Get It Done: Clean Out the Linen Closet

The linen closet is getting an elusive area. In reality, having one is a luxury in itself. It was a home staple, usually placed in an upstairs hall, but nowadays you might have to produce your own “linen closet.” This might be a small closet or cupboard in a bathroom, an armoire in a bedroom, a hijacked guest room closet or some shelves in the laundry area. Where you put it might decide exactly what you store there; exactly what most of these spaces have in common is that it is highly likely they could use a good clean-out. Let’s begin.

Gast Architects

Inspiration. This comes from a fantasy where all we need convenient are sterile white towels and soaps that are fancy.

Lowe’s Home Improvement

Approximate period: 1 to 5 hours
It depends on how big your bathroom is and just how much stuff you have. You might be doing many loads of laundry and also have enough time to put up your feet during the cycles.
Materials needed:
Wastebasket
Room to distribute the closet’s contents
Donation box
A few baskets or boxes for coordinating the items which you’ll be storing
Cleaning wipes

Tip: Require a before shot so which you could feel extra fulfilled when this is all over.

ROSEMARY MERRILL DESIGN

Select a linen closet. Whether a linen closet is a conventional linen closet, a shelf or two on the bedroom armoire or a series of cabinets in the laundry area, it is time to get cracking. Take everything out. I recommend placing it all.

Incidentally, if it is toiletries and smaller bathroom items which you need help with, we have covered that; consult with our ideabook on organizing the bathroom.

John Senhauser Architects

Clean. Eliminate every item and wipe down the shelves and drawers with cleaning wipes.

Sawhill Kitchens

Divide and conquer. Place everything you haven’t washed in the last few weeks in a heap. Odds are there are some very old, unnecessary linens in there. They’re on piles’ bottoms, and they have not been used by you in years.

Zinc Art + Interiors

How to organize your sheets:
Determine which sheets go with that beds.
Decide if you need two or more sets per bed. You probably don’t.
Keep both best sets for every bed. Throw any of these you haven’t washed in the previous few weeks to the wash for freshening up.
Form throughout the remaining sets. If some are looking rough, save them for cleaning rags.
If some are looking great but you just don’t need them, throw them in the donate pile. It is wonderful to wash them first but not crucial.

The Land of Nod

Maintain your organized state. One of my favourite organizing tips (I’m fairly sure that it was from Martha) is how to keep sheet sets organized. Fold the pair of sheets, then put them all within a pillowcase from said collection. This is a lot easier than remembering how to fold the fitted sheet the way Martha does.

Contemporary Baskets – $10

Keep sheets grouped together via beds and sizes. You can just add tags to your shelves, such as “Guest Room” or “Full/Queen,” or provide each dimension its own basket onto the shelf. I like to throw a sachet, cedar block or dryer sheet on every shelf to keep things nice and fresh.

You can add correlating blankets with the sheet sets, provide them their very own shelf together or keep them stored in every bedroom.

Dufner Heighes Inc

Towels. Odds are, you have discovered some age-old towels concealed in the depths of the linen closet. Get them from there.

Independent the best ones out.
Earmark some of them for the car wash and rag heap. You’ll keep one for hair dyeing, if needed.
Twist all of the good towels and heap them.
Set them on shelves or in baskets.

Hable Construction

Hable Construction Sweet Pea Beads Storage Box – $98

Find a place for extra toilet paper. Do you store toilet paper on your linen closet? I have space for it just on the floor of mine so I keep it stored in a cunning canvas bin similar to this one.

More thoughts for where to store toilet paper

Sullivan Building & Design Group

Future strategies. If you have a deep closet where items are normally shoved to the rear and forgotten forever, consider investing in some rollout drawers such as these. Keep the fronts tagged so you’ll remember what is lurking in the back of the drawers.

Make up your bed with a pair of sheets right as they come from the dryer and grab a nap, because you are done!

More:
Browse more housekeeping ideas

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