This is the fifth post in a series I’m devoting to all things closet at my house. (Snoop around in more of my closets here, here, here and here.) Today I’m giving you a peek at our linen closet. It’s not much but it works!

We have one linen closet in our house. It’s located at the end of the hall leading to the bedrooms and bathrooms. As far as linen closets go, it’s actually a decent size. It’s about 36″ wide and 26″ deep and it’s more than enough room for our needs.

The closet came to us with wood shelving already in place. We simply painted everything white and added organization.

This closet is where I keep the boys’ laundry hamper. Their shared room is off to the right so it’s a convenient spot for them to dump their dirty clothes. (Mabrey has a laundry basket in her room. Steve and I have an organization system in our closet which includes two pull-out hampers.) Up until a month ago, I had a plain ol’ plastic laundry basket sitting on the floor of the closet to corral the boys’ clothes. But it couldn’t contain a week’s worth of dirty clothes and laundry was always spilling over.

I ordered this double hamper and couldn’t be happier with it. It’s the perfect size for our closet and has two deep partitions which keep clothes from erupting out onto the floor. The idea is to use one side for lights and the other for darks but, so far, my boys haven’t caught on. Honestly, I’m happy if their dirty clothes just make it into the hamper – separated or not. On laundry day, I carry the entire thing to the laundry nook. Easy.

The shelf above the hamper holds paper towels, toilet paper, bath mats, hand towels and washcloths. One of Everett’s chores is to keep the kitchen stocked with paper towels and the bathroom stocked with toilet paper. This shelf is easy for him to reach both the paper towels and toilet paper.

The two uppermost shelves hold towels, toiletries and medicine. We don’t own a bunch of bath linens but we have enough for us plus guests. Not having a huge supply keeps me on top of laundry. When I switch out dirty towels for clean ones in the bathroom, I automatically throw the dirties in the wash. Eventually, I’d like to replace all of our traditional terrycloth towels with peshtemal towels. We made the switch last year but still have a few regular towels hanging around. The peshtemals take up less space and are more absorbent so they’re great for small spaces.

I try to keep stuff I don’t want the kids to have easy access to up high: medicine, razor blade replacements, fingernail polish, harsh cleaners, etc. On the top shelf, the basket on the left holds medicine. (The pharmacist in me wants to remind you NOT to keep your medicine in the bathroom!) On the right, an organizer with drawers holds health and beauty items, kids’ tattoos, hair accessories, first aid supplies, etc. There’s a small container devoted specifically to travel-size toiletries.

They aren’t visible but I keep a humidifier and hair trimmer kit on the top shelf behind the plastic bins. We don’t use them that often so they don’t get prime real estate.

Everything is labeled so we can quickly find what we’re looking for. (I got cheeky with my label maker. Organization is FUN.) We also hang a pole in this closet for reaching the attic door and ladder. The attic access is located near the closet (as seen in the first two images of this post) so it made sense to keep the pole here. We always know where to find it. You can read more about our attic here if you’re curious.

We optimized space on the back of the door with a hanging wire rack that I picked up at Home Depot. We hung it out of reach of little hands and it’s where I keep more things I don’t necessarily want the kids playing with: cleaners, fingernail polish remover, soap, sunscreen, shaving cream, etc. The toiletry bag is Steve’s. The hair dryer is mine. I rarely blow-dry my hair so the dryer goes in the closet versus the bathroom.

There you have it – our one and only linen closet! I think once the kid / guest bathroom is finished I’ll spring for some new peshtemals but, for the most part, this is really all we need.

What about you? Where do you keep your supply of toilet paper and paper towels? Do your kids separate their laundry? Have you tried peshtemal towels? Do you keep your medicine in the bathroom? (The pharmacist in me is giving you the wagging no-no finger…in a non-judgmental sorta way, of course.) 

images: Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

I’m on a roll! This is the fourth post in a series I’m devoting to all things closet at my house. {Find the previous posts here, here and here.} Today I’m taking you on a tour of Mabrey’s closet. Of all the bedroom closets, it is by far the smallest.

The closet is located behind the bedroom’s door when open which makes things cumbersome. I removed the closet door and replaced it with a curtain for easier access. I hung a curtain panel from an inexpensive tension rod. The closet curtain matches the panels hanging at the window. They’re from West Elm a few years back.

For consistency, I painted the closet the same color as the rest of the room. The walls in all of our home’s closets are textured or else I would have been tempted to trying something fun like wallpaper. When the curtain is open, the closet feels like a continuation of the nursery and I like the way everything pops against the dark background.

I utilized a freestanding shelving unit to keep items off the floor. The shelving once lived in the craft closet of our previous home. I was happy to be able to reuse it here. Since this is a nursery, I couldn’t justify the installation or cost of a legit closet organization system. This a closet that will evolve over time as needs change so the fact that the shelving unit is easily removable is a plus.

I line up Mabrey’s shoes on the top shelf. This is the only closet in the house that has shoes in it! All other shoes live in a shoe cabinet in the master bedroom, a basket in the mudroom or on a shoe rack in the garage. But Mabrey’s shoes are so little and rarely dirty that it doesn’t hurt to have them taking up residence in her closet. Plus, they’re cute! A side note: all the shoes you see here are hand-me-downs. Love.

I hide items with not-so-pretty packaging in baskets on the next shelf down. I use cloth diapers on Mabrey most of the time but always have disposables on hand for nighttime and outings. The baskets contain a small stock of disposable diapers, swim diapers and wet wipes. There are even disposable training pants in there that were handed down to us from a neighbor.

Below the diaper paraphernalia is the diaper bag and portable changing pad. I don’t tote them around regularly now that Mabrey is a toddler and requires less stuff. The bag works great as her overnight bag and I’ll grab the changing pad if I know we’re headed somewhere with less than stellar bathroom facilities. I keep a laundry basket on the bottom shelf for outgrown items waiting to be donated.

I hang dresses that fit Mabrey on matching hangers next to the shelving unit. The rest of her clothing currently in rotation is stored in bins and baskets within her changing table – an IKEA EXPEDIT. I find it easier to dress her and keep her room tidy by only having the things that fit her readily accessible. Little ones grow so quickly, I can’t see spending money on pricey, child-sized wood hangers. Instead, I have white plastic hangers from Target. $1 for a pack of ten. For the few dresses that have matching leggings or tights, I hang them on the Target hangers but keep the bottoms on the off-the-shelf piggyback hangers.

I store hand-me-downs that are too big in baskets along the top shelf of the closet. They are separated by size. Once they fit, I bring them down to the changing table to go into Mabrey’s regular rotation…and the “too littles” go into the donation basket. It’s a system that works well. No digging through piles of clothing to find something that fits. It also allows me to make a clear and concise shopping list for items Mabrey may be lacking. Thanks to our nieces {we have no nephews!} and generous friends, the list is usually short.

An item I keep in the closet that isn’t much to look at but might come in handy is the conversion kit to remove one side of the crib when / if Mabrey starts climbing in / out of bed. I taped the instructions to the bed rail because I know it will be a race to convert the crib should Mabrey decide to take up bed climbing.

And that’s it! A tiny but tidy closet. A few things before I go:

*This closet series is so effective! Even if you guys are getting nothing from it {I hope that isn’t the case}, I am. I am on a mission to whip all the closets in our house into shape. In fact, I painted the nursery closet and hemmed the curtain just this week. It only took me a year and a half!

*Now I’m itching to paint the other two bedroom closets to match their room’s walls. Since, you know, I repainted the rooms after we moved in.

*The open space under the hanging dresses is reserved for Mabrey’s toy vacuum coming this Christmas. Not a word!

*Little red cowgirl boots are UH-DOORRRRRABLE.

images: Dana Miller for House*Tweaking