Creating an Exceptional Laundry Room

(Ironing Workshop in Trouville, 1888 Louis Joseph Anthonissen. Image via Wikipedia)

Current design images reveal our growing interest in creating a more profound space in our laundry rooms. This laundry room with its large wooden ironing table covered in fabric, freshly cleaned clothing hanging on multiple lines in a sunny window, and a mending table in the corner is an idealized reflection of laundry rooms of the 1800’s.

In the present time there is a desire to have a stimulating place to do the washing and ironing. Interior designers are called upon to create rooms where this, and other related activities can be accomplished. These rooms might include areas for linen storage or flower arranging. Before we look at laundry rooms of today, let’s look at laundry and linen spaces of the past.

(Woman Ironing by Armand Gautier, c. 1855, in Salsbury, B. 2023: Degas and the Laundress, The Cleveland Museum of Art, distributed by Yale University Press)

During the 19^th century in Paris current estimates of the number of women working as laundresses are somewhere between “tens to hundreds of thousands” Salsbury, B. 2023: Degas and the Laundress, The Cleveland Museum of Art, distributed by Yale University Press.

(The Laundress by Toulouse Lautrec)

The work was grueling; heavy, dirty clothing and linens, chemicals and steam, hot irons, backbreaking work, long hours.  The day began early with laundresses standing in long lines with others who also wanted to work in the laundries. When the residents left the city on summer holiday opportunities for work dwindled.  

(Washerwomen in a Grotto by Wolfgang-Adam Toepffer)

Women who could not afford to send their laundry out to be done by others might wash the family clothing and linens in a river and dry them on rocks. Others might go to a floating laundry on the Seine called a bateau lavoir. Those not near water had to carry water from wells to metal tubs and chop firewood to build a fire under the tub to heat the water. This process took more than one day.

(The Laundress by Henri Michel-Levy)

(The Laundress by Edouard Vuillard)

(Woman Ironing by Edgar Degas)

A laundress who could iron pleated and ruffled garments or clothing with lace and fine trim was considered a skilled artisan. She had irons of varied shapes to assist her in pressing these more delicate and complex garments.

(The Laundress by Edgar Degas, ca. 1873)

(The Laundress by Edgar Degas, ca. 1869)

Those who ironed sheets and napkins were considered less skilled and were paid less.

In her first book, designer Isabel Lopez-Quesada took readers inside her homes in Madrid and Biarritz. She writes “…the ironing room, very traditional in Spain, is almost a place of worship, a symbol of my love of fabrics and their freshness.” This is a photo of her ironing room in Biarritz. The deep washing sink is incorporated into an antique draper’s table and freshly ironed towels are resting in a cloth lined basket and stacked in the seat of a wicker armchair. The wooden drying rack suspended from the ceiling is an ingenious alteration of a Pully Maid.

This is a photo of a Pully Maid (pullymaid.com) which comes in different styles and can be raised and lowered from the ceiling with a pully. My hand washed clothing drips quite a bit as many of the items specify in their care instructions they cannot be wrung out. Thus, the Pully Maid or a system like this would leave a giant puddle below it. We’ll see my work around later in the post.

In her second book, Town and Country, Isabel Lopez-Quesada created this laundry room for a home in the Dominican Republic.

Particularly appealing is the antique wooden table covered in a padded sheet and used as an ironing surface. Space does not permit me to try this idea in my home, but it is tempting! The cabinets have decorative openings which we may suppose provide air circulation in what may be a damp environment. The tall basket is presumably a receptacle for clean clothes and linens ready for ironing.

Designer Alexis Wylie created this laundry room in an historic rectory in rural Kent in the United Kingdom. A zinc topped table has sorting baskets on its lower level. The pully maid hangs over stone flooring. Can you imagine having a fireplace in your laundry room?!

Interior designer Windsor Smith is known for making the best use of every space and this room in the entry of a home in the Hamptons is no exception. The space includes the requisite washer and dryer with an additional area devoted to vintage vases and flower arranging. The shelves are covered with a gathered length of plaid taffeta fabric and the hanging light fixtures are overturned metal flowerpots.

This luxurious laundry room was designed by Jennifer Hamelet and Shannon Bowers and featured in Milieu magazine’s Fall, 2020 issue. The black and white checked floor gives this room an historical feeling even though it is in a new build home. The taupe cabinetry lends a restful air to the room as do the baskets. The marble top table is positioned so it might be used as an ironing surface!

My earliest laundering memories center around my mother. She set up her ironing board in the kitchen of our mid-century ranch style home.  She used water rather spray starch; rolling up damp clothes and leaving them in the refrigerator until she was ready to iron.  Mother used an old Nehi soda bottle capped with a cork and metal sprinkle top filled with water to keep the fabric damp as she ironed the creases out and the crispness in.

Before this house in the Texas Hill Country every one of my laundry rooms was really a laundry closet. This lovely laundry by Lucy Willams (House and Garden UK) shows us how to personalize and beautify even the smallest of spaces. Washing materials are stored in baskets or packaged in attractive containers. The light fixture has been made into a small, customized hanging system with wooden clothes pins. The washer and dryer are concealed behind crisp white gathered cotton fabric.

Before this house, my latest closet laundry was beautified with soap powder contained in an ironstone bowl and fabric stain remover and an iron inside a painted basket with a lid. Hanging over the washer and dryer were two glazed picture frames; one featuring a cream-colored and embroidered cotton baby dress belonging to me and another an organza high necked lace blouse I made by sewing strips of inexpensive lace binding to the organza fabric and then creating the blouse from this fabric. You may have some beautiful, but unwearable pieces to frame!

Here is a photo of my laundry room from the doorway. The baskets are custom painted to go in the room. One is for light fabrics and the other for dark fabrics. The large picture on the wall is one of my Florilegium series of watercolor botanicals in shades of brown. The antique prints are multiple drawings of insects and insect parts in hand painted frames.

The soap powders are in lidded glass pharmacy jars and the “serving” spoons are antique silver and mother of pearl condiment spoons. Putting everything on the brass tray makes it simpler to clean the countertop.

In my opinion there should always be something in a room to make you smile. This ornate brass stand used to support a large vase. My husband won it when he knew the answer to a question on a call in show. The flowers are from my sister’s wedding in Fredericksburg, Texas. They were off the cake and in my car almost before anyone had cake! The rhinestone shoe buckles are trinkets collected over the years – useless, but appealing.

Across the narrow room from the sink and washer and dryer is a painted bookcase. This was made for a library in a home we owned many years ago. My original plan was to put all of the bookcases in our dressing room, but I ended up with one extra. This was an empty wall and space in the laundry room and the bookcase is a perfect solution.

On the lower right is a stack of hand painted baskets used to carry laundry. These were inexpensive baskets, but when custom colored they are a pleasure to look at and to use.

The shelves hold more antique insect prints and my collection of blue and white cache pots and tea containers among other things. The silhouettes are most beloved. The one on the shelf was made of my husband when he was a young boy and the others we have collected over the years.

The brass valet hooks mounted at the top under the cornice serve as my “pully-maid” and can hold up to six items each. When in use, small metal “window boxes” go on the floor to catch the drips. The valet hooks are also a place to hang ironed laundry.

Ironed napkins are stored in a drawer in the kitchen or in the linen cabinet in the dining room.

We use candles all over the house and at every meal, so this room serves as a place to clean candlesticks or stands and replace burned out candles with new ones.

We like to make our own solid scents and dried and scented leaves and blossoms. Some of the raw ingredients are here on the bookshelves in the laundry room.

This room is a place of great joy to me. It may sound strange, but I look forward to washing and ironing, arranging flowers, or refitting candles and blending scents here. The window looks out over the hills and the quiet swish-humming of the washer and dryer is a peaceful background sound.

(The Laundresses by Marie Petiet, photo copyright Philippe Benoist in Salsbury, B. 2023: Degas and the Laundress, The Cleveland Museum of Art, distributed by Yale University Press)

Sometimes it might be fun to iron with family or friends!