My first house, a small patio home in El Paso, had a laundry closet with bi-fold doors in the hallway. I was 30 years old and having a W/D in my own house was a fabulous luxury. I bought a GE pair, the washer had the tiny tub that fit on the agitator and I used it all the time for really small loads. There was a shelf above the W/D and all my detergents, bleach, etc. were stored there. I kept broom, mops, etc. on the floor beside the dryer.

I would think having the W/D on your main floor, with your mother having easy access, would be great.

lindiver, will you need space for items which can't be machine-dried to hang dry? If so, you may want to make the closet a bit deeper (just one foot makes a difference), and look for a way to hang a rod (tension rod, shower rod, etc) above the washer/dryer -- particularly if you can have shelves between them. Just a suggestion, which may not work for you.

Have you considered installing pocket doors (that slide into the wall)? My best friend has a closet laundry in a hall near her bedroom, and she really likes the pocket doors, as they are completely out of the way when she is doing laundry.

I would definitely prefer to have the w/d upstairs rather than in the basement. And that will certainly be a great help for your mom.

dianne57, I believe you're talking about a GE FilterFlo washer. My first washer was one, and it was excellent (I also had the matching dryer). I didn't realize until a year or so ago that it's considered a classic today. :-)

I converted a smaller closet in our first floor den to a laundry closet. Below is a link to my original post about that. It has made our lives much easier. We use a folding rack in the bathroom for drying the non-dryer clothes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to my closet laundry post

I have a laundry closet in my kitchen. The original machine was an old one-piece laundry center but I replaced it with the Duet Sport set. I love having it in the kitchen.

If you are going to close the doors while the dryer is running there are requirements for louvered doors. I took my doors off so it didn't matter.

Thanks, all!
We're going to use a folding rack in the bathtub for line dry clothes in the winter. For the summer, we have a washline in the back yard. We've always had it; glad it's back in style to have one. :-)
We will be using some kind of ventilated door, as well as installing a vent fan. That corner currently has a window, but I don't know if we can keep it in the closet, as we'd have to somehow reach over a machine to open and close it.
There won't be wall space for a pocket door, but I saw the post on Steve's link for the hinges to make bi-fold doors open flush to the outside walls. I'm on my way to the web site to take a look...... Linda