LINEN CABINET ORGANIZATION

We are now entering week four of our at-home quarantine, and it is the first week of my spring break staycation, which means I finally have some time to do a few house projects off of the to-do list.  As a teacher, the last three weeks have been very hectic, rearranging my lesson plans and learning how to teach with a distance learning platform.  However, this is a small sacrifice compared to what our health workers and essential workers are doing to ensure our safety and wellbeing.  I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your sacrifice and service. 

Organization has always brought me some joy and satisfaction.  I know my mom will have a good laugh when she reads this because I was notorious for having a messy bedroom growing up; but as an adult, now with my own place, organization is very important to me.  And, now we have plenty of time to tackle the projects.  The first one on my list was my upstairs linen cabinet. 

I didn’t take any before pictures, but trust me when I say it was a mess, a hodgepodge of lightbulbs, candles, vases, décor, and dishes.  Items were just placed on the shelves wherever they fit, with absolutely zero organization. 

Step 1: Clean

The first step to the reorganization was to decide what actually needed to be in this cabinet.  I cleared out both cabinets and placed everything in piles along the hallway.  This helped me to group like items together and determine what I really wanted to store in the linen cabinets, and what I wanted to throw away or donate. 

Once the cabinets were empty, I gave each shelf a good cleaning.  It was a bit surprising how much dust had accumulated since I moved here almost two years ago.   

Step 2: Sort

I decided to focus on the basics, keeping things that I am likely to use more often within reach on the lower shelves, such as toilet paper and paper towels.  The second shelf has bath towels, with one bin full of washcloths and the other containing hand towels.  I folded all the towels away in the bins to keep things tidy and maximize storage. 

The next shelf I considered was for house essentials.  The bin is filled with lightbulbs (Wow, did I have a collection!), followed by plastic containers from Ikea filled with candles, extension cords, and air fresheners (I love the wallflowers from Bath and Body Works.).  I will probably label these once I can go back to Target and get a new cartridge for my label maker. 

I feel like the upper cabinets are still a work in progress.  The upper cabinet contains my vases, candle sticks, votive holders, and fine china.  I really pared down my collection of candle holders and vases, and will donate the rest. 

The next two shelves house my fine china.  I will admit that I am not happy with storing my fine china in my linen cabinet, especially because it is on the second floor; but our dining room is still a work in progress, and we don’t have a sideboard to store our fine china in yet.  This was the best place to keep it safe until the time comes.  Once I am able to tackle the design of the dining room, I will move my dishes down there freeing up those two shelves. 

I would like to keep cleaning supplies on one of the shelves.  Once this pandemic is over and cleaning supplies are available for purchase again, I plan on buying some along with a storage caddy to keep upstairs.  I read once that you are more likely to keep a cleaning routine when you have supplies available on each floor of your house. 

You may have noticed that this reorganization does not include extra bathroom essentials.  Both of our upstairs bathrooms have large vanities where we keep our extra bathroom supplies. 

Step 3: Contain

I am a big believer in using baskets and bins to contain things.  My rule for this project was: if it didn’t fit in the designated bin, I had to get rid of it.  This was especially useful with my candles.  I had a surprising amount of half burned candles.  The same was true for my light bulbs.  I had lightbulbs from my old house stored in here.  We don’t even have a light fixture that fits them, so there’s no need to keep them. 

I’ve linked a few of my favorite storage products below.  This is a great project to tackle while we are all in quarantine and spring cleaning.  

one // two // three // four // five // six

My best advice when it comes to the organization of your home is to figure out what works best for you and your family.  Yes, Pinterest is a great place to look for inspiration, but there is no need to follow what everyone else is doing in their homes, especially when it isn’t practical for your lifestyle. 

It will be nice to see how this space evolves over time as I clean and organize the rest of our house. 

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