Having lived for years with a front loader in the kitchen under counter and now with a good sized laundry I am resenting the laundry for the space it wastes! I would rather have a "european solution" and a good en-suit and walk in :) really it is a matter of how you want to live, in reality if you spend your life considering resale you won't enjoy your home, prospective purchasers will love or hate whatever you do, those that don't want a space solution will be the ones who want the big ensuite and robe anyway! Do it with love then others will love it too, good luck

Would be quite hard to find something like that here in Australia , have you tried at shotts ? Why don't you import them from America ? Cassie would deliver for you right to your door

In my last house, after adding a living room (the area you see this side of the arch) and also updating bathroom etc I couldn't afford to reline the ancient walls in my little lounge (when I removed the purple wallpaper I found a mixmax of boards, gib, pinex, plywood and holes!) so I plastered walls all over with layers and layers of newspaper and wallpaper paste (papier mache), then after applying primer/undercoat I painted with 2 similar colours (rich reds in this case), and stippled the surface with a plastic bag. This made it look just very slightly textured like leather and successfully disguised the uneven surfaces. Gallons of gap filler filled the gaps between the old T&G ceiling boards and evened out the mismatched skirting and scotia. Again white paint on all the trims. Amazing what can be done when you have to make do! This was a great cosy little room! (Before photo is the 3rd one)

Hey Julia! He loves it... And the decision has been made!! We're going with the a yellow/orange/super cheerful bright colour sliding door hung on the inside. Thank you for your suggestion, we really hadn't thought of it and it's a great idea. Isn't Houzz just fantastic for sharing ideas and insparation. Love it. Also, thanks to siriuskey too, we're going to extend the full height built in cupboards in the laundry all the way out in the mud room. More storage is always a plus in anyone's world!!