How To Create an Organized Linen Closet

I’ve had so much fun the past two weeks, working here and there on this linen closet makeover. I know some people say, why spend so much time and energy making a linen closet (that no one really sees) look so good. Well, *I* see it and making this an organized linen closet that is more beautiful brings me joy. Instead of feeling grumpy because I can’t find anything, I open this and go right to what I need. That pays me in happiness and time, no grumpy searching for what I need! I truly believe if you want a space to be beautiful in your home, you SHOULD GO FOR IT!

Are you ready to see the organized linen closet? Let’s have a quick refresher of the BEFORE of this space. Not that cluttered, but very dark and dull, boring and mismatched. You can see more before photos and what my plan was HERE.

Here is the AFTER! Cleaner, brighter, with a fun paint treatment on the walls. Pretty coordinated storage and so much organization and labeling. My whole family is enjoying this organized linen closet makeover! We know where things are and we don’t have to dig through totes to get to our things anymore.

I think the plan I made came to life! The only thing I don’t have in there yet is a cute wood broom and dustpan but I’ll find one I like sooner or later!

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This linen closet needed a lot of work once I got in there really looking. There was a layer of PAINTED wallpaper on the walls. I used my HomeRight steamer and a Paper Tiger to easily remove it though. Wallpaper removal is a messy job but it came off SO EASILY with those 2 tools. Once it was off, I discovered holes and plaster damage that needed to be repaired then sanded smooth. After all of that wall prep, it was time to paint! I used leftover paint from the living room makeover on the walls, so no expense there. It’s Sherwin Williams Pure White.

Once all of the walls were repaired, sanded and painted white, I was finally at a blank slate! I purchased a small pot of black chalky finish paint then I used a small chip brush like this to start the brush stroke pattern. I started on the inside next to the door frame in case I messed up, but I didn’t. It’s so simple! Just test out the sizing and spacing on a piece of scrap wood or cardboard (or in my case drywall!) If you start to get off course while you are doing the brush strokes just course correct, no big deal. This pattern is super forgiving and no one will notice if you mess up.

The shelves were chipping paint and had a lot of holes that needed to be filled, sanded and repainted which was a little time consuming and they aren’t perfect but they are certainly better than they were before! I had leftover paint from our living room makeover that I used on the shelves, baseboards and door trim. I really wanted to keep this linen closet on a super budget.

Everything got painted, then I reinstalled the shelves and got started painting the floor. I just sanded the floor a little, with a sanding sponge, to rough it up and then used Sherwin Williams Porch & Floor Paint, also in Pure White, to paint the floor. It’s only about 10 square feet, but I did have to do 3 coats to get good coverage. We actually have this linoleum in 3 out of 4 bedrooms upstairs. I really dislike it and have thought about painting it all until we have the budget to replace it or refinish the wood underneath it. This should be a decent test for how well the paint will hold up.

You can totally make your closets functional AND beautiful! You don’t have to spend a ton of money or hire professionals to have beautiful, functional spaces in your home. An organized linen closet does take a bit of tedious work and some time but I’m still glad I decided to go for it and I think you will be too.

For An Organized Linen Closet, Use What You Have – Just make it prettier!

The green boxes you see here used to be ugly, patterned boxes so I used a test pot of green paint (get picture) and a small roller, two coats later they look fantastic! I also added these vintage pulls with labels to help with organization and pretty them up.

I added these hooks, one on the door and one on the inside wall to hold my microfiber cleaning towels.

The three black wooden boxes I had on hand already so I gave them a fresh coat with the same chalky finish black paint I did the brush strokes with then hung two of them on the wall next to art I also had on hand already. The bigger one has a lid so I added a vintage pull to it as well and I’m storing some medicine we typically use upstairs in it. I brought 2 vintage picnic baskets in for storage, they’re holding extra hand soap and some first aid supplies for the nearby bathroom. I like storing things in baskets but they can get pricey and I was trying to keep this organized linen closet on a pretty extreme budget.

The little dresser is a project I did a while back for my daughter’s bedroom makeover. You can see the DIY IKEA Rast hack HERE and the bedroom HERE. I just switched it out for another IKEA Rast we had. This one is holding extra sets of sheets for the four bedrooms.

My favorite thing I think are those amber bottles! I bought a BIG set on Amazon for $17, so I think they are a great price for what you get. You can see the set I bought here. I’m using them for cleaning mixtures, a linen spray I made and different odd and end things. If there’s interest I can do a post about the cleaning solutions I like, use and make for cleaning our house, just let me know 🙂 Oh, and I wrote on the bottles with this awesome glass marker, it works GREAT and wipes off with a wet cloth.

I wanted to do this project for well UNDER $100 and I wound up spending $60, so not too bad! How do your linen closets look? Go make them beautiful already!! Whether it’s a rental, an in-between, or a forever home, you can do it!