Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Sheet Show

My parents are coming for a visit today and staying with us for a couple nights. In my rush to get the house spic and span (while Skipper undermines my efforts by following me around leaving a trail of shedding dog hair in her wake) I have a ton of chores to attend to: cleaning the bathroom, dusting, vacuuming, and getting the guest room all set up for them. While I can't brag about the organizational state of my other closets (and finding the right cleaning product sets off an avalanche of spray bottles from under the kitchen sink), I can say that at least my linen closet is in good working order, so finding clean, fresh sheets for them is now the least of my worries. But it wasn't always so.
Our bed is a Queen, the guest (Murphy) bed is a Full, and the pull-out couch is a Twin, so I used to have one jumbled up mess of different-sized sheets stuffed into my linen closet (which is also the coat closet, by the way - where do you think I live, a palace?). Back then, I had to pull a bunch of sheets out and unfold them to see what size they were, and then refold them if they were the wrong size (although, honestly, usually I was so frustrated by that point I would just wad them up and stuff them back on the shelf, which was itself a splintery piece of plywood). And finding two pillowcases that actually matched was a distant dream I dared not allow myself to hope for. It wasn't much of a system.
But then, one day in a fit of frustration and organization (rarely do those two coincide for me), I decided to get organized. Here's what I did:

How to Organize A Linen Closet:


1. Line Shelves with drawer lining paper. This will prevent them from snagging on delicate sheets and make them smell pleasant, and will look pretty, as well.
2. Bundle sheet sets together, and tie with ribbon. Use different colored ribbons to indicate sheet size - I used all the leftovers from our wedding gifts.
3. Shelf Sheets By Size. If you have that many extra shelves, fancy pants. Clearly, I do not.
4. Stack Pillowcases in sets, and tie together with ribbon, if you like. It really helps if you can decide on one way of folding them, so they all turn out the same size.
5. Tuck in Scented Soaps around sheets for a pleasant aroma.

So, if you ever are a houseguest here, feel free to look upon my mighty linen closet (and, by that I mean "behind your coat, as you hang it up") and esteem me highly. Just don't look under the kitchen sink.

2 comments:

Christine said...

Love this! Our linen closet is adequately organized, but I'm working on the next iteration of linen closet organizational perfection! I love the idea of tying sheets w/ ribbon - great idea.

Christine said...
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