Drying clothes outside...

I don't know about you, but I hang a lot of my clothes to dry. The fabric looks better longer if it's not in the dryer too often. I hang wet clothes on hangers on a rod in the utility room. When that's full, I end up hanging clothes in the bathroom(s) on the shower curtain rod(s). I don't have an outdoor clothesline. Why is that?

If you read about my studio re-model this summer, you may already know that I have a pretty small backyard. There is not a particularly good place for a clothesline. On special occasions I have been known to tie a rope up on the supports for the roof over the patio. I had a "special occasion" on Tuesday when I washed our pillows.

FYI — I washed the pillows because I realized they needed it. (Surely I am not the only person who doesn't think to wash the bed pillows regularly.) Two of the pillows were filled with polyester and two with down. I washed them all, two at a time. I didn't have tennis balls to put in the dryer with them, so I used 2 small wooden blocks. Boy, did that make a racket! They got mostly dry in the dryer, but needed more - forcing a "special occasion" clothesline outside.

Then I realized that I should really have a permanent clothesline. It's the green thing to do. And clothes hung outside smell great! But where would I put it? Duh! I hang my clothes on hangers, on rods, to dry. I didn't need a clothes line so much as I needed a clothes pole! 

I figured I could put up conduit (a pipe that electrical wires are put through) on the same patio roof supports from which I suspend my "special occasion" clotheslines. I bought two pieces of 3/4" conduit and some U-shaped hardware to hold them onto the posts. I cut the pipes to the correct length and hung the pipes myself. Honestly it wasn't hard at all. I spent less than $15 and it only took 1 1/2 hours.

You can see the clothes hanging on the pole on the far side of the patio. I put up two clothespoles, on opposite sides of the patio. 

I moved the clothes to the other side to take this photo. I figure I'll want to keep our clothes out of the sun and I'll use whichever side is in the shade.

As I sat back and admired my handiwork I got to wondering why it took me so long to come up with this solution. I wish I knew! We've been in this house for 14 years!!! Dang! Then I thought, OK, blog about it. So here you go - I hope this is helpful to some of you.