It’s probably a combination of school starting again and moving our son from his nursery into the larger guest room that has prompted a major purge, organization, and cleaning session lately. That, and I’m reading The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. I’m already an organized person by nature so I wasn’t sure this book would make any difference in my life. But it has! I’ll share more on that later. This weekend, I worked on three kitchen drawers, the linen closet, the massive amount of books in our house, and the paper clutter. No wonder I’m starting this Monday morning off tired! I’m also feeling invigorated because our home already feels lighter!
Today, let’s start with the newly organized linen closet. Because James moved into the guest room, I had to clean out that closet that was full of luggage, blankets, pillows, and extra decor items such as picture frames, lamps, and mirrors. It was pretty well organized, but there was just too much stuff so we had to start fresh. I forgot to snap a picture of the pile of things inside the bedroom closet, but needless to say, the linen closet was already full. So of course, I had to do a major purge of both areas.
Before
I don’t think you can truly appreciate the organized “after” shot unless you saw the “before” and “during” progress pictures. That blue bin below is full of picture frames I still need to go through. The other frames leaning against the stair railing house my diplomas. I’m not ready to part with those yet, but I don’t want to hang them, so they were moved into the office closet. I also had to make a new place for my sewing machine (on the far left) in my office.
The first step to tidying and organizing is always to remove everything so you can clean the space really well (here that meant wiping down the shelves). Then you can touch and examine each item to see what stays and what goes. In the book, the author talks about keeping only things that serve you and give you joy. If you have quiet around you while you’re going through this process, you can physically ‘hear’ and feel how your body reacts to each thing as you hold it in your hand. This makes deciding what to part with much easier. You’re shifting the emphasis of your thinking from “what to get rid of” to “what to keep”. That was key for me. I also only wanted to keep what would easily fit inside the closet with room to breathe.
Categorize
Next, I grouped things into categories and you can see I have mainly pillows, bedding and blankets here.
Donate
I still like many of my pillow covers, but lots of the inserts I had weren’t good quality. All of the lower quality inserts were a big part of what I donated. Those inserts took up the majority of the space in my closets. Getting rid of them provided so much more space. I gave my mom and brother first dibs and they were happy to have some “new to them” things.
Replace
Once I was left with just a few pillows, everything else fit nicely back inside the linen closet. With pillows on the couch and in our sitting room, we do need to keep some of the inserts!
I used these rattan/banana leaf baskets from Target to organize the pillow covers and throw blankets.
To easily see what’s inside each bin, I made labels from paper tags I had on hand and leather string. It was easier to just neatly handwrite each label. These baskets are pretty deep, so they make great storage and provide a pretty warmth and texture to the closet. I like to keep my organization bins consistent so they’re more visually appealing.
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The two large plastic bins are from The Container Store.
The key to this process is to keep only the things you love. I know that inside this closet are only things I will definitely use in the future – and that feels good.
For more home organization tips, see my ORGANIZE posts here.
Have a great week!
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Looking good over there! I purchased that book a couple weeks ago and look forward to reading through it.
Let me know how you like it! I just finished, but I'm going to read it again because I went through it so fast.
I love how neat and tidy this look Megan. The cushions you have are they for different seasons? X
Thank you! I do have different pillow covers that I change out seasonally. Now I can actually find them!
What a dream closet! I read that book too and loved it. I went through things but had trouble letting go. Reading your post gave me motivation to quickly go through the house again. Thanks!
It's hard to let go sometimes, but once I got on a roll, it got easier. I also like to start early in the day, seems to help too.
Your linen closet looks great. I have been working on my closet shelf by shelf and pretty much have it all organized. For me one thing was getting everything off the closet floor. I had been storing extra body wash, lotion and some other bath products there but I condensed them in the bathroom vanity. That helped a lot.
I want to read that book, also.
That feels good, right?! I keep those things under my bathroom sink. I think you'll like the book. 🙂
Good job, friend!! Ready to come work for me? 🙂
xoxo
I knew you'd appreciate this! Have a great day Samantha!
Wow, even your closets are beautiful! Love the baskets that you chose to use 🙂
xoxo, SS
The Southern Stylista
Thanks Jordan! I measured and those baskets fit perfectly!
AMAZING!!! I am so inspired to go home and dump the contents of every single closet in my house!!! Better yet, how about you come visit and we'll do it together! 🙂 xoxox
That sounds much more fun. But I have a feeling we'd just end up sitting around talking! 😉
Oh my goodness. The OCD in me is LOVING the “after” of this!! Nice work!!
http://www.lifeonshadylane.com
Hi! This looks so great! Would you mind reposting the link for the baskets? I had trouble with the link above. Thanks so much! Megan
Love the baskets!! That is the biggest linen closet I have ever seen! LOL
Isn't that book wonderful? I'm going though the process in my own home and I don't look at anything the way I used to. The guilt I used to feel of tossing things is no longer with me. It makes me so happy to hear the process sparks joy for others as well!
Where do you get the best pillow inserts? And isn't the book amazing?
Your linen closet looks so good, Megan! I've been reading that book too and it totally changed the way I look at my stuff. So far I've donated 5 bags to Goodwill.
I am in love with your closet. I will have to purchase the book!
I love how you labeled the baskets; what a great idea!
https://memoriesandmacchiatos.wordpress.com
Hello.. I love the closet.. I would like yo know where you got thise big baskets that are on the floor in the closet the blue and white ones
Great post– thank you! Could you tell me where you got your red runner rug? I've been looking for one forever and this one looks perfect!
Me too!!
Love your closet organisation. But am I missing something? It looks more like a storage closet than somewhere to store Bed Sheets, Towels and other linens used for bed and bath?
Hi Maureen, good question! We keep towels in the bathroom closet and only have one set of sheets.
I know this is an older post.. but curious where you got those gray and white baskets on the bottom.
Hi Anna, those are from The Container Store:)