My Linen "Closets" | Creative Linen Storage in Our Small House

 

 

I'm not doing this to be annoying.  I promise.  So, I'll spare you the Martha-esque rambling about the joys of living with linens organized as such...

I'm merely making an effort to make every corner and crevice in our small little house work very, very hard.  Also, as we were driving home from Christmas,  I realized, we have a lot of nice things.  Sometimes, I think our lovelies get shadowed by the other not-so-special things that we accumulate.  So, I'm in clean out and clean up mode (similar to shape-up or ship-out...).

Here are the rules :

If I love it, it stays.
If we need it, it stays.
If I would ever need to repurchase it, it stays.
If for some reason (however irrational) I don't get a good vibe from it, I've never liked it, but it was a gift, I get no joy from it, it was on sale so I just bought it but don't really like it... it goes.

 

So, I started with my linens.  This pie safe (formerly in Emma's nursery, but now that she's mobile it would be too tempting for her to practice her climbing skills) now stands in our guest room.

 We don't have very much usable storage in our little house- only one small linen closet in the hallway, hardly any storage in the kitchen and none in the dining room.  So, using this cabinet works great for storing everything from table linens to wool blankets.

You probably recognize these Libeco linen tea towels - They are the stars of most of my food shoots. 

I also am keeping our out of season candles in this cabinet - they perfume the linens nicely.  All the way to the right, you can see my stack of hand-painted linen towels I made in the Spring.

This is a stack of out of season pillow cases and on top is a vintage European duvet cover that will be Emma's.  I bought it last year in Brimfield, Ma. at the famous antique show.



Stacks of sheets and wool and cashmere throws.

Opposite of the guest bedroom is the small hall closet that holds the rest of our "stuff."

Everyone has their own basket (even Mr. Darcy) that has all of their junk in it.  Baskets are always a great way to make you feel organized... it always looks pretty, but really just divides the mess.  To make you feel better, at the end of this post, I've included a photo of what my basket looks like inside - everything is just thrown in there!

I got these "Threshold Rattan Small Milk Crate Baskets" at Target.  They sell the baskets without the liner ($25 for 2) online, but with the liner ($15 each) in store.

Stacks of white towels, Mason Jars of cotton balls and Qtips. 

 Next, I've stacked our out of season duvet covers in a basket - I know, it might seem like a little much to have the basket in there, too, but I already owned it and these little touches of 'styling' our own home make even the insides of the closets pretty.

Paper towels and pillows... not much to say about those.

I've included photos of what hides behind our baskets, too, so you can see we're actually human. I have no idea what is in those boxes... they were packed like that when we moved.

And, as promised, the inside of "my basket" - messy and organized at the same time.