Everyone likes a nice and neat-looking linen closet but the issue is it gets messy too quick to even want to bother with it. That’s why organization is so important. An organized linen closet looks better and is also more practical and easy to use. It’s time to put a bit of time aside and get it done so let’s work on this together and make it more enjoyable.

How To Organize Your Linen Closet Un 5 Steps

It’s easier to get things done when you divide a big task into smaller steps. For instance, organizing your linen closet probably doesn’t sound appealing at the moment but if you think of this as a series of small and easy tasks or steps things don’t seem that intimidating anymore. Here’s how you can organize your linen closet in 5 easy steps, a tutorial featured on makinglemonadeblog:

Step 1. Take everything out

Before you actually start to do anything you need to empty out your linen closet. Don’t just try to make the mess look pretty. Get rid of it completely.

Step 2: Sort everything into piles

Once you have all your linens in a big pile, it’s time to sort it into smaller piles. Get rid of anything you don’t want to keep anymore, like old or damaged towels and so on. Come up with your own system for how you want everything to be organized.

Step 3: Prep the shelves

Take a look at the state your closet shelves are in and decide whether you want to change anything about them. For instance, you might want to add some shelf liner. This is really useful if you have wire shelves. If you’re happy with your shelves just the way they are, simply clean them a bit.

Step 4: Create categories

Now you have a bunch of empty shelves and a few piles of linen that need to fit inside. It’s time to figure out how you want everything to be organized and to create categories or zones within the closet. Decide where you want the sheets to go, where the towels should sit and so on. You could also have a section of the closet for blankets or pillows or maybe you’d like to dedicate a little area to some cleaning products if that’s something you want to store in there as well.

Step 5: Store it all

Now comes the difficult but also the most satisfying part of all, actually storing everything. This is also the point where you can get a bit creative with your closet organization ideas and introduce some accessories like baskets, shelf dividers and so on. You could also label everything.

Useful organization tips for small linen closets

Organizing linen closets and actually keeping them nice and neat is no easy task, especially when you’re limited by a small closets to begin with. Luckily, there’s a bunch of strategies that you can use to make it easier and that actually work. You can find a bunch of tips and ideas on justagirlandherblog.

Don’t fill it up

Try to resist the temptation of filling up your tiny closet and occupying every little nook and cranny. In theory it sounds good to take advantage of all the space available but in reality this only makes it more difficult to keep the mess at bay. Just leave a little bit of empty space to give your some freedom to move things around when you’re actually using the closet.

Get your priorities straight

Just accept it, you might not be able to fit everything inside the linen closet so you should establish your priorities. Decide what you do want to store in there and what needs to go somewhere else. Also, it might be time to get rid of a few items, like some old towels or some damaged sheets and so on. Some items might need to be relocated. Perhaps you can find a space for related items nearby.

Learn how to fold efficiently

It really helps to know how to fold your towels and linens so they take up as little space as possible in the closet. Learn some new folding techniques or come up with your own strategies. Also, be consistent with the way you’re doing everything. Fold all the towels the same way and make sure they fit the shelves and don’t hang out over the edges.

Group up small items

You can also save space and keep your linen closet tidy and organizing by grouping up smaller items together. For example, you could use some baskets or crates for small hand towels, cleaning products and various other things.

Use a stool if necessary

You probably noticed this already. The top shelves of your linen closet might be just a bit too high up for you to properly reach them so whenever you need to take something out or store something there you end up making a mess. You can easily solve this issue by keeping a small folding stool nearby.

Ingenious linen closet organization ideas

A tidy and inspiring makeover

Of course, every linen closet is different so what might work in one case isn’t necessarily great in a different context. It definitely helps to gather a bunch of ideas before you get started. Let’s take a look at an inspiring linen closet makeover from blesserhouse. We love the use of the baskets and little containers to group up certain items and to make the whole closet look clean and organized. Perhaps a similar strategy could also work for you.

Linen closet makeover featuring baskets

The closet makeover featured on oldsaltfarm also makes great use of baskets, boxes, trays and all sorts of other containers. These are used to prevent the shelves from getting messy over time and making it easier to find items that are similar by keeping them all together. The big space at the bottom can be used in a variety of different ways. In this case it’s where a big crate full of toilet paper rolls is sitting.

New shelves for a new look

You should also consider possibly replacing your existing linen closet shelves with new ones or giving them a makeover. If you have wire shelves you can either put some liner on them or swap them for some stylish wooden shelves, like the ones featured on shadesofblueinteriors. these ones look super sleek plus they really suit the modern and cozy vibe that the new closet design embraces.

Small and tidy

Just because you have a small linen closet doesn’t mean you’re at a disadvantage. You can definitely make the most of a small space if you know how to use it. You can find some useful tips on sarahjoyblog along with a tutorial. The main ideas to take from this is that you should use containers to organize similar things and you shouldn’t completely fill the shelves with items.

A great use of wire baskets

If you’re struggling to find out what sort of containers would be best for your linen closet, consider wire baskets. They’re a great fit because they’re sturdy and durable and they’re good for things like small towels, pillowcases and so on that aren’t small enough to fall through the gaps. Wire baskets also let you easily see what’s inside them which is useful. Check out this closet makeover from rainandpine to see really great use of these.

Blankets on hangers

That’s right, storing blankets on hangers is actually something that you can do. It’s a creative but also efficient way of organizing blankets and it’s quite space-efficient too. This is just one of the cool ideas that you can find on ramblingrenovators so head over there and check out all the other closet organization tips while you’re at it.

Using the door for storage

If you’re struggling to fit everything inside your linen closet, using the inside of the door for storage is a great option. In addition to storing lots of things on the shelves inside the closet you can also have hanging baskets on the door where you can keep all the small items. An idea that we found on kelleynan is to use this space to store and organize various bathroom supplies.

A mix of shelves and drawers

Yes, linen closets usually have a bunch of open shelves but that doesn’t mean other storage and organizing options are out of the question. How about some drawers in addition to a few shelves and perhaps a rod for hanging a few things on there as well? You can also leave some open space at the bottom for a hamper or a laundry basket. Check out diypassion for a few more details on this type of closet.

A pretty and practical design

In case you haven’t figure it out already, you don’t have to choose between a pretty and a practical design for your linen closet because you can actually have both. There’s lots of ways in which you can add style and character to the closet without compromising its functionality. For example, a few ideas that we got from designertrapped include decorating the back panel with some pretty paper, using colored baskets for storage and painting the door a cool color as well.

Redesign and simplify

Sometimes you can’t just take out all the towels, then put them back in the closet and call it a day. If your linen closet is in bad shape, a complete redesign might be in order. Consider using this opportunity to simplify things a bit and perhaps come up with a better way to organize this space. Get rid of all the things that you don’t like about it and come up with a new way of doing things. You can find an inspiring transformation on jaimecostiglio that can give you some ideas of how this is done.

Small changes with a big impact

Sometimes just making small changes to your linen closet can actually end up having a big impact on its overall design and the way in which you’re using it. A good example in this sense comes from sincerelymariedesigns. For this closet makeover two major things changed: the design of the back wall and the positioning of the shelves. The new wallpaper gives it such a beautiful backdrop and the shelves are now more spaced apart which gives more room to store things and creates a more airy look overall.

The power of containers

Containers of various different types of baskets, boxes, trays and so on and super helpful for organizing pretty much anything. You can really use this strategy when cleaning up your linen closet. Put things like hand towels, washcloths and toiletries in baskets to save space and to make it easier to keep the shelves clean and tidy. Check out honeybearlane for more inspiration.

One type of item per shelf

A valid closet organization strategy can also be to have each shelf hold a particular type of item. For instance, all the towels can fit on one shelf, another shelf can be for toiletries, another one for sheets and so on. You can see a similar strategy used in the makeover featured on thehoneycombhome.

Mix and match

There’s a big chance none of the strategies presented here work for your own needs and the specifics of your linen closet so it makes sense to mix and match various ideas and options. For instance, the linen closet featured on seekinglavenderlane makes use of baskets and containers but also has basic open self sections too.

A minimal design

It’s not just the functional and practical side of a design that matters but also the aesthetics. A clean and minimal linen closet design like the one featured on ohsolovelyblog helps to make the closet look nice and tidy. The wallpaper pattern used here is really nice and goes well with the white color scheme while also adding character to the design.

Labeled shelves

Labels can also help to keep closets organized and tidy. You can use labels in a number of different ways. In the makeover project featured on thehappyhousie.porch the labels were used on the shelves themselves in order to create certain separate sections. Another idea is to put labels on baskets and containers.