Line dry your clothes indoors and in small spaces

Updated Oct 21 2016
Photos and video courtesy of

Transform even tight spaces into your indoor home into a line-drying laundry system. The system pictured here is by designer Russ Hornstein, but it could totally be recreated on your own by collecting everything you need to make this yourself.

What you'll need:

How it works:

    • I don't have even have a laundry room, but I'm thinking of buying a few tension rods to set up over my bathtub. (Hanging stuff on the shower rod results in things dripping half in the tub and half on the floor – slipping hazard for a klutz like me!)

    • I do this too, but unfortunately the only place to put the rod is in the laundry room doorway. Not the best setup, heh, especially since our laundry room leads to the garage.

  1. My mom had a wire shelf in her laundry room — the kind with all the little spaces to hang hangers along the edge. She used it for hanging clothes to dry. The space I'm working with (a many-purpose room) may work better with a line, though. Might have to take a trip to the hardware store and construct one of these! 😀

  2. When I lived in Japan, I would use a laundry rack like this one:

    It's very efficient and you can get a lot of clothes on it. The neat part is the hook/clip can be either hung or propped on the top of door or window sills or hung from a tension rod. The only disadvantage is that on humid days, it would raise the humidity in the room. In winter, when the air dried out from using gas heaters, that humidity made the room more comfortable.

    I brought several racks back with me to the US and use them all the time.

    • Here I was coming to post on this entry about the same thing! I got mine at a local Asian mart for about $4 when I came back from Japan totally sold on the things. It's great!!

  3. When I first moved to the UK from the states, I was shocked at how many people in tiny flats (and houses too) hang their laundry up. There just isn't space for a dryer for a lot of people and it's obviously not as cost efficient. I really really hated all the planning ahead I had to do for my clothes to be dry when I wanted them (especially in damp Glasgow..) and how stiff line dryed clothes can be but then after finally making my peace with not haing a dryer, we moved down to London for hubby's job and stumbled upon a flat with a proper tumble dryer so I'm a bit spoiled again!

  4. So, this is a cool idea, but where am I supposed to put it? I don't really want to drip water all over my apartment, that's kind of the appeal of having them hang outside.

    • Your stuff shouldn't really be dripping when you hang it up, anyway — if you washed it in a machine it should have spun most of the water out, and if you hand washed it you can wring it out. It should just be damp.

      • Ah! I'm actually a total doofus when it comes to laundry, so I never thought about that the washer spins out most of the excess water. Thanks!

  5. I bought a wrought iron canopy bed and I hang up my clothes on hangers when they are wet, they dry overnight and we put them in the closet already on the hanger. Voila!

    • Just make sure you read the fine print if you ever move somewhere with a Home Owner's Association. Did you know that some of them have rules against line-drying your stuff outside? Even on your own private enclosed porch?

    • I actually have one almost exactly like that IKEA one (just not from IKEA) and it holds a *ton* surprisingly if you use all the space. We hang my honey's dress shirts on hangers from the shower rod and everything else on this type of rack. It keeps your clothes in MUCH better shape for MUCH longer. (yes, we do sheets and towels in the dryer – we don't have room for those to hang dry.)

  6. Just be aware of the climate where you live. In the Pacific Northwest, it is too damp in the winter to dry anything in an enclosed space without developing mold on your clothes and home interior.

  7. I lived in a tiny room in a shared house and there was no space anywhere to dry clothes. I rigged up a permanent washing line across my room- one end was tied to the curtain pole, and the other to a clothing rail (there wasn't a proper wardrobe). Because I'm short, I could walk under it no problem, and it also provided privacy. I quite liked the feeling of living in a big washing line too (this thing literally filled the whole room).

  8. i hang my stuff that can't go in the dryer on the edge of my stepdaughter's loft bed.

    to combat both the timing issue and the "mildew smell" from leaving wet clothes too long issue, i have a fan blowing on them (they dry in a fraction of the time, plus it keeps the air moving so they don't mildew!). sometimes if i need stuff dry REALLY fast, i put two at different angles.

    and for the "dripping on the floor" problem (cause it's hard to wring out underwire bras)?? i put a trash bag flat on the floor, with a towel on top. the towel keeps the drips from splashing, and the trash bag is a barrier so that the water doesn't soak through to the floor.

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