I took this summer off to spend time with my family, decompress from advertising life for a bit and focus on house projects that have been languishing for years.

Some people take off summer to back pack through Europe or go climb mountains. Not me, no sir! I plan exciting things like organizing linen closets.

For those of you that aren't a tad OCD, or grew up with off-the-boat Italian mammas screaming at you to clean your room, this sounds horrible. But organizing this closet under the attic stairs has been a thorn in my side since we moved in, and gave me absolute joy to finally making it look nice. I don't even have a real before picture. The above pic is a phase 2 purge. The previous pic would have looked like Bed, Bath and Beyond threw up on the shelves. Piles of old towels, giant bed spreads that our daughter had grown out of, a bottle of liquid plumber and a red tinsel Valentine heart decoration was mixed in with occasional holiday linens.

The "closet" is open, it doesn't have a door per say, so the contents can be seen by all. Therefore I was even more anxious to get this mess under control, and eventually, hang a rod and sew a curtain to close it a little and look nice, if I couldn't have a door. It's just going to the attic, so my husband doesn't know why I care so much. But I can see it, and it bugs me.

the pile to donate (this was jammed in the closet)

organized

SO phase one was going thru and matching bed sheet sets, throwing away old or donating old stuff.