I would imagine managing water/snow/dirt/mud/manure/UFO's falling of the boots would be an issue.

It might work if you line the shelves with water hog mats or boot trays. I personally would not want to lift up mucky boots on to a shelf and worry about them dripping on me or around on the floor.

. . . or into other boots.

For drips, our solution works really well: we have normal (plastic) boot trays, but we put a wire shelf inside them. Standard 24” shelf fits perfectly, and elevates the footwear a little more than the useless ridges of the trays, allowing water, slush, salt to drip right off and the shoes dry.

As to shelves, we come and go quickly. We tried a shoe shelf, but tbh we kick our shoes off or step into them, so flat trays on the floor work better. From time to time we straighten the shoes. Shelves would be fine for out of season.

We have this type of shoe closet in our mudroom to store all of our various shoes. The shelves have plastic liners that you can take out and wipe off. But we don’t put dirty wet shoes into it. The current boots we are wearing go on the waterhog mat, or on the shoe tray under the bench, until they’re dry. We don’t wear shoes in the house, so I really like having this in the mudroom (instead of in our bedroom closets)

We have a closet off the mudroom that's a future provision for an elevator. For now, we have wire shelves from Home Depot and put shoes there. If they're wet/muddy, they dry off in the garage first.

Thanks everyone for the feedback! Lots of things to consider that I hadn’t thought of. That’s exactly why I wanted to ask on Houzz. Also, title should be “shelves”. Oops.

I liked the idea of wire shelving until I realized the top boots would drop stuff into the lower boots.

I like to put my wet boots on a boot/glove air dryer/warmer to dry overnight. They go upside down. So I would want one on the floor.

Then I saw this version with angled dowels and wondered if some boots could be upside-down on angled dowels in the wall. You know how boots like to fall over.

I assume that since you are on a farm you already have a spraper, boot brush, hose-down spot outside.

I wonder if multiple solutions are better than just one. If my boots are super muddy, they stay outside overnight and I smack them together in the morning to make the mud fall off. Maybe some outdoor storage would be useful for those occasions.

I like the idea of trays with liners, some with wire, some with waterhog...maybe best is tray, waterhog, and wire, all three in one.

We also live on a farm. Luckily, we have a small mud room right at the garage entrance. We bought a heavy duty, large boot tray. They’re available on Amazon. I think ours was LL Bean.

This idea has a built in supposition that the user will reach up and put their shoes there. The usual practical lower effort is what is done, and the shoes get kicked under a bench, or in the way of the door. The best design figures out the lowest effort laziest way that people actually act, and works with that. Yes, that's a real thing. It's a offshoot of time motion and ergonomics surveys.

There is an inherent behavior mismatch between wet and muddy, and sock feet moving through a corridor that was wetted and muddied. What is the transition plan for between the two? House slippers? That somehow make their way into the mud room after being discarded at bedtime?

If anything is wet, damp or dirty, it seems amazingly counterproductive to put them in a cabinet that is enclosed on 3 sides.

This is one of those terrible Insta-ideas. (think stacked pebble backsplash, flammable backsplashes behind a range, or no grout mosaics in a shower, etc....)

Thanks for the feedback today! I think we've decided against the vertical shelves for boots and shoes. I'm considering running a bench on one wall of the mudroom and shoes can go under it. It's about 7' of space with a window above. The spot where I was considering the vertical storage will now be entirely storage space with doors. It's roughly 7' as well with 10' ceilings, think I will stop the cabinets at 8'.

We have a bench and boots go under it with a boot tray to catch mud and water, works great

If you have any boots that flop over and then tend to fall down (more likely for dress boots maybe) you can cut pool noodles to the length of the boot shaft and store the boots with the noodles inserted. I found pool noodles at a dollar store, even after summer ended. Now my boots stand pretty well so they’re easier to keep tidy.

I think in theory this would be great. However, in reality NOT one kid would ever ever reach upwards and place his or her boots or shoes on a shelf. I personally would have them low to ground under a bench perhaps in the mud room. Use vertical space for other things… I have a basket filled with gloves/mittens and another with hats.

Boot trays! My husband built a bench with cubbies underneath and I only put dirty shoes in there once. Serious PITA to clean. The cubbies now house my ski bag, ski boots, rolled up towels to dry off wet dogs, and a gallon of water to refresh the water bowl for the dogs. Find space for a broom and mop (I just have a swiffer wet) for a quick clean up when needed.

I enjoy thinking about mudroom s and entry point to house.

Do most family members SIT to remove boots/ shoes? Or just the elders ?! Do you have tall boots or mostly shoes? Taller boots won’t fit under a bench. I have a bench in my garage where I do sit to take off house shoes & put on gardening shoes & ankle boots & then the reverse. About 3 pairs of my yard footwear fit under the bench —4 if carefully lined up. However I most often leave them in front of the bench! I do think family members can be trained— after all, it is entirely appropriate for everyone to recognize and respect the limits of home spaces and furnishings, how our homes have to be cleaned and cared for , and the citizenship that goes with being part of the family. So just reiterating the previous time& motion remarks, so take time to noodle on that and your availabile space & be realistic. For example, all the internet mudrooms show the long bench deal, but in some cases it might be better to have a simple sturdy chair & the boot trays against a wall so they’re very easy to access OR for the mud- keeper to straighten up from time to time. And not to have each member of the family store 5 pairs of footwear each all the time. So honestly you have to think is this for a shoe- free home, or more for a pair or 2 of foul- weather gear, or what. Plus agree with, what do you change into from wet/ muddy shoes— a pair of dry “ outdoor “ shoes, or some slippers? How do kids get dressed in the morning? That sort of thing.

She lives on a farm. Mud is a fact of life, and kids get dirty. There will be summer mud boots, winter mud boots, mud boots you can ride horses in, etc. Having a laundry basket or two in there and teaching the kids to strip out of wet or really dirty clothes before coming into the main house is useful too. Just getting everyone to hang things up on hooks and take off dirty boots is a win in my book.

I do all of the above at my house. We have a lot of shoes. In the winter, I have boot trays for shoes/boots, which catch the melted snow and muck off the footware. I also have open shelves for my casual shoes (dress and slippers are in bedroom closet). I have a cabinet that my husband uses for storing his boots in the summer and tennis shoes in the winter. Finally, I have an attractive flat-bottomed pot and a basket for shoes. I also have baskets for winter--one for snow pants and one for gloves.

SWF, you’re right. I think if searching for inspiration photos I’d try hard to move away from the “ pretty” highly constrained cabinetry looks whether on HOUZZ or Insta, and go more to working farm, English vestibule ( wet, muddy, & horsey!). Not going for ugly, but, the more effective the mudroom design is for real life, the cleaner & tidier the main house will be.

Wow, so much feedback. Again many thanks! I have another question considering number of lights over a kitchen table (putting antique table in center of kitchen vs island) if any of you feedbackers wanna head to my next post. Haha :)