Where Should A Laundry Room Be ?

[Peppermint Leaf]

Greetings
We presently have a laundry room on the main floor of our home and we are planning on getting a new washer and dryer .. which lead me to thinking of re-designing the laundry room -- which of course lead me to think - do I really want my laundry on the main floor or should it be upstairs in the bedroom wing!

So my question is -- if you all had a choice -- where would you best prefer to have your laundry room located ?

Thanks

[rere]

Wherever the bedrooms are.My mom put one on her second floor where her bedroom is and she is sooo happy about it.

[Peppermint Leaf]

that is what I am wondering ..... we have a large closet in the bathroom upstairs that may just fit a stackable -- I have to do some measuring .. .but I am forever packing laundry up and down the stairs. However ... we would go from having an actual laundry room on the main floor of our home to - just laundry in a closet upstairs .. which may turn some people off whenever we go to sell.

[b&c'smama]

I would love my laundry room by the bedrooms! I don't think it would affect your resale value if you kept the laundry room downstairs. If necessary, when the time came to sell you could even move the stackables down to the laundry room so that it looks more traditional.

[lucyem]

Either off the kitchen or by the bedrooms. (We built our house and have both) There are advantages to both spots.

Off the kitchen in a mudroom is great because I can hear the washer, quickly get stuff moved around while making dinner without having to run upstairs, kids generally strip downstairs anyway, muddy kids stuff goes right into it rather then being dragged around the house. I tend to wash horse & dog stuff too and would rather that stuff not dragged through my house. My problem is that its been hard to get away from the kids and get upstairs to wash laundry. I use the downstairs washer a lot more. Also I find I often want to wash during the night and its too loud to run the upstairs one when the kids are trying to fall sleep.

By the bedroom is handy because you are not dragging baskets up and down stairs and all over the place. Where (adult) clothes come off they get washed. In theory your laundry pile stays upstairs and out of site.

For resale to have two options for the washer/dryer would be more of a benefit IMO. A lot of people like having the upstairs washer.

[Collinsky]

Originally Posted by lucyem

Either off the kitchen or by the bedrooms. (We built our house and have both) There are advantages to both spots.

Off the kitchen in a mudroom is great because I can hear the washer, quickly get stuff moved around while making dinner without having to run upstairs, kids generally strip downstairs anyway, muddy kids stuff goes right into it rather then being dragged around the house. .

I say off the kitchen in a mudroom, as well. Most convenient for me.

[Peppermint Leaf]

Originally Posted by lucyem

Either off the kitchen or by the bedrooms. (We built our house and have both) There are advantages to both spots.

Off the kitchen in a mudroom is great because I can hear the washer, quickly get stuff moved around while making dinner without having to run upstairs, kids generally strip downstairs anyway, muddy kids stuff goes right into it rather then being dragged around the house. I tend to wash horse & dog stuff too and would rather that stuff not dragged through my house. My problem is that its been hard to get away from the kids and get upstairs to wash laundry. I use the downstairs washer a lot more. Also I find I often want to wash during the night and its too loud to run the upstairs one when the kids are trying to fall sleep.

By the bedroom is handy because you are not dragging baskets up and down stairs and all over the place. Where (adult) clothes come off they get washed. In theory your laundry pile stays upstairs and out of site.

For resale to have two options for the washer/dryer would be more of a benefit IMO. A lot of people like having the upstairs washer.

_________________

Wow -- are you saying you have 2 laundry rooms -- one up and one down? that's a good idea Did you purchase your home that way or did you put it in?

[lucyem]

Originally Posted by Decluttering Nut

_________________

Wow -- are you saying you have 2 laundry rooms -- one up and one down? that's a good idea Did you purchase your home that way or did you put it in?

We built our house. Downstairs its a full mudroom with sink, closets & washer/dryer. Upstairs its a big closet designed for a stacked washer/dryer and shelves on one side. I made it big enough so if I left the doors on the machines open the closet door could still be closed.

[stretchmark]

Where do you spend most of your time? My MIL hated her laundry room upstairs even though all the bedrooms were up there. She never was upstairs and it was easy to forget about it and not hear it.

I personally like the idea of a laundry chute with the machines downstairs, especially if you plan on hanging laundry on a line.

[bhawkins]

Mine is upstairs where all (except oldest DS's) bedrooms are. I really like it there and cannot imagine toting the enormous amount of laundry I do up and down the stairs.

Having it upstairs, however, seems to baffle people. Everyone always comments about it, but then follow by saying that it's good planning.

[StephandOwen]

DP and I were looking at house plans a little bit ago. I would like one upstairs, or wherever the bedrooms are. He vetos that (says he's heard too many stories about pipes breaking/leaking and destroying the whole upstairs AND downstairs) and wants it either downstairs by the kitchen (like we have now) or in a basement (which we don't have).

[tree_hugger]

I line dry so I like to have my laundry downstairs, off the kitchen, with a door leading outside to the backyard.

[Peppermint Leaf]

Originally Posted by stretchmark

Where do you spend most of your time? My MIL hated her laundry room upstairs even though all the bedrooms were up there. She never was upstairs and it was easy to forget about it and not hear it.

I personally like the idea of a laundry chute with the machines downstairs, especially if you plan on hanging laundry on a line.

\-\-----------------------------

wouldn't it be great if when it was done it could have reverse suction and deposit the clean laundry back upstairs again

[sunnysandiegan]

I like ours downstairs between our living room and kitchen. I like the exercise of carrying one load down in the morning and bringing it back up in the afternoon/evening. It is easier to hang dry outside, too. Each load gets completely done start to finish this way.

When we first purchased the house, the laundry area had no door between it and the hallway. Also, the powder room is just beyond the laundry area and it had THEEEE WORST silly tiny double doors. Before we even moved in, we took down the double doors and had a "normal" door installed between the hallway and the laundry area. So, technically, our laundry room is also part of our powder room. Last Fall, we ripped out the old door casings between the laundry area and powder room and installed arches. NOW... I absolutely ADORE this "room"!

[bwylde]

Ours is in the basement and I HATE it. I have to lug laundry up and down two flights of stairs with bad knees and bad back.

I would so love to have the laundry room upstairs. That is where 99% of the laundry is generated and it's so stupid to drag it all over the house, which leads to me not wanting to do it (but of course we hang all our laundry to dry so in a way it's easier this way).

[amyjeans]

I would love the convienence of having it near the bedrooms, but would rather put it in the basement- just incase it floods- easier to clean the cement than replace wood floors, ceilings, sheetrock, etc.

[alicia622]

I like the idea of near the bedrooms. Very convenient- it would take some time to get used to but not lugging clothes around the house would be nice

[jocelyndale]

If I were designing a house, I would have a laundry room that was also a family closet. Enclosed actual closets for each family member, perhaps some chests of drawers. Washer, dryer, utility sink, drying rack, perhaps even a retractable line. Fold down ironing board, maybe. Plus enough outlets that I could plug all the rechargeable tools into their own spot.

I think I would want it on the same level as the bedrooms.

[Phantaja]

We live in a loft with laundy in the bathroom and it makes perfect sense to me. We peel off our clothes and there and are able to drop them right into the machine.

[nextcommercial]

It's more convenient downstairs with the main part of the house. That way, since you are already down there, you don't have to run upstairs to change the laundry.

BUT, my friend bought a big beautiful home in San Diego, and they had a laundry room/closet upstairs. The room was huge, and the mom just hung her kid's clothes in that room instead of putting them in their own rooms. The linen closet was in there too. It was pretty convenient, but she did say that it was a pain in the butt to run upstairs while she was trying to cook dinner. AND, they had to build a special drain pan (looked like a shower stall) to contain any overflows.