter since.
But if IKEA hacks aren’t quite your style, it’s still possible to buy ready-made shoe storage for smaller spaces. These are my picks as an Ideal Home Editor.
As well as offering three tiers for shoes, this small-space-friendly shoe cabinet also comes with shelf space for post, bags, or other hallway items.
If you're after a no-nonsense shoe storage solution, this one is both cheap and cheerful. It's designed specifically for narrow hallways, and will comfortably fit up to 8 pairs of shoes.
If you only have a few shoes to contend with, this could also be another option. It's sleek and slimline, but still has space to hold up to six pairs of shoes by your front door.
You just can't go wrong with an IKEA hack!
