Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Seeking info about women sharing cohousing units

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Mar 10, 2007, at 1:09 PM, eileen mccourt wrote:

> I am very interested in this concept, especially in a larger home with 
> a
> group of women; one kitchen with separate private baths and bedroom 
> suites
> is ideal, but I am also willing to consider sharing a bath if it is 
> well
> appointed and large enough to accommodate the stuff for two people.

I once lived in a Zen Buddhist monastery that was an old converted 
retreat center. An amazingly convenient feature was a sink in my room. 
While I shared a bath (during retreats with many, many people), the 
sink made life very livable.

I also shared a house with another woman for many years and what made 
it workable was that we had separate bedrooms, sitting rooms, and 
baths. I had visiting children and she had many guests, all of whom 
would stay for days at a time. We shared the living room, dining room, 
kitchen, and laundry/workshop areas. Having the private sitting room 
meant we could avoid the other's guests and be alone without being 
confined to the bedroom.

If I were designing such a house I would put a sink in each bedroom, 
separate the toilet from the bath/shower, and either make the bedrooms 
large enough to be sitting rooms or have two small rooms per person, 
and then a large living dining and kitchen area.

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