Twinkle, Twinkle Laundry Line

Necessity is the mother of all invention, and this laundry line is no different!

It seems as though my teenage children and myself have a lot of delicate clothes.  Either that or all of my preaching about how taking care of things makes them last longer got heard.  Needless to say Theatre Boy and Girlfriend have quite a few items of clothing they won't let near a dryer.  When clothes are hung dry they last longer, stay colorful longer and the fabric won't get fuzzy or have pills.  Yes, after doing laundry for 7 people for years, I know this first hand.

So in our small apartment we had to get creative with a clothing line.  We don't have the capability of putting a laundry line outside of our apartment, but we do have this really great looong hallway inside of our apartment.  My boys hung up 4 hooks in a line in the hallway using drywall anchors.  The anchors we used have a 75 lb. weight limit on them because we wanted to make sure they held whatever we hung up!  Then we draped twinkle lights from hook to hook, wrapping the lights around each hook a couple of times.  They reach the electrical outlet nicely and make a great clothesline!  Here's what it looks like with damp clothes on it:

Now these are outdoor lights that can stand up to wind, rain and snow, so I'm thinking that some damp clothing isn't a problem!  Here's a closer look:

When we don't have clothes on the line we'll turn the twinkle lights on just for fun!  It's really cute in the hallway.  Here's the clothesline with the twinkle lights on:

As I'm hanging clothes I do take care to make sure the lights aren't actually "on" the clothes.  And most of the time the lights are off when there are clothes on the line.  But sometimes the lights are on and it's just really fun!

What a neat and creative way to hang dry clothes when you live in an apartment.  Space is at such a premium here that I don't want to waste any space with a clothes rack.  Before I thought of this idea we were hanging clothes to dry in the showers, which really didn't work when someone needed to shower!

I don't hand wash these clothes, we have a full washer and dryer in our apartment so I will wash the clothes on the delicate cycle with a gentle detergent and fabric softener before hanging them to dry.  When they're drying they also make the apartment smell nice and fresh.

Stay tuned for more BIG FAMILY/small apartment tips and tricks!