Linen Closet Organizing: 10 Easy Tips for a More Efficient Space
Is your linen closet a mess of mismatched sheets, frayed pillowcases, and worn out items you don’t use? Our 10 easy linen closet organizing tips will help you get your linen closet in shape in no time!
It’s true.
Some of my closets/storage areas (I’m talking to you garage!) are a far cry from the neat and organized appearance of the rest of my house. I love having things in order, and consider myself a ‘neatnik’ at heart. But with the small amount of storage space our home has, it can sometimes get out of hand.
Our linen closet especially was really needing help! And after getting our guest room finished last fall I really wanted to have a linen closet that our guests could use – not one that I was embarrassed by!
So I purged, and cleaned, and organized, and I’m sharing our newly organized linen closet with all of you!
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Before
Our linen closet had become a catchall for anything and everything made of fabric! Not only did it hold our sheets and towels, as it should, but it also contained my decorative pillow covers, extra pillow inserts, Christmas tree skirts, and all manner of sheets we weren’t using any longer. And many of those sheets were twin sheets!
*Note: we no longer have any twin beds in our home and haven’t for a few years now, haha!
Not to mention most of our towels were about a decade old and in pretty sad shape.
After
And now, it’s sooo much better!
It’s so much easier to find what we’re looking for and I couldn’t be happier with the way it turned out. I literally go over and open the door to gaze at the neatness several times a day! 😉
And something I’ve come to realize is when things look this neat, they’re more likely to stay that way. Win/win.
Linen Closet Organizing Tips:
- Remove everything. Yes, everything. It really helps you to take stock and make hard decisions about what to keep and what to purge.
- Separate everything into three piles: what needs to be donated, what you’ll be keeping, and what you need to throw away.
- Eliminate excess. I kept two sets of sheets for each bed. Basically one to use and one for backup.
- Ditto the blankets. One summer and one winter for each bed is plenty.
- Get rid of things that don’t belong. For me, that was decorative throw pillows, inserts, and tree skirts.
- Use baskets and bins to corral smaller items together.
- Store sheets with sets of the same size.
- Categorize your items. Store like with like.
- Label, label, label! Especially if there are baskets with contents that aren’t visible.
- To help with aesthetics and make the closet more appealing, fold all sheets and towels in the same way and face them in the same direction. Visual order creates calm.
- Remove all packaging from things like TP and tissues if storing them there. I can’t stress this enough! Not only does it make things more cohesive, but it’s easier to get to things and takes up way less room.
- To create a wonderful resource for guests, add some basic necessities like lint rollers, a blow dryer, shampoo and conditioner, soap, body lotion, and razors.
And another tip? Stick to all white sheets and towels. Not only does it look prettier and more spa-like, it makes it easier to keep them clean with bleach and not worry about staining (see our previous blue and green towels – yuck!)
I got rid of all the twin sheets, any that were ripped or worn, and the few that weren’t white. The new sheets are now in two fabric bins, labeled Queen and King, and I know exactly what we have and where to find them.
And baskets and bins were key to achieving the organization and the cohesive look I wanted. I knew I wanted a mix of wicker baskets, glass containers, and fabric boxes. I found all of these at Wayfair – they have so many cute options nowadays!
Even though our home is on the smaller side, I really wanted to create a luxe spa-like feeling so I added some personal care items that our guests might need and housed them in a cute wicker basket.
Other basics like soap and cotton balls are stored in glass jars, making it easy for guests to grab when they need them. I used these jars but I’m also linking more pretty options below.
Not only did purging help me make room for storing our sheets and towels more neatly, it actually allowed me to add some things to the closet that were previously in the bathroom but really belong here.
I was able to add a basket for our medicines, which were previously stored in the master bath. This is way better since now my kids don’t need to go into our bathroom to get simple things like Advil, and it frees up more space in our small bathrooms for other items.
And again, you can just direct guests to your very organized linen closet if they need aspirin or cold medicine!
Lined wicker baskets hold other essentials like toothpaste, toothbrushes, wipes, and room spray.
I purged the old, dingy bath towels and sprung for some new white ones. I love that it feels more cohesive now!
On the bottom shelf, I’ve used two large wicker baskets to store extra tissues and toilet paper. Previously I stored most of our back up rolls downstairs which really wasn’t optimum. Now I can transfer a few rolls to each bathroom, but the bulk of the backup is in here making it easier to re-stock each bathroom when needed.
I love that I can now treat our guests to nice, crisp sheets, fluffy towels, and plump new pillows!
From this….
To this….
We now have an organized and dare I say, pretty, linen closet that works better for us and is much more presentable for guests!
And I have to say, this might be the most gratifying organization project I’ve ever tackled! I can’t think of any project that has had such a dramatic impact for such a small amount of time and money. 🙂
I found everything for this linen closet organizing at Wayfair! I’m sharing all the items I used below, as well as a few more adorable baskets and bins. I love their selection of all things home, as well as their free shipping!
Shop Linen Closet Organizing
Sheila
xo
*This post was sponsored by Wayfair, but as always, all opinions are my own*
If you enjoyed this post, be sure to check out more organizing and cleaning tips below:
Decluttering: 30 Things to Get Rid of in the Next 30 Days
How to Make the Perfect Bed: My Favorite Bedding Formula
5 Cleaning Tips: How to Keep Your Home Clean Everyday
I recently reorganized my linen closet, and following some of these tips made a huge difference! Using baskets for smaller items and eliminating excess really helped streamline the space. I also swapped out mismatched towels for a clean, cohesive set—what a transformation! Thanks so much for inspiring me!
Hi Sheila,
I think you have done a really great job.
Keeping styles up to date and getting things organized, with tons of containers etc, can often feel so bad for the environment at large! Although sooo very good for our personal environment.
So I thought it may encourage more people to feel less guilty, and worth mentioning, that animal shelters usually love donations of old towels, some even sheets too.
Cheers and keep up the great work, I read your blogs from Sydney Aus, where I am renovating my own “chateau”.
Cheers,
Sharon
I love that idea Sharon! Thank you so much for sharing. (and thanks for your kind words, too!)
Sheila
This is awesome!! Thank you so much. You inspired me to get mine cleaned out and reorganized. Love your ideas to do this. Thank you, again!
Oh gosh I’m so glad to hear that Debbra!! What a difference it makes! Like why didn’t I do this long ago??! 🙂
Sheila
I see your post every week. I love this hall/linen closet idea. We just recently moved into a much larger home and I’m inspired by your French ideas I’ve been reading for the last year
Thank you so much for sharing
I’m so glad you’re enjoying the blog Maggie – and thanks for your kind words!
Sheila