A Swedish Man & His Laundry

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*LOL* Sorry

Had the volume turned down on my computer, and since the video came up under a search for "Wäschemangel", assumed....

In any language the man needs to put some pants on or at least close those that "gap" in his shorts. That is unless he fancies his tackle being put in the mangle.
 
It Is A Nicely Decorated Area

Because it's not just a laundry room, but the shower/bathroom as well. You can see "la douche" off to one side. As with many European homes I didn't see the loo so maybe it's in another part of the room, wasn't shown during the clip or perhaps the room functions as only "half bath" with the full unit elsewhere.

On another note, it must take some amount of polishing to keep those stainless steel pipes so bright! Thank goodness for in wall plumbing! *LOL* I've enough to polish as it tis, don't want to add more.
 
I noted the shower too. A friend in Stockholm's father recently downsized from the "big house" in the suburbs, where the now-adult children were raised, to a newly built downtown apartment. The laundry area, which is enclosed by walls but does not have a door off the hall, is adjacent to the bathroom. You pass through the laundry area to enter that bathroom (there is also a separate 3/4* guest bathroom elsewhere in the apartment)

*for non-US readers:

1/4 bath = toilet only (i.e. a closet with a toilet and nothing else)
1/2 bath = toilet plus sink (very common on the first floor of a two-story home)
3/4 bath = toilet, sink, shower stall
full bath = toilet, sink, bathtub or double-sized shower stall (a shower stall with a footprint of similar size to a bathtub).

1/4 bathrooms are not commonly seen, but they exist. My childhood friends around the corner lived in a large 1930s villa with a "shop" (workshop) attached to the house by an archway. There was a 1/4 bath (basically, a small room with a toilet and a window for ventilation), the door of which opened to the outside, across the archway from the workshop. While the 1/4 bath itself had no sink, there were two nearby sinks available: the laundry room, also with a door opening to the outside patio, but with no direct entry into the house, was next to the 1/4 bath, and the laundry room had a large sink. And the shop had a sink as well. The 1/4 bath, with its door opening to the outside, allowed children playing outside, or a gardener, or a maid, or someone working inside the shop, to use the toilet without having to re-enter the house itself (and tracking in dirt, etc.). In the case of a maid using the laundry room, the 1/4 bath was closer than the nearest bathroom inside the house. I have friends with a ranch out in the country with a tennis court. On the far side of the court is a 1/4 bath with no sink, the presumption being that you'd wash your hands after playing tennis anyway.
 
Kallmangeln

Or cold mangeling is still very popular in Northen European countries such as Sweden.

Instead of heat the appliance being used by the young man works by compression, that is calandering textiles. While the results on cotton are generally "ok", pure linen when done this way takes on a beautiful sheen, especially damask. It is also said that because one is not using the heat of a hot iron the fibers are preserved.

These appliances are modern incarnations of the old box mangle once found in large estates and laundries homes all across Europe and the UK. It was one of the only ways of smoothing linen before heated ironers were invented.

Another way of doing this is to wrap whatever one wants ironing around a large dowel and cloth then rock the whole lot back and forth with a plank. Does the same thing but requires lots of effort.
 
Oh Yes, How The Man Folds His Sheets

To feed into the ironer/kallmangel is called the "W" fold, and has been around for ages for use in both cold and hot mangles/ironers. Indeed almost every vintage ironer manual I own (Speed Queen, Thor GladIron, Frigidaire, etc..) all suggest this method of folding sheets to go into the machine.

The idea is that instead of having several folds to work with when you fold sheets/flatwork in half then over in half again (to fit the width of the roller), you have only the one or two folds and the selvages are on either outside. The fact this young man can pull a sheet from the dryer, fold it in half and eyeball the proper measurements, then fold the sheet exactly into "W" folds tells me his mother or someone taught him well.

Kallmangels are still found in the basements of Swedish apartment buildings, much to the dismay and wonderment of Americans who come to stay/live. Most don't have a clue and to tell the truth many younger Swedes like much of the rest of the world don't bother with ironed sheets, cold or hot mangled. However in each building there is normally a "laundry Nazi" (a friends words, not mine) who will show one the lay of the land so to speak, and or tell one off if doing things improperly.
 
Azero:

His "shorts" were nothing more than boxers. I think next time he does a video, putting on a regular pair of shorts or pants would be in order.
 

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