Turning a dining room into laundry room

5 years ago

Hello. How important are formal dining rooms for resale value? Our current first floor layout consist of the tiniest closet area by our garage door that leads to a tiny laundry room. We bought this house when I was pregnant with my first so I didn’t have any idea what a nightmare this tiny closet area and laundry room would be! In my dream world, I would love to turn that area into a true mudroom by gutting the closet and laundry room. I would love to turn my dining room into the new laundry room and extra kitchen storage area. Is this a crazy idea? We have a fairly large kitchen with an island and eating area that is all open to our family room. We have a big table in our eating area now that seats 6 very comfortably. We never use the dining room so it kills me to have all this wasted space. We do have a formal living room that I turned into my office that could easily be converted to a dining room if a future buyer wanted a dining room - if and when we sell it.

Let me know what you experts think! Thank you!!

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PRO

Arlene Awarda Architect

5 years ago

How about one side wall with built-in cabinets. These can be full height cabinets. One to hold either a stacked W/D washer dryer combo or side by side washer and dryer. The next to cabinets can be used for linen or extra kitchen pantry storage.

The dining room then becomes

double duty! You'll have to determine the space you'll be leftover. There may be possibilities for both!

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Comments (7)

jck910
5 years ago
Check with local realtors for what sells a house in your area
morz8 - Washington Coast
5 years ago
And, it's hard to offer advice not seeing a floor plan or knowing the square footage of the house. Unable to see it on paper, a living room converted to office but could be a dining room while a dining room is converted to laundry and a pantry does not sound like the best of ideas if considering potential future buyers.
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latifolia
5 years ago
The rooms in a house need to be in proportion to each other, and they need to offer space for the functions of a family.

Where would you seat ten or twelve for Thanksgiving? Where would you hold a dinner party? Do you have a family room? If your teens are watching TV in the family room, where would adults read or hold a quiet conversation?

Maybe your needs have changed, and it's time to buy a larger or different house.
Donald
5 years ago
If your needs have changed and you’re otherwise happy in your home then the house can change with you. Certainly don’t need to move just because one room isn’t working for you. You are the only person that can determine if your house, minus a formal dining room can remain competitive on the market with every other house in your neighborhood. My only con would be that dining rooms are usually given pretty prime locations in a houses footprint, and now you want to give that space to what is normally a back of house service area. My pro would be larger functional service areas will greatly impact your life because you use them often and I know I would love a big mud room, a fantastic laundry room and extra space for the kitchen/butlers pantry. I’d convert it in a hot second.
Rachel Lee
5 years ago
You’re living in it, do what works for you. Sounds like you have other spaces that could be staged as a dining area should the need arise.
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
5 years ago
IMO if you want help post a to scale floor plan of the whole main living area and then maybe we can help. Right now I would say not on your life but I need a floor plan and always a good plan to ask a realtor if resale is in your future.