Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Common House Laundry

[PattyMara (PattyMara]

In a message dated 98-06-22 22:42:36 EDT, ccharis [at] jeffco.k12.co.us writes:

<< 
 Our laundry is in the basement, in a small, windowless area. It is the most
 frequently used part of the common house and is certainly the least
aesthetic.
 If it were in a sunlit porch where we could watch the kids playing and look
up
 through the common green, that would be a vast improvement over what it is
 now. >>

Hello listmembers,
Tierra Nueva's (central California coast) laundry room is one the first floor
just off a sunlit porch/deck directly to the side of the kids' outdoor play
area.  We chose bright turquoise and magenta formica for the cupboards and
counter, and have room for two washers and one dryer.  Clotheslines are
outside, location to be determined soon.

We move in next month, so I'll let you know in six months how it is working
for us.  Our belief is that laundry should be incorporated into the everyday
patterns of life in the common house.  It is close to the kitchen and has a
large sliding door to the sunporch.

I am one of a small circle of folk in our community who is willing to shed
personal washers and dryers and use the common house laundry room exclusively.
I look forward to the experiment, but I must admit that as a mother of teens
it will be easier for me than for the families with babies and toddlers.  

 I personally like hearing the rhythms of a washing machine, especially if
there's a limited number like in our laundry room.   Our weather is so
fabulous that I hang all my laundry out on a clothesline year round.  Even
with El Nino~it's just a matter of timing.  Our community clotheslines have
yet to be sited...and we've had some interesting discussions on who wants to
look out and see someone else's laundry blowing in the breeze.  To me it is
art, a moving domestic sculpture.  But then, I enoy  finding art in the
ordinary and simple.  To others it feels like an eyesore.  I'll let you know
how we resolve this one too.

Patty Mara Gourley
Tierra Nueva Cohousing on the central CA coast near San Luis Obispo
where we are rapidly selling our last few units before move-in, sometime in
July/Aug