Lydia, thanks for the additional link for Home Decorators. I didn't know they had an outlet site. I found all kinds of stuff there I would like, but only one was a hamper that might work. I just took measurements of the one and only area I have to put a double hamper. It can be between 35"-40" wide and no more 14" deep. It appears those are fairly common measurements for wide double hampers. After seeing the furniture quality hampers, there is no going back for me, especially since it is the first thing you see when you walk into the room. Sjerin, I checked both The Container Store and Pottery Barn and neither of them offer furniture quality hampers. When I see the prices they sell wicker for, I could buy a furniture double hamper for the same cost as two wicker hampers. Sue, as it turns out, many of the furniture hampers come with removable bags for an easy trip to the washer. That will be nice since we've been just grabbing an armful and heading to the laundry room the last 28 years. Storage boxes, pop-up and basket hampers are too small and informal for my situation. Jodi-

CamG-So glad you're getting close. It's so exciting!! I grew up in a split level house with the laundry in the finished basement just off the family room. Yes, it was a pain to run the clothes up the stairs, however, it made it easy to keep an eye on kids while doing laundry. However, having the laundry room upstairs eliminates all that running up & down. Plus having the laundry up means you won't have to walk through your laundry room every time you enter the house from the garage entry. It really comes down to what you're willing to trade off. Have you thought about putting a stacked W/D unit in the mud room (maybe concealed by a door) and then having the full-on laundry room upstairs? That may be another option to consider. Regardless of which level you decide to put the laundry room on, I would post your plans on the laundry and/or kitchen forums to get input on how to make that space the most efficient. For instance, in the plan in the link for the upstairs laundry, you really don't have alot of counter space for folding or anywhere for hampers. What you have is really just a room that has a sink in it and a washer/dryer. The space could be made more efficient by eliminating the little counter just as you come in the door, sliding the W/D down into that space so they're against the wall, spin the sink around the corner to sit next to the W/D. Now you have ~4'6" of space on the window wall for a folding counter and hampers underneath. If you did hampers similar to what I have, you have enough room for 3 hamper units with 2 hamper in each unit. Each hamper holds 1 full load of laundry. We use ours to presort the clothes as the dirties are brought into the laundry by each family member, which saves me some time as well. We only have 2 kids and between them & DH they generate a TON of laundry. You will really appreciate having the folding space and hamper sorting space to help keep the room organized and provide a spot for sorting & storage of dirties and eliminate the need to move clean unfolded laundry from the laundry room to another area of the house where there is more space for folded clothes to be stacked. Here's a pic of the hamper idea I was referring to: Hope this helps!

Count us in on the round plastic Rubbermaid hampers - inelegant, but efficient. Laundry is DH's Sunday morning "thing", he's been doing it since he had to lug the clothes basket 3 blocks to the laundromat when we lived in the city, and I could barely walk that far not carrying anything. The little old ladies who ran the place taught him how to do the wash, fold clothes, etc. He gets to watch whatever horrible dreck he wants to while doing laundry, and (by mutually-agreed-upon rules) I am not allowed to complain one bit! LOL Thanks to the front loaders it's only about 3-4 loads - it's usually finished by noon. The laundry basket lives in the bedroom closet; except for DH's truly foul workout gear (which used to and will again live in his dressing room, aka the guest room) we don't have any odor issues but I keep a zeolite bag hung up in there too. They're available at most hardware stores, Home Depot, etc. under the brand name "Gonzo Odor Eliminator". It's a white mesh bag with weird-looking white pebbles in it. Really works though, and it doesn't stink like "Stick-Ups", Renuzit and similar so-called "deodorizers". If you're not a naturally grubby/smelly person, aren't doing things to get dirty (like gardening), and it's not "sweaty season", it's totally doable to get more than one wearing out of your outer clothes, especially if it's something you've only worn for a few hours. (Am I the only one who still does "at-home clothes" and "out-in-public clothes"?) I only have 2 pairs of jeans right now (dratted Lyrica weight gain) that I alternate, and sweaters can often get multiple wearings before they need a wash - I usually wear a t-shirt underneath in case I get a hot flash though. I wonder if that's why my clothes last for ages? Washing and drying is actually hard on fabrics. DH has oilier skin and is more prone to getting dirty just in the normal course of a day so he rarely gets a repeat wearing out of anything. We try not to buy dry clean only clothes in the first place, dry cleaning is expensive and I don't want those chemicals in my home or on my skin ("green" dry cleaning isn't all it's cracked up to be), but dry-clean items can get multiple wearings unless visibly dirty or smelly. I never iron or put in the dryer clothes that have been worn once though, since that sets dirt/perspiration/stains. Stacks and Stacks has a lot of great looking hampers and laundry sorters. I really miss having the laundry on the same floor as the bedroom as the wheeled carts are very cool. I'm really looking forward to getting the washer and dryer stacked to maximize space in the microscopic laundry room.

I find if I fold the clothes as they come out of the dryer they do not get wrinkled as much. My shirts come out of the dryer and are immediately hung on hangers. The same way with the rest of the blouses and jeans/pants. I find if you put hot out-of-the-dryer clothes in a basket, they are very wrinkled and who wants to iron them. I have a basket in each bedroom for the dirty clothes and on wash day they are carried to the laundry room. Then when the clothes are clean and dried, back into the basket they go for putting away. The hung up clothes are carried separately, of course. The top of my washer and dryer, which are on pedestals, are where I fold the clothes as I put them in the baskets. At one time, when the children were small I had a rolling three part cloth hamper which worked very well....much like your hampers only mine was on wheels and able to fold up.