Linen Crate Subscription Box Review & Coupon – June 2015

I read that they are changing direction and starting to do more decorative items (vases, plates, tchotchkes, etc). I may be the only person who is disappointed by this. I have a house full of kids and decorative ceramics would have very limited use (even if we found a place for them amongst library books and half done craft projects. They break and frankly are not a priority for us right now. When I signed up, I read ‘sheets, towels, curtains, mats’, etc, things that get used and washed and worn out. Besides, the name of the service is Linen Crate, implying linens! No offense to anyone but if I start receiving trays and vases, I will not continue. Of course it is impossible to keep everyone happy so maybe this could be solved with a quiz on the site for preferences. Maybe we could pick out some items, and some will be a surprise, or choice of decorative versus useful items?

Feel free to click on my name for pictures. I went ultra-conservative with my box. I wish I went more to my tastes after reading what people received. I selected Modern Contemporary Style with a Modern Vintage (neutrals) colors.

I received white towels and bath mats, matching brown toilet rug and bathroom rug, a shower liner and purplish/brownish shower curtain that I love, and the spa accessories. I’m in for the next box.

I just received my box. I received 2 white bath towels, 2 white hand towels, small sink rug, toilet rug, blue shower towel mat, a really nice blue and white shower curtain along with the 3 bath spa items that Liz did in white. I noted traditional upsale country on the form and what I received will match the bathroom I have slotted this for perfectly. I really liked this box and the spoilers they have for the next box, kitchen are right up my alley. The only thing I’d change would be to skip the toilet rug and include a soap dispenser instead.

I just got my box and I choose modern/contemporary with the film nor color scheme. I received two light blue bath towels and 2 dark brown hand towels a cute shower curtain with butterflies on it a bath rug for the shower and a thicker bath rug as well as a rug for around the toliet. Overall this box works for me the only item I don’t like is the rug for around the toliet but that’s because I have boys that can’t aim properly. The towels have a nice feel and are good sized but not really thick. I did get this for the half price so I feel I got a good value if I had paid full price I probably would have been upset as I am a bargin shopper. Looking forward to the next box to see if this is a great match for me. Love the kitchen spoilers.

My box is on the way, can’t wait to see what I get.

Wow, it’s really weird that Linen crate owner is stalking this forum. But the fake posting from “Shannon” goes into the funny ridiculous arena.

Unfortunately, I think we must anticipate seeing many more of this type of boxes in the future. I’ll call it the Cratejoy effect. They’ve created an almost plug and play system for starting subscription boxes. Part of their formula is to spend 20-30% of revenue on the products in the box, around $20 for this box. And I think that’s what you get when you have someone with little expertise on home styling spending $20 on bathroom linens.

What an odd and random assortment of pieces for $85! I sincerely hope Linen Crate does not reply to my post because repeating their business concept to every post is extremely annoying and doesn’t make this a more appealing box. It may be the lighting in the photo, but the colors don’t all seem to match. I agree with others here that Target, TJ Maxx, etc. seem to offer much better quality for something you can actually pick out yourself. It’s also odd that there is a stated “value” but no tags or brand information to validate those numbers. This is a lot of money to ask for a huge gamble.

I just came across this box yesterday, so imagine my surprise to see a review for it in my email from MSA a few minutes later. Yay. I showed my fiance the site, then the email with the review of the bathroom box, and we were signed up within minutes.

This box is an amazing concept and seems as if it were made for us in mind! We have a master bathroom with glass shower doors and two full guest bathrooms, both with tub showers. We have the master bedroom and two guest bedrooms. We have the main living room downstairs, with a second one upstairs. We have a dining room, and a daily dining table setup just off the kitchen. And I’ve always felt as if our kitchen could use some jazzing up, too. Lots of lovely but stagnant rooms to work with, and I never have found it appealing to spend hours and hours shopping for household decor.

The idea of getting fresh, fun changes for the house without having to spend an excess amount of time running around through malls, various websites, as well as random home decor stores, is something that is soooo appealing to me.

With several rooms to work with, and it being just my fiance and me in our house, I have explored both the cheap, purely money savings items, as well as the higher end, top quality, more lux items, and have found things that I’ve liked on both end of the scale.

Given the price of this box, the retail value promised and the number of items per box, I would expect Linen Crate to send items that are at least middle of the price/value scale, perhaps middle high. And I would love to get a wide variety of items for the various rooms covered by this box. Items that were obviously different from what I currently have, things that I would enjoy and feel proud of displaying.

The idea of even getting things that are quirky, original, different and/or eye catching or thought provoking is fun to me, therefore, the monthly $75 seems worthwhile, provided the items shipped lived up to my expectations.

After seeing what’s in this first box I will be getting, I’m finding myself to be moderately pleased. These items would go into one of our two full guest bathrooms. But one thing that I don’t like is that there are only enough towels for one person. Our master bathroom has linens for two, and this is also how I stock the other two guest bathrooms. After a few different monthly bathroom boxes over a course of several months, I might get something that goes together, two months of complimentary colors, perhaps. I’m really not sure that I will like this, having to wait with crossed fingers that, months down the road when this room is addressed again, that I’ll finally be able to fully stock one bathroom with linens and accessories. That combined with my liking the idea of rotating stock around to liven things up a bit, it will be awhile before I receive enough deliveries geared towards that room before I can really begin to do that.

I know that every subscriber will have their own goals and expectations, every household will vary, taste and situations will vary widely, too. I expect an occasional mediocre box. The stuff is just not my taste or won’t fit my vision or just meh for another reason. I just as equally expect to have the occasional month that nails it like no other! Perfect! Wonderful! Clap clap! For the rest of the time, I expect a box I really like, one that sends me good quality, useful items that are thoughtfully curated, fun to receive and even more fun to find homes for and see them in their new space.

Provide me these things. Be forthcoming about any issues that can have the potential to cause distress, such as problems with billing or shipping issues. And communicate promptly and politely, with no sugar coated, vague responses. Accept cancellations and returns graciously, thank us for our business, excite me, inspire me, help me to appreciate my lovely home, decorated with items that are clever, tasteful, tacky with a purpose, items that let me be funny, bold, muted and classic, all based on your boxes. Give me a coupon code to a website of your choice, for a decorated toilet seat and lid for me to order for free and install onto my toilet when it arrives, for example. Or curated around a specific theme. For example, send me cutesy, coordinating, Rainbow Brite bathroom linens and accessories. Omg. I’d love to throw that stuff up in my master bathroom. Towels, rugs, bathmat, etc. Kinda like the adult version of this kids theme. A better quality than the cheaper, utilitarian, geared specifically for kiddos type items.

Give me the option for a theme for that month’s box. Asian themed. Or flowers orientated. Or things that are violet in color. Whatever. Offer me things for different holidays and seasons. Introduce me to new versions of something that I already have. Send me something that I’ve never seen. Show me how to see something old in a new way.

Sure, it’s a lot to ask for, and it’s a lot to have to provide. But, at least for me, I’ve been a subsriber to various boxes for going on two years now. I’ve had the opportunity to learn what I like, and be shown what I don’t like. This box concept is new and fresh, and I like it. Even the option to chose how often you want a box is fabulous.

It is my sincere hope that this box is able to consistently meet my expectations. And I just as equally hope that it does not become stagnant, repetative, boring and old. If this box turns out to be what I hope it will be, I will very easily find myself to be a regular subscriber.

I definitely like the concept, but I feel a big part of the problem is there’s a huge gap between the marketing and the delivered product.

Take their facebook page: They post a ton of high-end, aspirational rooms worthy of any design magazine. Most budget-conscious home design fans are already going to places like HomeGoods and Marshalls and online sales, more than willing to hunt to find something that feels personal and representative of their style while having a good, brand-name quality. So something like a box of label-less towels is never going to be appealing to those folks.

So the Linen Crate people may be more successful if they either: A) Step up their game so they can offer something HomeGoods can’t (like hyper-personalized curation a la Stitchfix) or B) Shift their marketing to appeal to a different, not-so-aspirational slice of the market.

The items all look very clearance section-y to me, like from a going out of business sale at the Dollar Store. One towel and washcloth? For that price? A shower curtain circa 1985? And a toilet seat cover and contour mat, who are they kidding with this? I was able to decorate my niece’s first apartment on a limited budget and for this price could have done two bathrooms and chosen nicer quality, as in brand name (um, any brand versus super thin wholesaler quality no-name), products. Getting to choose even specific color palettes from this kind of merchandise is like being told you get to select the shade of striped hospital gown for your next surgery. I’m just kind of in shock at the whole box.

The towels are ok – most modern rooms can do with a pop of red. The bath items aren’t bad.

The shower curtain, mat and toilet items are really off-trend. I haven’t seen a toilet seat cover since I was a child in the 80s, and the maroon is so dated. They seem really out of touch.

This seems like a nice box but for $85 I would want to have more customization. None of these items would match my current bathroom decor. I would have to repaint.

The color preference part of the Linen Crate profile needs work. I just took the survey today and they basically give you three color palette choices per room. Let’s say I love red but hate black – it’s highly possible I have to choose red AND black because they’re in the same palette, and then I get stuck with a lot of black items.

What were they thinking?! Those seat cover/rug combos were tacky 20 years ago, now they’re just sad. And as Sara pointed out, most people have glass shower doors and wouldn’t be able to use the curtain – even if they liked it.
I see better home goods than this in the clearance section of any big box store.

I’m glad you reviewed this because I was curious to see what would be included. Unfortunately the contents of this first box do not make me want to subscribe. A toilet seat cover?? Wowza. I also think it’s weird to include one bath towel and washcloth instead of a set of at least two. For $80 or less I could go to TJ Maxx and buy really nice towels and accents for my bathroom. It also bugs me that the brands are unknown. If these items were from a high-quality label and the value could be verified I think that would improve my overall impression of the box somewhat.

I seriously don’t know anyone who still uses a toilet seat cover. I’m sure my mom had sets like that in the ’80s, which are back?
I also don’t understand why they only included one kind of each towel. Maybe only one hand towel, but at least two washcloths and two bath towels. I don’t mind the colors as much as some although dark red isn’t really modern, but I prefer dark-colored towels, mainly because I have nontraditional-colored highlights and they get all over towels (and pillow cases so no white there for me either!) the first couple times I wash my hair after the salon.

To me, that shower curtain is hideous. And the toilet seat cover and matching mat… yikes. Not a box for me. I could get more for less and to my taste at Ikea. Thanks for the review!

I will be the strange one. I like Liz’s box. I love the shower curtain. I received a sneak peek of my box and it looks like I’m receiving cream/tan. I went with a more neutral theme because I wasn’t sure what to expect. I will be posting pictures once I receive my box.

I’ll admit that I am not that demanding when it comes to towel color etc. I have kids and pets.

I signed up for the Linen Crate today before I saw this review. Other than the toilet seat cover and rug I really like what I see. When I was choosing the bathroom profile I went with teal and blues. Looking forward to receiving this.

I’m moving into a new apartment this box initially piqued my interest, but I think I could find all of these things at a store like Wal-Mart for less than $75. I think it would be worth it if they included higher quality items.

Took a look at the color selections. You have to choose from pre-selected color groupings, and you choose a grouping per room. most of the color groupings are heavy on the reds/fuchsia/orange families. As someone who is a greens and blues person that’s pretty disappointing.

Oh not so liking the mat and toilet cover. I was really hoping this would include nice accent pieces like a soap dispenser, cup, toothbrush holder with a full set of towels or even some cute guest towels. I really hope I like my box when I get it. I guess I could always give it to my college daughter if all else fails…..

I don’t think it looks “modern/contemporary,” but that said, I actually like it. I’m not a fan of contemporary, so this style would have suited me quite well! I still like my bathroom’s current style and am not looking to upgrade though. I’m not sure what you’d get for other rooms in the house–sheets, curtains, pillowcases maybe?

Wow nothing in this box says modern to me at all. I would be really disappointed if I had paid for it. The toilet seat cover and rugs are horrid!

I’ve been dying to see a review of this box and sadly very disappointed in it. The towels don’t look that high quality, and who’s still using a toilet seat cover?? Plus most new showers have glass doors, not everyone can use a shower curtain anymore. I’d be pretty mad had I paid for that box, nothing looks new and contemporary. You can find awesome towels on clearance at Bed Bath and Beyond or Macy’s for really cheap and nicer quality.