Every weekend, I wheel my itty-bitty portable washing machine out of my closet and hook it up to the kitchen faucet. To people in big houses with laundry rooms it would seem like a huge hassle, but to me it's magical.

By the way, I know that you don't mean for this entire thread to be about laundry solutions, but take a look at this:

http://www.d-rack.com/

I've had mine for about a year and I love it. With this and a folding floor rack, I'm set unless I let things pile up longer than a week.

I mounted one up high in my hallway that can pulled across and hooked at the other end. Sure it's not pretty when it's out and hung with clothes, when it's a clothesline!

Barb I have the same thing over my tub. I line dry all my clothing and have for over ten years. This great devise! I use it and hangers on the shower curtain pole to get everything dry. Why this is great, I am a cheapskate and line drying saves your clothes from aging. I have crappy stuff from H&M that look like new. Oh yes we all know it is good for the environment and less on bills...But who cares if your wardrobe looks old and run down.

Looks like a good idea.

Great idea...I can actually do that for hubby's dress shirts!

That utilitarian comfort thing also makes a space "home" rather than showpiece, I think. It reveals an intimacy with a space. Or maybe I am just trying to justify the multitude of jerry riggings in our current cottage.

Ha! We totally use our curtain roads for drying clothes too. The shower curtain rod is good as well, you can fit tons of clothes and everything seems to dry quicker in the bathroom. A couple more windows and I would need a dryer at all!

*wouldn't

I thought I was the only person who still line dried!

Here are some other awsome areas, the door frame (balancing can be a lil tough), bike frame (make sure to wipe it down so its clean), ceiling fan (only for light items...no pun intended although thats kinda funny), and the bathroom curtain rail (although if your bathroom is small and has no windows, it takes more time than the others, avoid drying jeans here cuz itl'l take forever!)

I have a 'Best Drying Rack' in my basement, and though the space is big enough to leave it set up all the time, it collapses to a size roughly like a very thick rolled-up umbrella. On non-windy days I take it outside to use for that fresh scent!

http://bestdryingrack.com/

In use on a windy day. Oops!: http://lloydandlauren.com/2009/03/31/a-small-fail/

Making the most of what we have...

Well, the recession has really hit hard in Ireland and folk still have to 'live', cut their cloth according to your measure, and fill two weeks of holidays to boot. So what's changed? Even though the weathers not the best we've all gone back to camping!! Moreover, a mate of mine went off in his (old army bus, repurposed) camper van, to go wild camping in his usual spot a few weeks ago and it was pretty busy, with heaps of vans and tents with folk doing their budget holiday. It meant his son had more buddies to play with and by all accounts they had a mighty time.

And I have to say, I gather everyone is chuffed to bits at having re-discovered the cheap holiday.

Disadvantages; Lousy/unpredictable weather

Advantages: You bond with your kids, have stuff 'to do' and don't get bored (what with pitching your tent and cooking your meals), It's a fraction of the price, you have more choice of location....

You get my point.

I have a stackable washer/dryer in my bathroom but I hang dry almost everything. I installed a long (8') curtain rod over a double-wide doorway. It's great for hanging everything, looks nice, and doesn't require any set-up when I want to use it. It's far enough from the wall that I can drape towels over it to dry and high enough that I can hang sheets too.

Also, stacking mesh sweater drying racks fit perfectly over my bathtub and I don't have to worry about drips on the floor from really wet items.

We have our washer dryer in the hallway off the kitchen; & we keep our bicycles in the kitchen. I drape drying laundry over the handlebars, seats, etc. of the bikes.

Kudos to this. This is the *real* eco-friendly stuff, not these high-profile greenwashed "solutions" by Walmart or Johnson and Johnson. We do the same thing except amusingly we do have curtains, we just push them aside. I love our home except our neighbors are evil, otherwise it would be ideal. Decluttering makes everything better, I think.

*Oh, and during the summer we dry stuff on the radiators as well. It's far enough from the wall that the dust bunnies do not get to the clothes.

Please choose one:

a) "Making the Most of What We Have"
b) "Doing the Best with What We Have"

The above two alternatives are correct; the mixed variant in the title is substandard.

Excellence, in prose as well as in decor, depends on getting the details right.

Rapunzel, how about: "Making Do with What We Got?" Grammatically incorrect, but I like it nonetheless. And a refreshing philosophical alternative in this country where products are often actually planned to become obsolete before we finish making payments!

Oh yeah, the shower curtain is the bomb! I only use it for quick handwashed item,mostly undies. Wash at night, dry by morning, works great! Oh, and ladies I guess you know that heat eats elastic, so drying outside of the dryer makes undies last a lot longer!

I use one of these: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00176080 and it's brilliant because you can adjust it to fit the laundry you have in your load. Small load just unfold one side of the rack. Long items - each "shelf" is actuallly two racks so one can be left hanging so the rack above can accomodate longer items like pants or dresses. If the wheather is nice I can log out into our courtyard and let the clothes dry there but mostly it just sits in my livingroom.

I put a second shower curtain rod over the tub, about 4" from the wall. It's great for drying sheets, placemats & napkins, and a good place to hang a caddy when overnight guests are visiting.

I inherited a simple but effective "clothesline" when I moved into this house. It's an older house, and the 1st floor beams are exposed in the basement ceiling. A previous owner screwed a bunch of eye hooks at various places in the beams, and strung sturdy cord around/through them for clothes drying. Instead of bothering with clothes pins, I just hang them up on hangers and hook the hangers onto the line. (I was afraid initially that the hangers might all slide down into a clump in the middle of the line, but they don't.) I usually just do this in the winter when the nearby furnace keeps the basement very dry, though. The basement is never really musty, but since I can hang clothes on door knobs and such upstairs in the summertime, I figure that I shouldn't chance it.

Also, add me to the list of people who use the bathroom to air dry... only, I have shower doors so I simply toss my bras over the top bar on the open side. They almost always dry overnight. I also have a couple of hangers that are wide enough to go over that bar, too, and I sometimes hang lighter shirts from the bar using those.

I purchased shower tension rods and place them in my doorways to use with hangers to dry my clothes. Works great and it is very easy to remove when not in use.

I have 2 indoors clothes lines. One hooks over the back of the door, or in my case, over the fixed shower screen so the clothes hang over my bath tub. This hangs about 5 t-shirts or one sheet folded.
Then I have a nice foldable clothes airer. When I don't have people over, my washing hangs there to air dry in the breeziest spot in my flat between 2 windows. Then when I have people over, it folds up and hides in my tiny cubbie of a laundry.

My washing machine is on the back veranda and I've got clothes lines outside. But when it rains or when I've got something I need dry quickly, I set up my indoor racks in the dining room, then turn on the ceiling fan. Almost as fast as a dryer! And so much better than hiking to a laundromat!

@carolew: Stylish prose often employs substandard usage in order to set a tone. To do this most effectively, however, it's best to carry out the substandard usages throughout the prose: "Makin' Do with What We Got" establishes a sense of style quite different from "Making the Best of What We Have". Pick a style, and execute it with excellence, in decor as in prose.

Sorry. I was interrupted while typing. That last line should read "Pick a style and execute it with excellence, in decor as in prose."

I use my four-poster bed. The rails are narrow enough so a hanger fits over them - and that's now become my way of judging all other four-posters!

Overflow items go on a folding rack and over doors.

I do have a line out back, but it doesn't hold as much as I'd like it to and I always forget to do laundry until late at night. I have also put my folding rack outside.

(Don't feed the trolls.)

I only ever fully dry sheets, towels, and undergarments. Most clothes don't need it or shouldn't be put into a dryer anyway. I like the suggestions in this thread, though I can't use a clothesline since my patio is under a tree (no light + debris). Sad.