Our linen closet has always been a bit of a mess but it had gotten to the point where you had to brace yourself to open it because something was absolutely going to fall out. Thankfully, it would most likely be a pillow but it’s softness didn’t stop it from trying to knock you out. Surprising no one and similar to the pantry project, what started as a simple purge and clean task turned into a bit more of a project.
The very first thing I did was take everything out of the closet and begin to organize the items into piles (i.e. pillows, comforters, sheets, throws, towels, and random). This helped me really determine what needed to stay in this specific closet, what needed to find a new home, and what needed to be tossed/donated.
TIP: Before you toss some of your old sheets, think about your possible need for “outdoor sheets”. A couple of these came in quite handy during the winter storms earlier this year. Our plants were very thankful! 🙂
How the closet started. 
Three trash bags purged! 
Cleaned out and ready for fun!
Once everything was out of the closet, I was able to take proper measurements of the shelves and think about the functionality of the space. I knew I wanted larger items to be stored on the floor, most used items smack in the middle, and items we used less often stored at the tip top. Being me, I also really wanted clean and consistent containers for all the items. And, of course, labels! While I waited on Amazon to deliver those items, I channeled the lovely ladies of #gocleanco once again and scrubbed everything with hot water, bleach, and powered Tide. Because I wasn’t quite sure how I wanted this space to ultimately look, I paused on painting the space until I had a little more time to tackle the project.
In terms of how I organized the items, I ended up placing our sleeping bags and air mattress in taller baskets on the floor. They are bulky and I didn’t want them taking up a whole shelf. I placed our extra comforters in larger bins while the extra sheet sets, throw blankets, and other items that fold nicely in smaller bins on the middle shelves. The tip top shelf (which isn’t seen in any of the photos) is where I decided to place the extra pillows. We rarely need extra pillows so I shouldn’t need to get a step ladder out too often to grab them…or more likely, make Chris get them for me too often. 🙂
Remember how I mentioned I needed a little more time for the painting phase of this project? Well…ask and you shall receive. When the winter storm hit South Louisiana this past February, we lost power and were unable to leave our home for the better part of a week. It was recently pointed out to me that one of my strangest coping mechanisms is painting. And that became super clear during this time because of allllllll the things I could have done during a week with no power, I chose to paint and wrap up this linen closet project.
The shelves and trim were painted a bright white while the walls became a deep blue. While I love a wallpaper, this space was far too small for that to be easy so I picked my battle and grabbed a paint brush! This blue color has the best name: Skinny Jeans by Behr. How fun is that!?! And yes, the name probably did play a small part in it being selected! 🙂 But also because I wanted the bins to really pop and knew this deep color would do just that!
While the finish product gives me a crazy amount of joy, something that remains on the “to-do list” for this space is lighting. There is absolutely no lighting in this little corner of our home which makes digging around in here a little more difficult once the sun goes down. Which, in our house, is when the emergencies requiring new sheets or bedding tend to happen. Let’s keep our fingers crossed it doesn’t take another week without power for me to finally tackle that “to-do”! 🙂
Product Links (includes Amazon affiliate links):
- Baskets: Amazon
- Large Bins: Amazon
- Smaller Bins: Amazon
- Labels: Amazon (Stickers) and Amazon (Clips)