Quarantining at home with a huge pile of dirty clothes made me realize that I really missed having an in-house laundry situation. My local laundromat closed at the beginning of the pandemic. At that time I was still Miss Quarantine, working out like a fiend and being productive (I’ve since hit a wall, but we can talk about that later). Anyway, the workout attire piled up — it was pretty stank (and honestly the sheets and towels were a bit rank too). Your girl needed to handle that laundry pile!!!! Looking back, I’ve never had laundry facilities in the building (let alone in the unit) of any apartment that I’ve rented in New York. Lugging my clothes to the laundromat or using a laundry service was always the norm. But not anymore!!!
Let’s start with the washer, it’s fully automatic!!! You can set it and let it chug away until the load is completely finished. Simply attach the intake hose to your faucet (I attach mine to my handheld shower head) hang the curved output hose over the tub or sink for drainage and you’re all set. *quick tip: you will need a lint catcher of some sort so that your pipes don’t get clogged. I tie an old pair of tights over the output hose to catch the lint and prevent blocking my drain.
Okay so the dryer is definitely the star of the show!!! It has to be the hack that I’m most proud of to date. I fought the idea at first, I even tried using a drying rack–the clothes took forever to dry and ate up all the space that I have to walk around my studio comfortably. I needed an electric dryer. Unfortunately both my floor and wall space were/are pretty much accounted for. I also knew that it would have to be close to a window, I didn’t want to take a chance on venting a dryer in my apartment, the idea of inhaling unnecessary dust did not seem smart. For five days I played with ways to put the dryer close to the window — Uuughh they all compromised the apartment’s aesthetic. I finally had a eureka moment and near the window became in the window!!!! Thankfully it’s air conditioner season, otherwise I doubt if I would’ve had that epiphany.
behind the door transformation 
Before
photo: Andrew Bui
After
photo: (Annie Wermiel/NY Post)
The enclosure is in black, ( it shortened the depth of the window sill quite a bit). It’s made from pressure treated wood with roof coating . *There is a 4 inch dryer exhaust hose and cover that vents out the lower left corner. The dryer is in green, (roughly 3 inches on either side allow ample air circulation to keep the unit room temperature during colder months). The air conditioner bracket is in purple, this particular bracket has a weight capacity of 200lbs. The entire enclosure is braced by a 2×4 between the window and the enclosure and screwed into the sill and window framing on either side.
FYI: The unit sits at the back of the building so it is not visible from the street.
9 Comments
Kamille Wilson
August 19, 2020 at 3:58 pmDo you have any tips or instructions on how you did this?! Thank you!
Kim White
August 22, 2020 at 7:05 pmHi Kamille, Depending on the size of the window and the compact dryer unit, you’d build the enclosure which is simply a box structure made from pressure treated wood with a hole for 4 inch flexible dryer venting. You’ll want to waterproof that structure by using roofing waterproofer on the outside as well as on the inside. The box is braced at the top of my window with 2×4, screwed into the window sill (because I had a very deep window sill), The remaining weight rests on a 200lb capacity air conditioner bracket. From the outside it looks like a grey box and on the inside the dryer sits with about 3 inches for air to circulate around it on either side, that way the heat from my apartment keeps it warm in cooler temperatures. The dryer itself has a depth of 17 inches so less of it is outside my window than my actual air conditioner. Let me know if this makes sense 🙂 Thanks for stopping by my site!!!
Trené
August 27, 2020 at 10:51 amThat accordion door is a stroke of genius! About to order one for my laundry room.
Love your site. Just saved it to my favorites.Followed you over here from Instagram. Originally discovered you on Apartment Therapy. Thank you for sharing your creative and beautiful ideas.
Kim White
August 30, 2020 at 3:01 pmThank You so much Trené!!! I was racking my brain trying to think of something chic, but the simplicity and space saved with an accordion door is pretty underrated!!! Thank you for stopping by and dropping a line!!!
Raven
August 28, 2020 at 11:32 amThe dryer in the window is such a amazing Idea 😍 Never in a million years would I think this was possible, but here it is.
Kim White
August 30, 2020 at 8:26 pmHahahahahah!!! Quarantining provided the perfect scenario to dig deep and figure it out!!!xoxo!! Thanks for visiting!
KD
September 27, 2020 at 7:38 pmKim, thank you so much for sharing this awesome innovation! Can I ask – what is the brand of the washing machine? I want one now … thank you so much!
Kim White
September 27, 2020 at 7:57 pmIt’s an awesome little machine made by giantex, if you scroll down a bit I have it linked. Game changer in my tiny apartment for sure!!!
KD
October 11, 2020 at 3:25 pmThank you so much!