I am Creating a 50's basement Laundry room, any sugestions?

[irishwashguy]

I am creating a new space in my new house. I have decided to make it look like a 50's laundromat with the black and white floors, a payphone that my phone guy fixed up for me, My Miele washer/dryer, plus two more sets that I am going to purchase and stack along side of it.One extra dryer as well. My big idea is to make it into a laundry room w/ an entertainment space right along with it; very open room. Do you have any ideas of things that I can't live with out?

 

[panthera]

Co'cola

vending machine or at least cooler.
Sounds neat!

 

[favorit]

a nan for the two nieces ..

like this one ;-)

 

[yogitunes]

I would say like a 50's diner look maybe.....or at least the laundromats I remember had the platic sorting tables in turquoise, and maybe a few sorting carts, and if you can get a hold of a detergent vending machine and maybe a jukebox, even a few neon signs or banners of instructions, or even have some one air brush a mural of a laundromat onto a few walls.....I may have to think about doing this to one of my laundry rooms...hmmmmm!

 

[yogitunes]

don't forget the glass ball chicklets and pistachios, gumball machine....the ideas are endless

 

[danemodsandy]

Ideas:

- A triple laundry sorting cart; these were hugely popular in the '50s:

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- A Coke bottle with a sprinkler top, to dampen items for ironing:

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- A hanging rack to receive just-ironed items:

http://home-solutions.hsn.com/improvements-folding-laundry-rack_pf-1031798_xp.aspx?club_id=1031798&sz=888&sf=HW0045&rdr=1&cm_mmc=Shopping%20Engine-_-Shopzilla-_-Home%20Solutions-_-3957785

- A folding, wooden clothes-drying rack:

http://store.laundrylist.org/Robbins_Wooden_Clothes_Drying_Rack_56_p/20-004.htm

All of these items were very common at the time. One caveat about a clothes-drying rack; it really needs to be wood. With a metal rack, a rust spot will start someplace sooner or later, no matter how good the chrome or paint is, and you'll end up with rust on the clothes if you actually use it. That's why wooden ones were the most popular back in the day.

 

[irishwashguy]

WOW!

I never would have thought of that!

 

[launderess]

Two Words

Porcelain and Chrome

It was the bread and butter of the era.

Look for porcelain topped table, they were popular in laundry rooms/areas for everything from spot treating to folding laundry to even ironing large articles upon (covered with a heavy blanket and some sort of ironing "cover").

While sprinkle bottle caps on soda bottles were popular, there was a huge market of various sorts of bottles, cups, bowls and even whisk brooms sold to dampen laundry.

You'll need a peg bag (clothes pin bag), along with a vintage heavy iron (EVERYTHING in the 1950's laundry was ironed, right down to danties and men's drawers).

Oh and of course a shirt-waist or "wash dress" and apron. No self respecting housewife of the era did housework without those two items. Pearls and Cha-Cha heels optional. *LOL*

L.