Remodelista

Vintage Laundry Room

June 3rd, 2007

From Julie:

Recently, Sarah, Janet, and I stopped by the ever-amusing San Francisco Decorator Showcase, an extravaganza of over-the-top interior design (the monolithic mansion is currently on the market for $55 million; go to 2901broadwaystreet.com to view). Our favorite set-piece? The old-fashioned laundry room in the basement, complete with stunning Golden Gate Bridge view and vintage ladies’ lingerie hanging from a clothesline. Alas, we do not have laundry rooms. But if we did, we would reject the rickety, cheap metal ironing boards on offer and outfit them with these retro pieces:

Large solid beech classic ironing board with stainless steel iron holder; £62 at willowandstone.com:

Luxury wooden ironing board with perforated metal surface and featuring eight adjustable levels; £126.05 at kandu-solutions.co.uk

Underwear dryer; $24 at conranus.com:

Traditional wooden folding clothes horse; £24 at willowandstone.co.uk:

Large 16-liter cream enamel laundry bucket; £29 at willowandstone.co.uk:

Collapsible wirework laundry basket on wheels; £47.50 at notonthehighstreet.com:

An array of handwoven willow baskets lined with linen/cotton fabric; $65 to $180 at basicfrenchonline.com:

Birch and pine retractable clothes drying rack; $61.95 at abundantearth.com:

Mt. Everest birch drying rack; $79.95 at abundantearth.com:

And for laundry detergent, switch out your Tide for Fresh Laundry Concentrate ($14.95), a highly concentrated biodegradeable, hypoallergenic formula from Shaklee, which was recently bought by a New York socialite/environmentalist couple that is making green chic. Go to shaklee.com to order. And go to nytimes.com to read “Eco-Socialites Make Cleaning Green a Priority,” an amusing account of a Tupperware-style party held in NYC not long ago. N.B. A Healthy Home starter kit home pack contains an array of household cleaning products for $82.65 (including dishwashing concentrate, scour-off heavy duty paste, and organic super cleaning concentrate). We’ve heard raves.

Related posts:

1. White Enamelware
2. Laundry Room: Wash and Wear
3. Steal This Look: Laundry Room
4. 10 Easy Pieces: Laundry Hampers
5. Holiday Gift: Wooden Cross Brush

Entry Filed under: ACCESSORIES