Laundry Time

Vincent and I are very spoiled.  All three apartments we have rented have had a washer and dryer in the unit.  No lugging clothes to a laundromat, no scary basements with shared washers and dryers, no worrying about whether someone will remove my wet clothes if I forget to switch them over to the dryer. Just pure, private, laundry laziness.

Our first two apartments in St. Louis each had the laundry in a separate closet, but this apartment oddly has the washer/dryer in a nook off the kitchen, without a door to close it off if we have guests or to minimize the noise.  This laundry “room” is a cramped space that leads to a storage closet and the back door, and it has become the dumping ground for everything that doesn’t fit in the rest of the apartment (eg. golf clubs, clothes needing to be taken to Good Will, old electronics that we’re holding onto for no particular reason).  It’s also where we keep the recycling, pet food, cleaning supplies, and clothes drying rack.  When you consider that it cannot be larger than 4 ft. by 6 ft. -- and that’s a generous estimate -- it’s amazing the cats haven’t gotten stuck back there!

This photo doesn't do the clutter justice.
It's a mess, I promise!

After my recent trip to Ikea, I decided that I couldn’t stand the mess any longer.  I had purchased the Grundtal Drying Rack as a space-saving tool to replace the clunky, traditional drying rack that always ends up in the way (because, let’s face it, clothes stay on it for days after they’re dry).

Grundtal Drying Rack from Ikea

It folds flat against the wall to save space.

I also picked up a cheap-o trash bin from Target for recycling cans/bottles/glass. Woohoo, no more brown shopping bags sitting out in front of the washer/dryer!  The pet food bins are now pushed farther back so I can actually stand on the floor in front of the laundry machine, instead of standing in the kitchen and leaning awkwardly over the clutter just to put clothes in the wash.

At one point during my Ikea shopping trip, I had the Dignitet Curtain Wire set and a curtain in my shopping cart, thinking that I could hang it in the doorway to the laundry nook.  Ultimately, I decided that this particular curtain system is specific to our current apartment, and I’d rather buy things that will most likely work in future apartments as well.