Organizing Linen Closets

Linens help with our everyday needs—sleeping, eating, and bathing. Let's face it; they can make our lives feel more comfortable. The problems with linens somehow begin when we have so many that it is hard to store them properly and then we can't find what we are looking for.

Begin by sorting and organizing the linens that you have. Go through all the linens and determine which ones are worth keeping and what your needs are for linens in your home. Keep only the linens that you will use and eliminate all the rest either by donating to a local charity or demoting the item to the rag bin. Limit yourself to only two sets of sheets per bed. Towels are a little harder. Determine what your needs are by figuring one towel, hand towel, and washcloth per person. However, if you change towels daily you will require more. You will also want to keep two extra sets for guests.

To begin organizing the linen closet, start by removing everything that it contains. After everything has been removed then clean the shelves. If the wood is unfinished then paint the shelves or line the shelves with shelf liner. If you decide to paint, make sure you allow enough time for the paint to fully dry and cure. (This typically means 24 to 36 hours.)

After the closet is clean, then you are ready to put items back. Start from the top and work your way down on the shelves. Linen can be folded to fit into the spaces on the shelves. To keep the closet looking nice, try to fold all the like items the same way.

On the top shelf place the bulkier items like comforters and blankets. If there isn't enough room for the blankets and comforters find a box that slides under the bed and place it in the room where the items would normally be used.

Store the rest of the linen in groups on the shelves. The second shelf is a good one to use for storing bed linens. Placing the sheets together in sets, or all sheets of the same kind together (queen flats together, queen fitted together, etc.). Whichever way you decide, you will want to be consistent.

Place towels on the next shelf down; this shelf is the easiest one to reach. (Towels are used more often the sheets so it makes sense to keep them where they are easy to reach.) Organizing the towels can be done by organizing them by size or by having the bath towels together, hand towels together, and washcloths together.

When storing table linens keep the napkin sets together. Tablecloths can be folded flat or even hung on hangers.

When everything has been put back into the closet, take the time to label the shelves. This way you can tell at a quick glance where things go when you are putting things away. Labels also help in finding the item that you want along with the correct size. In just a few minutes all the shelves can be labeled. Using adhesive labels place the labels on the edges of the shelves. The labels can be readjusted if needed.