Adorable Clothespin Bags vs. Horrible Laundry Room

I am not in love with my laundry room.

It is in my basement storage area of our old 1940 house.  It has a high shelf like crawl space with dirt behind my washer and dryer.  (which I have tried to hide with a set of curtains that I got from an estate sale for $5). It has a bare light bulb hanging ceiling fixture. It has yucky cement walls.   It is the one area of the house that I haven't really done much with.  My stab at decorating it has been to collect old vintage clothespin bags to add some color as well as try and hide all the pipes and duct work that populate this corner.

I find these little gems at estate sales.  Often they are hanging in the laundry area complete with old clothespins.  I buy them for a quarter or a couple of bucks.  I love the old fabrics and the many designs that these bags were made in as well as the little details.

A little ruffle and green buttons.

The little red band at the bottom boasts two separate pockets.

Feed bag style on the left complete with hand bent wire hanger. Love the bias tape detail on the bag on the right...women spent a little time and thought making these things.

I think this one was a blouse that someone really must have loved. It looks like they shortened it and sewed the bottom and cut off the sleeves and sewed that up as well.

These two are tiny. They may have been for little girls to use when playing dolls or just decorative.  Or perhaps for hankies...

This tiny one has a calling card in the pocket from a "Maude Godbolt Rogers" with her handwritten note - "Helen, use this for soiled hankies.".  Of course I keep the card tucked in the pocket.

This one is pocket style that clips on a hanger, complete with a cute stitched image.

I recently won a give way of three adorable doll dresses at My Vintage Soul blog. 

Linda suggested using a clothesline to display the dresses on her blog.  A clothesline didn't work in my laundry area - but the dresses look adorable pinned to some of my clothespin bags...I love the mish mash of old fabric patterns.

And as a parting shot I will share my laundry room in all its glory. Consider this a "before shot" and someday I will work some magic on this room.  For now, the little clothespin bags make it happy.

Comments

[Kim G.]

You are right, the little pin bags are adorable! I like how you decorated your laundry room. We had a yucky laundry room in the garage outside in our first house, I lived there for three years and it never occured to me to try making it cute! You are an inspiration to icky laundry areas everywhere!!!!

[Linda]

Those little dresses fit right in, don't they? Glad you like them.

[Carol]

Your laundry room sounds just like mine! It's in the basement too, with the cement walls, and the ductwork, and the furnace, and the water heater. I have tried dressing up that corner with pegboard, and hung various "laundry" paraphanalia on it. It's still not cute. It's still spidery. I think yours looks pretty darn cute! How could it not, with all those sweet pin bags?! What a great collection!

[barbara]

I'll say it again - I love those clothespin bags.

[Mermaid Debbie]

Your collection is wonderful. The feedbag style ones remind me of my Grandma Ellen. I used to hang my laundry outside, but my line has been broken for a couple of years. You have inspired me to get it up again. The whole I viewed this post, I felt like I could smell fresh, damp laundry.