Vintage Folding Laundry Racks for Small Spaces
Since publishing a recent post about styling a small stoop, I received many questions about our space-savvy drying rack. It’s been our goal to not use our shared dryer at all during spring and summer, so the rack is now a common sight in our garden.
It was a vintage Etsy find, so I’ve rounded up similar designs below:
Right now, laundry is not simply laundry.
It’s a family activity meant to educate and entertain a preschooler about household tasks (shared by BOTH parents— not just one). It’s a well-worn collection of reusable goods meant to reduce our trips to the store as we attempt to keep our communities and families healthy by staying Safer at Home. It’s a round of linens washed together on cold and dried in the sun to help us reduce our negative environmental impact. It’s a vintage rack meant to save precious space in our tiny thoroughfare garden while supporting a small business. And it’s a bunch of overgrown plants — some edible — meant to enhance our positive footprint.
To make laundry lighter on the planet, we handwash delicates, wash on a cold setting (unless it’s a seriously mucky batch), and do fewer, larger loads vs smaller, color-divided loads.
We use our secondhand (but new-to-us!) collapsible rack in combination with two other tools: a folding rack from Helen Milan home (which is compact enough to easily use indoors or outdoors), and a makeshift drying line.
We do a fair amount of laundry, as we use washable/reusable goods in lieu of disposables, and because indoor/outdoor life with 2 dogs and a preschooler generates a bit of a mess.
Luckily I find laundry rather enjoyable and therapeutic. (Dishes, however, are Adam’s forté… I’m not a fan. And we share our household, parenting and business duties here.)
If you’re newer to line / sun drying, Simply Living Well: A Guide to Creating a Natural, Low-Waste Home by Julia Watkins offers some excellent tips on this topic (among many, many others).
The Pros and Cons of that Rumpled Look
Post Summary: Drying clothes and household linens in a small home/apartment.
Recently I discovered that our ridiculously extendable curtain rod is actually quite useful in our tiny space on laundry day:
Above: West’s handmade bamboo tops from Caribou Kids drying on the extendable curtain rod.
The pros of air drying are, of course, that it conserves energy and curbs the associated costs. For us, the cons are that it doesn’t remove all the dog hair (and there is SO MUCH OF IT here) from fabric, and that even a little bit of laundry can overwhelm a small space.
Above: West and I wear basics / undergarments from Arq.
Honestly though, for whatever reason, I don’t mind having garments out drying throughout our home and garden. (Dirty dishes, however, bother me— no patience for those here! Everyone has their hang ups…)
Above and below: West and I have matching robes from Odd Bird Company.
Since we all share one compact closet, our clothes are usually a bit (or a lot) rumpled.
Above: Wearing linen from Beaton and Garnet Hill.
It’s something I’ve long accepted, and it’s one of the reasons I love wearing and decorating with linen, which looks just as lovely when somewhat wrinkled.
Same goes for organic cotton and bamboo, of which most of West’s clothing is made.
Above: Child’s underwear from Arq, cloth overnight diaper from Grovia. (Photo by Tinylicious.)
We have a tiny iron, but we probably only use it a handful of times per year.
The more we love our clothes, the more I don't mind seeing them drying from the beams, seat-backs and doorways.
Above: Our folding drying rack from Helen Milan Home. (Photo by Tinylicious.)
Looking to start air-drying your clean laundry in your small home/apartment? Scroll to the bottom of this post for a collection of space-savvy accessories that might come in handy.
Keep in mind that a string safely secured from one end of the room to the other can work just as well— you might not need to buy a thing.
But just in case you do, here’s a mix of vintage, handmade and a couple new items that might help.
Sharing One Compact Closet as a Family
You know those pin-worthy closet tours that showcase neatly stacked piles of pants, rows of shoes and handbags arranged in artful lines, well-lit full length mirrors, and mid-room island dressers filled with drawers of diverse accessories? This is most certainly not one of those tours.
Instead, this is an honest look at how we make a small closet (which was once a nursery) work for 2 adults, 1 preschooler, a collection of books, and A LOT of dog hair.
Clearly I’m no fashion blogger. I usually feel such joy and satisfaction when arranging a space, but for some reason I’ve never derived much pleasure from composing an outfit. But I do appreciate a beautiful garment— so much so that I often end up incorporating clothing into the decor of our home.
Luckily, this also helps us make better use of our small space when it comes to finding storage solutions. (For example, West’s apron dangles from a hooked magnet on the fridge, our scarves and hats drape along the bedroom walls, and our backpacks and market bags border our front stoop.)
My husband, our son and I all share our single closet.
The closet also doubles as storage for guest/spare bedding, picture and board books, our cloth diapering system, and more. (West only uses his Grovia diapers overnight now, but we’re holding on to our sets in case we have another child.)
In recent years, we’ve acquired far less clothing. We’re making an effort to restore, adjust and repair our existing pieces for extended use to lighten our environmental footprint. If we do get a new article, we donate two in its place to help keep clutter at bay.
Most of the clothing I have is similar to our home decor in the sense that it’s usually muted in tone. This way it layers easily and can be combined effortlessly into countless outfits. (In the photo below, my scarves are stored in the white basket, while my socks and hats are kept in the picnic basket.)
If I find something I really love, I tend to get it in a few colors so I can mix and match without having to think much about it on sleepy mornings, or in the rush to get out the door.
For example, I have 3 pairs of wide-leg handmade pants by Thief and Bandit, 4 pairs of cropped pants from Everlane, 3 linen maxi dresses from Garnet Hill, 3 mid-length dresses from Olli Ella, 3 long sleeve tops from Everlane, and 4 versatile tanks from Garnet Hill. I also own several pairs of Rothy’s, and when I was pregnant I wore the same style of Pons in 2 different colors. I have additional garments, of course, but the above make up the backbone of my wardrobe. (Read my recent post on West’s clothing, here.)
Our lifestyle definitely influences how we dress. We are constantly biking, walking the dogs, canoeing, and running around with our son in the garden and on the beach. As such, most of our garments have to support these sorts of activities.
Thanks to the climate here in Los Angeles, my two (sometimes three) winter coats are stashed away for the majority of the year so they don’t consume inches in or around our compact wardrobe during the warmer months. I keep them in a vintage-style suitcase that is often left out in the open here in our house, or rolled into the storage cubby beneath the bed.
When the coats are in use for a few months on-end, I hang them up via garden hooks or S-hooks on the exterior of the closet curtain. (I tend to suspend several of my go-to items this way, such as our robes and commonly used backpacks or handbags.)
I use the S-hook hack inside the closet as well. It’s a practical way to keep my full-length hoodies (which I wear daily) within easy reach without requiring additional hangers. It’s also helpful for temporarily corralling items until I have the time to put them away properly.
In the fall and winter, I zip a small number of summer pieces into a storage bag that I keep on the closet’s upper shelf. The same bag holds my wedding dress and a handful of essential maternity pieces that I’m still holding on to... just in case.
While we organize most of our shoes under the couch, we also suspend select pairs from unused corners high inside the closet. This lets the shoes breathe a bit, without getting in the way of the nearby clothing or accessories.
While our closet is not the stuff of Instagram interior decor fantasies, it still makes me happy. On a planet that cannot sustain our hunger for fast fashion and new styles, Adam and I think it’s important to demonstrate our child that we can live comfortably with well-worn items, and with less overall. And while our clothes perhaps look a little rumpled and wrinkly day to day thanks to the realities of sharing a small space, we appreciate and use each and every single piece we have.
