Is it your goal to enter the house thru a backhall instead the laundry, to add a closet, and a mud bench?

You original plan backhall area does not work nicely so I agree that you need to modify it. The garage and laundry doors are not ok and the hallway soffit (or maybe the bulkhead) is pointing at the middle of the office door (which I think will not look nice)
I am not quite sure that when your drafter makes the changes as you have them in your new sketch, using a cad program, things are going to be ok.
If in theory you will have a 3' hallway, this dimension will be smaller between the corner of the closet and the laundry wall/door and not only that, maybe I am developing pet peeves but that corner pointing the laundry opening bothers me.
What about making the mud bench are and the laundry one big space? I am afraid that the laundry will be way too small, I mean it is not worth it (IMHO) that in order to have a separated mud area (which everybody wants) to have a tiny laundry. I think you will regret it.
I think you could have a nice size laundry and a separated backhall with a mud area or closet (but more likely not both) without reducing the office more than 2.5

Hey there! I like your start... here's what I was thinking.

Since you said that you don't plan on sitting and using the office as a formal space, I would consider 2 options:

*make the office drastically smaller -- more like a pocket office. My pocket office is not off the mudroom, but the kitchen instead, and the interior dimensions are 5'6 by 6'8. You could get by with these dimensions in your office since you will use it much like my pocket office will be used -- dump mail, office supplies and maybe some kid stuff when/if you eventually have those! :) If you make the office smaller, you can make the laundry bigger and more usable and maybe get a little more hallway walk through space.

*The other option I would conisder is keeping the office relatively the same size and making it the laundry room. You would need to create a door to the new laundry that you might directly look at when entering the mudroom. Then you could have the entire wall directly to you right when you enter the mudroom as bench/cubby space and a built in desk area on one end. If you don't want open desk storage, you could do more closed cabinets with your cabinet maker.

Personally, I would choose option #2. But I'm anxious to see what others have to say. Good luck!

You have 25 more sq ft used for hallway than before. And where do you foresee placing the three steps down into the garage? If someone inadvertently pulls the car up too far, the door is blocked.
Do you have another back door for getting large things into the house. Either plan has twists and turns that would stop some refrigerators.
Casey

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marthaelena
I want to be able to enter through the garage as our primary entrance, but do not want to enter and be directly in my laundry room. I want that room to be closed off so that guest dont ever have to see it.
Not sure what you mean by "The garage and laundry doors are not ok and the hallway soffit (or maybe the bulkhead) is pointing at the middle of the office door (which I think will not look nice)" Yes, that hallway should be approximately 3 once the closet and bathroom are rearranged. If it is smaller between the point of the corner of the closet and the laundry room, I can reduce the size of the closet down some to avoid that. Yes, the point of the laundry is just your pet peeve, doesnt bother me at all. I do not want to include the mudroom bench in the laundry area. Again, when guest visit the house they can use that area when taking on/off shoes and hanging up their coat and would not have to see my laundry room. I agree with your comment in regards to reducing the laundry just to have a mudroom is not worth it and yes, I do agree that if I took the closet out I probably could have a good size mudroom there. Im willing to take more out the office, but not sure how much more that it would still look like a room.

Shelly K Thanks for your comments

I wouldnt mind making the office as small as your pocket office because that is exactly what I would be using it for. Option 2 is a possibility, however, Im not quite sure I am sold on the fact that my laundry room will be beside the wall that connects the formal foyer. Seems funny to me and the possibility that it could be noisy. I know yours is beside your foyer, but it looks good and I like the fact that you come out of the hallway just down from the kitchen. Id like to keep our plan like that. Thanks for the comments. They havent started digging the basement yet, so I have a little time to keep thinking about this.

Sombreuil mongrel
the steps to the garage would be turned sideways. So if someone pulled the car in too far, the front of the car would be butted up against the post to the stairs (if that makes sense). I guess if you picture coming out of the mudroom into the garage, you would turn right to go down the stairs vs. going straight. Also, our garage is 24ft. I dont think my Accord is that big. The only other large entrance is in the back of the house with French doors. That space is large enough to get large items in.

Thanks to all for your comments. I attached another layout. Another option that may work. Ill keep wracking my brain over it until I come up with something.

{{gwi:1398113}}

I finally had time to play around with your plan in 3D Home Architect--sorry, I can't post the results, but I will try to explain them. My measurements should be very close, but be sure to double check that I used the correct overall length! I tried to come up with something different, but basically modified your plans. I moved the closet from where you had it, because when I looked at the mudroom in 3D, it looked better with the bench in that location. Since you've been working so intensely on your plan, you should be able to draw in on top of your plan what I have explained here.

Your last plan worked the best, IMO, partly because the windows work out the best, also because the doors don't get in the way, as well as the rooms and light of the 3rd window just seem nicer to me. I made the office 6' wide. Chopped the top off of your laundry where you have the washer/dryer to make a 6' wide closet with double doors facing the hall that the kitchen is on the other side of. This leaves a laundry that is also 6' wide with a length over 8', depending on how deep you want the closet. This layout gets you the nicest wash tub/sink counter space--I have the door opposite it. To the right of the sink cabinet is the washer, then dryer, then outside wall. I stretched out the powder room to fill up the outside wall you have it on--makes it about 7'2" long x 3' or 3'6" wide with the toilet at the left end, the sink at the other end, and a pocket door between them. Then comes the door from the garage. (I would not turn the steps.) To the left of the garage door is a bench (3'+?) that goes to the wall where the hall to the basement stairs is. Mudroom is 7'2 x 7'3. The powder room, laundry, and office all have windows that can be made to look symmetrical on the outside elevation.

The other two plans are based on the changes you made in the second plan of your first post. First of these: I made the office 7' wide. I did these before I did the other plan, so if you want to, you can make it 6' and put the extra foot in the laundry and mudroom. The powder room is where you show it (5'x5'). The laundry is as you show it (8'2 x 5'4 or 9'2 x 5'4 with angled wall), with the washer and dryer on the right side, and the sink cabinet on the left side FACING them. I moved the closet to where you have the bench, because you end up with too much hall and not as nice a mudroom, IMO, the other way. The closet is 4' x 2'3". The mudroom, with the garage door next to the closet, then the bench, is 7'2 or 8'2 x 8'1. Windows don't work out on this one that I can see.

Next plan, similar to the one above, works with 2 windows--one located where it is on original plan, but in 7' wide office; the other is symmetrical on the outside of the house and is located to the left in the 9' x 5'4 laundry. 3'2 x 2'3 closet is left of the laundry, door to garage is next to closet, then bench. In laundry, washer and dryer are on outside wall to right of window; door opens opposite window. Now switch to your designer's plan for the rest of my explanation to see how I moved the wall between the laundry and powder room and configured the powder room. The laundry sink is opposite the washer/dryer where he had the toilet, the bath vanity sink is where he had the laundry sink, the door opens into the mudroom where he had the vanity sink, and the toilet is opposite the door.

Hope this helps.

Anne

I hate to be "the bad guy" but your last sketch is out of scale. You see, one of the dim of a powder room is usually 5' (or more) And the one that you drawed is way smaller than that. To see the proportion, look at the shower shown on the top left. It is 5'. in other words, I doubt that you can place a bench next to it.
Unless I need new glasses.
I sketched something using paint but I'd like to double check it before posting it. The powder room is at the same place but it takes the whole space - so in elevation, you will have 3 windows.
Sounds like Anne has a good option (the first one). Is it ok to place the closet doors at that open space? by the way, what is that space? it would be helpful to see a bit more of the plan.
You will get there.

Anne - Great feedback! You mention you can't post what you did, wasn't sure if it was because you were having issues. Is it in a format you can email to me? It would really help to see each option laid out. If so, my email address is cmill1if@gmail.com. I do like the first option, however, the only downside if I read your email correctly is that the closet is in the hallway. I'd prefer to have that in the area where we walk into the mudroom. I don't want to have to step into the hallway to put the coats away. All of the sketches I did were done in paint since I do not have a program that will allow me to change a PDF file. Ideally, I would like to use the space coming in from the garage as a place that we can take our shoes off, hang up coats, drops stuff off, review/leave family messages on the message board, etc. My husband fishes and hunts a lot, so I wanted the laundry room in this are so that he can take off his hunting clothes and muddy boots and leave them here. I plan to put a bench with a peg board to hang up coats we are using that season or to hang guests coats on when they come over and wanted the closet to store the off season coats, umbrellas, and snow stuff. I also wanted to tuck my 1/2 bath away from the kitchen/living area but also wanted it close to the garage in case we are gathering in the garage or a straight shot from off the back deck. I posted our house layout, so you'll have a better idea of how our house is laid out. Feel free to critique the rest of the house. I revised the plans 9 times and hope I captured everything that was important to me. There were a few things I didn't get (walk in closets in the kids room), but I wanted to keep within square footage. I also wanted a window in my laundry room which is what I got.

{{gwi:1398114}}

mill1if,
This is the sketch I mentioned last night. The laundry is not as big as I wished but it is more useful than the one on your original drawing. If it were me, I would not have a door in the daundry since it is out of the way/view.
Dim:
Powder room: 5x5'-4
Laundry: 7'-2"x5'4"
Office: 7'x10'-8"
If your mud bench is 20" deep your hallway at the bench will be 3'-6" wide and 5' wide at the garage door area.

VERY nice marthaelena. The rooms are all nice sizes, are not awkward, there's lots of counter space around the laundry sink--love it!!! I just erased my post I was writing, since it was made redundant by your great design, which solves all of the problems. She could do a pocket door into the laundry.

cmill1if, you might want to post your entire plan on the kitchen forum. You have lots of space there, but the one thing I know they will all jump on is having the fridge in the doorway that is a main traffic pattern. Be sure to show marthaelena's mudroom solution, so they don't work on redesigning it--unless you think there's a better idea out there! And there's a post on the kitchen forum that is usually on the first or second page "Read this first if you are new to GW kitchens" or something similar, with TONS of things to think about. After you read that, post your plan with some background info as to what you think you want. They usually will come up with lots of good suggestions, which you can take or leave.

Anne

Anne,
Thank you for your nice words.
I was looking forward to see your idea, it sounded like a a really good option and in this forum you never know what the OP is going to like or prefer, you can always email it to mill1if.

I should mention that I shifted the basement door 12" because the space was a bit tight (and unsafe) but if you prefer you could leave it as it was and also remove the small wall between basement door and garage door to open up the space. I thought that was nicer to align the kitchen opening to the backhall opening

I'm not sure how the 3 windows look with the new elevation, but they probably should be narrower and shorter to suit the rooms themselves. Otherwise, those 3 rooms could be a little chilly in the winter, especially the powder room. (Your basic window size is the same as what we mostly have.)

Be sure when determining the final size of the laundry, space for the plumbing and dryer duct are sufficient behind them. Enough space has to be allowed for the door and trim to look right. More inches may need to be taken from the office.

Also, make the door to the basement a 2'8" or 3'0, if possible. Any room that furniture can be moved into, I'd put a 32" wide door--bedrooms included. For the MBR I'd make a 3'0 door. All exterior doors 3'--I didn't on one, and kick myself every day for it. I think a 2'0 for the toilet room in the master bath would be a little awkward for some; not sure about the shower door.

I'd add at least a few more inches to the width (the 23'8") of the garage; how much might depend on whether it would add another truss. (It's nice to avoid extra cost when possible, and your architect/designer should know.)

Anne

Marthaelena I tried to post to you yesterday, but didnt realize after I posted to Anne that I couldnt post again, so here were some answers to your previous post

The sketches were done in paint and I really had no clue how to draw it out so it definitely is not done to scale. I was just trying to capture the idea of what I was thinking of. I did measure the bathroom and know I needed to keep it at least 5' so wasn't sure if that would work without taking more space out of the office because I'll need some sort of hallway there. Would love to see what you sketched if you can post it. I posted our plan. If you were referring to the space where Anne mentioned the closet should go, it is a hallway. I'm not sure I would like the closet out in the hallway. Id like to keep that in the mudroom to have access to it without having to track stuff in the hallway.
Now, I cant describe how thankful I am that you were able to capture what I want. Thank You!! Love your new design (and so does my husband). It captures everything I wanted and I think probably the only thing that will really work there giving the size. I do wish and agree that my laundry room could be longer (or wider), but wider wont work if I keep the mudroom bench (which I want). Not sure how much more I can take out of the office without it looking odd and would it be odd to have your laundry room across the whole front of your house? I would prefer not to, but I didnt want a formal dining or living room because I knew wed never use it, so that is how we filled in that spot. I just didnt want to come in the front door and be right in our great room. I wanted a foyer. Not sure what other design would look good unless I extended the laundry room and made a closet on the other side by the foyer (take out the current closet at the foyer) and make the front half of the room an office. Since you moved the garage door down some is there room to put a small shelf there for things to drop off/pick up etc when going out the door or for charging cell phones, etc.? Or maybe I could put it at the end of my bench. I will leave the wall up by the basement. I think it looks nicer too.
Anne (or marthaelena see notes below) Thanks for looking over the plan and for the reminder about the plumbing dryer duct. Ill make note to remember that (which is why I should increase the space a little). My girlfriends builder didnt think of that and her LR is only 5 and it is pulled out away from her wall so you can barely get in from the garage. I did not like a 20 inch door on the toilet area of the master bathroom, but wasnt sure what else to do there. We wanted a larger shower, which is now too big IMO, but not sure how else to rearrange the bathroom to get the most use out of our space. I wanted a larger closet. We originally had a closet where the pantry is, but took that away so I could have a walk in pantry. Maybe since the kitchen is so big we could move the pantry back into the kitchen. I didnt like the fact that I had to walk around the sink area and past the master bedroom to get to it, but again, not sure what else to do there. Any suggestions/drawings on those two areas? The draftsmen told us he left the shower and toilet area the way it was because of the angle together. Anne would still love to see your drawing of the 1st option you suggested. Not sure if that would give me more or less room. Can you post or email to me at cmill1if@gmail.com

Any other suggestions/change to the plan? Our outside has double gables over the garage and double gables over the front bedroom with stone and hardiplank mix.

Believe me, my other plan is no where near as good as marthaelena's, so forget about it! ;o) But here are some more suggestions about your entire plan.

The pantry is totally in the wrong location--extremely inconvenient as you've pointed out. Change it back to your bedroom closet, since you want more closet space. Without seeing it drawn out, I would guess that if you then take about a foot from the closet opposite and put it on the "new" closet, you would now have the toilet room the right depth to make the door go straight across without the angle, thus giving you a normal width door. I'd make the toilet room 3'6" wide. Keep a small tape measure in your purse, and whenever you're in a toilet stall in a public place, measure it. Most of them are 30-36" wide, not very comfortable or easy to clean IMO, which is why ours is 3'6" wide in our long powder room.

What size shower do you really want? If you make it 5'x4', you get rid of its small angled door and can make the door any size you want. But I really don't know how large it should be with multiple shower heads, and you have room for it to be larger. Do you have your tub picked out? Is that the correct size for it?

Back to the pantry--put a 2' deep one (however wide you think you want it--3-5'?) where the fridge is--much more useful location. We've got a walk-in pantry now (5'x4'?), but had a 2'x2' pantry in a rental house for 15 months. In some ways I liked the shallower one better. I kept it better organized; things tend to pile up when that extra space is there in the walkin!

I'd put the fridge to the left of the kitchen door as you walk in from the back hall, a Super Susan in each corner of the "U" of cabinets, switch the DW with the sink and move them about a foot to the left. Depending on who is likely to be in the kitchen, you might want to fit in a second, smaller sink. I wouldn't call it a prep sink, since you will most likely prep between the double sink and the range, even though that is also your cleanup sink. But if spouse, kids, relatives, friends help out in the kitchen whether prep, cleanup, or getting drinks, a second sink is great. I could make other kitchen and bath suggestions, but I'll suggest again that you read and think about what's on the Kitchen Forum, and then post your plan. They will probably also have suggestions for your master bath, which I think could probably be improved upon if we knew more about the shower and tub sizes. Is the 2'4" square in there a chase for a woodstove or fireplace in the basement?

BTW, I put a bench in our garage right next to the door coming into the house. THAT'S where we sit down to take off MUDDY boots--don't let them into the house!!!

Anne

Anne Thanks again for some good feedback. I will review and discuss with my husband what youve mentioned. Question when you mention taking 1ft or so from the old closet location and adding it to the new closet location is that 1ft being taken from the width making the width 54 ½" or from the length making it 6 6 ½"?

Ill post my kitchen layout and see what kind of feedback I receive. I agree with moving my pantry into the kitchen area, but I would like to keep it a little larger and utilize a light. I thought about putting it in the corner. That 24" chase that you see on the plan is wasted space. That wasnt there until he moved the stairs for the basement. Not happy about wasting that little bit of space, however, if I make the shower smaller we may be able to use that space for something. I dont think I would want to go smaller in the shower then 4. 3 seemed too small. I dont have my tub picked out so that isnt the correct size of the tub. Not sure until we get it framed what size might fit there.

Ive left the kitchen in that layout too because I thought once I see the cabinet makers they may have an idea for redesigning the kitchen. I did think about moving the fridge beside the oven and if I dont utilize that space for a pantry then I thought about only doing bottom cabinets and then using the top wall as a message center and charging station since I may not have room for all of that in my mudroom and since it is close in proximity. Ill review the kitchen forum and really think about how well use the kitchen. Initially, my idea was to keep it open enough that when we have small or large gatherings our friends and family can stand/sit around the outside perimeter and talk or hang out in the kitchen and help. I even thought about getting rid of the island in the center and making it a larger half circle island centered at an angle towards both rooms with two levels (lower level with the sink and top level for guests/family to sit out. A lot of options there.
And yes, Ill be sure to put a small bench in the garage for muddy boots. Less Ill have to clean inside.
:>)

New = 5'4-1/2 " width.

Once you decide on your shower and tub size, and work on the kitchen, you should be able to redo the entire master bath and incorporate that 2'4" space into either the bath or the kitchen.

Anne

Thanks Anne!