When we restored an older home, we had the chance to decide where to put laundry room and decided on 2nd floor hallway, and am sooooo happy we did. When we were doing a load a day, with kids at home, with lots of athletic clothes etc., it was so easy to manage. Plus the ease for towels, linens – all the stuff that generates a lot of laundry happens on the second floor. We had a under-the-washing-machine liner, in case of over flow though – knock wood – never needed it. I tend to fold on our bed, then move laundry in baskets to the bedrooms, all so easy. It wouldn’t have been a massive inconvenience to go down to the first floor, but I sure am glad I don’t have to!
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Second floor laundry here. Our washer and dryer are actually behind doors in our hall bath. There is a place where I can hang things on hangars behind those doors (lower part of a shelf). Love not having to schlep things (except small towels) up and down the stairs. Fact is…most of the laundry is upstairs.
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I have basement laundry, however i believe in my next house I want to splurge and do second floor laundry. I’m tired of running down a flight or two of stairs to do laundry.
I’d save the money, keep it where you have it, and see if you can find something like this to hang above it - https://www.potterybarn.com/products/wallmount-drying-rack/?catalogId=84&sku=5801092&cm_ven=PLA&cm_cat=Google&cm_pla=®ion_id=669950&cm_ite=5801092_14546951676&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5-WRBhCKARIsAAId9FnUs-Gd8zNVw4Z2PBiSf7dXzVBDVKl3YTLdqWWwqOfI7W2sTp1trVgaAqmNEALw_wcB
My laundry room is next to my kitchen and living space. I love how easy it is to multi-task. Chop some veggies, move clothes to dryer, put something in the oven/watch a football game, fold a load… it’d make me nuts to have to go up a flight of steps to tend to the laundry – because I am not near the bedrooms during the day. i keep a laundry basket for each bedroom in the laundry room, so carrying all the laundry back to its home when it’s done doesn’t feel onerous.
I would base it on where your spend time and which parts of the task you most want to simplify. I’ll happily carry laundry to and from the W/D in exchange for being able to fit the task in with other activities. But if YOU hate carrying laundry up and down stairs and would rather travel up and down the steps laundry-less to avoid it, I can see how you would decide differently.
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Ok, confession time. I’m reading this thread just now on the couch (main floor) and just remembered I’d put a load in the washer before dinner! Whoops! So that’s the downside of upstairs laundry I guess - out of sight, out of mind…
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It does not hurt for the laundry to sit a while in the washer. Of course it also happens a lot when w/d in the basement.
Laundry is handy near the bedrooms. One thing I don’t enjoy is having to walk through the laundry room every time I come in from the garage. It’s no fun looking at all the work you have to do the second you get home. This is a common design in our area. I much prefer laundry in a room or closet where I can close the door and not see it.
That’s funny. For me that kind of design (in a ranch) seems a good use of space, gives some extra cabinets for kitchen overflow and nice area for coat hooks. (Friends just bought a patio home like that). But I’m pretty low maintenance, don’t spend much time fussing with laundry. Not much risk of distraction.
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Mine is in my basement, so I have to bring it up and down two floors. However, if I could change it, I would much prefer a first floor laundry room rather than having it on the second story. As many others mention, I spend all of my time on the first floor. As it is, I have to go up and down the stairs from my first floor to get down to the basement laundry to switch out loads, so I’d be doing the reverse up/down if I had it on the second floor. I hate letting my stuff sit in the dryer and get wrinkly b/c I’ve forgotten about it or didn’t realize it was done. I’m sure I’d adjust to having it on the second floor, but for me personally, I’d rather have a dedicated laundry room on my main level.
This is definitely a personal preference issue with no right or wrong way.
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We have enough space in our laundry room to put a drying rack, and also to hang up t-shirts to dry without putting them through the drier. It is quite useful to have both of these in the same room with the washer and drier. I think that to me this is more important than what floor the machines are on.
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Our laundry room is on the first floor, so laundry can blend in with cooking, reading, watching the news. Unfortunately it’s not large and is also the mud room/hallway to the garage. There’s no room for a drying rack but we mounted two round wooden (painted with high gloss enamel) curtain poles on the long wall for pool towels and for drying tshirts and other things that change shape in the dryer.
We have a one story house and our washer and dryer live in our kitchen. It’s very convenient. I love it. It’s easy to run a load when you’re doing meal prep or while you are waiting for the instant pot to cook your meal. It’s also away from bedrooms so quieter if people are sleeping when you’re laundering. Have never lived in a 2 story home.
I’m a first floor laundry vote. I have one on each floor and I hardly ever use the second floor one because I spend 95% of my day on the first floor and like being able to do the wash while doing other things too. I also don’t like running up and down the stairs to move the loads from washer to dryer or I often forget about it and end up with wrinkly partially dried clothes in the washer that I have to rerun.
I’ve had laundry everywhere over the years- basement, first floor, pass through from the garage, and now second floor.
I definitely like the laundry on the same floor as the bedrooms. I’d rather go up the stairs to move the laundry to the drier, than to carry a full load of folded laundry back up to the bedrooms.
Helps we are empty nesters so there is no one to wake up if a load is running.
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Our last house (11 years) had a second floor laundry. No hauling clothes,bath towels or sheets up and down but I had to haul myself up and down the steps to transfer and then fold. It was in a closet so no folding area.
Current house (24 years) laundry off of the kitchen and family room. I have more space and since I’m usually in this part of the house it’s convenient. Was great when we first moved in and my kids were young. No room for a drying rack, but I do have a laundry sink. Biggest disadvantage is the door into the garage is right in front of the washer.
New house has a first floor laundry room and I am excited about it (I am kind of a laundry freak). I will have a sink, a built in drying rack, a counter to fold and lots of storage space. I am actually excited about this.
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I think if we had room for coat hooks and shoes it would be perfect. We had basically a hallway with a washer and dryer. Shoes and bags ended up underfoot on the floor.
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We had our house designed/built. The previous house had a laundry room off the master bedroom. We liked that. So, we had our laundry room built upstairs where all the bedrooms were. The laundry room had a counter and sink, plus a pole to drip dry hanging clothes on. It also had a skylight that opened. There was room to do ironing as well.
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That’s my dream laundry room! Maybe in the retirement condo ; )
We’ve only had a second story once, but laundry always on the first floor in a separate room with utility tub. I’ve never known anything different*, so I’ve never thought much about it. However, we recently re-did the laundry room in our current house to stack the washer/dryer, which I prefer, and gain a broom closet and additional cabinets. Originally, there was a drying rod over the utility sink, but we did away with that in favor of another cabinet. Here in AZ, the best way to dry anything you don’t want to put in the machine is to hang it outside where it will be bone dry in less than 30 minutes.
In our community, the laundry room in every house model is called the “Smart Space” as the room is very large with counters that wrap along two walls with cabinets above/below. Most people use this room as an office or craft room as well as laundry. I’m typing this in there now.
*ETA: OTOH, the laundry room was in the basement of the one-story ranch house I grew up in. There was a laundry chute in the upstairs bathroom that delivered dirty clothes into a large hamper right next to the washer, so no need to carry dirty clothes down, only fresh clothes up. Are houses built with laundry chutes anymore?
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We rebuilt our house years ago. Made a closet thing with large size stackable washer /dryer combo. Right next to the bedroom but not in it. Second best decision we made since the Amerec steam shower in the shower was the best decision 
. Now that we lived here for 30 years and getting older can’t imagine carrying laundry down to the basement.
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