Today I’m sharing part I of my storage spaces, the linen closets. Within the next week I’ll share part II, the pantry. I’ve seen a lot of Pinterest and Instagram posts of linen closets and pantries lately, due to the time that many folks have on their hands right now. Under normal circumstances, organizing these spaces seem to always get postponed as we tend to the hustle and bustle of activities of our daily lives. But these aren’t normal circumstances, and I’m really praying they don’t stay even “normal-for-now” too much longer. But the linen closets and pantry at The Queen’s Quarters were actually among the first spaces of my home that were organized and completed when I moved in last summer. But of course there’s been some tweaking, ha!
Storage Spaces: Thinking Back…
Here’s a throwback from not-so-long-ago, to my last home.
You may think you’re seeing double when you see the pictures from my new house, but you’re not. When I moved into my last house, I wanted everything to be white and bright, with a clean and crisp feel to it. You can read all about that linen closet HERE. Nothing had changed by the time I moved into my current home last summer. I still wanted all-white-everything. And of course, I’m sure you know by now how determined I was to not purchase anything new unless absolutely necessary. In this house there are two linen closets; one at the front of the house next to the guest bathroom, and the other in the master bathroom.
The Guest Linen Closet
Nothing new here. Same white theme. Same white baskets, wire baskets, and bed and bath accessories. This closet is a little smaller than the last, but perfect for what it houses.
The white woven baskets are from Target. The wire baskets are from Michaels. And the towels, linens and pillows are all from TJ Maxx and HomeGoods. The tip here is having a a consistent color theme to towels and linens, it’s in the folding of the towels, and tucking things away in baskets like sheets. It’s funny that this storage space is called the “linen closet”, yet you’ll never see a single sheet in it. I never mastered how to fold sheets neatly enough to be displayed on my shelves, so… to the baskets they go!
I love my linen spray. When you spray it on your freshly washed linens, it smells wonderful. I can’t remember where I purchased this one from, but there are lots of brands to choose from on the internet, and available at most home stores.
Master Linen Closet
When I was building my previous home, there was an upgrade option to have a walk-in shower in the master bath, with no linen closet, or have the standard shower with the linen closet. Well, since the upgrade was not in the budget, and there was a decent-sized linen closet right outside the master bedroom door, AND the master closet was tiny, tiny, tiny (read how tiny HERE), I decided to turn the linen closet into a shoe closet. Big enough to house all my shoes, and a small seat too. I loved it!
When building my current home, I was faced with the same decision. I could upgrade to a very nice, long, walk-in shower and forego a linen closet in the master bathroom, or take the standard shower with a fairly nice sized linen closet. I chose the latter. One thing I’ve learned through my home-buying experience, is that you simply can’t get everything you want. There’s always some compromise to be made. You can read more about that in a previous post HERE. Here’s my master linen closet…
Yes that’s water in my linen closet. As a woman of a certain age, I no longer sleep through the night consistently. And sometimes I’ll wake up and want some water. So instead of having to walk out the room to the kitchen, I just keep some here, so I can grab a bottle, take a sip, and get back to some Zzzz’s.
And those propped up white towels with the pink bows? Here’s a little story I may have mentioned in a previous post. I can’t remember, but anyway… those towels are 30 years old. Everyone who knows me, knows I love bows. So in 1989, when I went all out decorating my new apartment, fresh out of my divorce, living in a high-rise apartment in downtown Chicago, I purchased the most expensive towels I’d ever seen, but I had to have them. I got two sets of these beautiful bow, bath, hand and wash towels at Marshall Fields for $110 each, yikes! $220 for two sets of towels was A LOT 30 years ago! The wash cloths bit the dust a couple decades ago, but the hand and bath towels are still like new; just as soft and white as they were when I purchased them. I mean, they’re not frayed at all. Some things are worth spending the money on.
These lovely white storage bins are from The Container Store, and I love them because they fit perfectly in this space. I just added bows and labels. I wanted something to house all my girly, bathroomy things that you couldn’t see into like, toiletries, medicine, hair products, hair rollers and my skincare supply. The other baskets I had didn’t have lids and I’ll be gifting those. This just looks neater to me. So this is one of very few items purchased for storage for my new home. The large woven baskets are the same ones that are in the guest linen closet. Here, they house my hair towels and extra linens, bathroom tissue, Kleenex and paper towels.
On the top shelf, that’s a vintage Neiman Marcus hat box from the late 50’s that my Mom gave me a few years ago, when she was preparing to relocate here. I think I’m going to research how I can restore it sometime soon. The Henri Bendel box is from a pair of shoes a young man gifted me back in the mid-90’s. At the time, an older, wiser girlfriend told me: “When a man buys you shoes he’ll walk right out of your life.” Well, the shoes didn’t fit properly, and the guy walked, but I always loved the Henri Bendel store and their brand, so the box I kept.
Wrapping Up!
So that’s it. I love my linen closets, and they make me smile. Organizing is about personality and how you live your life, and then designing / setting up your space to fit that, accenting it with things you love. Next I’ll be sharing how I live my life with my pantry, haha! Until then, stay safe and take care :)xo
