Cohousing-L Mailing List: RoseWind Common House opening!

[Lynn Nadeau (welcome]

RoseWind Cohousing, Port Townsend WA 
http://www.olypen.com/sstowell/rosewind

Saturday evening, April 14, we had a grand party to celebrate our new 
common house.
Because we are a "lot development" model, we had to put the first 
members' money into land purchase, and the next buy-in monies into 
infrastructure, so it wasn't until a year and a half ago that we had 
enough money to proceed with our CH. Over the past year and a half, we 
have sold the last of our 24 memberships, and with lots and lots of 
volunteer work to stretch the budget we have built a wonderful building. 

As you might expect from RoseWind, it has numerous original quirky and 
artistic touches. In another post, I'll describe it in some detail. For 
now I'll say it is 2800 sq ft, in an L shape with spacious foyer/entry 
hall, 2 lavatories, rec room, kid/play/art room, and a great room that is 
dining room with a lounge end by the fireplace and sofas. A beautiful 
kitchen, with adjacent pantry. 

To our pleasure and amazement, plunging right in with a potluck party for 
36 adults and 6 kids, it worked. The materials in the kid room got an 
immediate workout. The tiny crawl-through door in the play room wall 
(sort of a cat door for kids) saw steady traffic. The dishwasher was used 
for the first time, with some success. Ditto for freshly carpentered coat 
racks and benches. It was exhiliarating, after an adrenaline-filled week 
assembling furnishings and supplies, all awaiting Friday morning's final 
inspection permit from the building department. 

It would have been great to have the CH from the very beginning, but this 
had its own advantages. With 16 of our 24 families already living on 
site, a call for "6 people for 45 minutes at 4 pm today" almost always 
turned out helpers. Even on almost no notice. We all got to be in and out 
of the building throughout the construction process, making adjustments 
and additions to the original plans. We did our own programming, most of 
our own design work (with an able boost from Mary Kraus at an early 
point), and were our own general contractor. 

Today (as if we had any adrenaline left?) we had a sort of donation flea 
market, with everyone who had been sitting on things they thought the CH 
might use, bringing it all to the dining room and laying it out. Several 
of us then combed through it and chose the most useful things and put 
them away, leaving the rest to be taken back. Tonight there is a leftover 
potluck with the rest of the grilled salmon, but I think I'm ready for an 
early bedtime. 

We also saw the final installation of a big colorful mural up over the 
front door on the entry porch: a big triangular piece with native animals 
and scenery around the edges -- our deer, coyotes, eagles, salmon, etc-- 
our homes in the background, and an ingenious photo collage of us holding 
hands as if we are standing in our field, with each of us about 7" high. 

To those of you already using your common house, thanks for all the 
advice and support that was shared with us on this list and elsewhere. 
For those who still don't have a finished CH, hang in there: "slow track" 
may take longer, but we're here to say it can work!

It was a really happy celebration party last night. 

Lynn Nadeau

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