An Easy Way to Organize Table Linens

Like bed linens, table linens are often crowded into shelves or drawers, making it impossible to know the size and shape of the tablecloth without unfolding it.

This Thanksgiving, a family member shared her new secret for organizing table linens: she stored each one in an XL clear plastic bag, and noted the size - whether the tablecloth worked with 1 table leaf, 2 leaves, etc. I loved this idea! 

This requires some work upfront, but will definitely save time later on. The labelling system makes it so easy to grab the correct bag rather than dig through all the linens. 

Repurpose a Shoe Shelf

I have a beautiful original built-in china cabinet in my dining room, with storage on the bottom. I store place mats, some linens, vases, serving trays, and candles. It also functions as our bar cabinet. After the holidays I was putting away serving pieces and linens, and thought that my cabinet could use a little re-organization.

Things were piled up, and often fell over or got lost in the deep cabinet. I moved less-used linens to a dresser in our attic, and weeded out my vases, setting aside some for donation. As I was wishing I could have more shelves, I remembered that I had an old shoe shelf in the attic. After I re-did my closet, I didn't need the shelf but saved it thinking it might be useful at some point (yes, even professional organizers save things sometimes).

It was the perfect solution to add shelving in this cabinet! 

cabinet Before - Piles

Cabinet After

Cabinet after - shoe shelf adds storage!