Please remove your shoes

Those who know us in real life know that ours is a shoes-off family. I grew up in a shoes-off home, but Niels did not. Although he started to see the wisdom of my way when he took over floor cleaning duty, seeing our son start to crawl and stick everything in his mouth sealed the deal.

Removing your shoes when you enter a home is not just a preference, but a green choice, as well. When you think of all things you step in over the course of a day from walking on pesticide-treated walkways, to standing at the gas pump, to a jog in the park where a dog-owner just cleaned up (or didn't) after their pooch, removing your shoes is a an easy, common sense way to protect your indoor air quality, protect your floors, and keep your home cleaner.

I realize some people don't like to take off their shoes for health issues or age, but then, our friends who need the support of shoes usually have indoor shoes or slippers they can wear. Other people are grossed out by the idea of walking around barefoot, but it's easy to provide a basket of new socks for people to wear.

One study showed that pesticides on your shoes can be tracked into your house for up to a week!

Practically Green puts it this way: Taking off your shoes before you enter your home is the public health equivalent of washing your hands. 

I knew that we wanted to make it easy for our guests to (remember to) remove their shoes when they come to our new house. As you can see below, we transformed what was to be our decorative niche into a more practical bench.

I spent some time on Pinterest looking for some friendly reminders and was happy to see evidence that there are many people on the shoes-off bandwagon. Here are some of my favorites...

Please do not pin this image from our site. Please pin from the original source:  HowDoesShe

Please do not pin this image from our site. Please pin from the original source: HeartFeltGiver's Etsy Shop

Please do not pin this image from our site. Please pin from the original source: Design My Heart Out

Please do not pin this image from our site. Please pin from the original source:  Artfire

Please do not pin this image from our site. Please pin from the original source: TrimbleCraft's Etsy Shop

Please do not pin this image from our site. Please pin from the original source: Our Hobby To Your Home's Etsy Shop

Please do not pin this image from our site. Please pin from the original source:  Sandy J Yorong

Please do not pin this image from our site. Please pin from the original source: Home Spun Raven's Etsy Shop

And last but not least... our version of it...