Thanks for all the laundry room suggestions last week. We read every comment, weighed each idea, and even got quotes for a few options—moving the hookups, shifting the doorway, and possibly bumping out a wall. One idea that kept coming up (let’s call it “Option 3”) was to rotate the washer and dryer 90° so they’d be out of sight, and then move access to the storage room to the back wall to eliminate the awkward walk-through layout.
It was a clever solution. We hadn’t considered it initially because rotating the appliances means relocating electrical, water and venting hookups—more work than we were expecting for a reconfiguration that didn’t actually increase square footage. Still, the idea of hiding the machines and resolving the door flow was appealing.
A more ambitious version of that concept—call it Option 4—went further by taking some space from the unfinished storage area to build a fully enclosed laundry room. That would deliver a proper laundry space, but it also meant more framing, drywall and a larger scope of work.
As much as a dedicated laundry room sounded great, it felt like more than we needed. Maybe it’s our New York roots—having laundry in the house already feels luxurious—and we’re used to doing laundry in compact, multifunctional spaces. When Clara was a baby and laundry multiplied, we still managed in small areas where baskets never piled up because those spots were also high-traffic entryways. We’ve both grown up without roomy laundry rooms, so carrying baskets to our bedroom to fold is familiar and fine. That made the idea of carving out and paying for a bigger dedicated room seem like a solution for a problem we didn’t feel strongly about.
Then Lesley changed our perspective. On Facebook she pointed out that if we moved the storage door to the current appliance location, the hallway would then look straight at a window in the future bunk-room—bringing natural light into a section of hall that is otherwise pretty dark.
That was a game changer. Right now the natural light fades about halfway down the hall because the last sources of daylight are Clara’s room and the guest room below. The far side of the hall, where the storage room sits, stays noticeably dim.
The opposite end of the hall—by our bedroom—lines up with a window, so it’s much brighter. If we installed a frosted glass door on the relocated storage opening, light from the storage room windows would filter into the hall even when the door was closed. Suddenly the idea of a dedicated laundry room wasn’t just about extra square footage; it was about bringing light into a formerly dark corridor. Picture us mouthing “light. bulb.” in our best dramatic voice.
That new perspective pushed us toward Option 4. In practical terms, the plan would remove the existing cased opening and add a frosted glass door on the wall currently behind the washer. We debated whether to leave the laundry open or fully close it off; ultimately a door felt smarter for the long run—to dampen sound and to keep a curious toddler away from the machines. Instead of turning into the right-side corner to reach the current storage door, the entry would move forward and the area would be framed into a true laundry room.
From inside the storage room, the rough rendering below shows where new walls would go and where the washer and dryer would be positioned. Please excuse the mess and the remaining original bi-folds still stored there. The door you see would shift back to align with the vertical wall line on the right (near the silver dryer vent), so it wouldn’t sit directly beside the appliances.
One detail we hashed out in the comments was the attic staircase. Our floor plan mockup didn’t perfectly reflect the real steps—Floorplanner’s icon showed multiple steps and a large landing, while our actual stair has a different profile. The structural change would likely only require moving that bottom step, but our concern was closing off attic access behind a wall that hugs the stairs. We worried it might make hauling large items, like the Christmas tree, up and down a bit more awkward.
In the end, we decided the trade-off was acceptable. It will still be possible to move things into the attic, and having a walk-up attic instead of a drop-down ladder is a win regardless. Gaining consistent daylight down the hall felt worth being a little more enclosed when accessing the attic.
That said, cost and logistics are real considerations. Relocating the washer hookups, adding a drain, framing two walls, and installing two doors and drywall are outside our DIY comfort zone, so we had two contractors provide estimates. The first bid came in at $4,700, even after we agreed to handle demolition, floor work, light installation and painting. He apologized for the sticker shock—he’d hoped to keep it under $2,000 but his itemized total reached $4,700, which was more than we expected.
Five thousand dollars is a lot—enough to redo a bathroom or buy nice new kitchen appliances—so it’s definitely above our target. We’re hoping the second contractor, who came highly recommended, will offer a more reasonable quote. We’re eager to move forward after all the planning, so here’s to hoping for a bid we can live with and some therapeutic demo in the near future.