Different view of room

Another view

One last view

It's a nice spacious room. At first glance, you seem to have some wasted floor space in the middle of the room, but with three egresses, I don't see how you could add much of anything else to the room. Frankly, I think you could lose a whole foot and add that to the kitchen, if you could use it there. Or perhaps that extra foot would end up in the dining area.

Our old home was very crammed when you walked in through and garage and then in the front entry we had no foyer so you walked in our front door and bam you were in the living room. With this plan I agree that I'm not a fan of wasted space, but I want to make sure someone can be doing laundry and not be in the way of the closet/bench area. I originally was going to wall off the laundry, but then I would be blocking the natural light from the front windows and my boyfriend wanted an open room. If it looks spacious that's good :)

On the other side of the coat closet/benches is the staircase, so we actually couldn't lose any square footage in the room.

Chop off 2' and add it to the kitchen. Or, move the doors around to be able to add an island in the middle that doesn't interfere with the traffic path. A narrow 18" depth would add additional storage and a place to fold stuff. You'd need to move the foyer and garage door entries down towards the kitchen to keep a straight traffic through pattern, but it would add a lot to the laundry area without blocking any light to the mudroom portion of the room. Or, you could make that the bench area, and just put additional storage on the wall where the bench currently resides.

I've attached a picture of the entire floorplan to clear up the confusion for what's behind the mudroom/laundry. There's a staircase directly behind the closet and bench and we do not want to move any square footage from the living room because it is only 15 feet wide from the fireplace to the staircase. In an earlier post I closed off the laundry and a lot of people mentioned how narrow and crammed it would feel after the washer and dryer doors open (leaving about 3ft to the wall). I think the distance when the washer & dryer are open is about 5ft to the closet. Hope this makes more sense :)

Maybe it's just me, but...
having the sink off center like that would drive me nuts!

I'm open to different placement of everything in the room. The dimensions have to stay the 11 x 12 though. I originally had the laundry wall reversed so the cabinets were near the foyer and the sink was on the left of w & d and broom closet was near garage entry, but then I thought it would make more sense to have counters near the garage entry. This way it would serve as a drop off area as soon as we walk in (for keys/purse).

Also note, this room is a blank slate right now. I put the cabinets, bench etc in it to try and see what might work. the architect had this room closed off to the foyer, but I want an opening to the foyer so the powder room is accessible no matter how you enter the home.

This is just my opinion (and you know what they say about those....ha-ha), but it feels weird to me to have a formal entry walk between a laundry room and a powder room. So I "get" why the architect was trying to close off it off from the formal entry.

How about a pocket door there? At least that way you could keep it closed off if unexpected guests stop by and you've got dirty laundry all over the place in there. :)

I've attached the architects drawing. I like it but it bothers me that wed have to walk around to use the bathroom. I also dont want a wall to the laundry.I know well enter from the garage all the time. This layout gives us two coat closets. Does anyone have ideas to rearrange anything?

In our old home we used the garage entrance which only had a coat closet and powder room. Our front entrance didn't have anything. Laundry Was on second floor. .but now the master is on the first. We could certainly put a pocket door although I'm sure well never close it. Hmmm

You don't have a pantry...
Personally, I'd try to figure out how to change the closet situation to get some pantry space in that room. What about a corner closet where you just have a regular closet drawn?

Where does the Dryer vent to? Are you going to be looking at a dryer vent right at the entry of your house? Ugh is all I can say to that. I don't have a nice suggestion to easily fix it but figured its best to mention it in case a plan is not in place.

Kirkhall..the pantry will be in our kitchen as part of a built in cabinet so it blends into cabinets. Id like to have a walk in pantry but didn't see a spot for one.

Niteshadepromises...yes it will vent to porch. I got my inspiration from a few floorplans on the greater living architecture site where there is a hallway from garage entry that leads to the front foyer with two windows in front of home. One window was a powder room and the other was a laundry room...so they were both closed off rooms but in the same area as this mudroom if that makes sense :)

Well, that is one of the strangest placements for a laundry room I think I have ever seen. Right next to (and OPEN to!!!) the formal foyer?????

I could kind of understand wasting prime front-of-the-house space for the laundry room if you couldn't see into it from the formal entry, but as it is drawn now, it's just weird.

The architect's drawing is much better for hiding the laundry room, but it puts a toilet on display (in the powder room) instead.

You are smart to be putting so much thought into your mudroom...it is the most used room in our house! :) I have to agree with one of the pp, though...I would NOT want the mudroom open to my front foyer at all. Despite my best intentions and generally organized nature...this room is occasionally (frequently?) dishelveled, and it would drive me nuts making sure my children and dh kept the d@mn door shut all the time! :) Even if it weren't messy, who wants to see appliances upon entering a home? It doesn't look like you'd have to walk too far to get to the powder room if you had to go around. Ours is much further away from the garage entrance, and we haven't had any accidents yet!

I wouldn't call the foyer a formal entrance. I grew up with one entry to my home, one dining room and one living room. For us having one good sized living room and one decent sized dining area is all we need so we don't have any formal rooms in our house. As mentioned I've seen a lot of floor plans with laundry in this space. Were big fans of open spaces. Our last home had a tiny laundry room only big enough for a washer and dryer and that's it. Our guests would most likely come in the garage as well as us. I appreciate everyone's thoughts.

I think it is a smart idea to have a connection between the two entrys.

How about this.... take the architects idea....use stackable w/d with the back of these to the front wall next to the window. Put the sink in front of the window. Have it so that the w/d and sink has doors that can be closed. That will then give you a walkway from the garage door to the front door. Leave the closet as is or turn them to face the front of the house and have one big closet.

Another thought....do you really need a sink there? You have a kitchen sink and a powder room sink. I'm in the process of moving my w/d from the basement and I will now have no laundry sink and I really don't think I will miss it.

@debrak2008 I like the idea of having something to close the washer & dryer (making them hidden). I have seen a few pictures online similar to what you are describing. If I stack them what should we put in the rest of thewall? Cabinets? My boyfriend really wants coat hooks and a bench so I have to leave them in the room. I was also thinking of a suggestion from earlier of putting a pocket door at the foyer entry. This way we can leave it open and if we ever sell people will have the option to close off the entire room if needed. In regards to think sink I agree we don't really need one as I've never had one in my laundry room before, although I think it would be nice to have to rinse off items I wouldn't want in our kitchen sink like a paint brush etc. The powder room placement is from the original Frank Betz plan. We can always switch the sink and toilet so that you see the sink when walking in and not the toilet.

First, the location of the front windows should make sense from the exterior. Then line up the appliances (sink) so it's more centered.

Second, if the problem seems to be access to the PR and IMO the PR is awful as it's so small and visible from the foyer, maybe a larger rearrange is called for.

Turn the PR into the foyer closet.

Then, looking at architect's sketch, eliminate those closets and turn that into PR, open to the mudroom side, not the foyer. You can probably make an L-shaped PR that will hide the pot and leave a nook in the mudroom for a closet.

Take the wall out by the bench so the whole mudroom is open to the garage wall. Put the w/d on the window wall, and rethink a need for a laundry sink if the PR is right there. Then you can rework the remaining space for closet/bench/cubbies.

So when leaving the kitchen, the PR is on your left, have an opening straight ahead for the mudroom (no door) with the door to the garage on your right.

Here is my original inspiration picture showing the flow from the front entry to the garage (not my house plan).

@AnnieDeighnaugh...I'd love to see a scetch of what you are describing because it sounds great :) It can be on paper, I'm just having trouble visualizing. Thanks!

Put a utility sink in garage right on the wall to the house so the plumbing doesn't have to go into the slab. Or put one in the basement as part of a work shop area.

The powder room by the front door doesn't bother us. I will ask him to switch the toilet and sink in there though. The front entrance isn't formal to us as there isn't any formal rooms in the house. I want to use each room. When things are considered formal I feel like the space ends up not being used. I'd like guests to come in from either entrance to the home and be able to use the powder room and coat closet. We are keeping the L shape for a flow to one entry to the other. I will ask him for a pocket door though so any future residents can close off the room. My main concern is placement for the washer & dryer and cabinets. I'm not worried about anyone seeing them (dirty laundry will go in our walk in closet). My boyfriend and I want an open space with room to walk around and enter without feeling crammed. I like the bench so we can sit to take off our shoes and have coat hooks as soon as you enter (my boyfriend always throws his on a chair after walking by the closet). Also the cubbies above will be great for hats and gloves for the winter. I wanted to have atleast one closet to store coats for fall, winter and spring. For the sink (since we don't mind the current powder room location) I'd like to be able to have the convenience of rinsing a detergent cap right next to instead of having to go to another room :)

This is a minor change, but I have centered the washer and dryer and moved the sink to the other side. A few people mentioned the off center feel to the room. I know a few peole expressed a dislike of having the room open, however the room is a mudroom/laundry combo with a pocket door to the front entrance where there is a powder room. Walling off the laundry will feel too small and darken the hallway. Walling off the entire mudroom area will loose the connection of having an open flow to the home. I hope this clears up any confusion on what we'd like in the room.

By centering the w and d it will make it hard to access the counter.

Karen, here's a sketch of what I had in mind....it may not work exactly as I didn't add wall thicknesses, but this is just a sketch for layout purposes.

Make the foyer PR into a closet and move the PR to the mudroom area. This way you still have a space to send guests to for a washroom, it's near the garage entrance and no one coming in the foyer has to see the laundry. Getting rid of the extra entrance also improves the traffic flow in the room and adds lots of hanging space. There is room for a small upper cabinet in the corner by the sink if you want it too.

I made little nibs to illustrate a cased opening if you want so that the mud room/garage entrance can feel separate from the PR area.

I really don't like the dryer vent on the front porch so depending on what kind of porch you are making, if there's a way to vent underneath, it would be a good idea.

IMO, all of the suggestions to close in the space, make the room small! I'd dislike very much the architects version of walling off a tiny room for the machines (and that is it! Plus, now you've used some space as "hallway" that didn't have to be hallway.

I'd stick with what you had. It wasn't bad. Put an attractive door on the foyer end, so you can close it off. People (guests) might assume it was a coat closet. And, so...

I actually had a Dr Friend with this sort of layout--mudroom in front, accessible to foyer and garage. It really wasn't as bad as everyone is making it sound. Because the machines are on the front wall, people won't be looking at them when they come in (esp, if you have some sort of attractive door or shiogi (sp?) screen door.

@Anniedeighnaugh... That is a nice design except the space to walk looks pretty narrow and we'd have to walk around to sit and take our shoes off. I appreciate you taking the time to sketch that though :)

@kirkhall... Thank you!! Im definitely going to ask for a pocket door or something nice looking to close off foyer when needed. Ill keep everyone posted when we finalize this room soon.

That was just to illustrate the space if you included the PR.
You could always put the bench and cubbies around the window and move or eliminate the sink...

Some final rambling thoughts :) I want this space to be as functional as possible and open.

1. We're going to put a pocket door to have the option to close off the foyer if needed. This will allow us to close off the entire room, but still leave us the ability to open it for the pass through to foyer. Best of both worlds in my opinion :)

2. I think I'm really liking this "drop zone" space by the garage entry door. It will be great for my purse, charging cell phone and having some sort of cute/small mail sorter on the countertop.

3.Below the sink we can store detergent, stain remover etc for laundry needs.

4. If theres room I'd like to have an open space in a base cabinet to put a nice laundry basket (to bring clothes to put away in). Dirty hampers will be built ins as part of the master WIC (the bag is removable to bring to W & D). No dirty clothes will go in laundry area.

5.The broom closet will store the swiffer, steamer and wet & dry swiffer cloths. The hanging rod to air dry a few items.

6. The upper cabinets are for extra storage misc things.

7. Bench and hooks for jackets and bookbag. Cubbies above for hats, scarves and gloves.

8. Closet with double hanging will store winter, fall and guest coats as well as my boyfriends work bag can go on the floor in here.

I'm getting excited!!!

Windows side before bench is in

Bench in

Another angle

Another angle

{{!gwi}}

Thanks for posting follow up! It looks great and so similar to how you designed it! Last pic did not come through.

What did you use in the design, Sketch up? I wish I could have such great visuals to help me with the final decisions.

Thanks! I used lowes 3d designer. Huge help.

Gorgeous, what a lovely space. Would you share the paint color, it's so perfect for your room.

Sherwin Williams foggy day