It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time …
When we were DINKs (double income, no kids), Mr Karen and I thought it was a great idea to have our laundry in a cupboard under the stair. Why not? They do it in Europe. Every Saturday morning, we would change the linen, put a load in the machine, do the grocery shop and then come home to peg out and fold. All the week’s work done in one day. The best part was that we could shut the cupboard doors and forget about washing until next Saturday. So simple. So satisfying.
While a laundry in a cupboard is an efficient use of space, it’s less than practical for a family. It’s not fit for purpose. And no matter how hard I’ve tried, our constant stream flood of laundry cannot be contained behind a double cupboard. Where do you keep the dirties? Where do you fold? Where do you hide the ironing basket?
My logical response to the flooding was to introduce a series of ‘overflows’, whereby I have many baskets throughout the house to act as catchments. Fine, except now there are puddles of clothes, bibs, face washers, and towels everywhere. I cannot escape them. The result is a big clean up mission before we have visitors, or if the visitors are unannounced, they just have to step over the puddles.
We are in the throes of building a new laundry. Inside, I am all jazz hands and running man (my only two dance moves) about this new laundry: WHOO-HOOO!! It will make everything easier. Although the reality is, with 3 little boys and 2 un-toilet trained, I think the new laundry will mean lots of dancing in the rain.
How do you feel about laundry? Necessary evil or simple and satisfying?
7 Responses to “It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time …”
I love my laundry. I’ve had some shockers so when it came time to plan this one I put my head, heart and soul into it. The act of laundry? Not so much, but a nice space makes it much easier to deal with.
I completely identify! I’m also in the process of having the family grow (at least in size, not numbers) and not having enough space to house us all and our associated accoutrements. I was kicked out of my office – tough when you work from home! – and now find myself working from a computer cupboard in the dining room. Everything is expanding and there’s no where to put it all!
I have a european laundry as well – always have hidy-holes for things to get stuffed when I’m expecting company
xxxCate
Having children means laundry room has to be a priority. Never ending and no way around the surplus of laundry filling; clean, dirty, folded, in transit. Sanity and laundry enjoyment (yes, I LOVE doing the laundry) requires a feng shui approach to it all. It’s all about systems that WORK. Good on ya for getting your laundry pride in action with the new addition. I also recommend the biggest washing machine and dryer you can get. Heck, I recently replaced my old ‘biggest you can get’ machines with new ones and we’re down to just the two of us with children grown and moved out. That’s how committed I am to streamlining the process.
Necessary evil! Ours is in the cold, half-finished basement, and of course the bedrooms are on the second floor. Our house is old and there is no other place to put it, and I do not look forward to laundry days once we have children. I am bad enough about doing it now! So far I have not been able figure out how to fashion a laundry shoot from the second floor to the basement.
A timely post as I’m having a break from the ironing basket which never seems to empty. Do people in Europe hide their laundry under the stairs? I must have missed a trick. I am lucky in that I have a utility room and so I just shut the door when we have guests but it still seems to encroach everywhere. I really hate washing drying on radiators and on airers. I have quite a complicated system of different coloured baskets and stuff but it’s just never ending. It’s so dispiriting. If I only did it on one day I would be swamped. It seems a universal topic laundry.
One of my requirements during our renovations was to upgrade the laundry completely. It was a total nightmare. These days I finally feel I have a handle on the neverending pile of it as a result.