Okay, so thoughts: Is door placement set? I'd put the toilet near the door, with sink next to it. I'd put the shower in a back corner If this is a basement, I'd put a drain in the floor of the room (and maybe leave it concrete floors so I could potentially hose the whole thing down?) Laundry in a back corner (other corner) Hanging things between laundry and shower storage/hooks/etc along other wall sink near door. I think I went around the room. If you have the option to put the door in the center of the room instead of the end of a wall, that might be best. But, you can play with that a little.

Thanks for the awesome advice ladies. I have been away from the forums..we were out of town dealing with family illness. ANyway, on a brighter note..back to the reno! Jeri: I am not familiar with the designated broom closet thingy. I would love to see it. I am having a closet set up for that in my kitchen area, too. FirstHouse: Any idea who it was that put the cubbies underneath? I'd love to see pictures. I can somewhat visualize since my current W/D is up on a pedestal but curious how useful they would be if I had to stand on my head to see in them. YKWIM? I am getting nervous abt the 3x3 space. I guess I never thought abt that! I am so thrilled to be getting it changed, I am blinded to the downsides... Jsweenc: Thank you for your thoughts...Where are u in NC? We r in CHarlotte...been here abt 5 years after being out in the midwest for most of our married life.DH is a USC alum/fan so we have the running.."real" Carolina discussion a lot! Of course, there really isn't any discussion since *we* know the answer! Anyway, you are very kind to play with my layout. That wall between the two rooms already exists. We had just planned to cut a hole in it for the door. The front part (where the powder room will go) is my current laundry room and the back part (cubbies) is a storage room that backs up to the laundry room. We are stealing that space from the garage if you will. The back wall is approx 10 ft wide. W/D are standard front loaders at 27" but GC said allow 30" for each one. Not a lot of space. It looks a lot bigger on paper!! We are moving our entrance to the house to back area from a door that is currently on the other side of the commode wall in the drawing. I am putting a coat closet there.So I will have additional storage for coats besides the ONE they are to put in the cubbie.(yeah, right...I'll need to do an inservice with the kids on that!) I am not married to closing everything off in cabinets. I am leaning toward wanting to close my laundry area off from the powder room with a pocket door though. I'd like to think my LR will be neat and clean but it really never is.I suffer from CHAOS which is an acronym for "Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome" because my house is always a mess.I feel like that back area will suffer the most even with additional storage. I thought about switching the kid's zone to the file drawer area but worried about the mess. I also have that window right in the middle. Both of those windows currently exist and moving them would require a lot of additional expense. I toyed with the idea of putting the powder room on the window side but figured it would make it dark down the hallway. That would free up cubbie space on the other side. I'd LOVE to hear what you guys think about all of this....My GC emailed me yesterday and wants to finalize things next week!!!!! Yikes....I'm getting a little panicky...

I like Rococogurls suggestions. There could be an island in the center for crafts, sewing, etc. too. Though, that may not suit your needs. The kitchen though, have you considered having the kitchen forum look at your plan. There are some real experts over there. The reason, is that I see some things that look like they might need rearranging for more efficiency. I am not a kitchen layout expert, but over on the kitchen forum there are experts, and very kind and helpful experts. For instance the location of the stove, between the sink and the frig, is possibly awkward. Back to the laundry room. You'll need room to store supplies, and more. You will need hanging space to dry items. You'll need a counter for folding. You'll need easy access for the dryer vent to clean periodically. You'll need access to quick shut off of water in case of leaks, or when leaving for vacation. Any cabinetry at the machine area, needs to allow for machine maintenance and pulling out the units for repairs. It looks like your current plan locates the set against an interior wall. How will the dryer be vented? It would be better to locate the dryer against an exterior wall for the shorted ducting you can get. Dryer vent spec installation varies between brands. The manual will spec length of run that is desired. If it is too long of a run, then an inline exhaust dryer fan is recommended, I believe. When there is a 90degree bend, that = 5' of your allowed run. So you can't put in very many elbows before you use up all your length. My machine is 8' away from my exterior wall over the basement, where the duct runs between the joist. Because of all the bends to get it 4' down into the floor, then out the exterior wall 8' away, I used up 33' feet in the equation. The vent on the outside of the wall = 10' of ducting I believe. I could be off on some of these numbers, but it needs to be considered when locating a dryer. Depending on your exterior, you could put them under the window in the upper right 45 degree angled wall. But you don't want the dryer vented onto a gathering area, like a patio, cause lint will blow out. It's best to have the front loaders against a load bearing wall too. When machines are placed on joist flooring system, they need to be near the end of the joist. Otherwise there is tendency to bounce the floor. Unless you are on a slab of concrete, that is ideal, and the machines can go anywhere. The machines need to be able to be absolutely level once installed.

If the choices are only pocket door or barn door, then I’d pick a pocket (ha!) door, which I have. However, if you’re open to the idea, double doors, like oaktonmom suggested, is an option worth considering. That’s what I’ll be replacing my laundry room door with, because of the congestion in that area of my house (laundry room door, closet door and garage door all open into a 4’ x 8’ vestibule of sorts). Like your ex, I took the laundry room door of its hinges (I didn’t throw mine away though!) while I was working on reconfiguring the closet that’s catty corner to it because I kept banging stuff against the always-slightly-ajar laundry room damn door (apparently the laundry room is a popular place for cat bathrooms). Plus, the good thing about a traditional swinging door (or two) is that, if storage space really is at a premium, you can hang things on the back of the door, like the ironing board, mops and brooms, clothes rod, wire shelving for cleaning supplies, etc., which you could not do with a barn or pocket door. And here are some clever ideas for those of you whose laundry room pulls double doody as a cat restroom: The Kitty Korner hinge! It turns any door into a cat door!