Solving the shoe organization issue

We maintain a strict "no shoes in the house" policy here at Chez McShoe. I have a variety of reasons why this is an excellent policy, but it does have the unfortunate side effect of a shoe pile inside the garage door. Given that we both like hiking, this means there's also a decent amount of dried mud and such that collects under the shoe pile. It's annoying to vacuum. 

So I came up with what's turned out to be a pretty awesome solution, involving some 1/4"x 4" poplar from a failed project and a curtain rod with a return.

I drilled holes for a few anchors for the curtain rod and just tacked the wood to the drywall with a brad nailer. The whole thing took a little more finagling than I was hoping for, but it works super well. There's enough space for a few pairs of shoes for both of us, the wall is protected by (bonus!) what was going to be firewood, and no more shoe/mud pile to get in the way of the vacuum. YAY!

I'm still shopping for a 4'x6' rug (whyyyyy doesn't Ruggable make rugs in that size??) and I'd like to add a mirror over the dresser and possibly a large piece of art on the facing wall. Maybe painting a spunky color? The clutter on top of it is a perennial issue I've sort of given up on for the time being.

I've also thought about relocating that dresser elsewhere because of how cramped it ended up being (it was supposed to have another 4+ inches and the door was supposed to be all the way against the left wall. Instead, it escaped my notice that they snuck the heat register on the left side during the build and ate into my carefully planned storage space. Can't win em all.) 

That dresser is a workhorse, though, with Baxter's leash/harness/collar, wallets, reusable grocery bags, plus more shoes. All the stuff we might need to grab before leaving or drop off walking in the door. It's been in the entryway of the last three places we've lived and would be a change to our routine.

Anyway, no shortage of projects. But it's super nice to have this one accomplished and have it work just like I'd hope.