Wash-day blues banished
Clean and pared-back or character-filled, laundries can be styled to suit your home, writes Colleen Hawkes.
Back in the day, the laundry was often referred to as the wash house, partly because it was accessed from outside the home, usually via the back porch. It was the place where the washing was done once a week, invariably on a Monday.
We know this has all changed – no-one wants to go outside to do the laundry. But the character, if not the inconvenience, of a very old laundry can be revived.
When Sue Fleischl and Michael Booth moved into a 1920s Chapman-Taylor house in Auckland, they chose to keep the the original laundry with the huge concrete double tubs – it was part of the character of the house. There’s an overhead rail to hang shirts to dry, and a high rack for folded towels. But, of course, modern-day appliances mean no-one is putting washing through a hand-turned wringer for a double rinse in the old tubs.
Even though most of these old wash houses are long gone, there’s no reason why a traditionally styled house can’t have a laundry to match. Panelled cabinetry and a butler’s sink evoke a bygone era.
Irrespective of the style of your home, laundries do get a lot more attention from designers today. Ideally, there is plenty of bench space and storage, including shelving.
Auckland designer Celia Visser puts a lot of thought into laundry design, and says providing a place to drip dry shirts is essential, be it a rail or a hanging rod. ‘‘Some clients request drying cupboards, which are coming back into vogue again,’’ she says.
‘‘Ironing facilities are also important. These may include a fold-down ironing board, or an ironing board that folds up inside a drawer. Often these can swivel to maximise space in the laundry. And I always check whether the preference is for right- or left-handed operation.
‘‘Storage is essential. One of my clients with several children requested individual cubbies where she could place the children’s folded clothes, so they could then pick them up and take them upstairs themselves.
‘‘But the laundry can be used to store all sorts of things, from vases to vacuum cleaners. Some people even like to put a deep freeze in there.’’
Visser prefers to match surfaces to those featured in the kitchen. ‘‘If the cost is too high, then I will find a hard-wearing laminate that’s a good colour match to the kitchen benchtops. And my sink preference is for smaller, but deeper. It’s best if you can put a bucket in the sink with room to clear the tap.’’
Wanaka designer Melanie Craig says wherever possible, her team is putting side-by-side front loaders and dryers raised up on a plinth, so they are easier to load and unload.
‘‘People are also asking for more organised and specialised storage options, not just cupboards and drawers where they lose things. Electric ski-boot drying racks are popular down here in the south.’’
Craig chose green for a new home that overlooks the Clyde River on the outskirts of Alexandra. ‘‘I thought, ‘Why not brighten it up with a bit of green?’’’ she said. ‘‘Green is such a fresh colour.’’
Other special features of that laundry