ooo ooo, Brandkb -- thank you for being willing to enter into this dialog with me -- it will be so helpful!!! Thank you! Actually, we sound a little similar. I do a lot of laundry and don't mind it too much; it's kinda a Zen of Laundry for me. I have no dryer. I have a FL that's pretty old by now but still works great. We bought a dryer from the house's former occupant when we moved in 16 years ago. It died maybe 4 years ago now and I just never replaced it. I only ever used it maybe twice a year before that. It probably just got arthritis from dis-use. I don't miss it. I know others might. If I should happen to need a dryer, there's a laundromat 3 blocks from me, but I've never even needed that. So ... that gives a little more space! But you're right, folding doesn't really happen indoors; it mostly all happens outdoors. What does happen indoors is lots of clothes get tossed on the floor of the laundry room. So ... I've decided I need a sorting area for them and I love the method of just having shelves that someone posted here recently. I think having two shelves for 3 each of my square rubber maid buckets will be fantastic. Really, I just have no idea how anyone gets through life without laundry buckets. I use them for everything, packing, ordering, sorting, etc. Then I also have a couple other dirty-clothes piles, for dining-room stuff like napkins and dish towels, and for nasty dirty cleaning rags. Those will want their own separate holding bins. The other laundry nominally gets collected elsewhere so volume-wise massive space isn't needed for it, but practically speaking, it all winds up on the floor basically 24/7 anyway. I haven't really ironed anything for 20 years either. But I feel guilty about it! There's the cutest little ironing board by RevAShelf that fits into a drawer that I thought about getting ... but really, that's probably pretty stupid. Fantasies about ever ironing and spending that money to this end are likely going to get zero bang for the buck. Old dogs don't really change their spots, IYKWIM. I agree completely that a drip zone and a hanging shelf are essential. I want a rack above the laundry sink and a rod. I was thinking about using the elfa stuff on one wall above the sink but not on another wall where the laundry bucket shelves will be. Uppers there would be good storage and cabinets will do that better I think. Likewise, I have one small squirelly space I want probably to put a cabinet into for "stick" cleaning things - mops, dust things, etc. Elfa has rods and also those wire mech and wire racks that I thought would be great for somehow getting atop the sink as a drip setup for, say, sweaters. I do want rod space for men's shirts because those come out of the FL nearly, but not-quite dry. They need a little time just to hang dry. So they may not need to hang dry over the sink as they're only damp, not dripping like, say, sweaters. Good thinking about the detergent, I hadn't remembered to think about that. I do buy in bulk, #50 boxes that I decant into a #5 box. So that smaller box I was planning a open shelf for above the machine. But I hadn't considered the big box. Currently I store that in a room in the garage (aka "guest house", lol), but maybe I should keep on doing so. I don't really have to fill the small box more than 4x per year. I have laundry sorting bag-things in two bathrooms for family laundry to accumulate. But still, again, it does also wind up continuously on the floor. So I do think it probably does make sense to dedicate the space to this. I will post plans below that I have from fiddling with IKEA's software. I don't think I will probably buy from them as I had a plausibly-OK experience with a local cabinetmaker who I could use again. I wouldn't say that experience was pleasant, but it was OK in the end. I'm having trouble, though, getting those plans off the internet so I may submit this and come back later once I lift them off. Racks, yes - I have oodles of them. I thought I should plan a little space to store and easily access them but truthfully, they're almost always up or open or outside anyway. Still... So ... the space is off the kitchen-family room which is a big large open space. And then also off that space is an office/music room. That music room is separated from the laundry by a pocket door into the laundry room. The laundry room has a regular door to the FR-K, and there's a third door which is just a passthru to a 3/4 bath (in theory the office can be a guest room and this a bathroom for it); that bath has a door to the outside which my husband fanatasizes about storing me and all my laundry via along the house's sidewall. Ha. We'll see.... He has yet to make a deck happen out there and though I've hated the idea all along, I'm actually kind of sort of starting to like it too: shhhh.... ;) But in the meantime, the outside is accessed through the FR where there's a French door. The room is 86" x 106" and the mashing machine and sink are currently on the only wall with no door. I'll get my plans into here anon. Gotta run right now. Thanks for be willing to think about this and share some ideas!! Have you any photos of your setup?

Hi oruboris, it'll be somewhat complicated that's for sure. I do wish that the house already had a basement to it but it doesn't. The "basement" I have in mind would be more akin to a root cellar type of set up for storing potatoes, sweet potatoes, melons, etc. - those large crops that are dirty or cumbersom to store indoors and need a cool spot. The "canning station" I have in mind would involve a full range stove as we do a lot of that during the summer months, almost daily, and this will include an exhaust vent to the outside, so I want to free up the real kitchen for the usual cooking & dish washing. The present 6'x8' laundry "room" is built upon a slab and you have to step down into this room from the main house. I want to bring the new larger room up to floor level for easier access and to give the envisioned cellar some extra head space. This cellar would have an outside enterance only so no access from the new upstairs room. Thanks too for the tips on the shower as we do plan to get a dog too. The W/D part of this laundry room would have a built-in wall/fold down ironing board for easy access and be out of the way, as well as some counter top space and shelving. My wife wants this room to be a type of "mudroom" for me & dog when we come from the outside, there I can shower without tracking thru the house and leave the really dirty cloths there to be washed. It'll probably end up being "my room" as I plan to put a refrigerator and cable TV in there too, ha. This project will begin in 18 months once I retire so I'll have full time putting it all together (with a little help from 3 friends : carpenter, plumber, and electrician).

Where will you be bringing the groceries into the house? How do these rooms relate to the rest of the floor and house? In general, separate rooms are better - for a more practical reason. Pantries should be cool, dry, and dark. Laundry Rooms are none of those! In particular, it is not a good idea to mix heat and moisture with your pantry items - at least not if you want them to last! Aesthetically, I would not want someone who needed to go into my pantry to also see my dirty laundry (or even clean laundry)! And yes, it would be an issue for me if I was considering buying your house. . Are you also redoing the Kitchen? If so, I suggest posting the entire Kitchen as well. How do I ask for Layout Help and what information should I include? http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2767033/how-do-i-ask-for-layout-help-and-what-information-should-i-include .

I removed the wallpaper from an entire house of similar age and style, although on a smaller scale. Other than one small storage space and bedroom closets, every wall in the house was unpainted plaster under the wallpaper. I had one guy who did the quality of work I wanted at a reasonable price and I kept him occupied for many months, now going on 12 years of personal and business projects. When you own a beautiful vintage home, it is important to find someone who will honor the quality and craftsmanship and be happy to have the opportunity to work on your house. Owning a beautiful vintage home is a lifestyle choice and I was willing to spend the money and devote the hours required for many years. It is expensive to do the work right and cheap fixes cause more problems and cost more money in the long run. There are many competent painters out there but many of them are focused on the profit side and historic house projects are more difficult to predict and manage. I would be looking for a small company where the owner runs the jobs himself and stay away from companies with multiple crews doing different projects. Rarely does the attention to detail extend equally to every member of a large crew and I want the boss on site. In my house, only the ceilings were canvassed. We ended up removing the canvas in a couple rooms because once the canvas is torn, it is quite common for the problem to spread. We were able to repair one portion of the living room ceiling but it was not guaranteed to work. That room was about 350 sq ft and I was willing to take the chance rather than pay more to remove to bare plaster and skim coat. I did a good portion of the wallpaper removal myself, working with the painter on a time and materials basis. He was not comfortable giving me a bid for that part of the work because wallpaper removal is just too variable. One benefit of plaster walls is the surface is more forgiving than drywall. If you are relatively handy and healthy enough for the work, it is not difficult, just time consuming and boring. Turn up the music, protect the floors and woodwork and just get busy. I was very fortunate that only the crown molding in the foyer, main floor hallway and back hallway had been painted. We stripped that paint and it was a good decision despite the amount of work involved. It is expensive, but done right, it will never need to be done again.