Loads of Luxury

Suz

anne Spall dreams about her laundry room. In the new home she and her husband are building in Pittsford, N.Y., no space commands her imagination more than the 8-ft. by 12-ft. room in which she will do their washing, drying, folding and ironing. It will also serve as her home office, a workshop for crafts projects and sleeping quarters for the dog. Spall can go on in great detail about the crown molding, the picture window and her plans to liven up the cream-colored walls. The laundry room will be her haven, she says--"my own private little space."

Beyond the gourmet kitchen and the spa bathroom, luxury has found its way to the laundry room. Once relegated to gloomy basements and cramped alcoves, the appliances and accessories that wash, dry and care for clothes are now in showcase spaces. Architects and home builders across the country report a surge in demand for spacious, centrally located, multipurpose laundry rooms. The equipment in them is getting a makeover too. The latest generation of washing and drying machines boasts high-tech innovations — with high price tags to match. Home stores and catalogs brim with $120 hampers and $20-a-bottle cleaning products that have scents like pink grapefruit and lavender.

LATEST COVER STORY Mind & Body Happiness Jan. 17, 2004 Past Issues Tsunami Jan. 10, 2004 ----------------- Person of the Year Jan. 3, 2004 ----------------- Secrets of the Nativity Dec. 13, 2004 ----------------- The Stealth Killer Dec. 6, 2004 ----------------- Coolest Inventions Nov. 29, 2004 ----------------- Battle for Fallujah Nov. 22, 2004 ----------------- Four More Years Nov. 15, 2004 ----------------- The Joy Of Sox Nov. 8, 2004 ----------------- The Morning After Nov. 1, 2004 ----------------- The God Gene Oct. 25, 2004 ----------------- The Vote Battle Oct. 18, 2004 ----------------- Visions of Tomorrow Oct. 11, 2004 ----------------- The Tragedy of Sudan Oct. 4, 2004 ----------------- CBS Controversy Sept. 27, 2004 ----------------- America's Border Sept. 20, 2004 ----------------- Struggle Within Islam Sept. 13, 2004 ----------------- World of George Bush Sept. 6, 2004 -----------------   SPECIAL REPORTS  Coolest Video Games 2004  Coolest Inventions  Wireless Society  Cool Tech 2004 PHOTOS AND GRAPHICS  At The Epicenter  Paths to Pleasure  Quotes of the Week  This Week's Gadget  Cartoons of the Week More graphics >> More photos >> MORE STORIES Advisor: Rove Warrior The Bushes: Family Dynasty Klein: Benneton Ad Presidency More Stories >> CNN.com: Latest News

The movement is the latest advance in the well-known trend of nesting. Spooked by the scary world they see on the evening news, more American homeowners are burrowing in the house and finding pleasure in bringing order and perfection to even the most boring and neglected nooks — like the laundry room. And why not? After all, Americans produce a quarter ton of dirty laundry per person every year and collectively do 35 billion loads of laundry, according to Procter & Gamble, the leading purveyor of detergents. Every second 1,100 loads are started in households across the country, with U.S. women — yes, still mostly women — devoting seven to nine hours each week to keeping the family clothes clean. Now many are finding a way to make the time enjoyable and more useful.

"Just like cooking, laundry is becoming an art form," says Mike Marsden, professor of cultural studies at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond. These "gourmet laundry rooms," as Marsden calls them, began sprouting up in earnest over the past year, and many have media centers with TVs and sound systems, play areas, doghouses and refreshment stations. "No one wants to do the laundry, but you might as well be comfortable while you're doing it," says homeowner Carolyn Hudson of South Shreveport, La. The laundry room in her antiques-filled ranch incorporates a cozy home office where she checks e-mail and shops online as she waits for the tumble dry.

Multipurpose is the key word for the new laundry room. Mariana Fischer of Key Biscayne, Fla., added a bed and bath to hers, so it doubles as an extra guest room. Chris Schwartz's laundry room on Chicago's North Shore is "basically the think tank of the house," she says. It has areas for dog grooming, food preparation, flower arranging, gift wrapping and computing. The family's three bichons frises live in gated homes beneath the soapstone counters.

The laundry room is ideal, homeowners are finding, for consolidating activities previously scattered throughout the house. In the Vero Beach, Fla., house that Barbara and Chester Irons are building, the laundry room will feature professional-grade fixtures, including two sinks, a drip-dry area, a rotary pressing machine, a pressure ironing board and a sewing table — not to mention stations for crafts, gift wrapping and potting plants. "I'm not trying to create a huge, superfluous room," says Barbara Irons. "When you look at historic houses, they had all sorts of rooms for maintaining the house — the mudroom, the butler's pantry. I'm trying to create one room to provide those functions and get them out of the kitchen."

Of course, the Ironses have the space. (Their laundry room will measure 12 ft. by 14 ft.) But homeowners with less room are finding inventive ways to make the most of it. Scott Cuming converted an oversize closet in his San Antonio, Texas, home into a laundry room — miniature kitchen — wine cellar. "Our kitchen's incredible, but people migrate into the laundry room," says Cuming. "You can go in there and make your own coffee with the push of a button. It's inviting."

Hanging out in the laundry room would sound about as pleasant as doing yoga in Times Square were it not for the dramatic upgrade in laundry machines, which operate not only more quietly but also more efficiently. Roused by the demand for German company Miele's $1,500-plus front-loading machines, American manufacturers like Maytag, Sears and Whirlpool are rushing to offer better-priced front loaders, which save space, conserve water and energy and hum instead of roar. Sales of front-loading machines have nearly doubled, from 6% of the U.S. market in 2000 to 11% in 2002, according to the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers.