Brighten it up! - Home & Garden

Brighten it up!

Laundry rooms needn't be basement dungeons

It's time for laundry rooms to come clean.

Just because they're situated in the darkest corner of the basement -- that space where you snuck your first kiss -- doesn't mean the room has to be dreary.

Stacks of storage and stylish fixtures will brighten this dungeon. Heck, you could even mount a TV in the corner so you don't miss an episode of Desperate Housewives.

Paint the room a cheery colour and hang up some fabulous artwork.

But before fixing up that dingy space, remember to purge any unused supplies, says Hellen Buttigieg, professional organizer and host of HGTV's Neat.

"Cleaning first creates space," says Buttigieg, "and leaves you with a clear indication of what you have left to store."

Create zones for the tasks at hand, adds Buttigieg: An area for sorting, for ironing and for storage.

Try these other tips from Buttigieg to make short work of a never-ending task:

Add cabinets and use baskets or plastic bins to house dust rags, mesh garment bags and dryer sheets. Group items by type and label them. If space is tight, slide a skinny caddy in the gap between the washer and dryer to stow laundry supplies.
Install a counter top over a front-loading washing machine to use for sorting and folding. Or hang a hinged-top table that folds out of the way.
Hang a retractable clothes line or buy a folding rack for air-drying delicates.
Hang the ironing board and iron on an over-the-door device to save space.
If you live in an apartment or condo unit, purchase a rolling hamper and a portable caddy to transport supplies to and from the laundry room.
Keep a hamper in every bedroom. Colour code or label them, then place the clean clothes back in the respective hampers and let everyone put their own clothes away.

Wash day blues

Homemadesimple.com suggests installing a bulletin board to display washing instructions, a stain-removal chart and fabric care labels. The Web site also recommends designating a laundry bag for dry-cleaning -- it's much easier to grab and go than search everyone's room.

But Buttigieg's most important tip is to teach family members how to do the laundry.

"It's a life skill everyone needs to learn," she says.

Who knows, maybe the kids will start washing that stack of towels piling up at the bottom on the stairs -- after all, they use them, too.

Wash day blues

Sticks and stones not only break bones but they were the main instruments used to wash clothes. Rocks, sticks and sand were used by our Stone Age foremothers to pound clothes clean. Now, thankfully, we only have to toss the grimy garments into a machine. But before automatic washers, women spent many back-breaking hours on this necessary chore. Here is a timeline on the evolution of the washing machine, courtesy of Whirlpool Canada:

1797: Dirty clothes were dragged along a corrugated scrub board, requiring strong upper-body strength and approximately 50 gallons of water.
1846: The manual washer was patented. A lever moved clothes between two curved and ribbed surfaces.
1858: A rotary washing machine with a cylindrical tub and revolving paddles was patented.
1861: The wringer was introduced to squeeze water from the clothes.
1937: The first automatic machine washed, rinsed and extracted water: All in one appliance!
1950s: Manufacturers introduced machines with a spin-dry function, replacing wringers forever.
1965: The permanent press cycle minimized wrinkles, thus eliminating the need to iron many fabrics.
2000s: Front-loading machines reduce the amount of water and electricity needed to complete the cycle.

From the archive.