Wheel...of...Shoe...!

As part of our continued efforts to organize our apartment, I had to find some extra storage for the rest of my shoes. A few pairs were taken care of with our IKEA shoe rack, but I still had a lot of other shoes to store in a smaller closet.

I had seen the Shoe Wheel in a Daily Candy email and ordered it almost a year and a half ago but had never gotten around to assembling it since I didn't really need the shoe storage. But now I did...

Here's the box before unpacking...


I unpacked and organized all of the pieces according to the instructions. All of the little screws and bolts on the cardboard in the lower left.


First I had to attach the metal frames to the plastic axle center.


Then I attached the rolly wheels to the bottom of the metal frame so the Shoe Wheel can be mobile. Notice the little wheel locks so I could keep it in place too.


Then I screwed in one wheel side to the center axle.


Then (this was the 1st hard part) I had to attach the center elastic sections to the axle. Each section consisted of 2 clear plastic sheets that would separate the pairs of shoes and columns of elastic rope to keep the shoes from falling out. I did this incorrectly the first time and ended up elastics stretched on the wrong side of the wheel. I didn't realize it until I had attached the other wheel and was trying to stretch the plastic sections out. So I had to take everything off and reposition the center sections. This was my 2nd attempt.


Then I attached the other wheel side.


The wheel standing up!


I then looped these plastic strips around the axle so they would prevent friction between the wheels and axle.


Now was the 2nd difficult part, I had to pull each plastic rod over the outside of the wheels and click the rod onto the wheel sides. This got more difficult with each plastic rod because it got tighter and tighter (as the rods fit onto the wheels) and I had to pull harder and harder to secure them to the outside of the wheels.


It looks like I'm only doing it with one hand but that was because I had to use the other to take the picture.


Whew! I got them all on!


Final step... I screwed on the covers on the axle on both sides.


Now to start putting in shoes! I started with my sneaker collection...


Then I moved onto my sandals and dress shoes. Notice the many colors of sneakers - blue, gray, red, neon yellow-green, pink, brown, olive green, purple, orange, black... I love sneakers! Having different colored pairs to wear make me happy and brighten up my outfits.


The Shoe Wheel neatly stored in my closet. I managed to get 17 pairs of shoes in it! There are some limitations to the Shoe Wheel, namely boots. But I just stored mine (snow, rain, hiking) on the right side of the closet.
How awesome is this thing? Everytime we have guests over now I have to show it off and spin the wheel of shoes for them.