I would definitely notice because I am just a tad obsessed with trim, and I consider a variety of trim to be a feature, not a mistake. In fact, in houses where everything matches, especially if it's boring trim, my eye desperately wanders the place in search of variety! I realize that's unusual. The rules of decorating to objective standards do dictate matching or at least harmonizing trim, and it can have a nice unifying effect. I think the primary question is really this: do YOU care if your trim all matches? Do you want to meet an objective standard (for example, to put the house on the market), or just your own? If you do care, then the other question is: what kind of trim do you want in your house? If you like the original, then you want to at least harmonize with that as per your plan. But if you don't like the original anyway, I wouldn't feel bound by it at all. It doesn't really sound like something that any other trim would "clash" with, even if it's not mitred. (Unlike Palimpsest, I'm not reading that you like the original - maybe I'm missing something). You could probably do a mock-up with paper panels to see if your idea would meet your standards. FWIW, I live in what Palimpsest describes, a hundred year-old house which already had a couple of kinds of trim when we moved in, the 100-year old and the 50-year old (in the addition). I love the 100, and hate the 50, although we have lived with the 50 for 16 years and are just getting around to changing it. But we lost a bunch of the 100 because we changed some of the doorway sizes when we renovated the old part of the house at the outset. We chose one primary style then to replace it, but already can't get that one any more... it's too wide for some applications anyway... and I like different mouldings anyway... so our house is (or will be when it's all installed) a mish mash. I look down my hallway (it's a linear house) and see four successive doorways with four different trims. And yes, I even have a couple of corner-blocked openings in a houseful of mostly miters. It's possible that it works because the house is old and eclectic anyway, or because it's the opposite of open-plan, or that I just can't see that it doesn't work :-) Mitering can be difficult if you don't have either good angles or the right tools (a miter saw and accurate ways to measure and transcribe), and takes some practice. There are right and wrong ways to do it, and a correct sequence in which to do the pieces - information is, as always, available on line. If you're painting, you can fill cutting mistakes, but I suspect it would show. KarinL

I've spent the last 11 years without a window in the laundry room. The room is small and doubles as a family powder room with toilet and small pedestal sink. Oh, and the cat box. (I direct guests to the actual bathroom down the hall.) There's no space whatsoever to fold in there so I dump laundry on the large upholstered chair in the family room and fold on the ottoman. Besides, the kids are always playing in the family room. That way, I can be right there interacting with them and getting some work done at the same time. That being said, if there was a reasonable way for you to get a window I think you should. Get as much natural light as possible. (I love in Washington state where it's gray half of the year so natural light is highly valuable.) But, as others have said, only if the trade-off isn't too great. Sounds like it may be just an issue of installing it or not?? You have an outside wall for it, right? If yes, do it!

The 2nd setup looks better. I would want an actual laundry tub myself - you know, the old-fashioned deep ones, with the washer drain line hooked over the side. I hate those tiny little boxes they want to put the drain lines in these days. Shelves mounted over the W/D are incredibly useful, as far as I'm concerned. I like having the laundry soap and etc right at hand. And by "shelves" I mean shelves, not cabinets. Doors just get in the way. Our laundry room is basically a tiny little "air lock" between the garage and the rest of the house. For some insane reason, they put all the shelves (cabinets, actually) on one side and the actual W/D on the other side. There is just barely room between to walk through from the garage to the rest of the house. They mounted a swinging door so that when the door is open, you have no access to the cabinets or (tiny) workspace which is now being blocked by the door. And if you CLOSE the door and try to use that as a workspace, now you are at high risk for getting whacked by the door when someone wants to come through. So all the space on that wall is wasted space. The cabinets/pantry are inconvenient, the counter space is only a couple feet wide, and there are no shelves mounted where they would be the most use - which is over the W/D, not behind the door on the other wall. Furthermore, there is no space to iron in there even if I were willing to risk door-whackage, because that space is blocked by pantry and cabinets. There is also an inaccessible outlet behind the dryer. I have no idea why that is even there. At the very least they should have put in a pocket door rather than a hinged door there if they were going to insist on doing it that way. Technically the space is around 6.5x8.5 - ish, but for all practical purposes, the only usable space is just where the W/D sit and it might as well have been set up as an actual closet with bifold doors. I've decided the vast majority of architects are morons. At the very least, they're not exactly Frank Lloyd Wright, LOL!

This is an interesting topic. In our previous home our laundry room had a sink, in our new home that we our building our laundry room is not laid out as well( I know crazy right?). I decided to eliminate the sink to create better space for the lockers, and added a slop sink in the garage, which is much better for my sons mud on everything which is really what I used the sink most for and filling the dog bowls, but my dog bowls will not be in the laundry room in the new house. I am not worried about it, I will have a bathroom sink and a wet bar sink on the same level, I really never soak in a sink(use washer) but can't remember the last time I soaked something. The contractor and plumber both said I needed to heat the garage for the sink, but I agree with a previous poster we had a hot/cold faucet in our last unheated garage and it never froze, what is the difference? If I was in a warm weather state I wouldn't think twice about it.