I realized while writing the post about my systems that even writing and thinking about laundry was therapeutic for me. I love a day of laundry tasks. Gathering, sorting, spot treating, washing, hanging, ironing, folding, putting away. It's so satisfying.
If I had lived in the era of laundresses, I would have volunteered.
Unfortunately, when we bought this house I had to make a concession or two from what I would have thought ideal. The ideal laundry room is an open bright room preferably with a window. It should be in the main area of the home and also be near the door to the backyard. There should be counter space, room for an ironing board to left up at all times, shelves for folded laundry in baskets ready for delivering. There needs to be space for sorting bins and and shelves for laundry equipment (soaps, brushes, spot treatments, bucket for soaking etc.)... an ultimate laundry room would have it's own sink for spot treatment and hand washing. Another ultimate inclusion would be area to hang things indoors when inclement weather doesn't allow for outdoor hanging.
a great article about the importance of saving resources!)
I have never actually had an ideal laundry facility available to me.... only in dreams. Growing up the laundry area was adequate, but it was in the basement of a four story home.
In college I was introduced to laundromat type facilities. While multiple machines is nice, the carting it around and babysitting it, without personal facilities was not to my liking.
My first house on the ranch had hookups right in the kitchen! We quickly found a used set of washer and dryer for a screaming deal $75.00 for the set! and installed them. I affectionately referred to them as my poo brown set. Obviously they were brown! Not that the colour indicates anything when it comes to performance. That set was awesome! Having them in the kitchen was fantastic. Even better was that the kitchen had a door to the outdoors.. to a small deck next to a clothes line! It was heaven... until cattle came by... or until my mother visited. (small mishap with a cast iron skillet and Pat's white church shirt that really should be it's own post!) With a sink in the kitchen available for special attention items, I became an avid fan of washer's in the kitchen!
We moved all too soon to a house in town. Fortunately the laundry room was right off the kitchen in the mudroom. Although there was a doorway to the outdoors, it never opened because it didn't really exist. It was boarded up and had a thick sleeping bag stapled up over it for extra insulation! Not ideal... also there was a large window in the room... directly behind a large bush, so no light came in! It had a sloping cement floor and no heat. But convenience was good. Lots of space and good cupboard space.
We moved to SLC and lived in a small town house without facilities. We brought our poo brown machines anyway. Patrick rigged up a washer hook up with hoses that could be draped across the kitchen so I did have a machine to use at my convenience and again it was in the kitchen, but thanks to the draping hoses, laundry became a late at night endeavor. A tiny apartment isn't the best place to hang clothes to dry until I discovered the hanging method in the bathroom from the shower rod... Showers had to be scheduled around the laundry drying.
In our first house that we owned the laundry room was in the basement. And it was only a small closet with space enough for only the washer and dryer! My used set of poo brown machines had been split up shortly after we moved to the apartment since we just didn't have space to store the dryer that we couldn't use so we only had the trusty washer. We were given an avacado green older dryer shortly after we moved in. I loved that the way to open the door was a foot pedal. I was so out of the habit of using the dryer that I still didn't use it much. The small laundry closet had large doors that had to be opened and closed constantly as I carried baskets up and down the stairs. Patrick ran a clothes line outside and between the outside line and now two bathrooms with shower rods, clothes were still hung to dry!
The day my 50 year old poo brown washer died was a very sad day! But fate smiled on me and I happened upon a used white washer that was fairly new. It only lasted a few months before it died. New doesn't equal good in my books. I was looking for another work horse! The next washer was also white (which I really do prefer) and worked satisfactorily.
This brings me to our current home. When looking for our house, I saw some lovely laundry rooms... however not in houses that we could afford or in ones that had adequate bedrooms or decent kitchens or large yards. It was very difficult to satisfy all of our criteria when looking for a house. So.. we got the large yard, enough bedrooms and a decent kitchen but again we only have a closet off the hallway for a laundry room.. I've bantered about with Patrick remodeling the master bedroom into the laundry room and giving us a small nook for a bed since I only sleep in my bedroom but spent many quality waking hours with my laundry... He isn't sold on the idea ... yet!
The laundry closet, while small, is upstairs off the main hall and that does make a huge difference compared to a basement laundry. It is also close enough to the bathroom for spot treating and soaking and hand washing. I have the worlds best clothes line off the back deck and have some very innovative indoor hanging systems now at my disposal. I hadn't realized when we bought this house that the 'wasted space' above the stair well could be put to such usefulness. My biggest complaints currently are the lack of sorting space, difficult to reach shelving (although thank you Patrick for putting shelves in!) and no where to set up my ironing board! A reverse laundry chute has also crossed my mind... the kids rooms are all downstairs so a chute sending up would be handy. Patrick has looked into locations for a dumbwaiter, but for the amount of work to put it in... the exercise going up and down the stairs is good for us!
As far as machines themselves go... I currently have a lovely front loading energy efficient washer that was donated to my laundry fetish by a lady who decided to get a new set when her dryer went on the fritz. She actually asked if Patrick would help haul it away... he did.. he just hauled it right on over here! I donated my old work horse to Jim with a set up similar to that in my first apartment with the old hoses dangling across his kitchen... He also has a clothes line!
The more I think about it the more I think I have a solid argument for my master bedroom / laundry overhaul...
The ramblings of a lunatic laundry lady!
P.S. I taught Derek to match and fold socks... He seems as excited as I about laundry so I let him have a menial task. I don't even give my children the opportunity to fall in love with the glories of laundry, because I keep it all to myself...
