Whoa, I can't get past the 12 kids! You have done a great job planning your laundry room. I agree, I would go with a retractable clothes line, instead of a pole. One way that you could disguise it, would be to enclose it in a wood box to match the trim on your stained glass window. Depending on the size of the window, it could be hidden behind a wooden valance that you would lift to expose the close line. This would run the full length of your laundry room. Not a good place for kids to be running through if this is a busy intersection in your home. I agree with you on the cut-out on the back of the cabinet over the washer for your water shut-off's. You can store your laundry supplies in there. Depending on the depth of your chimney, the empty space next to it could have a tall utility cabinet, cut-back. The minimum cut-back that I would do is back to a 12" depth. You can either have a regular ironing board in there, plus storage for other misc. cleaning supplies, or have your builder install the necessary support for a fold down ironing board. It obviously cannot be recessed due to the pocket doors. I don't like the storable fold down ironing boards because they really don't give you a lot of space, plus I assume that you have small children. These cabinets hang very low on the wall and litte heads can ram into the corner's of these stand alone cabinets when they are not recessed. I'd continue with the wood flooring for continuity. Why? Because that is why we pay for house insurance...LOL

Hi everyone~ Thanks so much for all the votes of confidence. I needed your help on this one. ;o) Drum roll please...... I PLACED MY ORDER!!!!!!!! It was a hard choice to make... and I'm not sure why. But with the encouragement of you all, and another good friend with a great eye, I decided to take the plunge. Now there's one dilemma. The tile man called me back and said they are out of the diamond 1x2 tiles when he called the wherehouse. :o( He offered to give me 2x5 diamond (rhomboid is his propert term) for the same price. At first I said yes, until I remembered that my step up into the bath is not 5 inches tall. The whole reason I ordered diamond shape was for that step!! LOL! So he is researching this weekend to see if he can find me some, even if it is from another supplier. Great. If not, I'll probably just do 2 inch tiles there instead. I hope he finds the diamond... they really wrapped themselves around my heart. :o) Okay, one decision down, a zillion to go. Thanks so very much for your help on this one. I will surely share photos when the tile is in. :o)

For your kitchen, I would do a rug like you have drawn out. That said, I can testify DD2 had a killim in her last house/kitchen. Even with a rug pad, it did not want to stay down. They are not heavy rugs, and tend to "walk" and move about. I would suggest something heavier than your etsy rug. We've had rugs in our kitchen for decades. When the children all at home (and cats/dog), I had a printed sisal (ordered from Ballard Design). Also had one under the breakfast room table. No issues. Easy spill clean up and vacuuming a breeze. Last house, I decided no rugs in the kitchen, but used Soumak rug in laundry room (and many other rooms). Flat weave rugs, are virtually indestructible, and they stay down. Liquids bead, so easily cleaned. This includes cat vomit. :D Check Kalaty website (then shop around), as they make odd sizes some manufacturers do not make. I have three nice rugs in our current kitchen. 3 dogs, 2 cats and 2 grandchildren, but DH is my mess maker (arthritis). I have been buying rug pads from Rug Pad USA for years. There is a great buying guide to help get the right pad for your floor and rug types. They also custom cut to size. (Have you ever tried cutting a nice rug pad with scissors?!) BTW, for pet or food stains, keep the small bottles of club soda on hand. Get up spill/whatever as much as you can with a spoon (lifting it off, not getting it deeper). Then use the spoon to put just enough club soda to cover the spill. The bubbling lifts the spill to the surface, then firmly blot with paper towels. If needed, repeat. I usually put aluminum foil between rug and rug pad, so the rug pad (and flooring) doesn't get wet. This method has been great to remove cat vomit stains from the rugs in our current home (not just the kitchen). Replace top and shake bottle. Store in refrigerator until needed again, but if it doesn't bubble the next time you use, toss and open a new bottle. (Hence, buy the small 6 pack of club soda).

For those that have kids do their own laundry don’t they waste water then? Maybe, but it's a learning experience for them, so worthwhile. While I can see the advantages, I'm not sure it is necessary either. Oh, of course it's not necessary. I think even the people who advocate for the idea don't think it's a necessity. Back to laundry, my upstairs laundry room is pretty small so the room is always full of clothes. I don't think size of the room is always the issue -- a small but well designed room can be more functional than a larger space. For what it's worth, my pantry /laundry room is pretty big -- about 15x7 -- but it's a horribly designed space. You have to walk through the kitchen to reach it, and it has a useless exterior door. The space could've been laid out so much better. And it's so far from the bedrooms that "folded loads" end up left on top of the machines -- then College Girl comes and pulls an item out of the middle, and they topple over. I don't really want a bigger laundry room, but I do wish I had a space for "waiting loads" and a location closer to the bedrooms so it wouldn't feel like such a chore to carry finished loads literally the length of the house. We easily have two loads of laundry a day. This'll change for you -- eventually. I only have one kid at home now, and she's only home part-time. My husband is retired, so he doesn't wear business clothes /re-uses jeans for several days. In the summer when I don't work, my laundry is downright easy! Something to look forward to in retirement. I'd consider doing stackable compact machines upstairs and then larger capacity machines that could handle things like sleeping bags or dog beds downstairs. I'm definitely going to downsize our machines when they need replacing. 10-12 years ago I bought large front-loaders, and I appreciated the large loads they could hold -- but, oh, they are space hogs. Large items -- sleeping bags and dog beds, as you mentioned -- don't get washed all that often. If I have to take them to a laundry mat or a cleaner, it would be okay. I counted the TV sets in the suite: 7. Seven. In the master suite. Seven? How can that possibly be? I'm trying to imagine where they could go: One in the bed chamber, one for the tub, one for a sitting area ... this is like a train wreck. I have to know! Surely no one watches TV in the closet?