IKEA HACK: 20 Ways to Organize With an Ikea Shoe Cabinet

I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who said they have too much storage in their home. Quite the opposite! No matter the size of your home, I am willing to bet you have at least a few problem items that are a constant source of clutter or that you just can’t find a good place to store.

We recently bought an IKEA shoe cabinet to organize the piles of shoes that are constantly piling up in our kitchen. But after assembling the cabinet for our entry way, it occurred to me that it could also provide a perfect storage solution for tons of other items as well.

At only 11 inches deep, and with two tilt-out doors, a shoe cabinet like this could fit just about anywhere from the entry way or mudroom to the office or even a kids room. The organizing potential is pretty much limitless! I came up with a crazy long list of ideas, and I managed to photograph 20 of them. So today I give you 20 Ways to Organize With a Shoe Cabinet that Don’t Involve Shoes…

If you’re not familiar with the IKEA Hemnes shoe cabinet, be sure to watch the video above for some context of what the cabinet looks like and how the tilt-out doors work. Now let’s take a closer looks at some of the ways you could use this versatile piece of furniture to organize just about anything in your home.

First up are three solutions that solve problems I hear most often from readers: electronics overload; an overflowing coat closet; and no space for gift wrap supplies.

Electronics are a constant source of clutter! There was a time when there was a computer on the desk in the office, and that was that. But now we have multiple laptops, tablets, and portable keyboards floating around the house all the time. Add to that cameras and video cameras, headphones, and other small electronics. These are all items that we want to keep close at hand and easily accessible, but they too often wind up piled up on the kitchen counter.

I recently created a stylish solution for storing our cords, cables and chargers on the kitchen counter, but the bigger items are more challenging. I gathered up all of our gear and was amazed at how easily it all fit in one tilt-out section of the shoe cabinet, with room to spare.

Many people struggle with a too small coat closet, or simply want to store their winter gear closer to the back door where they more frequently come and go from the house. In addition to keeping shoes from piling up on the floor, the tilt-out doors of a shoe cabinet can also provide a great space to store umbrellas, rolled up scarves, hats, gloves, and earmuffs.

I use one side of our guest room closet for storing gift wrap supplies, but I’ve heard from a lot of readers who say they need a more compact solution for wrapping paper, bows, and gift tags. I decided to test out the shoe cabinet for this purpose and was pleasantly surprised to find that a standard size roll of wrapping paper fits nicely at an angle, allowing the door to still close with no problem. A narrow shoe cabinet in the hallway, guest room, or office would allow ample space for wrapping paper, gift bags, rolls of ribbon, bows, greeting cards, and gift tags.

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