I like your modification much better. The first one is not really a laundry room. You gain an entire usable closet.

Considering that the plumbing and electrical would have to be moved in your proposal, perhaps you would be better off taking 16" (or however much it takes) from the master and the proposed bedroom, and put the closet between those rooms. Then you only have to move a couple of outlets, at most.

I’d prefer the extra storage so the room could actually be used as a bedroom.

Closet in flex room + laundry closet

Are you building to rent? To live in? And if a sale....when? That's the question you answer. Three bedrooms sharing a bath on a RE sale is not too cool. That ship sailed a long time ago. Also not great is a master bath, with no dedicated shower.A three bedroom house, with two baths and a decent laundry.......is a very functional house for a four person family. Still saleable. Far more livable, on a daily basis.

AnnKH, We considered that also, but it would take 30 inches from the master

Jan, it is an existing home, we are looking to borrow space from the laundry room to turn a flex room into an optional 4th bedroom. The room is there only without a closet. The master has a shower, it's a generic floorplan of this model. Thanks!

Too much stuffed in the square feet : ) ?

I have a laundry closet it is quite wide but not deep and I love it it has shelves on one side for linens but it is on my main floor . This is my first time having laundry on my main floor and I would never go back to anyplace else. I can do laundry without running up and down stairs and I always hear the beeper while doing other stuff . Maybe think about that placement. If not go with the closet for the bedroom and one for the W/D IMO the 2nd best use of space in this situation BTW if you ever design another house make sure you do not need to go through the bathroom to get to the closet. BTW there are 1000s of homes with shared bathroom for kids , those bedrooms are very small so I think the extra bedroom could also be used as room for kids to watch TV etc.

Thank you Patricia. We are just modifying an *existing* house to make a usable 4th bedroom. The master closet inside of the master bath is an odd configuration, I agree, but is standard in this area for some reason. Even our luxury residence is set-up that way, although the water closet has it's own room.

We remodeled a few years, and gave up a laundry room (with utility sink) in order to gain an additional bathroom. We now have a laundry closet in our upstairs hallway, and I have no regrets!

A couple of things to consider:

1. Make sure the laundry closet is deep enough to so that, if you have a front loader, you can keep its door ajar to dry out and still close the closet doors.

2. Make sure the landing is deep enough so that someone standing in front of the dryer and pulling clothes out into a basket doesn't worry that they might tumble down the stairs. I don't know what the minimum measurement would be, but if it's a narrow landing, my fear of falling down the stairs would be enough to make me pass on renting or buying that house.

Hi Jan Kent, the scale in the pic looks like 9 ft from the front of the dryer to the first step. Maybe bi-fold doors would be a better option.

It sounds like most here wouldnt mind the laundry closet, so I guess you would get buyers. A laundry closet would be an immediate deal breaker for me. I want a laundry room, however, that said, I would want a laundry room, much bigger than what you have right now, anyway, so that alone would most likely be a deal breaker for me.

I hate bi-fold doors, but they're probably the best option for a laundry closet. My parents have a laundry closet with sliders, and they have to unload the washer into a basket, then slide the doors to reveal the dryer and load it from the basket. We have bi-folds, and I can pull clothes from the washer and throw them straight into the dryer in one motion. It's minor, but when you're doing several loads of laundry in a day, saving a couple of steps certainly helps.

I will confess that the bi-fold doors get left open while the machines are in use, so take that into account if they might impede into the hallway too much. But if you're saying the landing will be 9' feet deep in front of the machines, I think that's plenty of room.

Jan Kent, more like 7-1/2 ft from the front of the dryer to the first step, but plenty I think.

The house is listed >> here << We can't wait to repaint (hate the colors) but we will wait until it's needed in 7 years, then we'll be asking advice on color :) Thanks for all of the replies.

Can you still have the laundry room by switching the Washer/dryer to the opposite wall and using a pocket door?

Design Girl, the math doesn't work. I thought of splitting up the two and reducing the closet to a smaller hall type closet. It would be cheaper, See pic.

Seeing as how you don't lose storage in the "hall laundry" I would definitely take the 4th bedroom w/closet. I would imagine future buyers would appreciate the 4th bedroom option for resale as well, but that's thinking wayyyyy down the line.

The one thing I wouldn't do is invade the master for a closet for the proposed additional bedroom.

Another thing you might try is moving the W/D to the other side making the laundry room as small as possible (perhaps with a pocket door),while still giving you the needed room to get the job done. Then using one of those prefab Ikea Pax like closet systems on the other side of the wall of the new bedroom. They are only 23 deep and can be made to look built in.

I like that idea. I started with just an open closet mounted to the wall and leaving things as-is for purposes of the rental and being able to list it as a 4 bedroom but my realtor thought the loss of the space in the room would negate any positive effect of the "closet" see pic

@Jack D - Yes, like that, but can you move the W/D to the opposite wall that it is currently on and reframe the doorway closer to the "new bedroom" (might need a pocket door to laundry) perhaps shrink the laundry room a foot or whatever you can get making a bit more room for the closet system? I don't like the open closet system as I prefer the ones with doors. As a designer and a realtor, even though the room is small, you still have the extra room. I've got 5 bedrooms in my home and one of them is only 10 x 10. I've got a twin bed in there as well as a dresser. It's my sister's favorite room to stay in when she visits. https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/pax-wardrobe-white-bergsbo-white-s19127297/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAkePyBRCEARIsAMy5ScuNAD-dsyPBUR5RMtwyJY550Nz6nsSDgCNi8biKdAOBwSi8dWbarqoaAr-8EALw_wcB

I would be perfectly happy with the laundry closet to get a fourth bedroom. That seems like it could get expensive moving the plumbing though in which case my second choice would be building out a closet into the flex room even though you lose a little space. I don’t think I would mind it for my guestroom.

Design Girl, thanks so much! I can move the washer and dryer to the opposite wall, but I would still have to lose a foot of space somewhere, either in the hall or the bedroom, the system is 24" wide and a wall would still need to exist, so the savings vs a traditional closet amout to just the thickness of a wall. See pic. I took 1' out of the bedroom

On this pic, I moved the wall in the bedroom back to 10', moved the washer and dryer forward and took 1' out of the hallway

@Jack D - I like that - I'd take a foot if I could get it. Can you take more space out of the hallway or would it be too tight? I'd place the entry door to the new room as far out in the hallway as possible while still looking good. I think this is a good plan.

Design Girl, did you see the edit above? I could lose a foot in the hall without any problems. When you say " place the entry door to the new room as far out in the hallway as possible" are you meaning closer to the bedroom or closer to the hall? Thanks!

@Jack D - I just saw the edit. I like the second photo where you took space out of the hallway. That bedroom door looks like when opened it will be about on the same plane as the new closet. I was meaning to move the doorway closer to the hall. Start playing around with furniture placement so you know where you can place a bed and maybe a dresser or desk. I wish I could do all that stuff on the computer, but I'm hopeless.

Closet and a laundry room with a more narrow hallway definitely seems like the best of both worlds!

The very last plan you posted with the pocket door looks to be a winner. It seems to have the least plumbing moving. You will have a closet in the bedroom, with the added sound insulation and still be able to call it a laundry room, instead of a laundry closet.