A well-heeled closet

The latest, greatest patent leather wedges are perfect for the work week and nights on the town. But chances are your shoe-storage setup isn't so chic and versatile.

Most of us, whether we have six pairs or 600, could use a mini closet makeover so we can find our footwear faster. Here's your guide to making that dream of a beautiful shoe closet a reality:

Step 1: Purge pairs you haven't worn for years.

Donate them to friends, family members and charities. Throw away pairs that are beyond fixing. One or two pairs of heavy-duty, paint-splattered work shoes are plenty.

Step 2: Get your shoes off the floor.

Keeping shoes on the floor is never good, says Kasey Vejar, owner of Simply Organized, a business she runs from her home in Overland Park, Kan.

"You have to bend down to get them and put them away," she said. "They get knocked down easily because clothes are going in and out of there. The whole closet quickly becomes a messy black hole."

Wardrobe consultant and organizer Tracy Marty is a fan of keeping shoes in their original boxes because it keeps them free of dust and nicely shaped with the rod and tissue-paper inserts. Some of the time, the ends of the boxes have a diagram of what the shoes look like.

"If the box doesn't have an easy-to-see diagram, you can always take a photo of the shoes and tape it on the box," said Marty, co-owner of Wardrobes to a T in North Kansas City, Mo. "That's easy to do in the digital age."

But shoeboxes also can be problematic. For starters, boxes have to be restacked each time you get out a pair.

Step 4: Place shoes within easy reach.

Having shoes in different places is tricky, Vejar said. "The shoes that aren't in the main place will be forgotten."

Some shoes, she notes, aren't a good fit for the shoe stackers. A pair of boots takes up more than one space. And flip-flops don't warrant prime real estate in the closet. So Vejar puts boots and flip-flops in their own baskets or bins.

For small closets, using a combination of an over-the-door clear hanging bag that holds a dozen pairs of shoes and bins for seasonal shoes is a good choice.

Hampers. Avoid this black hole.

Metal-rod racks. Cumbersome and tippy.

Tilt-out shoe cabinets. Expensive space guzzlers that don't hold much.

Wire units. They're too tippy and let shoes get dusty.

Shoe enthusiasts are raving about Shoebbys. They are clear boxes that come with handles for easy toting. The downside: Assembly takes a while. It's a pain to peel off the protective acrylic sheets and assemble the boxes ($8 each, $30 for five; shoebby.com, 1-888-674-6326).

Organizer Kasey Vejar of Simply Organized puts her shoes on shelves. She uses shoe stackers, which come in white or maple finishes, to store more ($10 for 24-inch width, $13 for 31-inch width; Target and Bed, Bath & Beyond).