Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Reality Questions for our new Common House!

[Lynn Nadeau (welcome]

Port Townsend Washington is the sort of place where many people do not  
lock their houses, cars, or bikes. Crime is rather rare. Locking the  
common house was a spirited issue! Particularly because our postal  
mail is there, some members felt strongly that it should be locked.  
What we settled on was expensive ($1000 ?) but has been satisfactory:  
the CH front door has an electronic lock which (a) is on a timer to  
lock at night, and (b) has a keypad: each household chooses their own  
entry code. During the daytime, the location of the common house is  
such that anyone around it is in plain view of many households.  
Usually strangers on site are simply curious, and are usually met and  
helped.

We have a spacious tiled foyer. It has hooks for coats. Including a  
low set for kid stuff. We don't have a lot of muddy boots, but we take  
off our shoes and change into slippers, so shoes do pile up. Members  
have a cubby with a little bin (simple IKEA shelving) to provide space  
for personal slippers. A couple of baskets hold "loaner" slippers. Two  
long benches assist in shoe changing, and also provide more space to  
pile coats when needed.
The main annoyance is when a gang of kids walks in and drops their  
shoes right in front of the door, instead of parking them off to one  
side. If anyone had muddy stuff, they could choose to leave it on the  
front porch, which is large and covered.

Lynn Nadeau, RoseWind Cohousing
where a fleece jacket was enough outdoors today, grass is green, the  
garden still has carrots, leeks, potatoes, parsnips, chard, kale,  
spinach, and bits of broccoli....
and we have a really nice spacious home for sale
www.rosewind.org