Organized Linen Closet Makeover
Hey Remodelaholics! It’s Crystal here from the blog The Weathered Fox. I blog all about high style decorating on a low budget, all with the farmhouse style in mind. You might remember some of my other contributor posts, like this DIY plug-in chandelier makeover, this simple rustic wall rack tutorial, or these dollar store farmhouse wall baskets. And today I’m getting in the new year resolution spirit to bring you a linen closet makeover!
January is a time for upholding our new years resolutions, reevaluating the chaos in our lives, and taking time to down size. The linen closet was our first victim in the declutter insanity that is going on in our house right now. This being the largest closet we have, and where we store not only our linens and cleaning supplies, but it’s also where we hide all of the necessities that our small bathroom won’t allow.
On top of that, this closet also serves as access to our attic storage space. Which means any time we need to grab anything from the attic, we have to dismantle the linen closet to do so. Because this closet has so many functions, we really needed it to be more functional.
Organized Linen Closet Makeover
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Before we get into the details, watch the video, and here’s a before and after just to show you how bad things got for us. I’m honestly embarrassed that this was ever our linen closet. But this is also real life! And since moving into our home we have had to do things one day at a time. This door stays closed most of the time, so it got sent to the bottom of the priority list.
Sources: woven baskets | fabric boxes | back of door organizer
Our first goal with this closet was to give it a fresh coat of paint. So we took all the items off of the shelves, and pulled the shelves out. This gave us the opportunity to fill in any holes before we added some paint.
While the spackle was drying, we took our shelves to the basement, gave them a good cleaning and sprayed them with a fresh coat of trim and cabinetry paint. I decided to go with the good stuff so that the paint holds up better over time. Trim and cabinetry paint are more durable and can stand up the scratches and dings that inevitably occur in our closet. A paint sprayer can make this job a whole lot faster, but If you don’t have a paint sprayer a simple paint roller or brush will do just fine. Two to three coats on your shelves should be enough.
After the spackle in the closet was dry, I simply wiped the excess with a damp cloth to give the wall a smooth surface for paint.
I’m all about saving money, so I chose to paint the interior of the closet with a paint I already had on hand. This color is called Chime Grey. You can find it in the Magnolia Home by Joanna Gaines Paint Collection. It’s a very soft gray with just a hint of blue.
Soap and water are all you need to scrub down a wall and prepare it for paint. In some cases you may want to prime your walls first. In this case the walls were in pretty good shape, here were no signs of stains that could penetrate through the paint, and the paint we used has a built in primer. I used a paint brush to cut in the corners while Brian painted the larger areas with a roller. It took two coats as well as some touch ups in a few areas.
The attic access panel got a few coats of paint too, and now it blends in so much more than before. Once I have baskets in there, I’ll barely notice it.
I really wanted the vacuum to fit in the closet, so we made the choice to keep the first row of boards out of the closet. Initially we thought this would make for even less storage space, but after purging items and organizing, we haven’t missed the extra depth at all.
Making sure most items in this closet were in easy to move boxes was my number one priority in this makeover. As I mentioned above, our attic access is right behind this wall, so we need everything on these shelves to be able to be removed quickly and easily.
These little storage boxes were the perfect solution. They have lids which helps keep things tidy, and they are sturdy enough to be stacked too. Some boxes I designated for sheets and extra pillow cases, while another was used for first aid items.
I added labels to all of my boxes and bins. You can get a set of your own on my blog. Labeling them makes for a more efficient and organized space. A place for everything, and everything in its place!
We made sure to store the lightest items on the highest shelf. So these shelves are storing our extra paper towel and toilet paper. Anything else would have just been impractical.
The wall shelf practically doubled our storage space. I was tired of not having space for my cleaning supplies, and having to dig around for items I use daily. Not to mention every time I opened the door, the broom fell out. But now Everything that was on the floor is now nicely stored on the door for easy access.
This makeover was pretty simple but it made a huge difference. Most of our time was spent purging unnecessary items and reorganizing. We got rid of more than half our towels because we realized we only tend to use a select few. We threw out expired products, and finally recycled old lightbulbs. You know, the kind of tasks you put off until your linen closet is overflowing! haha!
Thanks so much for checking out my linen closet makeover! If you want a set of your own linen tags like the ones I used, you can find them on my blog!
