When we were holding tryouts for editors for the Green Home site, Stephanie took this photo and wrote a (fantastic!) post about a cool green throwback -clotheslines. 37 comments later, the dust settled. While the positive comments definitely outweighed the negative, we could see that it was a practice that got some people bent out of shape.
And now, what the WSJ calls "the burgeoning right to dry movement" has a poster child, Susan Taylor.
Ms. Taylor has been using a clothesline to dry her laundry. It is "one way to fight climate change, using the sun and wind instead of electricity. "Days like this, I can do multiple loads, and within two hours, it's done," said Ms. Taylor. "It smells good, and it feels different than when it comes out of the dryer."
Makes perfect sense, but her neighbors are not happy.
"This bombards the senses," interior designer Joan Grundeman says of her neighbor's clothesline. "It can't possibly increase property values and make people think this is a nice neighborhood."
And it seems that Ms. Grundeman's thoughts are widespread.
"...as postwar Americans embraced labor-saving appliances, clotheslines came to be associated with people who couldn't afford a dryer. Now they are a rarity, purged from the suburban landscape by legally enforceable development restrictions."
It's just those restrictions that have come into play for Ms. Taylor - her housing development's managers have threatened legal action.
For the full story from the Wall Street Journal, click here.
For more info on air drying laundry: Project Laundry List
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
Ugh. This always makes me cringe. That's why I live in a house...I can hang my laundry in the yard and my neighbors can't do a thing about it. To be fair, we live in perfect harmony - in a modest income neighborhood. I think this might be more of an issue on tonier blocks or in condo buidings. Why, I don't know...
view lfw1031's profile
I'm all for clotheslines so long as they can be placed somewhat out of plain sight. While walking down the street in cramped SF I've seen people's undergarments strung up like flags and, yikes, some things should be kept private, you know?!
view chris_94131's profile
The type of housing development where they usually have these rules is the kind I'd never live in anyways. Giant houses, giant lawns, and two SUVs in a three car garage. Bleh.
And no matter what people hang on their clotheslines, it's just clothes. Seeing someone's granny panties isn't going to scar you for life.
view dancingspring's profile
I live in a townhome development that has a written law that you can't hang your clothes out to dry. I personally break that rule all the time and no one has ever complained. That being said, I try to be very respectful of my neighbors and realize that not everyone feels the same as I do (ie, what's the big deal?). I only hang clothes, blankets or pillows out of sight and I take them down right away when they are dry.
I see both sides of the issue. I really don't want to see my neighobor's underwear that should have been thrown away a long time ago. At the same time, I do love little italian homes that proudly display their laundry like colorful flags outside on their balconies. There is a certain poetry to it.
view ChiMeg's profile
I don't want to see my neighbors' gas guzzling SUVs or overflowing trash cans or tacky lawn decorations or signs announcing the use of pesticides/herbicides that render their lawn untouchable. I put up with it.
I realize some people might not want to see my laundry but they can put up with it, too. Frankly, it's the ones who might *want* to see my laundry that worry me more; because of them I've ceased hanging underwear out.
view wordling's profile
This confirms my opinion of gated communities - parasites at every level.
view Deb of Oz's profile
I actually really like the way laundry hanging out to dry looks. It's charming. My mom always dried bed linens on the line, and they smelled great too. I will admit that hanging it was a hated chore as a child though!
view Caitlin in Seattle's profile