By Nina Bergstrom | June 2026
The Floor Pile System
I have a confession to make about my laundry system. For approximately six years, my laundry system was the floor. Specifically, a corner of my bathroom floor where clothes accumulated until there were enough of them to constitute a wash, at which point I would sort them into lights and darks on the bathroom floor, carry them to the machine, and repeat the cycle.
This worked, in the sense that my clothes got washed. It did not work in the sense that my bathroom always had a pile of clothes in the corner, that sorting on the floor was annoying and slightly undignified, and that I occasionally missed things that had migrated under the radiator and discovered them at an inconvenient moment.
I had owned a single laundry basket before. It was a wicker one that looked nice for approximately three months before it started to fray, could not be cleaned properly, and had no way of keeping lights and darks separate, which meant the floor sorting still had to happen at wash time. I got rid of it and went back to the floor system, which at least had the virtue of honesty about what it was.
The thing that finally changed my approach was moving into a new flat with a bathroom that I actually liked and did not want to treat as a laundry staging area. I needed a basket that was genuinely functional, genuinely cleanable, and that solved the sorting problem at the point of deposit rather than at the point of washing.
Why the Motek Double Compartment
The double compartment was the non-negotiable feature. A single basket, however well-made, still requires sorting at wash time. A double compartment basket means lights go in one side and darks go in the other as they are deposited, and by the time there is enough for a wash the sorting is already done. That is the difference between a system that requires effort and a system that does not.
The Motek Multi-Purpose Double Compartment Laundry Basket addressed everything I needed:
- Two separate compartments – the core feature; lights and darks sorted at the point of deposit, no floor sorting required at wash time
- 80 litre total capacity – large enough for two people’s laundry to accumulate between washes without overflowing
- Automatic push-button lid system – the lid opens with a foot press, which means I can deposit laundry without using my hands; a small detail that makes a genuine difference when your hands are full
- Water and steam resistant – essential for a bathroom environment; I did not want a basket that would warp or degrade from humidity
- White and grey colourway – clean, neutral, works with my bathroom without requiring any particular coordination
- 55 x 35.5 x 58.5 cm – a footprint that fits neatly in the corner I had designated for it without dominating the room
I found it in the Laundry Supplies collection at ALTOE and ordered it the same evening.
First Week: The System That Runs Itself
I set it up in the corner I had designated, established the rule – left compartment lights, right compartment darks – and started using it. Within three days it had become completely automatic. Clothes came off, went into the correct compartment, lid closed. No thought required, no floor involvement, no pile building up in the corner.
The first wash day was the moment I understood what I had been missing. I opened the left compartment, picked up the lights, put them in the machine. Opened the right compartment, picked up the darks, put them in the machine. The sorting was already done. It had been done incrementally, one item at a time, over the course of the week, without any dedicated sorting effort at all.
I stood in my bathroom and felt the particular satisfaction of a system that works without requiring you to think about it. That is the best kind of system.
Five Months On: The Bathroom I Wanted
The Motek basket has been in my bathroom for five months. The water and steam resistant construction has held up perfectly – no warping, no discolouration, no degradation from the bathroom environment. The push-button lid mechanism is as smooth as it was on day one. The white and grey finish is as clean as it was when it arrived, because unlike wicker it can actually be wiped down.
My bathroom floor is clear. It has been clear for five months. That is not a small thing when you have spent six years treating a corner of your bathroom as a laundry staging area. The room looks better, functions better, and requires less mental energy to manage. The laundry system runs itself, which means I do not have to think about it, which means I have slightly more mental space for things that are more interesting than laundry.
It is a laundry basket. It is also, in its quiet way, one of the most impactful household purchases I have made in years. Sometimes the unglamorous solutions are the ones that make the most difference.
Shop the Motek Double Compartment Laundry Basket
Find the Motek Multi-Purpose Double Compartment Laundry Basket at ALTOE and browse our related collections:
Nina Bergstrom is a UX researcher, enthusiastic home organiser, and reformed floor-pile laundry system user based in Stockholm. Her bathroom floor has been clear for five months and she intends to keep it that way.
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