Are you working with an architect?

Yes

I have mixed feelings too but not sure where else to put it on first floor. I appreciate the creativity of putting it just outside the master bath. I will definitely consider that.

If you have a view to the backyard, you are really blocking it with powder room and three season room placement. Are you limited on lot width? Your greatroom has no direct windows to the outside. Your dining room and kitchen only have windows on one side. I think you can get all of the spaces you want laid out better to optimize windows and lights. The hall labeled gallery will also be dark. I would only put one door to the powder room from the hallway. It is private already if someone was sleeping there. I would add a shower so it could be a usable complete bathroom for a guest or one of you if you can not get upstairs. You might consider it be big enough for a wheelchair to maneuver. I like the idea of a washer dryer in the closet, and shelves big enough to hold laundry baskets so you can wash by category and put away in a basket :) I would be sure to use a drain pan with overflow to the outside as it would suck to have a leak in the closet. I would put the master bath toilet on an outside wall. The extra light at night through the window lets you find it more easily with the lights off.

What does your architect recommend?

You can also do something like this, instead of having a hallway in the bedroom. move the door and utilize that space for W/D, something like this

My very first thought when I looked at your floor plan was, "Oh, good, a coat closet right by the front door!" Then I saw the Flex room with direct access to a powder room (which also has access from the Gallery), and I thought, "that's good, too." Then I saw that there are two closets opposite that bathroom, which both open to the Gallery, and I thought, "hmmm... get rid of the coat closet by the front door because the first closet in the Gallery can be used for that purpose, and take the space from the original coat closet to expand the Flex room's powder room to a full bath so it will be available for overnight guests, or in case someone else in the family (who normally sleeps upstairs) needs a first floor bedroom while recovering from an illness or injury."

Yes, the plan is if we need to adapt the flex room from an office to a bedroom, the powder will convert to a full bath. We will include plumbing so the coat closet can become a bath. We may not need it, but it's there if we do.

Get rid of the laundry in your closet. Put it in one of the blue spots below. I prefer non stackable washer /dryer so I prefer the gallery location.

We want the laundry to be close to the master closet for convenience. The spot you've marked on the right is what we've been considering, just facing the closet.

We are putting a stack in our closet. To me, the logical place for yours is where GN Builders recommended so you can vent it directly out the side of the house.

I'm wondering if it would make sense to rotate the toilet room and have it use that corner of the closet. Then we could perhaps have a side by side WD that against the wall between the toilet room and master closet.

"We want the laundry to be close to the master closet for convenience."

Did you give any thought to the gauntlet you have to go through to change a load of laundry or retrieve a shirt?

Turn the toilet closet 90 degrees, so the toilet backs up to the stairs. It gives you more usable space in the closet. I would then put the stackable W/D right inside the closet, next to the bathroom sink.

I still like a main floor laundry since I spend no time upstairs during the day. I have had laundry in all 3 spote basement, 2nd floor and main and would always do a main floor one again. I also would never put a laundry in a walk in closet As for the 3 season space as much as I love nana walls the thought of all those mosquitos getting in always bothers me. I think a screened in porch where those bugs are a issue makes more sense but I find the placement of that one very odd since it is only used for 3 seasons it will look bad I think from the DR. I never understand flex rooms IMO every space planned should have a purpose . Accessing closets through bathrooms is a poor choice too.

If you're putting in a pool, wouldn't you want to have an easy access to the washer/dryer for rinsing swimsuits and drying towels? Do you want kids and guests all trekking through the master bedroom and bath?

" . . . in Michigan want a room we can use more than just the handful of warm summer months."

I think you mean "days" not "months"; and depending on what part of Michigan, they may not fill a hand. I lived four miles from Lake Michigan (near Frankfort) and when it was hot at our house we would drive to Lake Michigan to swim to cool off. There were times the air temperature was so cool at the lake that we didn't want to go swimming.

I think I might re-work the mud-room/powder room and put the stacked laundry there. @Mark Bischak, Architect is right. The maze you'd have to walk just to move your wash into the dryer is fairly complex. You've got an awful lot of cabinetry in that mud-room area; there's likely a better solution to include the laundry there.

"@Mark Bischak, Architect is right."

I am going to print that and frame it.

You're welcome. :-D

I also do not understand 18’ ceilings in a climate where heating is essential for the better part of the year.

Consider putting the laundry in the walk in pantry. If you look at your day to day life, you will see you spend most of your time in the kitchen, family room area. When you are doing laundry, it’s handy to have the laundry machines close to where you are.

Hiding the laundry in the bedroom is a good idea, in theory, but not necessarily in practice.

Ive had laundry in the basement, on the second floor, by the master bedroom and in the pantry. By far, the best spot for me, for everyday convenience, is in the pantry.

Move the vanity into the closet, move the toilet where the vanity was, and the stackable where the toilet was.

Vanity in the closet makes more sense than laundry, because you are daily coordinating makeup, jewelry, hair, accessories, with your apparel.

Laundry in the bathroom, right next to the closet door, makes more sense because you might use a stain-remover spray, or spill a little detergent or drop a pod, and you don’t want it on the hanging clothes. Or, you might have something soaking in the sink, or just come in with clothes dirty enough that you don’t want them near your clean clothes.

I’m not sure why some are saying the best laundry location is the mud area. There’s going to be laundry upstairs for the kids per the OP so this laundry will likely be used 90% for the occupants of the master bedroom and dish towels from the kitchen. Truly, the master closet seems most logical to me as it will be really simple and efficient to toss dirty laundry straight into the washer as one undresses to shower.

I like laundry in your closet idea. Put it where it suits you.

I think the area by powder, flex, gallery needs to be reworked a lot. There are far too many doors. The powder does not need two doors at all.

Thank you all for the feedback. You are giving me lots to think about and discuss with the architect and builder. The architect did originally have the W/D in the mudroom area. But the laundry in terms of towels, swimsuits, etc. generated by pool use is only three months per year tops, so it makes sense to me to put it closer to where there is 12-month laundry.

Also, since we have laundry on the 2nd floor, the bulk of laundry on the first floor will be generated by my wife and me and that laundry will come from the master bedroom, bathroom, and closet (with much less from the kitchen and first-floor bathrooms). Since we both work, we are doing our laundry in the evenings anyways when we are more likely to be in or near the bedroom. It would be a pain to have to carry it all the way to the mudroom and then back again to the closet and bedroom when it was done. Why not take it off, wash it, dry it, and put it away all in the same room?

Originally there was a door directly to the MC in the back left corner, but we removed it from the plan thinking we would put the laundry there. If we move it next to the door to the MB, we could add that door back in.

I do worry about humidity and smell that might be generated, and perhaps noise from the W/D. i want to talk to the builder about putting a ventilation fan and/or dehumidifier by the W/D in the MC, and/or putting it inside a cabinet of some kind.

Oh, I forgot to mention someone in kitchen design where I was getting feedback on our layout there caught the two doors to the powder room. We are going to remove the door from the flex room, which is really going to be an office, to the powder room. We are just trying to build with flexibility so we could convert the office to a bedroom and the powder room to a full bath if needed one day.

Frame the wall for the future door, but drywall over the opening (with sufficient temporary framing within the future door opening).

Perhaps a concept similar to this would work (not to be taken literally):

"Vanity in the closet makes more sense than laundry, because you are daily coordinating makeup, jewelry, hair, accessories, with your apparel."

I disagree, but that's because I need a sink when I'm doing my hair and makeup.

The vanity originally was across from the sink. I'm thinking the vanity can be next to the sink. If the suite can't be reorganized, it could be just inside the closet door, practically beside the sink. I'm not sure how the OP uses a vanity.

My wife wants the vanity in the bathroom for access to the sink. Probably it would be ideal to have them side by side but haven’t seen a layout like that we’ve liked more than the current.

"My wife wants the vanity in the bathroom for access to the sink. Probably it would be ideal to have them side by side but haven’t seen a layout like that we’ve liked more than the current."

If you relocate the door into the bathroom a bit to the left, you could keep the basic layout as you have it, with a corner sink/vanity for your wife. Something like this:

This is the floor plan that shows the master suite:

Looking at Mark’s gauntlet route, could you put a door to the hall in that back most corner of the closet? Thus quick access to the closet if you do need that sweater and easy exit if one of you gets ready while the other is still sleeping

shead - I sort wash loads into 4 categories: whites, lights, darks, jeans. On very few days would I want to put everything I'm wearing into the same load.

shead - I sort wash loads into 4 categories: whites, lights, darks, jeans. On very few days would I want to put everything I'm wearing into the same load.

And obviously, lives are different. DH works on a farm. All of his work clothes (which can amount to more than a load per day in the winter when he wears multiple layers) can all be washed together. It will be FAR more convenient to wash his clothes in the master closet and put immediately away than lugging them to the other side of the house and back again to put away. 90% of my things can be washed together as well.

For farm clothes, I would want the washer & dryer by the back door! Cow poop, grease, mud, diesel fuel in the master closet? No thank you. If I was a farmer, I would want a shower next to the washer & dryer that are next to the back door.

I can't get my head around having stinky, dirty clothes in a closet where the clean clothes are no matter your profession. Maybe because I wash clothes once a week?