I have very little living space: (I live in a single wide mobile home, need I say more?) and am on a very limited budget so I use my imagination. The nuts who designed my mobile home put my washer & dryer in my hallway, so I have nowhere to store or sort my dirty laundry. I came up with a great solution. In my hallway, across from my washer & dryer I built a laundry sorting area out of those square metal cubes that lock together. I built mine 5 cubes high x 3 cubes wide. (each cube is 14 inches wide) This leaves 22 inches for walking space which is plenty for me! (Christopher Lowell says we only need 18 inches of walkway space) The open grid of the cubes allows for any damp clothes to dry, and I can sort by the type of clothes and their color. For socks and undies I used plastic baskets I got at the dollar store. (kind of like drawers) You could even thread a pole or dowel through the top cube and hang a shower curtain over the front to hide your laundry. (Dollar Store again) And the best part of this set up is: You can make the cube formation any way you'd like: over your washer & dryer & next to them, and/or across from them as mine are. (but make sure your cubes are stable: attach top most cubes to the wall with an I hook or something, especially if you live in an earthquake area) Before building this "Sorting Area" I had a pile of never ending laundry in my hallway, Now I have a neat, organized laundry station! I don't need to dig for the right colors to wash, they are already sorted and ready to go! This saves me all kinds of time. Boy! I sure wish I had this set up when I was raising my 4 children!
Here is a URL for a picture of the cubes I used http://www.office1000.com/discount/storage-cubes.html
It's the "Safeco Wire Cubes". But I got mine at the Thrift store and Costco. They come in many colors including stainless steal. One more note: To keep the area looking best, Unless you have a large laundry area, for the front curtain, use a color that matches your wall, this will make the area "blend in" For example, if the wall is white, use a white sheet, fabric or shower curtain to cover the front, This way it won't stand out & will make the space look larger. If you're doing this in a laundry room a small print would look nice. One more thing, the cubes are strong enough for any laundry, but keep an eye on little ones that like to climb!
