thoughts on laundry room placement?

[my4girls]

to be honest I am not sure why I am even asking this other then I need to talk it out and maybe someone can chime in with something I didn't think of

we recently purchased a home- it's a typical center hall colonial. The laundry room is currently off the kitchen. I should draw a diagram lol-  but it's the kitchen then you go through a door way into the laundry room, off of that is my office space and the powder room, and the door to the garage, AND a door to outide (though not the only door to the back area and we've never actually even used it. we have a screen porch with french doors off the kitchen we go out) but it's a lot going on in a fairly small space

I HATE that guests have to walk through the laundry area to get to the powder room and the washer is pretty loud when it emptys into the laundry tub. Our basement is partially finished now as the kids playroom, with a very large unfinished area that we plan to finish 5-7 years from now. I would like to move the washer/ dryer there and in the laundry room put some sort of landing area for the kids backpacks etc-

our old house had laundry in the basement and it didn't bother us at all, and this basement isn't a "scary" dark place at all so no issue there either. It's our forever home so I don't have resale issues with it.

thoughts? and that would be the only place to move it to

[Susie]

Well it sounds like your decision is pretty well made.

I don't love having laundry in the basement; I think it's a pain to lug it up and down two flights of stairs. But there's no good alternative in our house, and it's not that big a deal.

If you have had it before and know you like it better, there's not much to talk about!

[my4girls]

Jan 25, 2013 16:20:41 GMT -5 Susie said:

Well it sounds like your decision is pretty well made.

lol yeah. I just needed to hear if there was something I wasn't thinking of. I don't know why I can't just pull the trigger and tell DH to move it but something is holding me back.

[simpsongal]

I definitely have to chime in. We also have a center hall colonial and our laundry was off the kitchen in a mudroom type pass through to the garage. The floor plan was too choppy for us so we opened up that area and moved the laundry up to the 5th bedroom. We plan to reconfigure that bedroom into a laundry room/master closet and expanded master bath and office space. So, we're losing a bedroom but we're gaining a nice master suite, 2nd floor laundry, office space, larger kitchen, and open floor plan between kitchen & family room.

We have a large finished basement and an area we could have moved the laundry. I'm with Susie - I would not move the laundry to the basement. Having the laundry adjacent to the bedroom is awesome. Do you have a space upstairs that you could sacrifice?

ETA: My "NOT" was a little strong.  FWIW, I don't think basement laundry would adversely affect the resale value of your house.  But I just couldn't walk up and down two flights of stairs everyday w/laundry for several people.  Budget wise, basement would definitely be cheaper.

[my4girls]

unfortunatly we don't have an extra bedroom or any space upstairs to move it to so it's either it stays where it is, I lose my office and move it in there (not happening!) or it goes to the basement

[simpsongal]

Is it a large office? Is there space to section off laundry and keep a desk in there?

[my4girls]

also I should add I don't do the laundry lol. That's Dh's job. He said he'll do whatever I want so....

the portion of the basement we plan to finish off will be "his" room and the laundry would be off that (this is EVENTUALLY so quite a few years...)

[simpsongal]

I would pull the trigger then. As I said, it shouldn't be too pricey to move it. The basement should have easy access to the water and gas. If you have an electric dryer make sure you have a sufficient 4-prong outlet to support the output. Venting shouldn't be too difficult either.

If you find that the basement is too difficult you can always give up the office

[ohjessica]

I am going to go against popular vote and say I prefer laundry areas in the basement. I don't mind lugging laundry up and down stairs and I'd honestly prefer a laundry room to be out of the way and use the rooms in the main floors of the house for living areas.

[kitty]

Our house was originally set up similarly to yours. I wouldn't even call it a laundry "area." It was more like there was a hallway with a washer and dryer stuck in it. You had to walk by the machines to get to the powder room and there was no door to close for noise or space to hang anything. Then Hurricane Irene happened and that side of our house got entirely destroyed and rebuilt. The architect encouraged us to swap the bathroom and the laundry so the laundry is now all the way at the end in its own room. We expanded a bit too so we were able to fit in a sink, cabinets, and a countertop over the washer and dryer for folding. It is such an improvement. I love being able to hide the mess behind a door.
Before:


After:



If moving it will allow your laundry space to also become more functional, I would definitely do it. I never minded having basement laundry too much. I just thought of it as good exercise!

[pitterwoo]

Can you put in a laundry chute? Only having to carry laundry in 1 direction is not bad at all and I feel less likely to die on the stairs going up vs carrying laundry down.

[momabear]

Do you ever read the blog Thrifty Decor Chick? She went through this decision making this year and really talked it out with her readers, taking a lot of their suggestions to heart. She ended up moving it to the basement, and has had no regrets so far. It might be worth checking out. thrifty decor chick

[auntie]

I have a center hall colonial. My powder room is sort of "under the stairs" like Harry Potter's cupboard. And my washer/dryer are in the basement which I hate-hate-hate. My vented HVAC unit is in the basement as well and spews lint from laundry through out the house. It's a really bad design and creates work for me. To say nothing of schlepping laundry up and down two flights of stairs.

My parents built this house. The original plans called for the laundry to be off the MBR upstairs. I wish. When I redo the kitchen, I will be putting the laundry off my garage for sure or if I expand the kitchen I may add it there. The house I grew up in had a laundry center in the kitchen. It was so convenient.