It is never a good idea to touch a door knob without watching your hands after using the bathroom.

Of your two choices I would go with the sewing room. My choice would be next to each other.

eld6161

Thanks, that is what I thought too about not having a sink in the bathroom. Now to decide about the door--pocket or opening into the sewing room. Also, giving up closet space--Yikes!!!!

If you are short on space, you can also use a bi-fold door as well as a pocket door.

Look at sites that have storage solutions for small spaces.

Every time I see a toilet in a laundry room I think someone needs to see a gastroenterologist.

I start with minimums of

toilet and the sink next to each other: 5' x 6'

across from each other: 3' x 8'

Mark Bischak, Architect

LOL Thanks.

In the U.K. there are very tiny sinks called cloakroom sinks to address this problem....

In Japan, they have toilets with the sink built into the top of the tank.

So if it's a choice between the 4 places you have listed, Furnace room would be my vote.

I couldn't imagine having a toilet and sink in my laundry room, sewing room or mud room -

UCK to those rooms.

At least in the furnace room you could make some sort of divider around the furnace/water tank or whatever else you have in there.

Was that your question?

latifolia

Right now my sewing room is 24' x 15' and my closet is 11' x 11' so if I take 5' x 3' for half bath--that should be okay, right? I have many Bolts of fabrics. I used to have a website and sold fabrics and notions. I have also designed quilt patterns and I make donation quilts using my pattern "Ribbons & Bows Hope for a Cure" for cancer patients. Every time I try to downsize my fabrics--it has not worked.

Angel 18432

The Furnace/Laundry/Mudroom will be one room--the room we will enter from the garage. I forgot that my Guest bathroom will be close so I won't need one in the Furnace/Laundry/Mudroom. I need a place for a half bath and the only logical room left would be my sewing room.

“It is never a good idea to take space from your sewing room.” This gave a laugh after having spent the day trying to figure a way to stash too many bins of coat weight wool for rug braiding. And have a sewing space eeeked out of a bedroom at one end. (I miss my basement sewing room...)

mainenell I miss my sewing room in the walkout basement. It is difficult for me to go down the stairs. We are building a new house all on one level and it has been very difficult for me to get 2 floors of this house on one level without it being really large. This house has 3300 sq ft on 2 levels and I want at least 2800 sq ft on one level. When I first drew the lines for the new plan I looked at the bottom of the page at the square footage and it was 4400 sq ft---OOPS!!!!!

IMO we need to see a floor plan of the spaces I think the sewing room is huge so I guess without any plans that would be the logical place to steal from. Post the darn floor plan.

Mark Bischak, Architect

I found this page for bathroom layouts from another post but did not tag it so I don't know who posted it. Also, this is what my sewing room looks like right now and have actually cut the size down. I know it is a very large room and closet. I don't think I like the way I have the 1/2 bath laid out. For the closet, I will need as many shelves as I can get in the closet. I have approximately 200 bolts of fabric and many other items that will be stored in the closet.

So, I have sewing room envy! Why not put the half bath by the entrance doors? So it could also service the public spaces?

Because, mid project, one might not be able to physically access that far corner...there might be VERY important things in the way.

fissfiss I thought about taking the space out of the pantry but I am not sure that would work either.

I would not take the space out of the pantry, just move it to either the space that 4’-8 7/16, or on the pantry wall but in the sewing room...you will gain the space back.

fissfiss I put it on the east wall so I could add a window. I guess that is not that important. Also, I had added a coat closet taking space out of the pantry after I posted this layout. I tried to move it and the 2 doors are too close to each other. I will keep working on it.

Now THAT’S a sewing room!!!

mainenell,

Thanks :)

(not a pro) Before you decide, do you have a plan for how you'll lay out your pantry? How deep will the shelves be, will you have appliances in there and if so, what are their dimensions, etc. If you'll just have shelves, then you might not need it as wide as 8'8".

I don't know if I should post this here or make a new post. I am moving rooms around in my plan--our living room will be in the front of the house now. I want a Foyer entry and to the left will be a Den. My question is should I move the Laundry Room (right now it is on the left side of the plan) to between the living room and kitchen? I would have to add a pantry in the Laundry Room. I would leave the Furnace Room and a Storage Closet on the left side. Where the Sewing Room Closet is--that could be my pantry. Or should I leave the laundry room where it is and just extend the panty where it is now and make the door wide enough for my Freezer that is in the Laundry Room? I know my plan is far from being right but I am trying to work things out. I will also need to add another door to the outside and might do that from the living room to the covered porch that will be moved.

(not a pro) I like the new room locations. The powder room is more easily accessible to guests and to you when coming into the house from the garage. I'd also consider making the window in the mudroom a door instead, for when you want to come into the house from working in the yard, letting out a pet, etc. (Or add a man door to the garage.)

It might be nice to flip the powder room so the door is a bit further down, and then extend just a bit the wall to the right of the guest room door so that it comes down as far as the wall on the other side. This gives the PR and guest room door just a tiny bit more privacy / less of a sight line from the living room.

Not sure if it's been mentioned above but your angled double doors on the sewing room will cover up a light switch when you walk into the room. You could straighten out that entry and use a single door (with glass and/or a transom if you want the extra light.)

rough mockup

If your sewing room is that big / serious, I would think that having a 1/2 bath right there to use quickly and get back to your work would be super helpful. It looks like you will spend a lot of time in that room based on the space devoted to it and the location / foot print - so why not make the 1/2 bath convenient to zip in / zip out. The other places are unlikely to be where you WANT to spend that much time, and therefore will want an excuse to leave. LOL!

just_janni,

Thanks

chicagoans,

I will most likely remove those French Doors since that will be the new living room. Not sure I will need a door or should I add one? I have moved all of my cabinets that were in my sewing room to the new sewing room and because it is laid out different I could not figure out how to add everything.

I removed the half bath for the moment. Also, if you are talking about the window on the porch I will be removing it and putting the den on the left side of the porch. I have not added a door in the garage yet to go to the outside (is that what a man door is?)

I have been looking at Foyer layouts but don't want to go too wide but I think I would like French Doors for the entry or at least a door and a half with both sides that will open. I will have the doors to the den will be off the foyer and I was thinking about adding the half bath at the end of the den wall.

If I put the laundry room in the kitchen I was going to put the pantry on the east side but the entry door will be at the other end. What would you do and would you enclose the pantry with walls and a separate door or just have the shelves exposed? Right now my shelves are 12" deep but I think I would like them deeper--maybe at least 14" deep.

I know the garage is on the opposite side of the house from the kitchen but those are the only places I can have them located because of the lot.

After reading another post about washer and dryer placement I realized I have ours on an inside wall. In my present house, the dryer is vented under the staircase to the outside. This house is going to have a crawl space so I am not sure it can be vented under and to the outside wall. Another thing I don't like is the washer and dryer enclosed--how will we get them out to be serviced? How would it look if I just put the countertop on the cabinet and not all the way across? The room to the left of the cabinet was going to be a storage closet for vacuums and other supplies but I might have to use it as the furnace room. On the opposite wall is my countertop for folding clothes.

chicagoans, in the comment above I asked you about putting the laundry in the kitchen--as I think about it that would not be a good idea.

I know I am making all of my rooms larger than they need to be but I am so short on storage space in this house that I want to be prepared for this house.

I have front loaders on pedestals with cabinets above, but no counter over them. It is too high to be useful. The folding counter is opposite to them.

I can't read the layout even with enlarging or magnetizing. W/d to the cornet across room to an outside wall.

fissfiss, I thought about just having something to cover the top of the laundry bin cabinet that is in between the washer and dryer. I saw a layout where the cabinets above were as deep as the appliances. I like that idea but my cabinet lady said all washer and dryer brands are different heights and widths and that is something to consider. I know with the layout I have more cabinets that I will probably need. I have also seen layouts where the washer, dryer, and sink are located in the pantry. I am not sure I like that idea but it would combine spaces. Then I could just have the Furnace and Storage as you enter the house from the garage. Every time I move a wall it causes another problem. I moved the sewing room to the back of the house (cabinets don't fit) and the living room to the front of the house with the covered porch on the east side instead of the north side. I know I need to hire an architect but I want to try to get my layout as close as I can before I do that.

happyleg,

Sorry for the small image. If you click on this image it will be larger. The opposite wall is the garage wall. This set up is probably larger than I need. I had thought about putting them on the wall where the window is but because the Storage Closet is there I have not figured out a way to get it to work.