Linen Closet Clean Out

Oh mah word, people. Our linen closet had become so chaotic and unorganized, it was driving me nuts.  I knew it was time to purge when I was buried in a table linen avalanche one day after simply opening the door.

I have BIG plans for this closet (can you say paint and stenciling? Be still my heart!) ... but those plans are on hold until after our office re-do (more on that later). This is my before shot of our linen closet:

Yowza!

Just in case you were wondering, the answer is: Yes.
Yes, you can have too many plastic grocery bags.  Sigh.

I began by taking everything out of the closet.

Forgive the horrible picture.  I live on the Oregon Coast
where the sky is always gray. :)  It is so hard to get natural
light for pictures in this part of the house.

I separated items into 3 piles:

1. Keep
2. Give away/Donate
3. Garbage

Things that did not belong in this closet found their place somewhere else in the house.

I got some cheapo storage boxes from Walmart and used one of each for:

• Queen/Full sheets for guest bed.
• Table cloths and linens.
• Miscellaneous linens (shower curtains, etc.)
• Candles and candle holders.
• Cloth napkins and napkin rings.
• Hand towels
• Washcloths

Our house is small, so this closet is the home for all of the above.

We have a ton of dish towels, so I used just a white metal rack for those.  

For all of our throw blankets, I used this bad boy:

I scored this huge basket at Goodwill for $3.
Smurf blue anyone?  Nothing a little spray paint can't fix. 

And here is the after:

I think the green mousey cat toy on the floor adds that special pop of color. :)

Not very pretty yet, but a tad better as far as amount of crap stuff.  One good thing was that I had space for other items (pitchers, etc.) that had found places elsewhere in the house because there had not been enough room in this closet.

Obviously this closet still needs a makeover.  I am sick of those nekkid shelves. :)   My plan for this space is:

• More purging.
• Paint - bright fresh base color and a stenciled back wall.
• More storage containers and better use of space.
• I am in the process of eliminating old outdated towels and replacing with crisp white.

Can't wait for the final results!  I will keep you updated as I take on this closet.  Wish me luck. :)

What have you done with your linen closet?  Have any advice or ideas for me?  I would love to hear from you!

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