Laundry Days Part II - The Drying Rack
Since we've been talking laundry recently, I thought I'd capitalize on the local expertise!
I actually like doing laundry. There. The cat is out of the bag. And I like hanging it out to dry in the summer months even more. Perhaps it's the slow, methodical process of it all. Or maybe it's how my 2-YO squirts it with water when it's almost dry. No, I think it's the way the kids arrange the clothes on the rack. They love to do it, and can't quite seem to grasp the concept that if you pile (multiple) items on top of each other - while space saving - they just won't dry!
Anyway. I'm in the market for a BIG FANCY outdoor drying rack. Like the kind they have in Australia. The kind you can stick in the patio table where the umbrella's supposed to go. BIG. Like these. And before I make this enormous and very sexy purchase, I need advice from those who already made the leap. 'Cause I want to get the right one. The perfect one. For cheap (natch). Help! Do you have one of these fold up thingys? Where'd you get it? Do you like it? Do tell.
We have the rotary kind and I love it. It holds a lot and we can take it down when we have people over. We set it up so it is attached to our deck - I walk less than five feet from the washer to the clothes line and can do it in bare feet.
Ours is over 6 years old and going strong. The lines loosen/stretch over time but it is easy to pull them tight again. I got mine at one of the smaller Ace Hardware stores - at the time the big guys did not carry them but they might now. My neighbor got one this year and design is slightly different than mine (a lot like the picture above) but same idea.
Posted by: Sarah C | July 31, 2008 at 05:58 PM
I have wanted a clothes line for a long time. It seems so silly to use the dryer in the summer. I havent really made any progress between the wood drying rack (kind you can buy at Fred Meyer) to the full on cement pour in the back yard that would allow for a bonafide premanent CLOTHESLINE. I keep thinking but not doing. Maybe I can still find some inspiration this season...
Posted by: elizabeth | July 31, 2008 at 06:53 PM
Just thought I'd mention that local blog Enviromom ( http://www.enviromom.com ) has done a couple blog entries on affordable clothesline solutions:
http://www.enviromom.com/2008/07/creative-and-ch.html
http://www.enviromom.com/2008/06/curious-about-c.html
Posted by: Kristi | July 31, 2008 at 07:55 PM
We have been drying every single piece of clothing on the line since the weather got nice and I love it. Anyway, we made our clothesline, but it's a standard one (two t-shaped posts with lines in-between) but when we were doing research we came across this site
http://www.clotheslineshop.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=C&Category_Code=OCI
They seem to have a bunch of options. Hope it helps. Just finished folding my crunchy air-dried towels a minute ago ;-)
Posted by: enb | July 31, 2008 at 08:31 PM
We have a retractable 6 line clothes dryer that stretches from our garage to the house. It's PRETTY reliable but has fallen once or twice. Somehow the tightening mechanism isn't the best. Anyway, we purchased it at Witchita Hardware (out Johnson Creek Blvd. way, probably at about 60th) and it was around $45. Many other models are much more expensive so this is a compromise. I love drying our clothes outside!
Posted by: Invisible Zipper | July 31, 2008 at 08:36 PM
We have a retractable clothes line that stretches from our house to a post with a bird house sitting on top. It's only one line and I use it every day during the summer months. I have also been thinking of getting the one you have pictured and set it in an umbrella stand on the patio and maybe move it inside our garage during the winter months.
Posted by: Rosanne | July 31, 2008 at 08:47 PM
We just picked up one of the spinny umbrella style ones at our local true value hardware store. It isn't quite set up yet, but it was not too spendy at $70 and looks like it will work great. It will expand my capacity significantly from the 20 foot retractable line I have now to about 200 feet of drying space. Which will make me happy because it will let me blow off laundry all week and then wash five loads in a day, which seems to be my pattern...
Posted by: abby | July 31, 2008 at 09:36 PM
we have a single line from one side our small yard to the other, which has been fine for one load at a time previous summers. we had a baby this past winter and my mil bought us a rack from ikea, since we're washing our own diapers. it is way fancier than the small wooden rack from freddy's. i was sort of overwhelmed by it at first, but now i really like it. it doubles what we can dry outside, is great for things that need to be "laid flat to dry" (something i've never had space for before), and a whole drying load can be swiftly moved under the carport or inside if rain sneaks up. here it is: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50095091
it can be folded in different ways, so it stores flat, or folds out enough to dry stuff in a tub.
Posted by: rachel | August 02, 2008 at 12:40 PM
I have two metal, accordion style, folding drying racks that I bought at Target for about 40 bucks each. These work much better than the typical wooden racks because laundry on the upper rungs doesn't hang down onto laundry on the lower rungs. They are light-weight and easy to move. When the weather is nice, I set them up outside. When it isn't, I set them them up in the basement and dry my things inside. It works very well for me.
Posted by: Laura E | August 03, 2008 at 09:22 PM
Mirador on Division has some nice laundry options. I picked up a retractable 5 line one there for $14. It seemed like they had the one that was pictured above.
Posted by: Sarah | August 04, 2008 at 02:59 PM