New Uses for Old Clotheslines

Backyard clotheslines used to be social gathering places in many parts of the world. Drying clothes on clotheslines would allow housewives to get outdoors, enjoy the sun and talk with a neighbor out drying clothes on their own clothesline. Often this would led to an enjoyable coffee break, great conversations and friendships that would last a lifetime.

Unfortunately those days are long gone. The humble clothesline was long ago replaced by electric and gas dryers. There are still plenty of opportunities to meet and talk with neighbors. But the innocent simplicity of clothesline conversations is gone forever.

In some neighborhoods clotheslines have actually been banned. Considered an unsightly sign of lower class society many communities forbid the installation and use of a clothesline. Despite our best efforts to go green not even the global energy crisis is going to bring back the glory days of the simple clothesline. Ugly, outcast and no longer serving a useful purpose, what can you do if your older home already has a clothesline in the back yard? Removing the clothesline posts is often not an option. Most are literally set in concrete.

Fortunately, there are lots of great alternative uses for old clotheslines. With any kind of luck, one of the following ideas and a little bit of creative thinking will help you breath new life into your old backyard clothesline.

Plant Trellis Support

I have always loved the beauty of climbing plants. But finding a place to plant them can be a challenge. Planting them against your house can led to house maintenance problems down the road. If you build a wooden trellis for them often it simply isn't strong enough and falls over after a few years. But a nearly perfect solution that covers all those problems is to attach a wooden trellis to an old clothesline post. Paint the old clothesline post some neutral color; attach the trellis using whatever is available. Old wire worked best for me. Grow your favorite climbing plant on the trellis. After a few years the plant will cover both the old clothesline post and the trellis. A beautiful solution that will make everyone happy.

Hanging Plants

Sometimes a trellis simply doesn't fit in with your plan. An optional approach that might work for you is to hang plants from the old clothesline posts. It takes creativity to make it look attractive but the result can be very beautiful.

Backyard Hammock

When I was a kid I loved swinging in the backyard hammock. It was great fun for the young and relaxing for the old. But I hated those flimsy metal frames used to support hammocks. More permanent hammocks were always more enjoyable. Some people move one of their two clothesline posts close enough to the other that they can hang a hammock between the two posts. Combining a clothesline-mounted hammock with the clothesline plant trellis above may give you a near perfect solution to your old clothesline problem.

Bird Feeder or Bird House

Every winter we put a couple of bird feeders on the lines of our backyard clothesline. Birds from miles around flock to our backyard to feed. Over the years we have seen literally hundreds of types of birds. All shapes and sizes. The squirrels that live in the nearby trees quickly pick up whatever birdseed drops on the ground. The panorama of life supported by those two feeders is dynamic, beautiful and livens up our entire backyard. To our family this alone justifies keeping the old clothesline around. If you want, you can even put up a birdhouse or two on an old clothesline pole.

Wind Chime

Wind chimes are relaxing and beautiful but more often than not they are either too loud or you can't hear them at all. If you hang one from the eave of your house it is usually too loud. When I have tried hanging one from a tree it either falls out, gets tangled in the branches or simply does not work properly. Sometimes the best place to put a wind chime is on your clothesline. Give it a try and see if it works for you.

I am hoping that one of these ideas has helped you find a new use for your old clothesline. My grandmother still uses her clothesline to dry clothes and she really doesn't care what other people think about it. She calls it her solar powered, energy efficient, ultra green clothes dryer. But for most of us that is simply not an option anymore. We need to find other uses for the old clothesline.