Let there be laundry (and light)!

A while back, a friend of mine moved into a new, swanky apartment. He showed me pictures of the spacious living room with balcony and fireplace, the gorgeous master bedroom suite with marble bath. But it was when he got to the picture of the in-unit washer and dryer that I shrieked, "Oh my god, you lucky bastard!"

We renters all know the bane of the building's public laundry room -- or worse, not having one at all and having to schlep down to the laundromat. Having a washer in your own apartment seems like the ultimate luxury.

Electroluxe is looking to make that reality a bit more attainable for those of us living in tiny-ass apartments. At the Eurocucina expo in Milan they debuted their SHINE concept washing machines. Both are teeny-tiny and slicky-cool. One is a floor model meant for integration into the bathroom (under the sink, for example), and one is meant to be wall-mounted (like in the picture above). The wall-mounted version uses less than a gallon of water per cycle! Sure, it looks only big enough to wash a pair of socks and a thong, but I guess that's your incentive to not let your laundry pile up!

The appliances are still only in their concept stages, but you best believe I'll put myself on a waiting list for when they're manufactured for real.

Moving on to more basic (and thankfully affordable) necessities: light. PerpetualKid has this adorable flower-bloom lamp with clamp mount. If you're someone who can't even fit a nightstand in their TAA, clip this to your headboard for a cute reading light. After all, we all may not be able to do our laundry in our own apartment, but we should certainly be able to read a good book in bed!

Via Boing Boing, Inhabitat, Electroluxe, Outblush, and Perpetual Kid.