Do you have sheets spilling out and towels haphazardly thrown into your linen cupboard or drawers?
This edit is for you if your linen needs some love and attention. It's all about streamlining and refreshing your bed linens. Pairing down the excess sheets and pillowcases and only keeping what you use, and making what you use easy to access.
Changing the beds should be as easy as possible!
DECLUTTER AND SIMPLIFY YOUR BED LINEN
You will most likely have bed linen you use regularly, ones you use for guests and other special occasions - and then the rest. The old, mismatched linens that no longer have a use other than 'what if?'.
Unless you have small children (or a health requirement), you only need up to three sets of linen per bed or person. One in use, one in the laundry, and one spare should be more than enough.
Pull everything out and start sorting your linen in groups.
Separate by type - duvet covers, sheets, pillowcases etc. and then by set (or the other way round, depending on what is easiest for the amount you have).
Check them all over and ensure they still fit your beds and are in good condition. If they have become tatty, worn or stained or have been forgotten about for years, let them go.
Touch and smell them. Do they feel fresh and inviting?
How many sets do you own? How many do you use?
Accounting for visitors, what is the maximum you'd need?
Could you get by with less?
Are there any that you dislike, are uncomfortable or difficult to wash?
When was the last time you used them?
Add items to the laundry basket if they need washing to refresh them. For things you no longer want, separate them into donate or recycle.
If you only have a small amount of space to store your linen, you have to be extra intentional about what you choose to keep.
You may be surprised at how many you have when consolidating your linens. Sheets and pillowcases tend to multiply when you're not looking. We buy new sets, and the old ones get pushed to the back to the 'just in case' pile.
Your bed should be a lovely cosy place to be and is so important for a good night's sleep. Make sure your bedding makes you feel good too.
Being an adult is like folding a fitted sheet. No one really knows how to do it; we just make it work".
HOW TO FOLD A FITTED SHEET
Step One: Lay the sheet on a large flat surface (like your bed) with the elasticated edges facing up. Smooth it out, then bring the elasticated edges inward to create a rectangle.
Step Two: Turn the bottom corners (C and D) inside out and tuck corner C into A and corner D into B, matching the corner seams together. Then, smooth the sheet and neaten the corners and edges to make a neat rectangle.
Step Three: Fold the sheet in half. Fold your sheet in half, folding all the elasticated edges into the middle.
Step Four: Fold the sheet into thirds, forming a long rectangle. Smooth the sheet as you go along to keep it as neat as possible.
Step Five: Fold the rectangle into thirds to form a neat square. And you're done!
It's now ready to add to a shelf, drawer, basket or as part of a bedding set parcel.
ORGANISing YOUR BEDDING
There are a few different ways to organise your bedding.
You can organise and store it by category type, by bed, or a bit of both.
If storing by bed, I love a bedding parcel to make the whole set easy to grab when you want to change the bed. Neatly fold the sheets, duvet cover and all but one pillowcase into rectangles and put in the remaining pillowcase. Creating a nice little package containing everything you need for each bed.
For spares that don't go into a set, organise by size and type, such as keeping all single sheets together and all double sheets together. Fold neatly and uniformly and store like-for-like items in their category groups. Contain your groups and label the storage or space with the size and type of linen it contains.
When storing your bed linen, consider what you need to access most often and use the most accessible space for those items. For example, if stored in a linen cupboard, frequently used bedding sets should be in the most accessible spaces with spare sheets and duvets higher up or lower down.
Refrain from filling every nook and cranny of your linen storage space and trying to stuff everything in. If you're always trying to battle with an overly full cupboard or drawer where it's hard to get to your bedding or put it away, you'll end up frustrated. It'll just end up a mess.
Clutter tends to breed more clutter, while an organised space incentivises us to stay organised.
LINEN CUPBOARD IDEAS AND INSPIRATION
Every home is different, and not everyone has a linen cupboard. If you don't, you can keep your linens in a drawer, a box under your bed, or in the wardrobe in each room.
LINEN AND BEDDING STORAGE
Use bins and baskets to corral smaller items where possible.
Always declutter and take inventory before buying storage.
What are you buying the storage for?
Consider how many baskets, sizes, and style will work best for your space.
Coordinated baskets will give your linen cupboard a cohesive feel. They don't all have to be the same shape and size, but picking one material or colour will make the space feel much calmer and more organised.
If stored on shelves, shelf dividers help to keep categories neat and separated.
LINEN LABELLING
Linen can quickly become a jumbled mess, so labelling can help to keep them in order. Without a clear, defined space for each category - it's tempting to shove them back.
Labelling will help to keep all y our organising hard work in place.
When I've organised in the past, I've mistakenly assumed that everyone in our house would know where to put linens back in the drawers just by looking at them, but it doesn't happen, unfortunately.
Labels give clear directions as to where things should live.
Sheets don't always clearly show their size on the label. Marking the label with the bed size helps when putting away the laundry. The Sharpie laundry marker works well for this.
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