27+ DIY Clothesline Ideas for Inside and Outside Your Home
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If you’ve always thought a clothesline was just a fancy rope tied between two trees, think again! We’ve gathered together the most spectacular and innovative DIY clothesline ideas for inside and outside. We organized the DIY clothesline ideas with something to suit every space, budget, and level of DIY skills.
From robust family-sized outdoor airers to clever space-saving indoor clotheslines, you’re sure to find something within to spark your imagination regarding fitting a clothesline in your home.
Sound good? Then let’s review them all!
Best DIY Clothes Line Ideas for Inside and Outside
There are many advantages to drying your clothes on a clothesline – not only do your clothes feel soft and fresh, but you save money too! When living a frugal homesteading lifestyle, investing in a clothes dryer seems unnecessary – especially since the wind and sun can do the job for free!
But we know that some people live in regions where outdoor clotheslines are not permitted (crazy, eh??!), so luckily, there are some great indoor options too.
Let’s take a closer look!
1. Simple Outdoor T-Post Clothesline by My Simply Simple
The clue is in the title – this robust clothesline is a magnificently simple design! Based on the classic wooden post design, it features three long lines to give you lots of space to dry your clothes. If you’ve never attempted a T-post clothesline project of this type, the detailed instructions will guide you every step of the way.
2. Pull-Out Laundry Basket Shelf & Drying Rack by Pneumatic Addict
You know how much we love a space-saving hack. And this idea is genius! It features a pull-out clothes drying rack that sits above your washing machine. It also serves as a laundry basket shelf. So, even in the tiniest home, you can make a great space to dry your clothes that stash neatly away after use.
3. Simple Rustic A-Frame Clothesline by Gardenista
This beautiful simple rustic design is perfect for luxuriant gardens, especially if you have some mature trees around the edges. The clothesline is anchored at either end to two thick trees, then raised in the middle using two pieces of wood secured with a dowel pin. The simplicity of this homemade clothesline means it will not become a dominant feature in your garden, blending into the background when not in use.
4. DIY Ceiling Clothes Airer Rack by An Edited Lifestyle
I dream of the day when we have one of these in our home! Growing up, we had one of these in our family home, and my mother and grandmother would use it every day – not only for drying clothes, but it also makes a great place to hang herbs to dry! Although you can purchase ready-made ceiling airers, this simple DIY tutorial means you can build one for a fraction of the price.
5. Space-Saving Wall Mounted Drying Rack by Erica @ Northwest Edible Life
Here is a borderline genius upcycling project. It turns an old baby crib into a tuckable wall-mounted clothes-drying rack! This design would work well indoors and outdoors. The clothesline design also avoids having an unsightly clothesline strung across your living room or garden.
With room for a whole load of laundry, this wooden clothesline is ideal for anyone with limited space.
6. Garden Pulley System Clothesline by Needham Channel
I never understood the point of a clothesline pulley until I visited a friend with a large family and watched her hang out three or four laundry loads in no time! No more lugging heavy baskets of wet laundry along a fixed clothesline rope. Here, the pulley does all the work for you.
The tutorial is also easy to follow. The instructions remove potential confusion – including details for the specialty bolts needed to install a pulley clothesline system from scratch.
7. Ultimate Pegless Clothesline for Travel & Camping by Backcountry Adv Moto
If you love outdoor adventures or traveling from place to place, this self-contained camping clothesline is ideal! It can be hung virtually anywhere in seconds and holds your clothes in place without pegs. Perfect for hanging a clothesline under trees next to your tent, and the cloth clothesline folds away neatly to take up minimal space in your pack.
This is an ultra-lightweight (1.3 ounces), portable clothesline with an adjustable length up to 11.5 feet - perfect for camping and travel. It's quick and easy to attach almost anywhere with the included hooks and tensioners.
You won't need pegs either - parallel cords with beads hang your clothes, towels, and other gear securely!
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8. Simple Indoor Curtain Rod Clothes Line by Fixit Fingers
If you’re not a fan of indoor clotheslines, why not use a curtain rod instead? This system is great for air-drying clothes indoors and can get installed by anyone with basic DIY skills. And, by hanging your wet laundry on clothes hangers, it will take just seconds to transfer them to the closet when dry.
9. Family-Friendly Outdoor Clothesline by More Like Home
If you’ve got little ones running around, they’ll no doubt want to be involved in whatever task you’re doing. So, why not make the most of this and encourage them to hang out their laundry?! This innovative outdoor clothesline design involves your entire family in the daily chores. And it also maximizes the number of clothing items you can hang in a limited area.
10. DIY Ceiling Mounted Clothes Drying Rack by Two Inspire
This ceiling-mounted clothes drying rack is an innovative take on the traditional ceiling clothes airer. It uses clothesline rope and PVC pipe instead of wood to create a stylish drying rack. It’s perfect for your wet clothes and takes up zero floor space. The step-by-step tutorial is easy to follow. And the only tools you will need are a drill and a saw.
11. Laundry Room Clothes Drying Rack by Beauty That Moves
If you’ve got a spacious basement, a multi-tier drying rack means you can dry multiple loads of laundry indoors – ideal if you live in a climate where the weather changes from one minute to the next!
This drying rack tutorial clearly explains every aspect of the design, so you can pick and choose which features to use when constructing your basement clothesline. It is also robust enough to hold heftier items like bed sheets and towels, which seems like a hassle when you need to dry laundry indoors.
12. DIY Outdoor Fold Down Clothesline – by DIY At Bunnings
If you’re drying clothes in a small yard or on a balcony, the last thing you want is a fixed permanent clothesline taking up the whole area. This simple yet effective wall-mounted clothesline features two racks. The two racks offer you the option of using one or both, depending on how much laundry you have.
And when your fresh air-dried laundry safely packs away, the rack folds flat against the wall, freeing up your precious outdoor space.
13. Bamboo Clothes Line by Balcony Garden Dreaming
This bamboo clothesline makes you look twice! These outdoor bamboo clotheslines may appear suspended in midair, but they are suspended from a wooden pergola using an invisible fishing line. Functional, low-cost, and creative, this clothesline would look beautiful in any tropical-themed garden!
14. Fold Away Indoor Clothes Rack by Gem & Em
You can make this custom-made DIY fold-away clothesline any size to fit the space available. It gives you a compact yet effective way to dry your laundry. It would work perfectly indoors or outdoors. You can also make it on a rock-bottom budget using scrap wood.
This design would look great painted with a pop of color. Turn it into a fun feature for your home or backyard!
15. DIY Pulley Clothesline by Practically Functional
Have the intricacies of pulley clotheslines always been a mystery to you? Then here is one of our favorite DIY clothesline ideas. The detailed tutorial explains it all, starting with how to set up the pulley through to using spacers and tensioners to keep the lines from sagging.
The huge advantage of this clothes-drying system is that you can set it up anywhere you’ve got space to hang two screw hooks or brackets at the appropriate height, so it should work in a wide range of situations.
16. Space Saving Closet Clothes Drying Rack by Amazing Home Hacks
When space is at a premium in your home, you may want to use every available corner to hang clothes! However, for under $10, you can fit a simple clothes rail between your closet doors, perfect for drying smaller loads of laundry on clothes hangers. And when the laundry is dry, lifting it into the closet takes seconds. A bonus if folding laundry is one of those laborious chores you’d rather avoid!
17. Trellis Clothesline by Mom All The Time
A clothesline is a necessity we can’t avoid, but there’s no reason why it can’t be multifunctional too! Instead of a standard T-post system, this design incorporates a trellis at either end of the clothesline.
Growing highly-scented jasmine or clematis along this design would make your laundry smell spectacular! Or, for a more practical use, a crop of climbing beans or peas would love to scramble up this trellis.
18. DIY Folding Clothes Drying Rack by The Merry Thought
Here is a super-cute DIY folding dry rack clothesline that, in our home, would see constant use. It is ideal for drying extra laundry from a large load, those delicate items that need to get dried out of the sun, or your children’s soggy pullovers after a splashy walk in the rain.
The small size makes it easier to maneuver and reposition than larger airers, and it fits nicely into smaller spaces without taking up the whole room.
19. Wall Mounted Fold Down Drying Rack by Be Creative
If you’ve never worked with metal before? Then the idea can feel a bit daunting! Metalwork is a skill that takes a while to master, but if you’ve got someone more experienced on hand to help you, this detailed tutorial is a great place to start. The result is a robust wall-mounted clothes airer for a fraction of the price of any store-bought version.
20. Retractable Multi-Line Indoor Clothesline by Just About Home
Think you don’t have space for an indoor cupboard clothesline? Think again! Start by fixing a retractable clothesline inside a cupboard or closet. Then, all you need to do is pull it out when you need to use it and stow it away again afterward. This system would work well near a window, giving you fresh, air-dried laundry inside your home.
21. DIY Metal Outdoor Clothesline by Raise Your Garden
This metal outdoor clothesline system is a nifty new take on the traditional T-post design. It uses metal instead of wood to create a washing line that could last many years. This family-size outdoor clothesline is perfect for anyone with basic DIY skills.
Start with galvanized steel poles and connectors. U-bolts and quick links make attaching the rope a doddle, and tighteners can loosen or tighten the clothesline rope.
22. Solar Clothes Dryer System by Simply Loving Living Life
This clothes dryer fits a phenomenal amount of clothes drying room into a small space, spanning outwards from a sturdy center post. And covering it with a canopy has a few powerful benefits. Your clean laundry gets protected from rain, UV light, and those pesky bird droppings which can ruin a nice clean shirt!
23. DIY Caravan Clothes Line by West Aussie Wanderers
I wish I’d come across this idea when we lived in our campervan! Just a couple of tubes and some rope are all you need to make a made-to-measure clothesline to attach to your awning, perfect for air-drying your clothes without the risk of an unexpected shower.
This system would also work well in a garage or on a pergola. Or even from one fence rail to another.
24. Crib Spring Indoor Clothes Hanger by A Diamond In The Stuff
I adore a clever bit of upcycling, and this crib clothesline idea is simply genius! I often see crib springs dumped by the bins, making me wonder how to recycle them. Well, it turns out that you need four ceiling hooks and some chains, and you’ve got a great place to hang your clothes!
25. DIY Rotating Clothes Drying Rack by Build It Solar
This rotating clothes drying rack is a slightly more complex DIY challenge. But if you’ve got your heart set on a rotating clothes airer, this detailed tutorial will help you build one for a fraction of the price of the store-bought version. It also folds away after use, helping you maximize your drying space – even in the tiniest yard or garden.
26. Fold Away Deck Clothesline by Instructables
Need an easy-access patio deck clothesline? If you’ve got a patio, deck, or even a couple of handily-placed fence posts, this clever adaption means you can have a washing line erected in seconds. All you need are a couple of hinges, two lengths of wood, two hooks, and some rope, and hey presto – you’ve got a space to dry your clothes!
27. Wall Mounted Outdoor Clothesline With Canopy by Outdoor Canopies
While we homesteaders know better than to grumble about the rain, it can make drying laundry a chore! On those showery days when you can’t decide whether to put the washing out, having a canopy can make all the difference.
The great thing is that this can also double up as a sheltered space to store garden furniture, bicycles, and BBQs when not in use.
Conclusion
Thanks so much for reading our favorite DIY clothesline ideas for inside and outside your home!
We hope these DIY clotheslines and homemade dryers help you spend more time outdoors. Or make better use of your indoor space. And most vitally – we hope they help you save cash on your electric bill.
Also – let us know which DIY clothesline idea is your favorite! Or maybe you built an indoor clothesline or indoor clothes dryer idea you can share with us.
Either way – we thank you again for reading.
Have a great day!