Re: Unit Size [was Private home dishwasher: 18 vs 24 inch
From: Sharon Villines (sharonsharonvillines.com)
Date: Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:04:52 -0700 (PDT)
On Oct 25, 2013, at 10:23 AM, Diana Carroll <dianaecarroll [at] gmail.com> 
wrote:

> Sharon, last time we discussed common house usage, you mentioned that your
> CH had no spaces that could be closed off.  If this is true, I think it's
> worth pointing this out when comparing your CH usage with others'. 

This is true and it does make a difference. But people also like being together 
or being where people stop and talk when they walk through. We have a puzzle 
table up all the time and it has been placed in a lot of different places in 
the CH. The place that works is in front of a window where people can look out 
while they wait for an arriving package or friend and where they see and are 
seen by people walking through the CH. When I want to see someone, I begin 
working on the puzzle about 5:00 and eventually they walk through.

We do have small rooms -- office, a game room with a TV and Wii, living room, 
kids room, exercise room. But each of those has a pretty defined purpose. And 
people like being in the larger space. We now have plug ins nearer the dining 
tables in the large room so people can work there on computers. Previously they 
used the tables for sorting paper, particularly at tax season when they spread 
out on a long table to sort stuff. 

When I think about putting in walls around the dining room so the sunroom would 
be a room and the walkways would be hallways, I think about how closed up the 
dining room would be. But it might not be all bad. We do fill it up, however. 

Last night two dinners got scheduled at the same time. One external and one 
internal. It was pretty crowded with 50 people -- I know because that's how 
many table chairs we have. We've had 60+ at holiday meals and they flow into 
the living room and sunroom on soft furniture.

It's a real balancing act to both provide for large spaces and small groups.

I posted about Silent Space temporary walls a while back. I think they might be 
useful in dividing large spaces. Here is the link and I'll send more 
information in a separate post with a new subject line.

http://www.silentsource.com/fwpanels-silentpanel.html

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org





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