apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I grew up having things dried on a line during the summer months as my parents had a clothes line in 2 houses. Right now there is non at Mom's current place and I'd not do it at my apartment as it's 4 floors up in the air in case a strong wind/breeze blows...

Add to that, there is no room at the inn for one anyway.

Class warfare, American style. Bring out your lawyers.

In many parts of LA, isn't the pollution bad enough to give someone pause about airing their laundry outside?

Monkeemee-- yes!

i used to dry a lot of my clothes on a line. but then i accidentally left a white slip out there for a couple of days and when i remembered to retrieve it, it was kinda...grey. ew!

i still hang things to dry (hand-washing and all of my jeans), but now i hang everything in my bathroom.

I find this so amusing! Only because when i think of clotheslines i think of growing up at my parent's home in rural new england with towels hanging out on the line in the summertime and running underneath them as we played in the field...clotheslines remind me of peace and relaxation! Just the other day I was thinking how nice it would look to have one in my yard (if i had one).

had one in the backyard, it was great.

now in a small city apartment, we have one of those folding racks, but not the flimsy wooden ones, but a larger steel/metal (enamelled white) that folds out and can really hold a good amount of heavy wet clothes.

I bought my parents (in LA) one from Koreatown (Kim's household store, not sure of the name in English).

We also have this other contraption in the bathroom that has a few retractable lines that go across the length of the bathtub. We hung it high enough to hang-dry king-sized bedsheets.

I see neighboring apartment dwellers hanging their laundry on clotheslines attached to the sides of their apartment building, and I have no problem with that except when it's their bedsheets, then all I can notice is their bedsheets touching the sides of the building whenever there's a breeze. ick!

I have an umbrella style clothesline which goes into a plastic sleeve I installed with a little concrete in the ground. I just put it out there when I do laundry, then fold it up and bring it in when I'm done. I love my line-dried clothes and sheets (although I still throw the towels in the dryer so they'll be soft) :o)

And that is one of the many reasons I refuse to live in a neighborhood that has a homeowner's association.

my parents have been drying clothes out on a line for as long as i've been around. Yeah they live out in the country a bit, and they have a 500 foot driveway, so it's not intruding on other's space, but that's besides the point

if it's your space people shouldn't be able to tell you what to do with it. just like all the people that are putting up giant, hideous inflatable christmas lawn decorations, they can do it if they want. I'm not biased on that at all am i?

I dry a lot of my clothes (especially black ones) inside to save them from turning grey or from shrinking. They last a millions times longer.

People shouldn't be complaining about practices that are good for the environment. I'm sure these people have kids, nephews/nieces or grandchildren. Shouldn't we be leaving a bettter planet for them by being as green as possible?

When I was a kid (1960s) everyone dried their clothes on the line. Sure, our mothers used dryers in winter, in particular, but I still remember bringing in frozen clothes too. And yes, my mother worked. That was just the way it was done.

When the artist David Hockney took his mother for a drive in California she commented on the 'good drying' weather' and
'no washing lines'. Where possible I'd always choose a line.

I remember how good everything smells when it dries in the sun. Also, my grandfather's shirts freezing stiff as boards on the clothes line in winter. How beautiful the clothes lines full of clothes looked strung between ancient buildings in Rome.

Good USA manners dictate(d) that you switch your fork to the left hand when cutting food (knife in right), and then switched it back again to take a mouthful: this was to show you were too well off to rush for the bite. Wall-to-wall carpet was to show you were too well off to have bare floors. Colonials here painted the fronts of their houses only, because it was too expensive for the whole house. Sigh. Exact same idiocy with clothes on the line.

But there's hope! Years ago, Martha Stewart's magazine had an article about a dedicated space at your place in the Hamptons. Just have installed a mature, 8-foot boxwood hedge; have some suitably weathered wooden posts set into the lush, flawless lawn, and (presumably) have the servants hang the wash there. The sight will offend no one, and the guests will enjoy the luxurious touch of heavenly smelling sheets. Hey, we can all do that, right?

It depends on the the yard and the neighborhood. In Pasadena, lots of people do this, in the back yard, as it's "green" and Martha-esque. In the Palisades, people would freak out, no matter how green it is. And in Boyle Heights people do it because they might not have a working dryer.

I do it on the roof of my non-trendy loft, but when the pricey ones across the street fill up, I'm sure the owners will complain.

And some days, if the wind isn't just right, the whites do turn a little dusty. Not from pollution, which isn't made of big particles floating around, but from the dust blown in from the desert.

Mom always dried clothes on the line.
My only complaint was the stiff towels and jeans! But I loved running through the sheets and towels as the billowed in the breeze on our farm.

In past apts my neighbor and I were known to hang some items from the overhang of our fire escape.

I grew up in the Caribbean and then Brooklyn, NY. At both places we, and all of our neighbors, hung our clothes out on a line.

Now I have a loft and I'm looking for an indoor solution. I know there must be one because in Winter I have humidifier going nearly 24/7, and what could be better than using the water already in my clothes.

Any suggestions other than a drying rack?

(I have a condensation dryer and currently use the water collected for watering my plants.)

I have a clothes line that I use infrequently for things like rags or rugs. I wonder what the neighbors think. My main concern is bringing allergens into my apartment, which is why I rarely dry bedding outside. But it sure smells good!

I have a clothesline now for over 15 years, I wouldn't dry the clothes any other way. In states where the temperature is in the 90's and 100's people should be ashamed of themselves for drying clothes in a dryer. Why do some people make such a big deal out of seeing clothes hanging on a line to dry. It's only clothing, we all have 'em...LOL
Here in Brooklyn, NY almost everyone has a clothesline, but the hige rise luxury buildings do not.
Visiting Palm Springs and having wet towels from the pool, we just put them over the balcony, tyhen in like 10 minutes they were bone dry, ready to fold and put away... couldn't be easier....