One of the features that sold my partner and I on our current rental? The MASSIVE linen closet in the bathroom. Since my previous place was a one room cabin with exactly one closet, I was thrilled to have so much storage space. It felt like Christmas!

The only problem? It was not cute. The bathroom was mold-free and generally clean when we moved in, but aesthetically…not so great. Last weekend, I decided to tackle this closet and I could not be more pleased with how it turned out! Read on to see what I did, and how much I spent.

Step 1: Clear Out

For a proper makeover, starting from square one is key. Luckily, the shelves in my linen closet are fully removable, so I took all of the paraphernalia off of the shelves and then took out the shelves themselves. Quick and easy!

Step 2: Clean Up

Despite the fact that the rest of my bathroom has high-quality tile, the linen closet is carpeted with some questionable brown shag. Strangely, though it appears there were baseboards in the linen closet at one time, they were clearly taken off, leaving behind bare wood and charmingly jagged drywall. Though there are no gaps and no mold, it still looked moldy.

Not cute. Also, who didn’t use painter’s tape?!

After vacuuming the carpet, I wiped down the walls with some soapy water and let it dry. Then I got some acrylic paint that matches the color of the walls, taped the carpet with painter’s tape to prevent splatters, and dabbed on the paint to match the texture of the walls.

linen closet update closet floor after — Not perfect, but a HUGE improvement.

Step 3: Hang Removable Wall Paper

Once the paint had dried - I only waited about 30 minutes as acrylic paint dries VERY quickly and it only took one coat of paint - I set about putting up the wallpaper.

I applied the wallpaper as you would contact paper; I peeled the backing off of the top 2 inches or so of the wallpaper, lined it up to the ceiling and the corner, and smoothed it down with my hands. I pulled away 2-3 inches of backing at a time and continued to smooth all the way down to the floor, where I cut it off with a box cutter. Then I repeated the process on the other side. I had almost exactly as much wallpaper as I needed to do my entire linen closet.

I chose that particular patten for a few reasons. Firstly, the wallpaper has about 2 1/2 inches of overlap in the center, which the random pattern of the wallpaper hides easily. Secondly, the walls in my linen closet are textured, and the random spots disguise the texture instead of enhancing it.

Removable wallpaper is designed to be pulled up and repositioned if need be, which means it isn’t very sticky. My walls are textured, so after repositioning it once the wallpaper began to come away from the wall at the top.

I ended up securing the top corners to the wall with flat thumbtacks, because you can’t see them through the wallpaper pattern, and strong tape might either leave residue or take the paint off when it comes time to remove the wallpaper. Thumbtacks do leave small holes, but they are almost completely invisible on textured walls and don’t take off extra drywall like nails do.

Step 4: Apply Contact Paper

The shelves of the linen closet had rusted at one point and were covered over with some of the most poorly applied contact paper I’ve ever seen. First, I had to pull off the old hideous contact paper, and then I cleaned off the contact paper residue and rust dust.

Then, I took plain white contact paper, and covered all of the shelves (here’s a good video on installing contact paper). Some of the shelves were slightly dented, so I had to really get after it with the Xacto knife to clear the bubbles, but I loved the results. Quick tip: if your shelves have a lip underneath (like mine do), make sure to wrap the contact paper around the lip for a cleaner look.

Step 5: Prepare Your Bins

I already had a few clear bins from Target (I included them in the price comparison below) so I went back and picked up some other organizing bins that match the exact shade of pink of the clear bin lids.

I also had a stray basket that I picked up for free somewhere along the way, so I used some Martha Stewart spray paint in “mother-of-pearl” (that I got on sale at Michaels 🙌) to paint it. Spray paint is seriously a miracle, y’all. I finished the spray paint with a matte clear coat that dries RIDICULOUSLY fast. If you want to be safe, you should wait at least 24 hours before putting any spray painted items in an enclosed space.

Step 6: Replace Shelves and Re-Organize Items

Before I put my things back on the shelves, I made a plan for how I wanted to organize them. I declutter and toss my things pretty regularly, so I didn’t do that, but if you need to sort your things, this is when I would do it.

After sliding the shelves back onto the brackets, I re-folded my towels, lined the bins up on the shelves, and voila! The makeover was complete. From start to finish, it took about 4 hours.

What I spent my money on:

$34 - removable wallpaper (Target)
$13 assorted bins (Target)
$10 - contact paper (Lowes)
$2 spray paint (on sale) (Michaels)
$0.75 acrylic paint (Michaels)
Total: $59.75

Things I already had:

Xacto knife (to clean up the contact paper)
Box cutter (to cut the wallpaper cleanly)
Paint brush and painter’s tape (to clean up the walls)
Tacks and hammer (to secure the wallpaper)

Wanting to update your linen closet, but don’t want to spend too much extra $$? Check out my post about FREE ways to makeover your linen closet.

Rental-Friendly Linen Closet Update (for under $75)