The wonderful tiny laundry room

This laundry room has been a dream of mine for a couple of years. It's a tiny room that had a lot of potential. Taking out the tank water heater not only saved CO2 and energy, but allowed me to bring my conventional top-loader in from the garage. This washer is a fisher/paykel ecosmart which is a great washing machine. The thing saves an incredible amount of water by using only what you need. Other things I like are its direct-drive DC motor, and the fact that the whole thing is sensor driven. If you drop more clothes in the washer it automatically fills with water to incorporate the new clothes. After it rinses your clothes it spins them thoroughly at 1,000 RPM so they are almost dry when they come out of the washer.


Selling the stackable washer and dryer opened up this window, allowing more light into the room. I was then able to put a shelving unit up that i got from ikea. The drying rack can dry every little sock in a load of laundry when I put jeans and towels and tee shirts on the line. I can also use a box fan in the room and the clothes on the rack dry very quickly. So if I don't feel like using the dryer when it rains I have this option as well.

With use of the clothesline and a superefficient washer in cold water, almost all of the energy is removed from the clothes washing process. I find the line doesn't take much more time than using my electric clothes dryer. I use it as a sort of impromptu art project and a way to express myself. What I mean to do is show the outside world that I'm proud to hang my own laundry and maybe they will think it's an option they can use to practice conservation and self-reliance. I don't ever feel like I have to use the clothesline and sometimes I like just to dry jeans and towels on the line while putting socks and underwear in the electric dryer. Jeans feel great dried on the line, and everything smells wonderful when you put it on.

Another thing I love about line-drying my clothes is mrs. mockingbird likes to come visit and chat with me while i'm out there. Her favorite spot is on top of this chimney where she will chatter away.

It's a great excuse to be out enjoying the day and taking in things i had been missing and earning a feeling of satisfaction.

The fisher/paykel washer is supposed to use 1/4 the energy of comparable washers. In addition, using cold water detergents makes using heated water unnecessary in the laundry. On top of all that, if you use a clothesline to dry the clothes, you bypass the most energy-intensive part of the american laundry. I really like how this project turned out.