Small Space Laundry Zone Solution for Air Drying Linens
When I designed our new cottage, I considered several locations for the laundry zone.
When I lived in Manhattan in a ~350 sqft apartment, I had a combination single washer/dryer unit in the kitchen in lieu of a dishwasher. When we were in our ~400 sqft cottage by the canals, our stacked washer and dryer unit were in a bike shed that we shared with our neighbors. And in my ~200 sqft studio on Venice Beach, there was a slim, thoroughfare laundry room on the ground floor for all the tenants to share.
I took all of these experiences and others into account when deciding what we approach we should take in our new home. An shed setup beneath the house was out of the question due to the extreme climate and likelihood of flooding in this region. A kitchen setup would’ve been doable, but I was concerned that having our cleaning AND cooking hub in the same zone would lead to daily congestion. And we’re far too remote to efficiently rely upon a community laundromat.
The logical location, in this case, was the bathroom. I first considered situating our bathroom counter over a side-by-side washer and dryer, but I really had my heart set repurposing a rescued slab of wood for the vanity, as well as designing a custom hutch for laundry + bathroom storage. So when I discovered a narrow, ventless, stackable washer and dryer, I knew it was the answer for us. Tucked into a custom nook opposite the shower and sink, the electrical would be far from splash zones, and the entire setup wouldn’t require any of the space needed for navigation and comfort within the room.
Even though we’ve typically always had access to a dryer, we’ve long preferred to air dry our linens whenever possible. But given the realities of the climate here, including frequent sudden downpours and tropically humid months on end, I wanted to reserve free space within the house for drying, rather than relying solely on our retractable outdoor laundry line. What would be the most suitable areas for this in our relatively compact home?
That’s when I began to picture the shower as a potential crucial component to our laundry room.
We usually try to conserve water by bathing quickly, so our shower is really only in use for about 10 minutes daily. As such, the bathing area’s real estate is largely available for 23+ hours per day. So when approaching the room’s design, I crossed out the option of a glass partition along the shower curb, along with the alternate option of a low / pony wall. Uninterrupted access would be easiest with a curtain.
Since we didn’t want a horizontal curtain bar running in front of the mindfully placed windows, we installed two towel hooks directly above the inner edge of the curb line on either side of the bathroom, giving us anchor points for stringing up a removable drying line that could also hold our shower curtains. In addition to the line, we have a vintage, collapsible drying rack (that fits under our bathroom vanity when not in use), as well as our fold-down, repurposed baker’s bread cooling shelf for more surface space for drying laundry.
The end result is a room that’s fully in use throughout the day. It works perfectly for our small home and our family routines.
Repurposing Household Items: The Baker’s Cooling Rack
Note: While this entry is about a very specific item within our cottage — a reimagined, vintage baker’s rack — the message can be extended across countless home goods, as outlined towards the end of the post.
When we were designing our little bathroom / laundry room combo, I knew I wanted to leave space for linens to air dry.
Our shower is one of those spaces. When it’s not in use for bathing, we sometimes pop open a vintage, collapsible drying stand for larger, damp linens beneath the windows and skylights. Another area we reserved for drying out (smaller) textiles was the wall space bordering the stacked washer-dryer. I wanted a fold-down, slated platform for items like still-damp, clean cloth diapers, and freshly washed Swedish dishcloths, but I didn’t want a newly-made plastic or metal rack from a big box retailer. So I went shopping within our home instead.
My eye fell upon an old French bread cooling rack that was dangling decoratively on our kitchen wall, waiting to serve a new purpose. It’s the kind of willow and reed shelf once used in a French boulangerie for supporting freshly-baked loaves of bread while allowing oxygen to flow around them. This was THE PERFECT size and design for what I had in mind by the washer-dryer. But what hardware would I need in order to attach it to the wall in a way that would allow it to function as needed?
Again, we looked around our home. We found spare mug hooks in various sizes, two leftover chords from a suspended book rack (pictured in this post, 5th image), and a small piece of driftwood— all of which we could put to use to make the rack fold up and stay put, or fold down and support the necessary amount of weight.
What we ended up with works for our tastes and the semi-foraged interior we hoped to create, while serving the necessary purpose.
If this approach to interior decor sparks your interest, try this when sourcing items for your home:
Stop searching for newly-manufactured goods by a specific name, such as “drying rack.”
Instead, imagine what items could serve the same purpose based on general functionality, design, materials, size, etc.
Then consider if you already have something that could work…
… Or if you can find a vintage or second-hand item that can be repurposed.
You’ll likely save money and enhance the character, originality and functionality of your home… all while being a more responsible steward of this planet.
