What to do with Shoes?

I'm one of those "no shoes in the house" type of girls, which means that there are perpetual heaps of shoes at the front door and on the back steps.  The front door remains unresolved, but the back steps have a temporary resolution.  I say temporary, because they still get wet when it rains if I don't remember to move the pile over a few feet when it rains.

I'd been using a wooden wine crate that I brought home bounty in from Sam's Club.  It worked pretty well, except that the bottom of it got wet when it rained.  I knew it wouldn't last forever like getting wet often.  Also, it was a raw wood so it was a super light color that didn't match the steps.  Last night I gave it a quick up-cycle.  I affixed wooden blocks for feet to lift it up off the ground, sprayed on some mahogany stain to match the steps, and hit it with a light coat of polyeurathane.  I like it!

I was glad that the stain didn't completely hide the box labeling that is sort of burned into the wood.

Here it is where it lives:

Best part?  Box - free.  Everything else -- in the work shop, and it took about 15 minutes to do it all.  When I stop using it for shoes, I'm sure it will have another life serving some other purpose.  Sweet.

Related amusing reading:  http://shoesoffatthedoorplease.blogspot.com/