Organize Your Closet with Chalkboard Shoe Labels

Did you see my closet makeover?  Read about it {here} if not; it’s one of my favorite rooms EVER!  When I started out, though,I hated my closet because I thought it was too small.  Seriously?  It’s a walk-in closet, and it’s about 5′ x 8′.  So I sound kind of spoiled when I say it’s too small.  Obviously, the problem was with me and my overabundance of STUFF, not my closet.

So my closet redo started with a major purge session.  That means that I spent a day sorting everything by color (yes, that was a little bit OCD) and season.  Goodwill got several bags of stuff that were just taking up space, and I freed up a bunch of space.  I also realized that while I have a lot of clothes, there’s not much money tied up in my wardrobe.  The bulk of it seems to be from Target or thrift/consignment stores, but don’t tell my secret!

In a continuation of the closet post, today I’m going to show you how I organized my shoes using chalkboard vinyl labels and plastic Sterilite bins.  This small and inexpensive change made a huge difference in the look of my closet!

I’ve used plastic Sterilite shoe boxes for years to organize my shoes.  I’ve noticed that the sizes vary a little bit from one store to the next, so I try to buy all of mine at Wal-mart.  They used to be about $1 apiece, and might still be, but I haven’t had to buy any in years because I have a strict one-in, one-out policy when it comes to shoes.  I remember buying them a few at a time until I had all that I needed.

I used to use a white square label and a sharpie to label the boxes, like this:

I know, it’s not very pretty.  Once I painted and redecorated in the closet, it was time to jazz up the shoe system a bit.  I peeled all those old stickers off and whipped out my vinyl cutter and a roll of chalkboard vinyl.

There are tons of cute frames out there, but if you happen to have a Silhouette (I have a Cameo), I used Design ID # 2296 (frame border).  I cut about 40 of them out, slapped them on and labeled them with my chalkboard pen.  I even had a couple of empty boxes left, just in case!

**These stickers are available in our Etsy shop here.**

The plastic bins let me see the shoes, as well as keeping things uniform and neat, and the labels let me write a short description of the contents.  And when it’s time to enforce the one-in, one-out policy, I just wipe the label clean and start again!  As is true with most organizational systems, it’s simple and neat–and that’s the key to sticking with it.

What if you don’t have a vinyl cutter?  I would buy a roll of chalkboard Contact paper and a scrapbook punch and make them that way (you can buy chalkboard Contact paper online).  I’ve seen some really cute paper punches lately–some round with scalloped edges, some rectangular and very similar to the frame I used.  Then you can reuse the punch for all kinds of fun tags and labels in the future.

Below was my biggest problem with the shoebox project: Harley, our newly rescued furry family member, realized there were DOZENS of pairs of shoes spread out in the bedroom, ripe for the picking!  He has good taste in chew toys, yes?!

I forgave him.  He’s too cute not to!

Thanks for stopping by!