We need a floor plan to understand what your problem is.

Have you addressed this issue with the person that designed the house?

Were you planning side-by-side washer/dryer and could you switch to stackable? If you did that and used this kind of sewing table, could you make it work?

https://www.joann.com/sullivans-portable-sewing-table/13132816.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organicshopping

Show the floor plan. The framing plan. Walls, windows etc. Of the house... Flat legible please with the dimensions of all,

Please show floor plans from builder/architect. Did you sign off on these floor plans? Thanks.

I will wait for the to scale floor plan posted here in a comment DO NOT start another post. Also post in jpeg format . Without the plan no one can help .

Is the laundry a walk through laundry or an actual room?

Do you need space for drying clothes? I had a space designed into my wall of cabinets in the laundry room to install this drying rack.

A neighbor who sewed and entertained outfitted a long, shallow closet with several rods across so she could hang fabric and tablecloths. Would that work for you? It doesn’t require much depth, maybe a foot, leaving you a bit of walking room...well, maybe sidling-sideways room.

Yes, a long, shallow closet would fit fit storing tablecloths. That’s an idea, so thanks.

Can you draw even a stick figure drawing on paper and then post it? I live in Manhattan where 24 extra square feet of space is a lot. I'm sure we can come up with something for you if we can see how it is oriented in the space.

What is the layout of the other part of the room? If you had a slender sewing machine table on wheels in the 3x8 space could your roll it out a few feet to fit in the part of the room that has just a bit more elbow room? What do you sew? Are you running through the machine king size quilt tops, baby quilts, clothes, or small crafts?

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Here is a photo of the laundry room and surrounding areas of the house (this is new construction). My husband and I had to come up with rough drawings and ideas and the architect just drew them out. He didn’t speak very fluent English, but his wife did, and she did much of the drafting. He is an excellent structural engineer, but not a visionary type of architect. A frustrating experience. We have had to work with our builder to make many minor changes before we even started building. The architect never gave us advice or gave us suggestions—everything had to come from us!!

See where it says 8’x5’, then 4’4”?

The interior width will be less than 4’.

I also see the dimension for the pantry width is rounded from 5’9” up to 6’ which makes that area a bit narrow for u-shaped storage with a center aisle.

Are the interior framing and plumbing/electrical rough ins done? Can you make the pantry a bit wider by stealing some space from the laundry‘s vanity area?

What are the interior dimensions of the laundry/sewing areas? it looks like a narrow walkway between the vanity corner and the washer/dryer. Have you considered saving space with an undercounter laundry set up on the long wall using a front loading washer/dryer with a sink in between or next to it?

Great ideas! We already chose front loading w/d, and plumbing is not yet in, so that could be done. Windows might have to be changed to accommodate the height of the appliances, which will need to be on a platform to ease strain on my back. But maybe we could talk about how to best utilize the space in that room and the pantry with our contractor before any more work is completed.

If you decide on u-shaped storage in a widened pantry, you will need to move the pantry’s pocket door to the center. You could also put a pocket door on the laundry room.

Have you designed the pantry storage yet with cabinets/counter/shelves?

Would you be willing to have your washer and dryer where the sink is and use the4ft area for a storage space. Then you can have the remainder for sewing

If the plumbing is not in yet have you considered moving the laundry room sink into the area you wanted for your sewing space? Then could you reconfigure the laundry room/pantry to give you what you need for a sewing space?

You don't really need a laundry room sink as much as a sewing area. Suggest stacking the washer/dryer where you had planned for sewing (behind bathroom plumbing), and putting sewing area instead of laundry sink.

You need to give up sewing in there. It was never a great spot for it, stuffed in a closet : ( size space.

Best? change the windows, stack the W/D in there and move on.!!!! That was the best spot from the start

Or

Just hang a rod on the 7'8" stair wall, use it to hang the drip dry. Use it for out of season outerwear. Add a door make a util closet. You can squeeze in to retrieve. Put shades on the windows to BLOCK THE VIEW..

A lot of hand wring over nothing.: ) and make some lemons from the lemonade.

You can ignore Jan.

I'd be extremely upset if the work space I'd been looking forward to as a place to be creative suddenly no longer was happening. Hope you find a solution that works for you!

: ) You and Jan remind me of two sisters who grump at each other but are best friends! I appreciate everyone’s insight and ideas. There will be other spaces in this house for me to do the small amount of sewing and crafting that I do. One thing we’ll likely do is eliminate the separate doors and just put one off the hallway.

Try this. Insted of wasting pantry space for your feet, turn it into a reach-in pantry. Line the laundey door up with the kitchen, Where the door used to be, put a closet, or extended cabinets from the laundry sink. Now you have a laundry room easier to move in, a sewing spot across from the sink, and that open space can be storage, maybe a rollout or folding table fie when you need extra fabric cutting surface.

Really interesting idea. We’ve been really looking forward to having a walk in pantry after 40 years of having most of our small appliances, serve ware, canned goods, you name it, in shallow shelves along a hallway. Are you talking about pullouts?

By the way, the tub is critical for us because we have a small farm, grandkids, a little dog, and lots of dirt. ; )

The walkin pantry was not much of a space, since it was as narrow as the ”problem space” behind the stairs. By turning the door to the other side, you can make the shelves deep or shallow, and still have space behind it for counterspace. Or, dedicate the storage on the other side of the laundry door to the appliances. Granted, I did not do my sketch to scale, or any kind of measurement. But regardless, entering a narrow space from the end makes for a space where you are setting aside space to stand in, and making things at the back hard to see or get to. Even if you kept the pantry the previous size, I would recommend the doors on the hall side. You can see and reach everything!

It is going to be hard to get past that corner in the laundry room entry. Also, I woud not want to sit in that small space at all. I would think about incorporating it into the landing. Maybe add a bench. and built ins It will make it bright. i’d also widen the pantry, chang the laundry room.

By ignoring the odd space, the laundry opens up for you. You could add storage on the stair landing, for holiday-themed dishes!

I’s still suggest aligning the laundry door with the kitchen, for better sightlines and light-sharing.

A walk-in pantry sounds wonderful.

I like all these ideas. I hope we can sit down with our contractor tomorrow to discuss this!

Unfortunately your pantry is not even 5ft 9 inches wide. If you look the measurements are not from inside wall to inside wall. So subtract the thickness of each wall from that 5ft 9in and that is the real width.

That 8x5 or 8x4.2 space is a really odd, hallway-like space.

I think I would see about claiming the red-squared space (below) as part of the adjacent teeny tiny bathroom - scootch the toilet back in there and move the vanity to face the bathroom door. As is, that bathroom looks too small to move about in.

"the architect just drew them out. He didn’t speak very fluent English, but his wife did, and she did much of the drafting."

Sounds like the makings of a horror story. Find an other local architect to get you out of this mess.

"There will be other spaces in this house for me to do the small amount of sewing and crafting that I do."

Well that was an easy fix!

It is hard to give you recommendations as

1) I don't know the actual measurements of each space (don't trust them, based upon what you are telling us about the architect)

2) I don't know how moving windows would impact the exterior

3) I don't know what you have and what you really need.

I am sorry you are in this situation. But, I would stop right now and have a reputable architect look at the drawings AND the actual house and go from there. It is always good to have an interior designer take a look as well. Otherwise, you are wasting your $ going forward.

I assume there are other issues with the house's design. Is starting over with a better local architect?

The problem from the get go is right here:

"My husband and I had to come up with rough drawings and ideas and the architect just drew them out. He didn’t speak very fluent English, but his wife did, and she did much of the drafting. He is an excellent structural engineer, but not a visionary type of architect."

He's not an architect at ALL , She's at best a draftsman.

The WAS no architect. A structural engineer is capable of creating a structure that will not fall down, despite your rooms make no sense.

You may cut your own hair; you probably don't drill your own teeth. You may love a certain automobile, but you can't design it, build it, or make it run.

Stop all the framing now, and get an actual licensed architect.

random idea - can you flip the stair case? right now its in the middle and everything is just randomly around it

so on hall to the right - first door bathroom (Purple) and then stair case (Blue)

this would give you more room for bathroom and then you wont have a toilet in front of window

gives you tons of room for laundry and pantry-(Dark green) bonus is you might can gain some space for more shelving from pantry over the stair case landing. (light green arrow)

i would then do a barn door on wall of hall - one side covers the pantry entrance and one side the laundry entrance (violet)

As drawn that space should be just shy of 4' wide. How wide is it exactly?

Congratulations on almost moving into your new home. Would love to see photos of the changes you made!