Linen Closet Makeover

It has taken me MONTHS of dawdling, but I have finally completed the reorganization of my linen closet! (And by “completed,” I mean, that it’s nice enough to present to you through my blog.)

As if I wasn’t already super proud of my pantry reorganization, I think I may be even more proud of my linen closet. Primarily, I’ve learned a few tips and tricks in photography since the pantry project so I feel like these photos of the linen closet are so much prettier. [insert humble giggle]

I think “before” photos are always fun. Let’s take a look at what I had to work with in the beginning:

And then how I used it soon after I moved in:

The walls were PINK! I gave the closet a quick facelift with a coat of paint on the walls and the shelves. Then I laid down shelf liner and started emptying our moving boxes. It kinda stayed like this for several months.

And then I attempted to restructure for better organization:

Since the shelves were two deep, I moved the front shelves around to add more storage. Got some plastic baskets from the dollar store and then things got chaotic because clearly, this was a bad design.

In an attempt to organize my most used tools, I hung them on several hooks (also from the dollar store) on the side walls.

Fun times, huh! Well, you can see all the areas that just needed improvement. Oh, can’t you? Let me break out the pointy stick and point them out to you, then!

So let’s see how I rectified my problem areas in the “after” photos…!

Heeeeey! Did you cheat and scroll down to this part without seeing the before photos? Ah well, I don’t blame you. *wink*

Do you recognize these shelves? They’re the same shelves with a faux barnboard finish. I blogged about it here.

It all started by clearing EVERYTHING out, including the shelves. The tools got a new home, so this closet has only one function now. And look what I found! I didn’t actually paint all the walls when I moved in. Haha! Of course, it’s fully painted now.

And now, some tips for you to take with you so you can launch into a reorganization of your own:

1. Dump, Donate, Keep. It turns out this linen closet is more of a “travel products storage closet,” but that’s a long title for a tiny room. I had to edit all my little bottles of hotel shampoos and body washes. Unlike a lot of households, we actually do use them in our house. They’re great for our weekend trips to Seattle. If it doesn’t fit in the overall function of the closet, get rid of it.

2. Apples with apples. Not only did I face all our large bulk bottles of toiletries like they do in stores, I also grouped them by type - also like the stores. You would never see the toothpaste mixed in with the facial cleanser in the Target aisles, so it makes sense to keep the same system in my house.

3. Containerize the little things. Sure, I could’ve just stacked the toilet paper rolls on the shelf without any problems, but I had some extra chicken wire laying around, so I just rigged up this little wire basket in the exact dimensions I needed to fit the shelf AND comfortably hold the TP rolls. I got the idea to make these baskets here.

4. Make pretty labels. Usually, I just print out utilitarian labels with my labelmaker, but as I wanted to make this closet a gem, I made colorful tags with handwritten labels. These also added the extra pop of color and continuity I was struggling to find.

5. Find storage in the overlooked places. If you study the “before” photo of this closet when I moved in, you’ll see that the shelves in here used to be two deep. Even if I only stored towels, the spacing between the shelves was too wide. When I moved the front shelf out and placed them in between the “back” shelves to close in the wide gaps, I was left with all this room on the side walls. Well, it’s not a TON, but 10″ can still store a lot of stuff - especially if the stuff you’re storing are little things. I hung these burlap baskets on the side walls for added functional storage. So, look up, look left and right, look behind you… can you see untapped storage potential?

6. Let there be light! The only way to light my closet is with the terribly dim hallway light (must do something about that, btw), but the light doesn’t get into the nooks and crannies. As I don’t have an electrical outlet in this closet and hardwiring is really not an option for a tiny CLOSET, I bought these battery-operated adhesive backed motion detector lights from The Home Depot. No wiring, no switching, easy installation! They don’t give off a ton of light, mind you, so if you have a large closet area, then you might want to find another option.

7. Add an unexpected punch of color. Do you ever have a favorite color you would love to use somewhere in the house, but it’s a bit too bright or feminine for the husband? Well, my solution is to paint the inside of your closets! In this case, I wanted to keep the closet itself quite serene and sophisticated, so I painted the inside of the door. When Mr. M saw me do this he said, “Whaaaaaaaat?? My wife is craaazy,” in a humorous, yet admirable way. I’m not sure about this purple color… I think I want to go more eggplant. Oh well! I’ll get to it another time.

8. Be flexible. The back of this wall is riddled with holes where I drilled for wall-mounted shelf brackets. Then I changed my mind about the shelf placement, so I removed the brackets and drilled again. Anyway, this went on far too many times, which was when I decided that it would be worth the investment to buy adjustable supports so I can move my shelves around easily. I also used these same adjustable supports in the Pantry Makeover. Even my pretty labels are easy to replace should I need to change the contents.

9. Make it a gem. Does it make sense to put in a plant and a framed photo in a storage closet? Of course not, but why does it always have to make sense? I wanted elements of surprise and eye candy every time we accessed this closet (and showed it off in house tours), so I went the extra mile to put in some special touches. Come to think of it… I do remember my old classmates in college called me “over achiever.”

Now it’s another room in my house that I adore.

And just so I don’t leave out credit where credit is due… here is the image that sparked the inspiration to this closet:

There are more inspiration photos on my Pinterest board here. Do you think I did a good job matching up to the inspiration photo?

Do you have any great closet reorganization projects to share? I’d love to see them!

Total time: This was quite the project! It took a total period of five days that spanned five months. One day was spent painting the walls and the shelves. Another day adjusting and readjusting the shelves. Another day to buy the containers and fill them. A fourth day to put grommets into the burlap baskets and hang them. And the last day to paint the door and photograph.

Total cost: The shelves and paint materials, picture frame, and wire baskets were free as I had them around the house. The shelf uprights and brackets were $61.49 from The Home Depot. All glass jars, woven baskets, and gray box were $67.12 from various sources. I used two battery-operated lights from The Home Depot for $42.40. The ironing board holder from Storables was $10.90. The artificial plants were $22.38 from HomeSense. Final tally = $204.07.

Did you enjoy this project? Then don’t miss out!
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