Folding Towels to Display (Just Like the Store)

Ever been in a large store and stood in awe of their bath towel display? If you are displaying towels, here is your high-end folding towel lesson.

Small Bath Problems

Having a large farmhouse, you would think that I have the bathroom situation under control And you’d be wrong. In our 4,000 square foot house we have ONE bathroom.

And it isn’t large.

We do not have a linen closet to store towels or other toiletries, so we have to make do with behind the toilet storage units to hold all of our bathroom essentials. We have small cabinets under the double vanity, but I have those pretty well stocked with things that I know no one wants to see.

Bath Towel Storage & Display

Because of all of these things, I have to store all of our extra towels out in the open. Basically, it’s turned into a display unit out of necessity. The trick is keeping it functional and pretty at the same time.

Easier said than done.

I was at a large department store a few years ago and realized that they had the exact same issue. They needed to not only store their bath towel stock, but it needed to be a display item for shoppers. The higher towel displays are just foam blocks with the towels tucked in. But the lower towels have to be real for the customer to have access.

The Folding Towels Lesson

Even though I really wanted to ask the sales lady to teach me how to fold, I did not learn this from a store. (It stinks to be shy sometimes.) I actually learned from a hotel housekeeper! We all know how pretty they make the towels look in the bathroom for the guests. So why not?

I have to say, I’m glad that I wasn’t judged for asking her to teach me such a weirdly odd OCD type thing. Folding towels seems so mundane. Our mothers should have taught us that when we were young, right?

I knew how to fold a towel, obviously. Pretty was what I was going for though, not just functional. Folding towels to make them display-worthy just never seemed important. Until now.

Because she was so sweet to teach me, and because it has made a huge difference in the look of my bathroom and storage options, I am here to show YOU how to, too.

How to Fold a Towel For Display

1. Find a Large Table or Surface

Here is the hardest part of the entire process. Finding somewhere to actually get down to folding your towels. I have a large kitchen table that I use most of the time. In a pinch, I use our bed. The cats are so much help when I choose to do my towel folding on the bed though. (Hear that sarcasm??)

2. Lay out towel flat on your surface

It seems silly, I know. You can just fold the darned thing in half and use so much less room. But trust me. If you want perfection, this is definitely the way to do it.

3. Fold into thirds lengthwise

Take the longest two sides and fold them in, overlapping like in the photo below.

4. Fold into thirds the other direction

Just repeat the process above, just the other way.

5. Fold in half

6. Display with folded side facing outward.

See how pretty that turns out?!

Folding Hand Towels

Yes, I have to fold hand towels the same (kinda) because those are out for everyone to see too. This is easier to do just on top of the dryer or on the bathroom vanity.

Lay flat. Then fold into thirds lenthwise. Repeat folding into thirds the other direction. Lay flat, with the folded edge facing outward.

It’s relatively simple once you get used to folding this way. I’ve been doing this for years in order to stay organized and pretty in my storage methods.

Let me know in the comments if you like this way and if you think it’ll work out for you.

PS. I’d love to see photos of your space if you do use this method.