I think it is just fine the way it is.

I am working on an option for you (at work) tomorrow I will finish and post it.
I think the door is ok where you have it. When I scaled the picture I noticed that your walls are 3.5". Will your plan show dimensions stud to stud? Your washer and dryer appears to be out of scale (too small). On the other hand I want to know if you want a door between the mud/entry and the laundry.
Do you have an specific size of pet shower that you want to use? Can the laundry chute from second floor be placed anywhere in the laundry?

Here is my mudroom pics & floorplan. We have many children also and want a place to be easy for them to use.
I am thinking you have a lot of different configurations possible. I am working on a few.
I have many of the same elements in mine, utility bath, benches, washer/dryer. The laundry chute is in far corner down from utility sink. It falls into a corner cab and then big door opens up. I also have on far wall of w/d area an oversized folding countertop. Its 30 in. Instead of lowers there we have it open so we can roll in laundry baskets.
Also have another bench w/cubbies on wall next to dutch door to the back of house.

If that would be a main entry into house from garage, then consider adding a stack of vertical shelves with multiple power outlets. The area would be used for answering machine, cell phone/pager charging cables, keys, etc. The things that tend to get scatttered around the house or dropped on the kitchen counter. We have done this and it works out great! It is located right next to our coat rack and bench just inside back garage entry.

Marthelena:
You are right, my plan will show just stud to stud. The washer and dryer might not be to scale in the drawing, what is a typical washer and dryer size?

I would like a door between the mudroom and laundry area, probably a pocket door, so we can have it have an open feel if we would like to.

As far as the pet shower area, i'm not real set on a size. I had drawn in a 36x36 area previously, but i dont know if that is too big or not?

The laundry chute could really be placed anywhere in the room, it will probably need to fit between floor joists spaced on 16" though.

Acountryfarm:
I really like your pictures, and they give me lots of ideas :)

Daltex:
Thank you so much for reminding me about that kind of area. I did have that in my head that i wanted an area like that, but forgot to mention it!

Hope you like it

Marthaelena, THANK YOU SO MUCH for your drawings. Those are 3 really good options. I will have to show them to my DW, I'm sure she will like one of them!
Just one question; what do the 3 circles in each picture signify??

Thanks Again!

The circles are the plates for each puppy :) so you can move them inside the laundry or place them in the mud area.
I thought you were a girl! (because you want the laundry to be perfect - nothing wrong with that!!!)
Just to let you know that all the plans have the same width (11'-5 1/2"). I just noticed that I put the dimension on the other side of the stud.
The second option have three pillous for your puppies in case you were wondering.
The square with the "x" is the chute and I thought it was better inside the closet in the first option.

Comments anyone?

All of Marthaelena's options look good to me. I like the first option best, but I'd place the doggie clean-up area beside the powder room. A future owner could fold it into the powder room as a shower.

Any windows in this area?

Thanks Chisue!
I like your idea - and you gave me an idea! I will post it in the morning.

Well, my DW really liked drawing number 1, so we will probably go with that one, maybe just a couple small modifications, like swapping where the pet shower is with where the washer/dryer are.

What size do you think the pet shower should be? I was thinking 36x36, but that may be too big.
Also, what is the common size for washer and dryers?

Thanks again marthaelena!!

Happy to help! make someone happy today!
The dim of the washer/dryer that we use are shown on the drawing.
I actually had the shower as you want and then I moved it because I thought you'd have more room when you entered the laundry since the shower was supposed to be 3'.
If you want to have a bigger mud room bench you can use a pocket door. I draw the wall for the pocket with 2x6 studs for a sturdier wall.
Are you using a shower base (you have a lot of sizes to chose from) and then tile the surround or use nudo board or some cultured marble or acrylic to protect walls?
If your pets are small you could use a Mop Sink. Most of them are 24"x24" and they come with a hose, you can also plug them to fill it up, they are deep enough and I think you can get and standard protection for the walls.

Good luck!

I planned on getting a shower base and then tiling it all. Probably only make the wall on that shower area as tall as the countertop next to it.

If i put in the pocket door like you have drawn there, does there have to be a small false wall sticking out on the opposite side or can it just be flat (using the corner of the closet)??

The laundry room has to have a 36" door (sliding or hinged)
It will look nicer if the frame has a trim so you will need a short "wall" made of 2 studs (total of 3") In order to do that, the bathroom should be 5' wide, which is the standard dimension in bathrooms anyway since the bath tubs are 5' wide and they go directly stud to stud.
If you want to use a wide trim you will not have enough room to place it unless you make the bathroom an additional 1 1/2" narrower. I think it is still ok for a powder room, specially because the lenght of your broom is 5'-9" and the usual lenght is 5'-4".

Sorry to reference this old post but wanted to thank Marthaelana for these mudroom configurations. We added a powder room to our build as suggested by Mydreamhome and Chisue and used #1 that was posted on 6.19.08.
What a great resource this forum is. Thanks!!

I haved bumped this to send a shout out to Marthaelana.
We struggled with our powder room/mudroom configuration and used the pics from 6.19.08 but without the shower.
Also, thanks to Chisue, Mydreamhome, Joyce_6333 etc. for reviewing our plans.
We have added the powder room and did the zero clearance entry. Basement will be dug next week!!!!