If your coat closet is near the door I would leave it as a coat closet and put your laundry closet in the spare bedroom closet. You need the coat closet to be near the entrance to your home.

Not near the door. In a big keeping room off the kitchen! I live in the south and it’s not super cold here.

A no-brainer to me. Sacrifice the closet and move the laundry inside. I’d have done it yesterday. Or last year. 😉

Thanks! It would have been an easier decision if I had somewhere even to put a coat rack. My house has a lot of windows and door a lot of walls, with it being very small. It's hard to find any space at all. Especially since it's not so cold here, I think, putting the coats in the guestroom closet is the best idea. Thanks!

Laundry for sure.

I think I would rather have laundry. Can you put some hooks on the wall for coats? Or remove some of the out of season stuff in your closets to make room for coats and put some of it where the old laundry will be?

Thanks! Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of wall space as there's so many doorways and windows, and then my art collection taking up the rest. I might have a spot where I can put a small coat rack. Will jut out slightly into the egress of the front hall. I like the idea of putting the bulk of them down in the garage, I can definitely put a rack at the bottom of the steps in the garage where the washer and dryer presently are. I could probably reach the coats from the top of the steps!

Could you put laundry in guest room closet? my house would be a mess without a space for coats. i don’t mind laundry in basement though, although in another decade i might. I can relate with no useful space inside to put laundry…

Hi Elizabeth- I would sacrifice a closet, knowing that a guest room is nearby. I’m too short to do stackables but I’d definitely repurpose a closet to save me from up and down stairs.

What do you keep in your keeping room? You said it’s large - could you create an entirely new closet in there for coats? Or the washer/dryer?

If I sacrifice the guest room closet it’s no longer considered a 3 BR house and property value takes a hit! Here is a pic from the kitchen looking into the keeping room. There’s no room to take away from this room, a small sofa barely fits next to the door. This is the only room with a fireplace in it, not sure what the original owners (two widowed sisters) used it for. There is a large 240V outlet under the window behind the couch that makes me think they had laundry in here - directly across from the fireplace! I wouldn’t want to do that. I like sitting in front of the fireplace and would rather sacrifice the coat closet (that’s it in the photo).

Hmmm…it sounds like it’s just a few steps from the garage? Maybe reconsider that? Your keeping room doesn’t seem too spacious though it’s hard to tell. I’m not sure I’d like a W/D running while in the room relaxing. Looks like a lovely vintage home. There’s always compromises in homes like these. An aside - I’m not a pro, but wouldn’t a closet with a W/D still be considered a closet?? I know you’d have to plumb and all that, but… I dunno. But then again, it renders your guest room less useful. I’d rethink the garage arrangement I guess.

The garage is down a set of stairs, which is why I want to move it into the house. I have another living room as well as a den where we watch TV. This is not the only hang out room! And yes, by the way, if you put a stackable washer dryer in a closet and you can no longer hang clothes in there, it is no longer a usable closet and renders the bedroom uncountable.

If you don’t want it in the garage or the guest bedroom closet, then it has to go in the keeping room closet.

Correct. The point of the post was to gather opinions as to whether it’s better to sacrifice the coat closet to bring it in the house, or leave it in the garage.

Has a contractor suggested converting the garage into insulated living space, raising the garage floor level to the main house, adding a side by side laundry area, storage closet, and another family room?

Is it feasible to make the fireplace double sided/see through so you have a second fireplace to add value, then you don’t need the sofa and can turn the window corner into a side by side laundry room to add convince and more value?

Yes we have considered converting the garage. A lot of reasons I don’t want to do that, the main being the way the house is constructed, the ceilings would barely be 7 feet if we did it. Also I use the garage for parking the car. As for the double sided fireplace, yes considered that. The formal living room in front of it is very narrow and even smaller than the keeping room. The layout does not work for that unfortunately. The floor plan of this house is ridiculous, it also has two hall bathrooms side by side, none opening to any bedroom, and the one bathroom is small and the second is even smaller… I don’t want to combine into one, that’s a whole other issue I have been looking at trying to increase the size while keeping two bathrooms. Can’t do it without either losing a bedroom or doing an addition. I don’t want to invest that much in this house.

Right but i’d do what works best for you unless you are selling soon. you can always move washer/dryer to garage if needed for sale. the hook ups will still be there…

Just to clarify, a closet is still a closet regardless of what is in it, whether you store clothes, empty wine bottles or a washing machine. Only if you removed the walls and incorporated it into the room would it stop being a closet.

Oh, so if a future owner wanted to turn it back into a clothes closet they could just disregard the plumbing and lack of shelving/racks. Put their own shelving into it. Id still rather have the unit in the closet in the keeping room, close to the kitchen rather than in my guest room. Thanks for clarifying!

I like Elizabeth's idea. If you decide to move the laundry to your coat closet, keep the existing supply and electrical lines in the garage for the future. If you decide to sell your house, you can always move the equipment back to the garage for staging. The realtor can let potential buyers know there are supply lines in the closet should the buyers want to use that arrangement.

Have you considered turning one of the bathrooms into a two piece and putting stackable where the tub was. You might even be able to squeeze in a shower stall.

I would not want to lose the full bath. I enjoy it and also very bad for resale not to have a tub in the house!

Don’t you have two bathrooms?

Yes but turning one into a half bath, and losing the tub, is a hit on property value that I am not willing to take. Also, I like having my own bathroom and having everyone else use the hall bathroom! Not interested in cutting into one of the bathrooms, much more useful to me than a coat closet.

Yes put the laundry there! The hookups in the garage can stay for resale.

Depending on the guest room, you can perhaps fit in a good antique armoire for all the extra coats and hats and Narnia.

Narnia!! Yes!