House Project: Shoe Storage

We've been in the house for almost 4 years and i never have proper shoe storage, which translates to wherever i take them off is where they go. Every so often I'll collect them and throw them in the dressing room; sometimes I'll even put them in there nicely, on the sorter that holds only 6 pairs tidily. Generally, though, it's a jumble by the door.

Well no longer! For quite a while I've planned on nailing up some chair rail and hanging heeled shoes off of that. Storage and display! Surely I'll be more inclined to put things away when they have an actual place to go, right?

Unfortunately I can't say where I first heard of the idea to use chair rail, it's been so long, but here's an image, from Living Etc (which I don't read, so that couldn't have been the source.)  Could have been Aunt Martha... here's a link about the article in MS.

I purchased the lightweight not-wood rail, mainly because i liked its design better, though more than I wanted to spend, about $14 for an 8' piece. (Bought 2 rails, cut to 3' which can hold up to 4 pairs.)

Four 3' chair rails, 9" apart.
Hindsight: I should have gone with the unpainted wood. Next time!

I'm having issues with many pairs wanting to slide off. : ( Shoes falling on the ground really just puts me back at square one! After running around my house looking for anything that might work, i'm thinking silicone caulking is the answer. A line of silicone across the top of the rails *might* prevent the shoes from falling.

(Waiting for it to dry before testing it out = torture.)

Later

Well, silicone sorta works, but it's too flexible. Adding a little hot glue gun action to the front of the silicone (please, no one tell me about the fumes I've been inhaling!) makes it a little sturdier- you get the pull with the blocking. 

Look at all that bare space. I think I need to go shopping!

Of course, some shoes just aren't made to hang off the wall: Boots, booties, flats, sneakers, and chunky-oddly-shaped heels. Good thing there aren't too many of those in my room!

So much of the weekend, when not printing/packaging/designing, was spent working on my dressing room. Here are some pictures:

Mostly-vintage hats and scarves. Hoping to be bold enough to wear the hats this year!

The dress/shoe corner.
I notice a lot of dots and stripes on the dress rack.
With everything out, the chances of my wearing it increase tremendously!

Still haven't figured out what color to paint the vintage vanity.
The frames and lamp are temporary; waiting to figure out my
jewelry storage/display plan before re-hanging frames.

That's it for now. Thoughts? Ideas?

Cheers,
ashley