Victorian linen closet

[nhguy]

We had an early 1800's house that had an original linen closet in an upstairs sitting room. It had five shelves about 18 inches deep and 36 inches wide. We did store towels and bed sheets there. I just visited a friend in Petersburg, VA. his 1930 colonial revival has a linen closet in the upstairs, maybe 12 inches in depth and 24 inches wide.

[SweetCottage]

That's called a sawtooth shelf. Woodcraft has a blog post with some history. I like the half-round "teeth" they show an example of! https://www.woodcraft.com/blog_entries/the-history-of-sawtooth-shelf-systems

Lee Valley has pre-cut sawtooth standards ready to be installed: http://www.leevalley.com/us/Wood/page.aspx?p=69005&cat=3,43648,43649&ap=1

[DavidP]

Thank you both!

The 12" deep shelves mentioned by nhguy do not seem very deep to hold items like quilts and pillows -- interesting. Maybe that's all the space available, given the structural configuration of the house, since closets are often tucked in where they will fit.

I just measured my closet; it's 34" wide, just right, and the shelves can be 20-22" deep.

I own two antique bookcases, one of which has metal shelf pins and the other the "sawtooth" system that SweetCotttage mentioned (I didn't know the term or that one can buy the supports ready-made, thanks). Both options would be appropriate for a Queen Anne house. I was thinking of using shelf pins but may now go for the sawtooth option -- I like the look but wasn't eager to make the supports.

[Gothichome]

David, here is a link to Lee Vally. Reasonable price considering all the work you would put into making them.
http://www.leevalley.com/en/hardware/pa ... 3648,43649
Oh, that’s in Canuck bucks.

[lionel762]

I'm attaching a picture of our pantry adjustable shelves. The shelves are 43 inches across, 16 inches deep. It definitely looks like the sawtooth design that has been mentioned. I checked out our bookshelves, and they have the same system.

[Mick_VT]

The Edwardian mansion that I lived in (the servant's quarters) in the UK when a student, had a whole corridor devoted to linen storage, around 8-10 walk in cupboards all neatly labelled and not used for linen in decades. all the shelves were as I described above - made of numerous 1x3" or thereabouts with spacing of about 1" so making a shelf that breathes. This was common in the UK, not so sure about the US. I dont recall if they were adjustable, but probably were not

[Gothichome]

Sweatcottage, seems you posted the Lee Valley from your side of the 49th. Seemed I read right past it.

[DavidP]

Lionel, thanks for the photo and measurements.

Mick, that was some serious linen storage -- wow! Shelves that breathe make sense, although I've never seen any in old homes in the northeastern US. But I have not inspected closets in all that many old houses so I'm dealing with a small sample size.

[phil]

thanks for posting the link Sweetcottage tat's what I was thinking, it's so simple, especially the sawtooth one. I love the rounded one too you could make that by drilling holes and then cutting the piece in half, and then using a roundover bit to round over the shelves. the sawtooth one would be easy to make with just a jigsaw if you didn't have much equipment. even just a coping saw or cabinet "back saw" would do it. you could stack them together when cutting the sawtooth pattern.