3.BONUS ITEM: My wife does not like how the half bath opens direct into the kitchen and would prefer that it open into this entry space.

THIS is a must do!

She thinks so too and I understand where she is coming from but believe that common wall between the bathroom and the laundry/mud room to be load bearing. I am handy but that is outside of my comfort zone but could see about hiring it out. I would be curious how the design of that would work as that would really change up the area I feel. I am surely open to the idea.

1. Remove the closet walls and doors. Look for a pretty good floor tile match rather than an exact match AFTER having the floor tiles professionally cleaned to remove any ground in dirt. If lack of a perfect match bugs you, you can retile just the mud room and add a decorative, contrasting tile border at the doorway into the kitchen and carry it around the mudroom to make it look intentional.

2. Reverse the swing on the garage door. You will probably have to replace the door instead of drilling a few holes because garage doors are usually fire-rated for safety.

Thanks for the replies and the image. That eally helps. Would that bench go all the way to the end? Also, on the opposite wall would you leave it open?

I like the idea too of switching the door swing. I really do dislike that. Would you leave those cabinets and the sink and all that how it is?

There is so much potential in those spaces, especially if you remove the closet wall. I'd consult with an architect for the best layout possible.

Ikea shoe cabinets are awesome.
As long as you remove the walk in closet, have a reach-in by the machines instead of the drawers you don’t like. It’ll be good for off-season coats, or vacuum, or cleaning supplies, etc

Thanks for the reply @emilyam819. What is a reach in? I did a little googling but still unclear what that is. Sounds like you would remove the drawers cabinet and replace it with this right?

A reach-in closet. A regular closet.

Does anyone know if the load for the floor above is carried on both of these bathroom walls?

Also, if we open a door into the bathroom from the laundry room like @cd7733 drew instead of the door what if it were a slider both into the bathroom and a second slider that would go into the kitchen?

I have some concerns that a slider into the bathroom the opening is going to be small.

Do yourself a favor and contact your real estate agent who can contact the sellers agent, to find out if the walls are load bearing. I don't think anyone can tell that from your drawing.

Consider pocket doors to the bathroom if you change the location of the door.

Inspirational pics:

Quick update. Did the demo of the wall between the closet and the laundry. wow this is going to change the space. I think this is going to be great.

Does this reinforce what you guys are thinking? Does it change how you might do this space? Difficult to get a good shot.

Here are a few shots from a few different angles.

Wow, that walk-in was a waste of space!

It sure was. Crazy. Not sure how that decision was made.

I am also trying to figure out how to do it with the tiles that will need replacing. When I remove that wall i am going to have a void and would like to not have to redo the floor but there also aren't any extra tiles.

Take down the wall between the toilet and sink and remove the other sink?

Create a wall with french doors so that bathroom does not open right into the kitchen.

I would do the bench/storage on the longer wall, now that I see the angle better. For the time being since you don't want to replace the floor tile, I'd find something similar, cut pieces down, and patch it in. Match the existing grout for the major lines, but color over the grout lines to match the tile in the patch pieces. Cover with a cute rug in front of the bench.

Continuing to work through this and some of the ideas had.

I am curious what people would think of this idea. What if we moved the door to the garage 8" or so giving us roughly 50" between the outside wall and the door and placed the washer drier stacked right as you walk in from the garage? What we were struggling with is that we think the window is almost a focal point and if we put them in this position they don't get lost behind the machines.

Thoughts?

So you'd have something like this that I posted. You'd change the swing of the door, add a countertop with cabinets above.

Thanks @shirlpp for popping this to the top again. We have been going through so many ideas and thoughts i forgot you posted this. Thanks again.

Not sure why i didn't think of this before but the door to the garage leads to a platform that goes over steps that lead to a basement garage entry. I think I could flip this door around and have it open instead into the garage. Looks to meet code here.

Any thoughts on this?

I just looked at your photos again and it does swing on the correct side(closet side). I thought it opened and hit the cabinets, but it does not.

Not sure if you'd want to flip the door and have it open into the garage - but this might be a good idea if it helps.

Hello...any updates?

@shirlpp thanks so much for checking back and sorry i missed this and haven't responded sooner.

It is all still in the works but what has been done is the door has been moved over 12". What has been delay so long is that we have been trying to find tile that would match those voids. Only until recent have we come to the conclusion it is not out there.

Curious if you have any other thoughts on this project or things maybe we should still do?

I have thought about putting a shiplap wall against that door space. Also, we were considering painting the cabinets white and trying to reuse what we can but not sure that is a wise move just yet but one thing we have thought. I am not sure when we take them out what might consume those spaces if anything.

To get additional comments about the current situation, please post new photos.

I see one cabinet with drawers, the cabinet under the sink and it looks like cabinets above the washer and dryer. Do you have enough cabinet storage? Which door was moved over a foot? You should have some sound ideas now about the bathroom location?

A few updates and I will get some better pictures once i get everything moved out but i have the door into the bathroom cut in. I have been having trouble with Pella who we bought the door from which has put this on a 3 week hold so far as the issue still is not resolved.

We are considering stacking the washer dryer. The location we were considering would be where the closest machine to the wall is.

The plumbing in the wall was moved over to allow for the new door to the bath and I have some electrical lines that need installing for the new panel in the garage. Doing this while we have the walls open and since the electrical panels are below this. We have a few tiles we bought to see if we liked them but I am not sure i like any of them. I think if i were to pick it would be the darker 12x24.

Any thoughts or opinions on tile, stacking of the machine or anything else here?