Sharing all the details on how to organize a linen closet quickly and efficiently.

I haven’t had a true linen closet since we lived in our flip house 9 years ago. I am psyched to have one in this house especially with two boys and only one other closet outside of the bedrooms. Whether you have a formal linen closet or not, you can use this approach to organize your linens and items in your bathroom. Even if its just under the sink, proper containment is key and it doesn’t have to be pricey or take a long time. Here’s the scoop on how you can organize your linen closet too:

Even though the closet is just as it was when the house was built in 1950, I did make a few adjustments to make the linen closet work better for me and my family. In this particular closet the shelves were double in depth. I was able to remove the front shelf which makes it easier to reach things and get them in and out. Although it does make the total amount of shelf space less, I’ve found that things don’t get lost in the back this way and that I can actually find what I need more easily.

In short, make your closet work FOR YOU. If your shelves are adjustable, adjust them to fit your stuff. Don’t be afraid to try different layouts to figure out what works best. Our shelves aren’t adjustable here but the simple act of removing the front part of the shelf makes a huge difference.

How to organize your linen closet

STEP ONE: Identify your prime spot for your linens> if you don’t have a formal linen closet, don’t worry. THere are plenty of other places to store your linens. I would know, we’ve lived in two other homes before this and neither had a formal linen closet. Some ideas are to place your towels and bathroom itesm under the sink and place other linens like sheets in their associated bedroom.

STEP TWO: Take everything out of that space. Wipe down teh shelves with hot soapy water - chances are they haven’t been cleaned in awhile.

STEP THREE: Gather all of your linens. Think sheets, wash cloths, hand towels, and towels. Sort through them. Get ridof any with stains and rips. You can recycle textiles that are too worn out to donate through a palce like For Days (thats who I use at least). Once you have your keep pile, its time to get organizing.

STEP FOUR: Now we’re at the good part! We reused baskets from our primary closet in our previous home, and clear shoe bins for everything else in our linen closet. I divided the medicines into adult and childrens and placed them in clear storage bins. I also placed our travel toiletries in a similar bin.

I suggest using plastic bins in places where there are liquids or things that might spill, and fabric bins for your actual linens.

For the linens, I repurposed our lined closet bins from our previous home. I placed hand towels in one bin, a complete sheet set in another and washcloths and guest towels in a third. For the larger towels, I neatly folded and placed them on the shelf. Originally, I palced them four high but there was not much breathing room so I went with three. I guess all I’m saying is, leave breathing room for your bins and your towels!

Lastly, I tested placement of the bins and the towels. It took a few different arrangments to find the right fit for us. I kept medicines on the higher shelves, as well as lesser used items like the travel items and extra sheet sets. I placed the daily itesm like towels on the lowest shelf along with the wash cloths.

Remember when you are organizing your linen closet (or any closet!) that form follows function. Make sure it works well for you and then you can make it look good. Those are the tweaks you can make after you’ve used the space and know what works and what needs a slight adjustment.

Make it beautiful

Now its time to make it beautiful. I already had some great bins at my fingertips and I’m glad they worked out. Before I pulled them from my stash, I looked at a few saved images of linen closets that “felt” how I wanted mine to feel. I find this is really helpful whether I’m designing a room or organizing a space. It gives me a clear vision and a goal for the project. Here are a few of the spaces that really inspired me:

I loved the white simplicity of these two spaces and thats why I chose the white lined bins for mu linens and used the clear containers I already had in place for the medicines and everything else. To make sure that everything stays in place, I added my favorite bin clip labels and wrote directly on them wiht a white chalk marker.

What do you think about how it turned out? Will this help you in organizing your linen closet?

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