I’ve seen several boot trays on the web, particularly in the run up to winter: some places get an awful lot of snow. It makes sense that you would need a practical place to leave snow-boots to drip dry, like the boot tray made by Clean and Scentsible: the couple of times that we have had snow here there has been a trail of soggy footprints through the hallway. It’s fair to say that we don’t ordinarily have a major issue with snowy footprints in the UK (although rain-related footprints are an issue….)
source: cleanandscentsible.blogspot.com via DomesticGoddesq on Pinterest
What I do have a particular issue with is sand. We spend a good deal of our weekends on the beach in all weathers. This inevitably leads to a good deal of sand being tracked through the house, even when shoes are removed at the door. So when I saw a ‘Utility’ tray in my local 99p store, I remembered these boot trays and realised that they were exactly what I needed.
As luck would have it, in the next aisle were bags of decorative garden stones- 2kg bags for a mere 99p- and though they weighed down my bag so much I thought that I would have a permanent dent in my shoulder blades, I carted those stones home with sheer delight. A mere day later we returned from puddle-jumping on the beach and deposited sandy boots on a smart new boot tray. And all it took was a night when DH was out late, a few episodes of Grey’s Anatomy on Sky+ and a glue gun. The stone-arranging was the only thing that took the time: laying out the stones in the best way to fit the tray was surprisingly therapeutic. Once I was happy with their layout it was the work of minutes to secure them in place with the hot glue.
Now, I have a smart-looking tray on which to leave boots. All I need to do to clean it is to remove the boots and shake the sand free into the bin. The stones stay perfectly in place ready to hold the next set of sandy shoes.
What a simple yet effective idea. And to top it off, it looks great too!
I love this idea! I followed you over from Makin’ You Crave Mondays and I would like to invite you to share this, and any other posts, on my link party at http://www.michellestastycreations.blogspot.com. Have a great weekend.
Hugs,
Michelle
I have something similar pinned myself I think. We have a sand problem too, although from the sandpit in the garden. Yours is beautiful, and I wouldn’t have thought of glue gunning the stones into place!
Great idea! It definitely looks at lot nicer than the old towels I lay out on the floor for our boots. I might have to give this a try.
What a great idea. My OH is always annoyed about mud near the front door from our boots and shoes – this would solve the problem!
Not seen anything like this before, looks great, if I had a bigger area for shoes in my house I’d make one for my partner who always has dusty/muddy shoes when he comes home from work! Bet it took a lot of patience to get the stones to fit and look right!
It took a while I have to say Danielle, but it was surprisingly therapeutic!
Glad you liked the idea Little Flower Baby.
What a great idea. I’ve never seen one of those before. Have to give that a go. Thanks for linking up. x
That looks great and how effective and useful too. I currently have an old piece of carpet getting grubbier and grubbier, this tray makes much more sense! Thanks for joining us at #pinaddicts x
Any time Melksham Mum- thanks for the linky! I live on Pinterest.
Oh wow, I love this idea. It looks so neat, I have to have a go!
It’s a great success Liz- let me know how you get on.