When I bought this house there was a ginormous clothesline out in the backyard. The clotheslines of Livingston are somewhat famous with handymen around town — most of them were made of enormous plumbers pipe and set into three or four feet of concrete. With the winds we have here, you need a sturdy clothesline, especially if, in the case of the family I bought this house from, you have 8 children.

Needless to say, I had that clothesline cut down when I was renovating. It was in a terrible spot in the backyard and everyone who came over for a barbecue bumped their heads on it. But I missed having a clothesline. It seemed ridicuous to be running the dryer when it’s 80 degrees with 15% humidity outside.

I bought this one from Clotheslineshop.com. It’s called the Versaline. It was kind of expensive. Actually, it was really expensive, but I wanted a clothesline that I could take down, and one that would fit in this unused space in my side yard. This is the perfect place for a clothesline — it’s out of foot traffic and really close to my back door (which goes to the basement where the washing machine is). One of the things I’ve discovered with retro-technologies is that if they aren’t convenient, I won’t use them. Riding my bike around town is easy and fun and saves me gas, so I do it. A clothesline where it isn’t a pain to use means I’ll use it.  I have to say, this was expensive, but I’m really impressed — it’s quite sturdy, well-designed, and works exactly as promised. I’m thrilled. I’m resisting the urge to wash perfectly clean clothes just to hang them on the line!