Where to store sheets if you don’t have a Linen Closet

Oh such a dilemma. Where to store your household linens for easy access.

It's not something you really think about until you got to put your sheets, or towels away and realize there is no central area in your home for this.

This agonizing lack of linen closetness is actually only a problem for the 21st century. In the olden days households used a free standing cabinet for such a thing. It was called a Linen Press and had a few more shelves and drawers than wardrobe armoires we see today.

These days I sit around with my friends and pots of tea complaining about the lack of this useful closet in our homes. We talk about ways to solve the problem and gush over those who were blessed with builtin closets in their walls.

I also love to peruse Pinterest and see how people organize their lovely built in linen closets (burst in to tears here).

The Struggle is Real

Have you ever lived in a place without a linen closet? Perish the thought! In my mind it is those who do not do laundry who build homes and apartments without linen closets!

In our last home, which was a town home, we had had a real linen closet. I never appreciated it at the time though. I thought every home had linen closet. A little recess in the wall with a door and a nice shelving behind. Put there just to organize your sheets, towels, bathroom products and anything else you could think of. Ha!

I was wrong.

Why No Linen Closet?

Not every home has a linen closet and true not every home needs one. Some homes or apartments come with enough storage that it is not necessary for this separate room.

Did you home come with another space you could use as such? Two dwellings ago in our apartment we didn't have a linen closet but in our master bedroom closet there was a row of shelving I used for linens. I didn't think much of it then as we were newly married with no children. I didn't need much space.

Our townhome had a separate closet. That was our home for 8 years so I got VERY comfortable and used to that. I thought it could only go up from there.

I was wrong.

In our current home, what I think of as our forever or a least a pretty long time home, there is no linen closet. It's a pretty new build too and other homes on our block in a slightly different style have linen closets.

WHAT WAS OUR BUILDER THINKING ??!!!

For someone like me this is hyperventilating inducing conditions. It was almost a deal breaker for me when it came to buy the home (seriously). I've agonized for 5 years on oy vey what to do and finally have somewhat of a solution. But what I wanted to share, because believe you me I scoured the internet for ways to solve this, were ways you might deal with this issue as well.

Where To Put Your Linens if You Have no Linen Closet

In cases such as this I like to think back in the box. As opposed to outside the box with this problem we're going to organize according to use.

The first thing we thought of doing when we moved in was having a linen closet built into the wall. We looked into it a bit but never moved forward with the plans. But as with all things when you move into a new place it wasn't top priority and got put to the wayside.

Then we had some shelving put into the closet in our homeschool/craft room. I had the great idea that I was going to use that for a linen closet. Ha! It quickly got filled with homeschool stuff so year.

Finally I knew it was going to have to be an armoire that helped me solve my linen woes. I looked around and shopped for a good one off and on. Again not top priority but nagging nonetheless. I scoured online stores and local second hand stores. Never finding what I really liked. Most of them looked too much like tv cabinets. Then finally a good friend was redoing her daughter's bedroom and they had a lovely armoire they wanted to sell. I bought it and hefted it to my house (well my husband and her husband did).

Bathroom Linens

Lacking a linen closet to put away bathroom towels and such? Well here are a few ways to solve that problem.

• Keep the towels on a shelf in the bathroom. Or in the bathroom cupboard.
• If your bathroom is a little larger you can put a small freestanding shelf like this one in your bathroom to hold towels, washcloths, and extra soap.
• No room in the bathroom? Try the hallway. This is where we have our freestanding armoire.

Kitchen Linens

Kitchen linens can pose a storage problem as well. I go through so many dish cloths in a week. Sometimes I'm surprised I I have so many when I'm putting them all away but then by the end of the week they are all used up. So where to keep these things during the week.

• Kitchen drawer devoted to just kitchen cloths.
• Freestanding sideboard in the dining area.
• Folded and placed nicely on open shelving in your kitchen.

Bedroom linens

And last but of course not least finding a place for your bedroom linens. Bedroom linens are easy to find space for if you have no linen closet.

• Keep the bedroom linens in the closet of the room they are used in. Fold all the sheets together and place them in one of the pillow cases for easy storage.
• Store bedroom linens in an under the bed storage box.
• Our solution was to purchase a free standing armoire like this one (the one we purchase is pictured above. lovely eh?).

It's a crying shame your home was put together without a proper linen closet. But have no fear. With a little innovation and thinking outside of the box you can solve this dilemma easily.