Idea file: drying racks, laundry

The present laundry is a large space, but appallingly laid out. The worst bit is the stonking big fireplace/chimney that is nearly 0.5m x 2m for the first metre. And we'll never use the fireplace (faces the formal sitting room). So, it's gonna go. The fireplace can remain, but it will be purely decorative.

While we're great fans of drying laundry outside on the good old Hills Hoist, inclement weather (or just short winter days) means a fair bit gets dried inside.

Not my kids swinging on a Hills Hoist

At present, I have one of those wardrobes on wheels dealie (clothes with sleeves get hung immediately on coat hangers to dry), and a very good fold-up drying rack (for everything else, including storing yet-to-be-paired socks). You've got to move one or both out of the way if you want to get into the cupboards behind. Or to get the ironing board, or even the iron.

I didn't do any laundry over the weekend, but I did do some putting away...

With the chimney gone, and the door moved slightly, there will be a lot more scope for permanent hanging space. 

Above the washing machine, dryer and laundry tub  will be a shower rail at about 6' from the floor, 1' from the wall, running from one wall to just before the cupboard. That means the drippiest drip-dry clothes can do so over the sink, and the others can hang there until they're put away. And that gets rid of the mobile hanging rack.

On the wall where the chimney is presently (behind the hanging rack in the above picture) will go the wall mounted drying racks. I haven't yet worked out quite what, but there are some attractive ideas out there. (I should say that I strongly prefer metal racks rather than timber, as timber can stain wet clothes, as well as being less space efficient.

Or you can just cut to the chase and click HERE to see what I'll likely go with.

There are ones that lean out from the walls, paired vertically or horizontally.

There are slightly more practical denser-railed ones, like this:

(Ikea, W54cm. Or W56cm)

There are ceiling mounted ones like my grandma used to have. With the reno, we might be able to get the ceilings up to 10', so they might be an option.

Although this version where you can raise an lower individual rungs is natty.

There are the concertina versions, which look like they're about to fail, and certainly can't take the kind of wear and tear we'd be dealing out to it.

There are various internal versions of the rotary hoist, most of which are too bulky, but there are some smaller versions.

And perhaps of more interest, the linear fold-up versions:

Hills Mini Supafold Clothes Line, $88 at Bunnings W120xH10xL68cm. Has 7m line space, 

And finally, there's the basic, always there ones (except you can only drape things over, not peg things to, thick metal bars).

Ikea, extendable from 63cm to 120cm, D40, H20cm. Up to 7m, 20kg.

On mulling these options, I'm leaning towards a row of the Ikea drying racks from the last picture (at 120cm wide, to take sheets etc) at about waist level (1m from floor), with perhaps the wall mounted fold up clothes line above it.* And with both no deeper than 60cm, they're the same depth as the freezer that will be in the same line.

Sorted!


*Recommended mounting height: top bracket should be 2" above head of intended user. Which is me, and I'm 5'7", so that's about 1.75m from the floor. And 4" clearance on either side, per the manual.