Have you considered taking out your entire laundry room wall and putting the "door" to the laundry room on the hallway instead?

Also, how would you feel about putting the machines on the porch side of this room (ie, are you still paper playing, or have you already got a rough plumbed space?)?

We would definitely be open to thinking about taking that wall out. How could you see positioning the lockers and closet then? I'd be interested to look into the placement of the machines too. Interesting thoughts. Thanks!

Does something like this make sense at all? It'd be nice to still have a little privacy with the washer and dryer area. I'm just struggling how to find the best way to maximize the space.

I am uncertain of your dimensions, but what I was thinking was...
put your laundry machines on the porch wall between porch door and garage (facing "up").

and use your long walls for counter spaces and cubbies...

Or, put the w/d where you have drawn, but move the garage entry door "up" from where you have drawn (extend the laundry counter clear to the wall. have door open against laundry counter.) and have the cubbies be along the long wall of the garage.

With enough cubbies and cabinets under folding counter, do you need a separate closet?

You need to think about what you will see from within your home when you look down the hallway. Do you want to see cubbies? Do you want to see the garage door? Do you want to see the laundry folding counter? (I can't see what is further to the left of your plan).

I don't know why I had never thought of moving the door to the garage! That would open a lot of possibilities. I also really appreciate the thought of thinking what we want to see from the hallway. We'll definitely start working with these thoughts and seeing what we can do. Thanks a lot for your time!

I actually like what you have drawn. The laundry room layout needs to be completed with counters, sink, hanging space, etc but its a nice sized space to work in.

The mudroom flows well too. The only thing I would change would be the swing direction of the door from the garage. I would reverse it so it opens to the left and rests against the closet wall. It will extend slightly past the closet wall, but that's ok--you may even want to make the closet a little deeper say 3' deep instead of the standard 2' as you definitely have the space available that is currently going unused. With the garage entry door opening to the right in front of the cubbies as it's drawn now, you're just asking for someone to get hit with door while they're putting their coat on/grabbing their bag/etc.

As far as what you see when you look down the hall...I would prefer to see the side of a nice set of cubbies vs a closet wall, door, W/D or toilet.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the feedback mydreamhome! I agree with the swing of the door. I'm just worried that the same might be true if we have the cubbie that close to the door no matter which way it swings. What about something like this? Having the closet along the wall of the washer and dryer and sink? That would give more room for a bench and cubbies. Do you think it makes sense to keep a bit of a privacy wall there in front of the washer and dryer? Does this make for an awkward entry point from the garage? Thanks again!

Thanks for the feedback mydreamhome! I agree with the swing of the door. I'm just worried that the same might be true if we have the cubbie that close to the door no matter which way it swings. What about something like this? Having the closet along the wall of the washer and dryer and sink? That would give more room for a bench and cubbies. Do you think it makes sense to keep a bit of a privacy wall there in front of the washer and dryer? Does this make for an awkward entry point from the garage? Thanks again!

How many cubbies do you need? And, how much closet space?

I think I'd rather have a little more folding room/counter drop space than a ton of cubbies.

I don't think this is an awkward entrance from the garage, though, to answer your question. And, it keeps your view from the house of the tail end of cubbies and a door...

But, I do feel like there is a lot of space in the middle (without being enough space for something like an island or back of wall counter top...)

Maybe mydreamhome will come with something clever here too.

I would combine some features of your original plan with your revised plan, and make a few other changes. ;o) See if any of the following work for you:

Starting with the original plan, move the locker/laundry wall down (18+"?) so that it forms a straight wall from the middle of the laundry door to the garage wall (parallel with the lockers). Extend the pantry/hall wall to the center of the laundry door. Taking a corner chunk from the pantry and the space you've gained by going to the middle of the laundry door, make a cleaning closet (approximately 2' deep by 30" wide? or whatever works) with its door opposite the porch door. You'll have to juggle the measurements a little from my description to make things fit, but I needed some reference points to help you draw this.

Draw a new wall starting at the corner just to the left of the dryer down to the locker wall--the laundry to the right should now be a rectangle. To the left of this wall that you just drew, put a door into the new irregular-shaped walk-in coat and storage closet, having it open against the new wall. To the right of this new wall is the laundry door, opening against the new wall. Move the dryer and washer a tad to the left, and put a sink/tub to the right of the washer. Put 9" or 12" deep upper cabinets & 18" deep base cabinets below along the laundry/garage wall, or on the wall opposite the W/D--whichever works best for the space.

Move the lockers/bench to where you have them in your revised drawing, and move the garage door up towards the laundry wall.

This way, all of the door swings work, everyone has space to do everything needed in this area without bumping into each other, and you get a cleaning closet and a large coat/storage closet. But best of all to me would be that the laundry door can be shut, since that is usually one of the messiest places in our house! If the measurements were clearer and more complete, I'd draw it up on my old 3D Home Architect to see how things fit more exactly, although I wouldn't be able to post the plan.

Anne

Well done, Anne.

Amazing thoughts Anne and Kirkhall! I really appreciate your feedback. We're working on drawing some stuff up and are basing it off of your suggestions. It would definitely be handy to have some 3D software right about now! We'll play around with things a bit and see what we can come up with. We'd like to, ideally, have 6 cubbies, but I'm not sure if that's possible. I would just like to see the bench area be as large as possible for shoes and getting ready and such. Thanks again everyone.

Thanks, kirkhall! I designed our house, and the mudroom/laundry/pantry/powder room/stairs/closets/back door "complex" is just about my favorite area, because it is the most used by everyone (next to the kitchen). I'd spent a lot of time on it to get it to be really functional and use all of the space well. I had made a list of everything that would be in the house, thought about how we used things, and then decided where I would want them to go. That decided how many closets and cabinets went in this area.

livingreen, there are 5 of us using ours and I figured that could change, so I didn't make individual cubbies. We have a long bench with drawers under it (which might work better with your L-shape), cabinets above it that line up with the drawers, and several hooks under the cabs over the bench. We have additional hooks on the wall behind the doors coming in from the garage and outside for kids' guests and our extra jackets, since the constantly changing weather can require 3 different jackets/person in a short period of time. In addition to the cleaning supplies/central vac hose/bag recycling closet, we have a closet for winter coats, and a closet to store DH's additional short jackets, the patio chair cushions, and grilling supplies.

You have a lot of space there, and can still change the exterior walls, I think. As you keep developing it, continue to post for suggestions and you will end up with a wonderfully useful area!

Anne