Easy Indoor Clothesline Solution

Quite often one project leads to another.  So it was in the utility room.  The previous owners of our house installed a cord indoor clothesline that spanned the distance between the far wall of the utility room to the wall where we recently installed the dry bar cabinets.  This gave us about 30 feet of drying space. 

The line did not detract so was visible when not in use which really wasn't a problem.  The closet doors cleared the line so the only issue was aesthetics.  We removed the mounting strip for the clothesline when we installed the cabinets.  The line wasn't much but looked so much nicer gone!  We decided to take the old clothesline down. 

Still, we needed a solution for drying clothes indoors.  There are certain items that we always hang to dry rather than put in the dryer.  We have a very flimsy folding rack that isn't suitable for hanging much of anything.  The space really isn't big enough to leave a rack sitting out for any length of time.  At the same time, we knew any solution would take up valuable space in the small room.

Our first thought was to install a rod on the end wall over the end of the washer but that would only give us about 4 feet of usable drying space without climbing over the washer.  Instead, we installed a rod between the closet and furnace room walls.  The rod is a 1- inch wooden dowel that can be easily lifted out of the mounting brackets if desired.   I think I will look for a plastic cover meant for shower rods to cover the wood mainly for looks but also to protect the wood from getting wet. 

Four feet of drying space does not seem like a lot especially in comparison to the old 30 feet span.  However, I hung a few clothes in the lower level bathroom while we were working on the cabinets.  That was ample room so the new rod should work fine.  I may add a fold down drying rack on the end wall if necessary.

The wall needs patching which will be a small project.  I also plan on painting the trim and replacing the closet doors.  As mentioned in yesterday's post, the ceiling tile needs replacing it's in the jar for weekend projects.  I'll be working on decluttering the closet this week!  We are also in the process of converting a lower level room into a home gym so I'll be busy painting too.