I just got a RainMachine Pro-16 and want to ask for ideas on where to place it (siting) in a single family home.

The house is a new purchase, but an old house with construction from 1946, 1987, and 1993. The old part in the middle is raised foundation; the new parts at the front-left and rear are concrete slab. The current sprinkler controller on the right exterior side of the house is being demolished and the wiring there is inadequate anyway.

Since the RainMachine Pro-16 has a screen but is not waterproof, it makes sense to put it somewhere indoors where it can be seen at least some of the time. The question is how often is it useful to observe the RainMachine versus being an eyesore, and how difficult is it to install brand new sprinkler wiring under, over, and through a house.

The flow control valves are at the front of the property connected in a small strip of dirt, right in front of the 1946 house (raised foundation) and behind the concrete driveway. There is a porch (concrete slab) immediately to the left of the control valves. These valves control sprinklers in the front of the property. The portion of the old house directly behind the sprinkler values has two bedrooms, then a hallway in the center of the house, then a bathroom, and then the new house addition portion towards the back (more room, hallway, and pantry). The driveway goes to the garage (new house) on the left, with concrete slab.

There is a laundry room with concrete slab appended to the northwest of the garage with two steps, plus an interior door that goes to the living room of the old house (raised foundation). Appended to the northeast of the garage is the main house entrance plus a stairway to the second floor, also concrete slab. The raised foundation part actually starts inside the house in the living room--apparently the laundry room, stairway, and front entrance were originally a breezeway between the house and garage structures before they got joined together.

There will also be sprinklers in the rear of the property in the backyard behind the new house addition (concrete slab). There is a pre-existing water connection and a water heater right behind the pantry, which is stuffed wall-to-wall with supplies.

Based on this description, it seems that the two ideal places to put the RainMachine Pro-16 are in the hallway in the dead center of the house, or in the laundry room.

The garage appears to be out because there is significant concrete slab in the way that would make running the wires very expensive: it's nowhere near either of the control valves. Correct me if I am wrong, but it simply does not make sense to put a sprinkler control system in a bedroom. The pantry would make a lot of sense because it is directly opposite to the control flow valves for the backyard, but because the pantry is stuffed with supplies the RainMachine would never be seen if we put it there.

That leaves the hallway in the middle of the house, and the top-right corner of the laundry room (which abuts the transition between concrete slab and raised foundation). The hallway is a high traffic area and currently has the first floor thermostat plus an old security system panel. Therefore the RainMachine would be seen all the time. This seems like a weird place for a sprinkler control system, but it is more-or-less between the front and back control valves so wiring would be the least difficult.

The laundry room makes a bit more sense because it is frequented once every day or two, but being a utility room, it is not one that guests or residents are going to be passing through at all hours of the day or night. However, it is further away from the control valves for sure so getting the control wires there will be more expensive. It will require getting all the control wires through the narrow zone (possibly non-existent, won't know until the walls are opened) between the concrete slab part crawl space below the old house floor.

Do people put the RainMachine in a laundry room? A pantry? Where is a good place to put it indoors if you are starting from scratch?