half bath vs laundry room

[peggyfromwastate]

Hello-

Dropping in to ask for your opinion! We are still working out our bump out project for our house, which is a total pain.

Anyway, we were planning to remove a powder bathroom off of the dining room as part of the plan to convert that space into a *tiny* mudroom and *tiny* laundry space. We'd have to stack the washer dryer, and we'd have about maybe 36 sq foot of "mud room" space (about 6' by 6') plus about 15 sq foot of "laundry space". (3' by 5'). To achieve this amount of space, we need to push out an existing exterior wall, moving a support beam, etc.

I was thinking that we could convert the powder bath space that is currently a spacious 5'x5' to a pocket door half bath, 3' by 5', and have enough space to put in some hooks for towels and school bags outside of the bathroom in the dead space between the garage and the entrance to the dining room. This would save us from having to push out the exterior wall of the house, but we'd need to keep the laundry in the garage.

Since we have temps around 70 year round, we use our garage pretty regularly. There is a big craft table in there, and the dog kennels are in there, too. Hawaii is odd in that the garage sq foot is considered "living space" for real estate purposes. (So is the outdoor lanai, but only if it's a true lanai-- covered by a roof. An open air porch is not considered living space.)

Anyway, is indoor laundry a deal breaker? Or would you rather have a half bath?

We are adding on a lower level room with a full bath right on the other side of the existing exterior wall (the wall I don't want to move)-- so that wall will be opened up anyway for plumbing, and the ground will be torn up for running pipes. I don't know if it's a huge money saver to not move the exterior wall. So there will be a full bathroom on the bottom floor, eventually, but that bathroom will be accessed through the studio room (which would mean if there are guests staying there, you'd have to walk through their stuff to get to that bathroom, and if a future owner of the house did a sublet for the room (super common here too), they would have to go upstairs to use an upstairs bathroom if there is not a half bath option downstairs.

The other option is for us to cut ties to this crazy place, and for my husband to beg to be transferred to San Antonio where we can buy a house that will be good to go, and for about 1/4 of the cost of this monstrosity here. Lol.

[peggyfromwastate]

half bath vs laundry room

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This is the current laundry space.




The current Bathroom-- If we keep a half bath we'd turn the toilet and put in a tiny pedestal sink and a pocket door.


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This is the entrance from the dining room to the "mud room" area. We'll have a swinging door here, or a standard door, or french doors. Not sure yet. But the door to the garage is going to be reversed to swing into the garage. If we have the half bath, that wall there where the door to the bathroom is would be pushed over about 2'.

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This is the existing wall that we'd need to move 3' in order to get the laundry room space in there.

[peggyfromwastate]

These are the current plans we have- showing the WD mudroom option.

[SoonerTexan]

I vote come to Texas


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[SuzySunshine]

I can't tell, is there another bathroom on that floor, other then in the master suite? I think I'd rather have the half bath if not.


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[ides]

I think I'd do the half bath and keep the laundry in the garage.


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[MrsSz]

I think I'd do the half bath and keep the laundry in the garage.


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Ditto!!


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[MrsC]

I would keep the half bath. It's always better to have for resale.

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[L.Jane]

I'm in the half bath group. When we lived in San Diego our laundry was on the balcony and since it was nice year round it really didn't make a difference. Any extra bathroom is always nice. I'm true a believer that you can never have enough bathrooms.

[peggyfromwastate]

Wow! I'm kind of surprised! But that's nice to know!!

Right now we have just that half bath on the bottom floor and we are adding a suite with a full bath. Upstairs we have 3 small bedrooms (as in 10x10) and 2 larger rooms- one master and one a living space we walled in to make a room. We are probably going to bump out 2 stories- lower level guest suite, and upper level master with a new bathroom. So we'd have 3 full baths upstairs which I think is a bit much, but we are still working it out... The two full baths aren't enough for sure...

[L.Jane]

Any way to do the laundry on the second floor? Always nice to have the laundry near the bedrooms...

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[alotofyarn]

I'd do a half bath too. We had laundry in our garage in TX, and it wasn't terrible, and that was even with the ridiculous heat.

[spotty_dog]

FWIW I love my light and airy laundry room after so many years of basement and garage facilities; and am not a fan of having more than three bathrooms. There is a limit to how much toilet scrubbing a person should have to do. But I do think some kind of potty for guests, and random neighbor kids and desperate delivery people, that's easy to access on the main floor is fairly important. So I don't know what layout is going to be best, especially if resale is your main consideration? Can you talk to a Realtor?

[Flynn]

For me personally, having a bathroom that is not in a bedroom is a must on the main floor.

There are all sorts of ways to make a garage laundry room functional and aesthetically pleasing!! However is there any way to do the laundry room inside and the mudroom in the garage?

We bought a house That had a tiny laundry room that was the "flow room" used to go from the garage to the house. Not ideal in my opinion but it's a great house in other areas. (I joked to the real estate person that a man designed the garage/laundry area. Huge garage, small laundry.) We also have a small but functional powder room on the first floor.

I have three kids and live in an area with two true seasons and two half seasons. In the Northwest have a warm sometimes wet -- but short fall that starts in October. We have a dark, wet winter. Spring is usually short and can be a combination of such beautiful warm weather mixed in with grey but warm wet days. Summer is glorious. No bugs or humidity. Best case scenario it lasts three full months and the low is 68 during the day and the highs are in the mid 80s most often. Daylight stays until 9:00 p.m. Can you tell I love where I live?

We decided to put a mudroom in the garage and I LOVE IT. Coats and shoes plus sports equipment stays in the garage and backpacks and school work come into the house. Keep in mind during our winter the weather rarely goes below freezing and snow is a hope rather than a sure thing. When we had snow two years ago, it lasted a few days.

There are tons of online photos of garage mudrooms. We chose a product that can't be damaged unless you take a blow torch to it.

On a side note I would also shy away from anything but a regular door to separate spaces with children. Swinging doors are asking for fingers to be smashed.

Good luck on your project! Exciting!!

[MrsK]

I'm another vote for the bathroom. The only thing I dislike about my house that I cannot correct, is that there is not a mudroom. We have a teeny laundry room and a teeny bathroom. I've made do with hooks on the walls for coats, bags, and shoes. But I wouldn't ever give up that bathroom. It's easily one of the most used rooms in our house. Not only do visitors use it, but also I have the kids tidy up before and after meals in there, brush their teeth and hair before school there, etc. It's really a must have.