Do you have any areas of your home that are your dirty little secrets?  Those areas of disorganization, clutter and utter chaos?  It could be a small junk drawer in the kitchen, a spare bedroom closet, or maybe even an entire bedroom!  A place where if a guest accidentally opened it and saw the mess you’d be embarrassed?  {Please say yes so that I’m not alone here!!}

Well, I have three of those areas in my home: a corner of my garage, my finished attic space, and my linen closet.  The garage and attic are more than I can manage on my own, but cleaning up the linen closet was within my reach.  And I was so inspired by an image I had used in last week’s post that I decided to tackle the job last Friday.

I’m going to share one of those scary “Before” pictures with you now.  Prepare yourself!

Linen-Closet-Before

 

You might be able to tell that at one time it was organized, but that system had long since fell by the wayside.  Now there are loads of unnecessary linens stuffed into every corner and items that were no longer in use taking up precious space.  Plus, the interior walls had never been painted and just looked….well, a little sad.  Actually, that’s a good word for the closet itself.

 

Looking the closet just made me sad.

 

I also learned over time that while I love these baskets, they are not good for storing clean linens because they “shed” and whenever I would go to get linens from them, they were covered in wicker debris.  They also left scrape marks on the shelves that I couldn’t scrub off.

Tidbits&Twine-No-Wicker-for-Linens

 

After clearing out the items that I no longer needed, I was able to made space for some blankets and bedding that needed a home.  I also decided to use contact paper on the back walls to freshen up the look a bit.  With a minimal investment and a little bit of work, my linen closet now looks like this.

Tidbits&Twine-Linen-Closet-AFTER

It’s not a significant change, but even small changes in our home can have a huge impact. 

 

You’ll notice that I finally hung my ironing board on the door, a project I’ve been meaning to get to for the last year.  And aside from removing extra sheets that I didn’t need, I actually now have more things in the closet than I did before.  I was even able to fit our spare down comforter into the closet!

I love the back walls of the closet, which are covered in this contact paper.  The shelves are fixed and so I didn’t remove them from the wall, but rather papered in between them.  I wanted a pattern but didn’t want it to look busy and so chose this simple, clean-looking design.  {Stripes would have been a great option, too, but I’m not skilled enough at hanging contact paper and so would never have been able to vertically match the lines!}

Tidbits&Twine-Linen-Closet-Contact-Paper

 

I consolidated and organized my cleaning supplies and also added a bin to hold pillow cases.  {My mom loves to make pillow cases for the kids and we now have so many!}  With the help of a hanging shelf basket, I was also able to add storage for some extra towels.

Tidbits&Twine-Cleaning-Supplies

 

For my bed linens, I purchased fabric bins that I thought would do a better job at keeping things clean.  I folded all of my sheet sets and stored each one inside of one of its pillowcases.  I then organized and labeled the storage boxes according to size.

Tidbits&Twine-Linen-Closet-Sheet-Sets

 

Yes, believe it or not, but we have to buy Band-Aids in bulk so the overflow is now in the closet.  It’s not that my kids get hurt often, but rather, they think they need a Band-Aid for everything.  :)

Tidbits&Twine-Band-Aid

 

I always roll my blankets and tie them for storage.  The shelves of the closet are so narrow that it’s hard to fold large blankets and keep them organized.  This way, I can move them around, grab the one I want, and the others stay tidy!

Tidbits&Twine-Linen-Closet-Blankets

 

Plus, it gave me an excuse to use the cute twine holder that my parents gave me for Christmas!

Tidbits&Twine-Twine-Holder

 

I now even have space for the extra, extra bath tissue.  :)

Tidbits&Twine-Linen-Closet-Tissue

 

I’m not a terribly organized person by nature, so it remains to be seen whether I’ll keep this looking tidy.  At the very least, though, it’s now brighter and fresher thanks to the contact paper on the back wall!

Tidbits&Twine-Linen-Closet-Makeover

 

Here’s a list of materials that I used:

  • Contact Paper — Orchard Supply Hardware ($8)
  • Fabric Baskets – Target
  • Ceramic Container – Target (Kitchen clearance section)
  • Medium Hanging Shelf Basket – Orchard Supply Hardware
  • Linen Labels – Note cards & Clothes Pins  :)

 

Here’s hoping your week is off to a fresh start!

Tidbits&Twine - Signature

 

 

 

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8 Comments

  1. I like how you hung up the ironing board and iron was that an over the door piece or did you attach it to the door. If you attached it what did you use?

    1. Tidbits&Twine says:

      Hi Cathy – I bought it at Target {I think} and it screws into the door so that it’s really sturdy. I have hollow core doors and was originally worried that it wouldn’t hold, but it’s worked out great!

      1. Thank you I will look for it at the store. I love your ideas!

  2. Kim, it’s nice to see a fellow “OCD’er” who realizes how difficult it would be to match up vertical stripes in a linen closet! Your latest “adventure” has given me ideas for the guest/linen/craft closet in our hallway. I will take before & after photos just to remind myself to keep it clean.

    1. Tidbits&Twine says:

      Your comment made me laugh out loud! You’re right – maybe the photos will help me keep it clean, too!

  3. Well your linen closet looks alot like mine…I mean the before picture! I love how you rolled the blankets and tied them with string. I am going to have to try that and see if they will work better that way…and it’s cute!
    Sharon

    1. Tidbits&Twine says:

      Sharon – I’m so glad I’m not alone! Rolling the blankets has been a big help. Maybe if I was neater with my folding or more patient when taking blankets from the closet I could fold them, but I tend to be a grab-and-go type of person so rolling seems to work best for me. :)

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