When I was young my family had a linen press. This was an antique cupboard in a beautiful walnut wood with shelves and a couple of large drawers. I remember being fascinated by the neatly folded piles of sheets, pillow cases, tablecloths, tray cloths and other sundry linens.
It was rather like this Regency one in mahogany from Antiques World https://antiquesworld.co.uk
There was something so homely about the freshly laundered cloth among which my mother dotted old fashioned lavender bags.
Later, when I lived in France, I grew to really appreciate old French linen with its bold monograms – napkins like the ones above are usually huge and quite easy to get hold of at a reasonable price in places like ebay.
Old-style quilts also look great in a linen press – and new ones too especially if it has been hand made for you (I have a couple of colleagues who are keen quilters).
It is a romantic image of past times when people (women) spent time on this sort of thing. These days most of us have a built-in cupboard space – usually on the upstairs landing where it is handy – which we fill with easy to manage fitted sheets and towels. It makes sense but every now and then I long for a proper linen press.
