Utility room / Family dressing room combo

[Potatomashed]

I have the opportunity to renovate and build a dream home (all on ground floor). AIBU to build small, calm bedrooms just for sleeping/reading and dedicate one space to be a family dressing room (like a big walk in closet American style). Why not put the laundry area in there too… clothes could all be processed in one room. What am I missing here?

For further info, I have one toddler daughter and hope to expand the family in the next few years. One husband who does half the laundry. I know teenagers are messy creatures (but so am I and this is why I’m wondering if just one room of laundry mountains is better than every toom…)

No way would I have a shared dressing room.

I have my own dressing room, DH uses the built in wardrobes in the master bedroom.

Your daughter won't be a toddler forever.

It might work with younger children but I would have hated that kind of a set up as a teenager - I wanted to be able to try outfits on in my own room, and would not have been wandering into public areas in my nightclothes thank you very much! Also, if you have two same-sex siblings, I can imagine arguments about clothes going “missing”

Are you envisaging all the family getting dressed in there at the same time? Your DD won’t want that very shortly? Or would you expect everyone to wander in, pick up the clothes they want to try on and take back to their bedroom to try on in private? Neither sounds ideal to me

Love the idea of laundry room, ok with the idea of Family dressing room, massively dislike the idea of combining the two.

piles of dirty and clean laundry cluttering up my nice walk in wardrobe - I don’t think so, I think having a laundry room you can throw things in and shut the door to is great but the idea of having to wade through all that to get to my clothes every morning would depress me…

…but you might have Mrs Hinch/Anthea Turner levels organising/housekeeping skills so perhaps it would work for you 🤷🏻‍♀️

So when your DD is older she has to share her changing spaces with her parents and siblings which may or may not be the same sex, and no proper ownership of her own clothes?! Sorry but I think that’s really weird.

Apart from anything else, it sounds like it'd get really annoying to have to go to a separate room to get your clothes and change...

Nope, daft idea
People Will want their own stuff in their own room

You’ve all raised good points about daughter not wanting to change in front of parents as she gets older- so glad I posted this as it wouldn’t have occurred to me at all! I forgot the whole trying clothes on to get an outfit stage (currently in the avoiding full length mirror and repeating known outfit combos stage…)

I would say big yes to laundry room and larger rooms with great built in storage/wardrobes. Hubby also likes having chest of drawers on the landing for him (so he can get up early and get things without disturbing others). The last thing maybe be specific to our family though!

I watched a thing on YouTube the other week where the family had done just this - it was in Japan and the family were American/Japanese. They had these bare bedrooms (they hadn’t yet moved in) and a huge closet space with separate areas for each person (2 adults 2 kids) and the laundry space in the same area. I think it’s a great idea.

To be clear the space wasn’t intended as a dressing area, but just as closet space. So your clothes live in there but you have a small hanging rail (and maybe a small chest of drawers for underwear) in your room and you take your clothes in there to get dressed. I’m sure untidy types will still end up using a floordrobe .

If you do consider it, look up Japanese housing plans for inspiration.