Look! Boot Trays

While Stephanie and a couple of you readers may have received a useless gift or two, my household received an incredibly useful gift - boot trays. Yes, we did get made fun of by a cousin for being so excited about boot trays, but in Chicago they're more than necessary.

Shoe trays are particularly helpful to keep wet and soggy shoes from ruining your floors. But, used year round, they keep dirt from spreading and polluting your home.

Our next step to make the trays even better is to fill the bottom of the tray with river rocks. Snow and ice drain through the rocks so our shoes don’t stand in water.

The trays we got are from Smith & Hawkin and currently run for $39. You can also make one on the cheap out of baking sheets or dish drain mats.

So, do you use a boot tray? What are your tips for keeping winter slush out of your home?

Top images by Rachel Wray; bottom image via Martha Stewart

Comments (3)

I just love the river rocks boot tray. Do you know where that one is from?

I have a giant mat with rubber backing at the door. Its machine washable and seems to contain any run off from my snow boots. I also knock my shoes against the door frame before stepping foot inside to knock off as much snow as possible.

And I agree, that is a great thing to have while living in Chicago. Let's just hope this supposed blizzard is a bust.

posted by designedtoteach on January 12th 2009 at 6:46pm
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designedtoteach -

I'm not sure where the one with the river rocks are from, but Smith & Hawkins has a galvanized tray that looks very similar.

posted by Rachelw on January 12th 2009 at 11:08pm
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Those are great! Although (and this is so anal of me) i would have definitely removed the white stickers from inside the tray before putting it to use. :)

posted by mh330 on January 14th 2009 at 1:36pm
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