resourceful

We were having a shoe dilemma, but a dilemma like that is always a fun challenge around here. It means we get to brainstorm ideas and start searching for bits and pieces that may end up as a shoe shelf. Armed with measurements we spent a few weekends looking around our favourite second hand and antique places in the city (so, Queen & Roncesvalles, Guff etc. in Queen East, Dundas Street West...if you live in Toronto, I highly recommend checking out Smash). But we came up empty handed and realized that we'd probably have to make something.

At this point I forget how the idea actually came together. Jay always has house-salvaged wood lying around waiting for a new purpose, so that part was easy (the pieces he ended up using were once a shelf, circa 1923, from our basement). The sides were more of a struggle to figure out but we knew that a wood + metal combo would suit the space, which is beside an old rad and under a wooden console table (the picture above is deceiving - I had to move the shelf to a new spot to photograph it, it's just too dark where it really lives). Luckily we somehow remembered these black metal grates Jay picked up at the ReStore years ago. We've been using them decoratively on shelves but we actually had 4 - the perfect number for a two level shelf. So after maybe an hour of work, Jay had the shelf built and all our shoes finally had a home.

Organization sure feels good.