Floor plan help

[hockeywife]

This is a pic of our plans with some of my notes. I need help deciding whether we want a door between the master closet and laundry room or whether we want that wall for more closet storage.

Thoughts?



I'd also welcome opinions re: stacking v not stacking the W/D.

[OrangeBanana]

I can see why you would want a door there. If you put a door there, you probably want to go with a 36 inch opening just to make it easy to carry baskets through the doorway. You will lose storage space but the closet looks pretty large already so I think you can make up that space in just being smart with how you organize your closet.

Instead of a swinging door, have you considered a pocket door or even no door at all? You have doors on the laundry room and closet already so is it really necessary to add that additional door between the two rooms? I would get annoyed with having to open and close that door all the time to get through it.

I think stacking the washer and dryer would really be a personal preference. You can put a counter top over the washer and dryer and have room to fold and store things or stack them and put a counter top and cabinets to the right of them. I think either option will get you the space you need in there. Even with you laundry room open to your closet, I think you would still want to have some hanging space in there. It looks like you would have room with stacking or non stacking machines. Also consider putting in a drying rack that hangs on the wall and folds up flat. Those are great to have!

[hockeywife]

Oct 25, 2017 8:29:34 GMT -5 OrangeBanana said:

I can see why you would want a door there. If you put a door there, you probably want to go with a 36 inch opening just to make it easy to carry baskets through the doorway. You will lose storage space but the closet looks pretty large already so I think you can make up that space in just being smart with how you organize your closet.

Instead of a swinging door, have you considered a pocket door or even no door at all? You have doors on the laundry room and closet already so is it really necessary to add that additional door between the two rooms? I would get annoyed with having to open and close that door all the time to get through it.

I think stacking the washer and dryer would really be a personal preference. You can put a counter top over the washer and dryer and have room to fold and store things or stack them and put a counter top and cabinets to the right of them. I think either option will get you the space you need in there. Even with you laundry room open to your closet, I think you would still want to have some hanging space in there. It looks like you would have room with stacking or non stacking machines. Also consider putting in a drying rack that hangs on the wall and folds up flat. Those are great to have!

We definitely thought about a pocket door, but the builder wants $1200 for it and we just don't want to divert that money there.  Having no door is a thought.  I think I would be totally ok with it now as DH and I do all the laundry, but I feel like we'll want that extra separation when the kids are older?? I don't know.

I didn't think about the width of the opening, but you're right, it would need to be pretty big to allow for walking through with baskets.

[momin2013]

My thoughts:

I'm not a fan of stacking W/D, but agree with PP, that's probably personal preference. My main issues with them is a) when we had stackables in the past the washer never seemed as big as a regular stand-alone washing machine. Also, I'm short, so I always struggled getting everything out of the dryer.

I like the idea of the window in the water closet; I think it'll keep it from seeming dark in there. I think the second window next to the shower would be nice to have; I'd prefer that over a skylight because you can open it up for fresh air/to let out steam/etc. That partly depends on what those bathroom windows open out onto, though; if they open right onto another house you might not end up opening them all that much, in which case a skylight might be better.

For the door between the closet and laundry: I personally wouldn't do that. I'd prefer the extra closet space vs. a door (but that's just me). Just based on the layout of the hallway from the master to the laundry room, I don't think it's a big deal at all to just walk down the hall (i.e. I don't think it's worth losing the closet space over).

[hbomdiggity]

1. I probably wouldn't add a door from closet to laundry. I can see the convenience, but I wouldn't want to loose the closet space. they only way I'd do it is a pocket door because otherwise you are losing too much in both rooms.

2. I've had stacked w/d before and it's fine, but what will you do with the space? Can you add a sink? we have a really deep sink in our laundry and its really nice to have.

[sunshinedaydreams]

I can't really tell how big the closet is. Does that say ~ 13' x 6'? If yes, I'd definitely do a doorway there with no door. And I think you could still put drawers or shelving on the remainder of that wall and not lose too much space.

I'm so lazy and hate putting clothes away. It would annoy me to know that my closet was *right* there, but I had to walk all the way around, through the BR and BA to get there.


Disclaimer: I'm totally biased because we are building right now and designed the whole master end of the house around having the closet open to the laundry. We will have an open doorway between the closet and laundry with no door (because we also didn't want to pay for the pocket) and will put a lock on the door on the opposite side of the laundry room so it's still possible to lock our bedroom if we want.

[hbomdiggity]

Oct 25, 2017 18:42:44 GMT -5 sunshinedaydreams said:

Disclaimer: I'm totally biased because we are building right now and designed the whole master end of the house around having the closet open to the laundry. We will have an open doorway between the closet and laundry with no door (because we also didn't want to pay for the pocket) and will put a lock on the door on the opposite side of the laundry room so it's still possible to lock our bedroom if we want.

This is why it’s personal preference. I don’t fold laundry in my laundry room. So for me it would come out (likely to a spare bedroom) and get folded and at that point the convenience/access factor is minimal. Plus, I’d rather have that full wall in the laundry for my drying racks because I like dry a lot of our clothes.

[mrs.jacinthe]

I think I'd do a door, provided it's not going to cause you storage issues with clothes. You could do a builder-basic door for now and then later, after the financial hit has passed, turn it into a murphy door. Like this:

[hockeywife]

Thanks for all the suggestions!

After breaking out painters tape and laying the room out on the floor, we decided not to stack, but we are adding a door. I wish a pocket door was in the budget.

[cosmowife]

I would say no door or opening (i.e., leave it a solid wall), to help minimize noise travel from the washer and dryer.

[whattheheck]

Oct 27, 2017 6:30:13 GMT -5 hockeywife said:

Thanks for all the suggestions!

After breaking out painters tape and laying the room out on the floor, we decided not to stack, but we are adding a door. I wish a pocket door was in the budget.

Are there any nice bifold doors that would work?