Linen Closet Organization

In this post, I hope to inspire you to organize your bath and linen items in a way that gives you that spa or zen feeling. I’d like to share some tips and products that made a huge difference in the look and function of my linen closet. Whether you have a cabinet or a whole closet, these tips for an organized linen closet can help you make the most of your space.

When my husband and I bought our first house, we entered the fun and frustrating world of DIY projects. That was many, many years and many projects ago. We’ve owned four homes and learned a ton along the way.

We moved into a new-build home in 2017, and the DIY projects didn’t stop. We found our house after all the finish choices were made and, of course, I had to make changes. One of my first organizing projects was our bathroom linen closet.

The Problem

In this house, we inherited a deep linen closet. When I worked at The Container Store, I helped so many people with this problem. Extremely deep closets left them reaching way back to find things. I had this problem myself so I decided to practice what I preach.

When possible you should bring things forward. If you organize your items efficiently, that space in the back can be dead space or used for items you don’t use daily.

In most organizing projects, I suggest maximizing every inch of space you have. But these closets and cabinets are built by people who aren’t considering functionality.

That space back there is the abyss and if you can afford to leave it empty, you’ll be much happier for it.

I’m not sure why, but my bathroom linen closet has been my favorite organizing project so far. Maybe it’s because the fresh coat of white paint brightened up the dull beige colors the builders used.

Maybe, it’s because fresh, clean linens give me a sense of “ahhhh.” Or, maybe it’s because this space was complete chaos, and now it’s an organized linen closet where everything has its place. I suspect it’s my favorite because it is a combination of all three.

What Belongs in a Linen Closet

If you’re lucky enough to have a linen closet, I’m sure it holds different items than mine or the next person. Your linen closet may have bedroom items like sheets and pillows, whereas mine has only towels and bathroom items.

It only makes sense to have the items as close as possible to where you use them. Besides, you don’t want to overstuff your closet. The more items you have stuffed in there, the harder it will be to find what you’re looking for.

The goal of this project is to make everything easily accessible. Whatever items you keep in there can be organized, and you can have that “ahhhh” feeling when you open your linen closet too.

Edit and Prep

Although closets come in all shapes and sizes, most have one thing in common, too much stuff! You have to be ruthless when editing closets. The good news is that it’s much easier to edit your linen closet than your clothes closet.

Do you really need 10 extra pillowcases? Only you can answer that. Apart from having 10 kids or 10 bedrooms, I’m thinking that answer should be “no.” If you want an organized linen closet, you’re going to have to get rid of some stuff.

I feel your pain in this stage of the project. We had a hard time getting rid of some towels that had seen better days. I relegated them to the garage for dog baths or car washing, and I didn’t have to feel bad about throwing them in the trash.

My beauty products also had to be streamlined because a lot of them were old or no longer being used. This will be hard for some of you as well. It feels like throwing away money. But, you need to dispose of expired products.

Sometimes I try a new product and don’t love it. I’m sure you’ve been there. In the past, those items sat in my closet or cabinet. For this project, I gave a bunch of those products (mostly hair products) to sisters and nieces. Maybe they will love them or pass them on to someone else.

After purging items, I started my project by cleaning the shelves and prepping them for paint. I used semi-gloss for ease of cleaning in the future.

Once I had my bright, white, blank slate, I started to research organizing solutions that would best accommodate all my beauty products and linens. I found that turntables and baskets were going to work best for my items.

Great Products for an Organized Linen Closet

Turntables are great! That’s it. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. Seriously, though, turntables are extremely useful and can be used all over the house.

I remember when everyone called them Lazy Susans back in the day. However, turntables have come a long way since then. They come in many different diameters and heights, and some even have removable trays now.

Turntables keep things contained and easily accessible, two of the most important things when organizing.

I used to line my products up in a row because the shelves went back so far. Everything would eventually end up jumbled together. It was hard to find things and hard to keep under control.

Have you ever bought a product and later realized you already had it? You couldn’t see it because it was hidden by a bunch of other stuff? I got tired of this happening.

Labeling

Kitchen pantries and linen closets are two areas that you must stay on top of regularly. People are in and out of them several times a day.

If everyone isn’t on board with the organizing system you’ve put in place, it’s more work to keep it organized. That is why you need to keep it simple. One of the best ways to do this is to label everything.

Even if it seems obvious, label it. Then there are no excuses for putting things away in the wrong spot.

For this project, my sister made me labels on her Cricut. I used those labels on my turntables and used I used blank electrical wall plates for my baskets. They are tied on with raffia and labeled with a chalk marker.

(Full disclosure: I saw this electrical wall plate idea a long time ago on a Pinterest picture. I wanted to give the person credit but I cannot find it anymore.)

I labeled everything in my linen closet, in the event my husband randomly decides he’s going to clean up after me. Let’s be real. THAT is not going to happen.

If I am being really honest, then I might as well admit that the labeling in my linen closet makes me happy. It’s unnecessary in my case since they are all my products, and I’m the one that folds and puts away the linens.

Each turntable is labeled for the products it holds. Fortunately for me, my husband is very low-maintenance as far as beauty products go. I can keep everything he needs in his vanity drawers.

On the flip side, I’m a product junkie and have difficult hair (tons of fine, curly hair), so I try everything and anything to make doing my hair easier.

Anyway, the turntables only have my stuff on them. That’s another reason it’s an easy system. I’m the only one using it. If only my kitchen pantry could be that simple!

If you have several people using the closet, it will help them find what they need. You could even have a turntable labeled for each person.

If you keep beauty products in any kind of cabinet or closet, get some turntables. You’ll love how accessible all your products become.

If you follow me on this organizing journey, i.e., my blog, you’ll see that I am not a fan of open or see-through containers. I rarely use them in organizing projects.

In many instances, if you can see the stuff, it still looks cluttered. Of course, there are exceptions. If the items are nice to look at, why wouldn’t you have them displayed in storage that showcases them?

In my opinion, a linen closet with nice-looking linens is one of those exceptions. I used the Rustic Marche Wire Baskets from The Container Store and I think they are very pretty.

I purchased two large (The Container Store) baskets for pool and bath towels and two medium baskets for hand towels and washcloths. Finally, I finished the closet with two-wire laundry hampers purchased from Kohls.

I use one for dirty linens and one for dirty clothes. It wasn’t easy to find a wire hamper that was the right height. Another perk…they are the perfect size to hide my luggage stored behind them.

I hope my project has inspired you to create an organized linen closet or cabinet. I know it will make your life easier. Maybe your linens aren’t all white, and you have 15 towels of different colors. I think a lot of people are in this camp.

Maybe it won’t look spa-like, but it can still look great. You don’t have to buy baskets either. Just make sure that you fold each linen the same way. Many online tutorials show how to perfectly fold sheets or towels.

You can have a nice, aligned stack of sheets, a stack of towels, etc. If you are trying to keep costs down, I would save money on containers for linens and put your money into the turntables. They are worth every penny.

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Do you have a linen closet? If you do, share in the comments what you like or don’t like about it. If you don’t have one, tell us where you keep your linens?

Thanks for reading!