A letter from a reader

At 64, my granddaughter told me my laundry basket was the ugliest thing in the house

Susan HayesOakville, Ontario · October 2026

I have never written anything like this before, and I want to say at the start that I am not a writer and I am not in the habit of telling other women how to run their homes.

But four different people asked me about my laundry basket, of all things, when the family came over for the Labour Day long weekend, and I have now explained it enough times that it seemed easier to write it down properly.

It started when my granddaughter came to stay and made a face at the thing in the corner of the bathroom.

Grandma, why is your laundry basket the ugliest thing in the house?

She was not wrong. A cracked beige plastic thing from Canadian Tire, going grey at the rim, that I had been shoving behind the door whenever anyone visited for the better part of ten years.

I did not choose that, not really. Nobody decides to buy something ugly. You buy the cheap plastic one meaning to replace it, and then ten years go by.

How it happens

A laundry basket is the last thing anyone thinks of as nice. It is a chore, not a thing you choose to like.

So the stores sell us plastic bins and mesh pop-ups, all of them the colour of a hospital hallway, and we buy them without a second thought and then quietly resent them in the corner of every room.

And because it is only a laundry basket, you never get around to doing anything about it. It is always the next thing on a list that never comes up.

What I had wrong

Here is the part I got most wrong. I thought a laundry basket had to be plastic to be practical. Wipe-clean, holds its shape, does the job.

It turns out a quilted one does all of that and is lovely as well. It stands up on its own even when it is empty, the fabric wipes clean, and it folds flat when you do not need it. It simply happens to have a picture on it instead of being the colour of nothing.

Practical and pretty were not a choice of one. I had just never been offered the pretty version. That took me until 64 to find out.

See The Laundry Basket Collection

Mine is the Alys

It's from Parker & Klein, a boutique out of Vancouver that has spent twenty-seven years dressing women, and carries a small line of these for the house as well.

Mine is the Alys, a quilted basket with a whole seaside scene stitched around it, a sea turtle gliding over blue waves with a starfish and shells along the sand. They do about thirty designs, though, from bumblebees and Highland cows to cats curled up on a pile of books, which I will come back to.

It is properly made. The quilting is soft but structured, so it stands up by itself whether it is full or empty, and there are sturdy loop handles on both sides for carrying it down to the basement. The design wraps the whole way around, so it looks lovely from every side.

And it comes in three sizes, so there is one for a little ensuite and one big enough for a family's worth of towels.

What happened when people came over

It now lives out in the open, in the corner of the bedroom, where the plastic one would never have been allowed to sit.

Four different people asked me about it over that long weekend. My friend Diane, who does not notice things, picked it up, turned it all the way around and asked where I had got it. And my granddaughter, who started all this, has decided the turtle is hers and checks on it every time she visits.

Nobody has ever asked me about a laundry basket in my life. Now it is the first thing they mention.

Three things I have learned since

One. It stands upright on its own. This is the thing plastic never quite managed once it cracked: no brittle corners, no warping with age. If it arrives a little soft from the mailer, pop a towel or a few clothes inside and it is standing straight by the next morning.

Two. It folds away. When my daughter visits and needs the spare room clear, it folds flat and goes on the top shelf of the closet, which the rigid plastic one never could.

Three. A lovely one gets used. The odd thing is the laundry actually goes in it now, because it is not something you want to look away from. The plastic one just collected a pile beside it.

About the price

I want to be straightforward about this, because it was the thing that made me suspicious.

The Alys starts at $54.95 CAD. It was $182.95 CAD.

My first thought was that it was a lot for a laundry basket, until I worked out I had spent nearly that over the years replacing cracked plastic ones, and hidden every one of them behind a door.

The reason is simple. Parker & Klein are moving shop after twenty-seven years, and the current collection isn't making the trip. There is still stock across every design for now, but once it's gone, it won't be restocked.

I did what I imagine you are doing now and went and read the reviews before I ordered. Just over 1,200 of them, sitting at 4.7 stars. Not the suspiciously perfect five you see on some websites, which if I am honest made me trust it rather more. Real people, mixed opinions, mostly very good. And shipping is free anywhere in Canada, with thirty days to send it back, so I was not risking much.

Then I ordered a smaller one for the bathroom as well.

See The Laundry Basket Collection

What I would tell you if we were friends

If you and I were sitting out on the deck with a coffee and you asked me, this is what I would say.

Have a look at the laundry basket in your bathroom. If it is plastic, and cracked, and you hide it when people come over, you have simply never been offered a nicer one, and now you have.

It is a small thing. But the small ugly things in a house wear on you more than you notice, and this is one of the easiest to put right.

Two practical things. The sale is on now, and the most popular designs sell out first, being made to order. And there are about thirty to choose from, so there will be one that is properly you.

The plastic one went out in the blue box and I have not missed it once.

Susan

The Alys Turtle Laundry Basket

★★★★☆ 4.7 out of 5 from 1,200+ reviews

Small · Medium · Large

$182.95 CAD$54.95 CAD

• Soft quilted fabric with a coastal scene stitched right around
• Stands up on its own, holds its shape empty or full
• Sturdy loop handles on both sides
• Wipes clean and folds flat to store
• Three sizes, from small bathroom to family size
• About thirty designs in the collection
• Free shipping across Canada

See The Laundry Basket Collection

Moving Sale on now. Once these designs sell out, they're gone for good.