Those of you who know me are aware of my Neverending Laundry Saga. It has officially become my song of sorrow. Trust me, I know that this is the story of most of our lives, and that my struggles are no different than the next person's as far as keeping up with it all. That being said, The Struggle is REAL, people!
When we first bought le petit a.p.t. almost three years ago, we did so with the intention to add a stacked washer/dryer at some point down the line. We were kidless, dogless and quite frankly, clueless. We thought it was NBD that we'd either do a little construction or just do our laundry in the shared basement machines - it's NYC after all. Having a washer/dryer in your apartment in NYC is a pure luxury and basically the equivalent to living at the Plaza Hotel. And in that case, you'd have a professional laundress take care of your treasured haute couture threads and you probably wouldn't even know where your laundry room was located.
When Ms. Avery Etta was in my belly, I was already more overwhelmed by the thought of laundry and dishes piling up in the a.p.t. than by birthing and taking care of an infant. Upon seeing that pink plus sign, we immediately had a contractor and plumber come over to take a look at laundry options.
After the initial spot we thought we could add a stacked washer/dryer was deemed a no-go (the hollow wall in my closet apparently houses lots and lots of electrical components), we explored the idea of expanding the custom cabinetry in our kitchen to house a mini-laundry closet.
We wanted to remove this etagere and build out the white kitchen cabinetry to the left of the refrigerator and create a mini-closet to house a small stacked washer + dryer.
This was our laundry closet inspo...
When we got the estimate from the contractor (upwards of 20k not including the actual washer + dryer units), we realized we could send our laundry out to Waverly Wu Wash + Fold (btw- if you live in Clinton Hill/Prospect Heights, highly recommend!) for the rest of our lives and still come out on top. Although the addition would likely add value to our apartment, that kind of spending just wasn't in the cards, especially with an expensive little bebe on the way. So, what to do?
Welp, not much. The moral of the story is if you are even fleetingly thinking of having a baby in the city, do not, and I mean do not, buy an apartment that does not have a washer/dryer hook up already installed. Or at least have a laundry room on the same floor as your apt. Just my two cents!
With an infant (and toddler) the laundry magically multiplies before your eyes - poop, popsicles, a combo of both, and what have you. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to hastily exit the apt, go down to the basement, and fervently launder while Avery was napping, but it would have been deemed child abandonment. Although it's pretty much the equivalent to going to the basement of your single family home to do laundry, it's somehow totally different. You are actually leaving your child sleeping in an unattended apartment to pad down to the basement, still wearing your maternity pajamas (which smell like a combo of whole milk and crayons) and use a common facility with other stranger-neighbors. I might as well take the 2/3 all the way to Wakefield-241st St. and hit up a public laundromat.
Nineteen months later. I feel like I sort of have it under control. Since Tiny Human goes to daycare now a couple of mornings a week, I gleefully gather up the family laundry at least 2x/week and walk-sprint to the elevator which warily creaks its way down to the basement. I hurriedly stuff Avery's oatmeal-stained tee-shirts and quinoa-caked onesies into the nearest open machine. I set a timer a few minutes early so I can run back down, heart pounding, to make sure an aggressive neighbor hasn't beaten me to the punch and taken out all of our wet laundry out, shoving it into the nearest communal wheely-basket, rendering it officially contaminated.
Siggghhh. Life is tough! I know, I know. I sound like a privileged upper-middle-class mom. There are ISIS jihadist threats against the US going on as we speak. And I'm all like "the laundry bin is full again?!?"
Because of The Epic Laundry Conundrum, I basically drool over any type of in-home laundry facility. When we're at our in-laws and parents houses, I can't wait to get my paws on those fancy laundry dials and knobs. I relish the fact that I don't have to wear protective footwear and sweat profusely while switching clothing from washer to dryer with my anxiety level equivalent to a middle school P.E. relay race. I stare in awe at the water-soaked apparel happily swishing away in the beautiful white and silver modern-day front-loader. It's such an alluring experience - one that I can only aspire to in our own abode one day!
Because oddly enough - we all know how it works! - one day, I will be sitting in my meticulously designed laundry room, somewhere in the 'burbs of 'merica, kon-marie folding the latest clean wash. I'll look out the squeaky clean window out to the sun-filled yard with an avocado tree and vegetable garden while Avery and Bear fight-play over a ball. And I'll be like, "Hey, remember when we were cool and lived in Brooklyn? And we could send our laundry out to the wash 'n fold? Man, those were the days."
So for now, I'll just have fun lusting after this round up of laundry room inspo. ALERT - the following images may add to your ever-growing laundry pile due to drool-stains. You have been warned.
~L.S.
So fresh and so clean, clean.