Mom of seven here. We farm which means everyone has two full wardrobes of everything: Farm and Town. I have some quick ideas for you, no time to be diplomatic sorry. You need to purge. Dozens of hats are not necessary for six people. Choose two each: one light weight beanie and one really warm toque. Ditto mittens/gloves: one lighter weight for dashing to the grocery store, one heavy pair for skiing etc. Each person's stuff will fit in one basket. No one needs more than one pair of Crocs or flip flops. Those can go on a shoe rack by the door. Put a towel hook over the closet door, that's where everyone can store their towel. Colour coding avoids fights: Payton can't say that Blake stole her towel if hers is yellow and his is green. Bathing suits can be stored where they change. Check out the rental area at your local ski hill. Recreate that storage situation with one set of boots and skis for each. You mentioned that this kind of equipment is stored outside but: I see ski boots! Where you have a hanging rod, instead install a pullout clothes drying rack. Put one over the laundry sink too. The white organizer looks disfunctional in that it seems stuff can tumble out easily and it's too hard to see what's at the bottom of each bin. A basket or drawer on a bench is best in my experience, those cube organizers are ok too but then they have to pull a drawer out and hold it while they search. Instead I would put a deep bench or two under the hooks and set baskets on it. A coffee table actually works well for this. Put boot trays in front of it to catch drips. The hooks are too high for anyone under twelve to reach independently. Lower them for the kids. Add shelves above them. Having said that, I don't see any toddler stuff here. Time for peeps to get responsible.

The owner's retreat is the master bedroom and it was designed for the door to enter from the mudroom because my husband is a truck driver who works odd/opposite hours as me. The laundry room aslo has a door that goes into the master closet which connects to the master bedroom so we don't have to wake each other as we're coming and going. This also allows me to keep dirty/greasy clothes in a limited area of the house. We live on 5 acres of farmland so it's easier to limit the dirt to one area this way. I am considering a small bench next to the washer and dryer for sitting down to take off shoes, it is a 4ft space so does that seem sufficient for 2 people? This is the full house plan, however we did not do the optional drop zone because it seemed smaller than the 4ft area being left in the laundry room.

chicagoans, I will most likely remove those French Doors since that will be the new living room. Not sure I will need a door or should I add one? I have moved all of my cabinets that were in my sewing room to the new sewing room and because it is laid out different I could not figure out how to add everything. I removed the half bath for the moment. Also, if you are talking about the window on the porch I will be removing it and putting the den on the left side of the porch. I have not added a door in the garage yet to go to the outside (is that what a man door is?) I have been looking at Foyer layouts but don't want to go too wide but I think I would like French Doors for the entry or at least a door and a half with both sides that will open. I will have the doors to the den will be off the foyer and I was thinking about adding the half bath at the end of the den wall. If I put the laundry room in the kitchen I was going to put the pantry on the east side but the entry door will be at the other end. What would you do and would you enclose the pantry with walls and a separate door or just have the shelves exposed? Right now my shelves are 12" deep but I think I would like them deeper--maybe at least 14" deep. I know the garage is on the opposite side of the house from the kitchen but those are the only places I can have them located because of the lot.

We need a picture of the exterior mud room add-on including the roof. Because we need to see if a header is required and how much space there is between the top of the door and the ceiling joists of the mudroom. Also, are the walls of the mudroom sitting on an above grade stem wall? It may well be that the only fix is a tear down & start over if the framing is at or below grade.