Which is the outside wall(s)? The dryer should go against an outside wall to get the shortest possible vent run. That increases dryer efficiency and helps keep utility costs down. If you are on a slab, it is even more important to place it against an outside wall.

A half bath doesn't really gain you much over a deep laundry sink, unless someone working outside will need a toilet often. If really grimy workers are coming in, a 3/4 bath with a shower comes in handy.

Can you eliminate the steps? A real hazard.

I consider a powder room near the garage and the kitchen to be a MUST. That is the most used toilet in our house. If your DH would use it, a shower could be a great bonus.

I don't have a special room called "Pantry". I have adequate cabinets in my kitchen. In my back hall is a 36" deep X 11' long closet with a pair of 36" doors where I store *everything* -- like Costco bulk, cleaning supplies, the central vac hose, DR table leaf, ironing board, coats and boots. We also have coat hooks and a stool for removing boots.

Above the front load washer and dryer are cabinets for detergents, etc. The utility sink is next to the washer. (That's where I wash our dog's paws -- house rule is no dogs larger than the utility sink.)

Opposite the laundry equipment is an 18" deep countertop over cabinets and drawers with wall cabinets above. This is where the 'incoming' and 'outgoing' stuff lands: library books, mail, returns, cell phones, etc.

Window at one end, door to garage opposite door to kitchen in the middle, half-glass door to back yard at other end. My back hall/laundry is a long rectangle, but it's about the same square footage you have. Our powder room adds another 3 X 6 area.

I see the entrance to LR, where is the kitchen?

An 8x9 pantry seems pretty excessive unless your kitchen is quite small. But it would be nice, if it's also going to house the vac. etc...

Inadequete storage makes it tough to keep a house clutter free, but too much storage can become a clutter zone of its own.

I may have erred on the too little side. My kitchen is large with a very small pantry-- about 4x4-- but it holds a huge amount of food. I keep my vac hoses and cleaning stuff in the laundry/dog room, which is about 8x15. Since the cabs aren't in out there, I'm a little nervous about everything fitting. My coat room is about 8x10 with a 5ft closet and some exposed coat hooks.

I'm in a climate where a wide range of outerwear is needed, and I like to have storage for it near the garage and backdoor that family uses most. If the closets in the laundry are for that sort of almost daily use, I might prefer them closer to coat area.

If there isn't a separate toilet facility in this section of the house [I'm assuming we're near the kitchen] a half bath might do more for re-sale and quality of life than a large pantry.

Thanks for sharing the ways in which you all use your back entries and storage spaces. It is helpful to know what the most useful areas are to you!

The room labeled "pantry" would be used more for storage of odd items, similar to chisue's closet. It will house the vacuum, cleaning supplies, ironing board, and extra overflow from the kitchen. The entrance from the mudroom into the house comes between the living area and kitchen, with the kitchen being to the left as you walk in.

My main concerns come with the laundry area of the room. I really would like a designated place to hang wet delicate clothes that won't be dried. Right now I have a collapsible drying rack that I absolutely hate and can't wait to throw out. Are stationary rods the answer? And should this area be across from the washer/dryer, taking some of that space currently designated for the closet?Where do you all make room for that?

Oruboris, we also need a wide range of outerwear in our climate. That is why I'm not sure about taking out the closet to make room for more exposed hooks and shelving. I don't want the closet to become a dumping ground mess...however, I'm not sure that I want everything out in the open either. And if I take space from the closet area to make more room for laundry, will there still be adequate space to have a functional closet? Am I even making sense anymore?

I definitely don't want to find myself with too little storage space. To put a small bath in that area would take space from somewhere. Should it come from the "pantry" area? I guess this would need a total reconfiguration of the room. And this is my problem--I don't know how much space needs to be dedicated to each function of the room. Is the 4' bench and 2' wide cubbies enough area for 4 people to come in and shed coats? How big is a minimum area for a 1/2 bath?

Any more suggestions? Thank you!

I think you can fit more coats in a closet than on hooks. Last house, I was all hooks in the coat room. Rather belatedly, I choose to have a closed closet this time round. Because the floor is in, and there are heat pipes under the tile, I can't really anchor a 'real' closet, so I'm having my handyman build a 'wardrobe' type structure, anchored to the wall, but finished to look like furniture.

We'll see how things evolve, but the current plan is to hang stuff we won't use for a few months in there, keep the daily use items on the hooks.

Alicia...the layout of our laundry area is almost identical to what you have shown. The washer & dryer (front load) are in the same position as yours with a 6' run of counter space to the left for folding. Above the counter I have 2 open shelves with baskets on them. Below the lower shelf is a hanging bar that I hang micro-fiber cloths on to dry. We kept the area beneath the folding counter open for the kitty box. It will be skirted as soon as I find the time to put my sewing machine to use. :o) If we didn't have the kitties I would have added some drawers.

Above the WD we put cabinets that go to the ceiling. I keep all my laundry supplies, light bulbs, etc in there. The W&D are on pedestals with drawers below them, but we've never used the drawers yet. There's plenty of storage elsewhere. :o) We nixed the sink in there since there is a 1/2 bath across from the cubbies.

Across from the WD is a 7' closet with bifold doors. There is a shelf that runs full length across the top that we store paper products on. Below that is a full length hanging bar that's handy for when I'm ironing. On the left side wall of the closet is a hanging rack for the ironig board, brooms & such. Beside that is a rolling sorter for laundry. The right side of the closet has shelves for cleaning supplies at the top and things for the critters on the bottom shelves. We have 3 dogs, 2 cats, hamsters and a turtle...there's lots of stuff in there. LOL

It might seem like a small space on paper, but I think you might be surprised at all the storage you can find! Here's a pic of our little laundry room. :o)

You can get a powder room into lesss space than what you've labeled 'Pantry'. Use your 'Closet' for storage and drip-dry. (I have rods and shelving in my closet and the floor is tile, so drips are OK.) I'd skip 'cubbies' and the bench doesn't need to be as long.

We'd probably be of more help if you could show us what parts of your sketch are permanent and can't be changed (like the doorways), and label what's beyond each entrance. Again...can you eliminate the 'Steps'? I don't get why this area has to be on two levels. (I had a single step down into a back hallway once and nearly killed myself several times!)

Persnickety, thanks for posting a photo of your laundry area and for the description of how you use your closet. It was very helpful and made me think of ways to use the room that I hadn't before. I never thought of using part of the closet for hanging full-length pants and ironing and such. I'm definitely thinking that it will be useful to have a closet in there to hide things that I might not always want in the open.

Chisue, sorry I wasn't clear about what's moveable, etc. This entire space is being carved from the corner of our garage, which hasn't been framed in yet. So all wall dimensions are flexible, as well as window placement and door from garage. The doorways that need to stay are those to the entrance into the living area, and the doorway to stairs up to the bonus room. As you walk into the living area, the LR is on the right and the kitchen is to the left--it is a very open floor plan. The door by the bench is the entrance from the garage.

The steps are necessary because the garage floor is below the level of the house floor. I guess a way to fix this would be to put in a false floor beneath this entire space, then have steps going down out the door to the garage. However, I can't imagine that would be any less of a hazard! Now, I believe the plan is to have a false floor under just the pantry/storage area.

I talked to DH about putting in a powder room, and we both agreed that we would rather put those funds elsewhere. Plus, I think we are going to put a utility sink in the garage, which will suit our needs just fine. So my next question is...is the three feet of counter space next to the washer/dryer enough space for a folding counter and an initial landing spot for groceries? Is there a way to make this space more convenient and user-friendly, or is it okay as is?

Again, thanks so much for all of your input!!

That's a very large opening to the rest of the house. By my reckoning, it's 4 1/2 feet. I'd take some of that space and extend the counter top. Also, if you use double doors instead of bifolds on the closet, you can use the backs of the doors for additional storage space, such as ironing board storage. Unless you're of the no-iron school.