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One of the privileges of owning a home is the ability to make it your own through decorations, landscaping, paint colors and décor — both inside and out.

For Sean McGarry, a resident of Windsor’s RainDance community, he was given the opportunity to show the community just how much he truly is king of his castle when a unique, yet slightly controversial, item surprisingly showed up.

Shortly before Halloween, McGarry returned home to find a random toilet sitting in his front yard.

“I’m kind of a really positive person and try to find the best in every situation so instead of getting mad, I thought let’s have fun with this thing,” McGarry explained.

The next day, McGarry bought a gleaming gold skeleton and plopped it right down on the toilet seat. A few days later, someone added a candle, magazine and toilet brush to the display.

Just as the weather changes with the seasons, so have the toilet’s decorations.

For Thanksgiving, McGarry pulled out his turkey decoy to sit on the throne and surrounded it with a large inflatable turkey and turkey yard stakes.

When it came time to decorate for Christmas, McGarry was inspired by the reason for the season and gifted the community with another stunning lawn display. This time the toilet was transformed into Santa’s sleigh, complete with light-up reindeer and a big cheery snowman.

For Valentine’s Day, the toilet was turned into a kissing booth. While McGarry admits that he just “threw together” February’s decorations, it’s no less funny with its bright pink toilet seat beckoning someone to stick their head through it to share a kiss with their sweetie on the other side.

McGarry was still waiting for March’s decorations to come in when MyWindsor spoke with the homeowner, but if he stays true to his word, it will surely be another display folks won’t want to miss.

With each month filled with either holidays or celebrations like National Donut Day, Bladder Health Month or sporting events like the Super Bowl, McGarry has an endless selection of ideas to choose from when it comes to decorating the toilet.

“I’ve met so many people in my neighborhood because they just come over. I can’t believe how much this thing has blown up,” McGarry said. “I want to keep it going.”

Despite the humor, the commode has been a thorn in the side of the HOA.

On Feb. 7, McGarry received a letter from Advanced HOA Management out of Denver warning him that the toilet is in violation of the HOA’s codes.

The HOA notified McGarry that he needs to attend a board meeting to file a formal plan and outline to the Architectural Review Committee for consideration of approval for his new lawn decoration.

However, McGarry disagrees. After scouring the HOA’s rules and regulations, the toilet falls into “a gray area.”

“If I read the rules right, I can literally move it to the backyard and they can’t do anything about it,” McGarry said. “I don’t think they can do anything about it now because it’s not a permanent structure.”

MyWindsor was able to track down a copy of the RainDance HOA rules and regulations online and after reading the document line by line, McGarry may well be in his right to keep his controversial lawn décor.

According to the “Decorations, Seasonal and Holiday” section of the document, “approval is not required, as long as the decorations comply” with certain standards listed by the HOA.

Some of the standards include:

And since the toilet is not a permanent display and can be moved, the HOA’s rules around permanent decorations/decor also do not apply to McGarry’s lawn toilet.

“There’s no member of the HOA who lives here. They are picky and choosy to when they drive through. There are houses that have been here from the original area build and they have no fences or not painted fences, no landscape,” said Jenelle Friday, who lives directly behind McGarry. “My aunt knows how to find us because of the toilet. It’s not harmful to anybody; it’s not offensive. We love it.”

“It brings more joy than anything,”  Brett Friday added.

To see the entire RainDance HOA guidelines and use standards, go to https://bit.ly/3ky74Hr.

MyWindsor reached out to Matt Esposito, community manager of RainDance with Advanced HOA Management for comment about the possible HOA violations and what the management company planned to do about McGarry’s unusual lawn decoration. Esposito declined to comment about the situation.

McGarry decided to take his plea to keep the commode to the public and started a GoFundMe page to help cover any HOA fees as well as purchase new decorations for the toilet.

“I actually started the GoFundMe as a joke. I just can’t believe it’s turned into this,” he said.

As of the end of February, McGarry’s GoFundMe was up to $335. Donations range from $5 up to $50 with one anonymous person pitching in $100 toward the cause.

Some of the people donating to the fund left funny and supportive messages to McGarry and his mission.

“We take piano in the neighborhood and my kids crane their heads out the window to see what the toilet looks like this week,” wrote Nicole Meldrum.

Sabrina Miller penned a heartfelt plea that reads “Our family cannot imagine how dreary our lives would be without this fine décor greeting us every morning as we start our days, and each night before laying our heads down to get a good night’s rest. I beg the community to band together in this very important time and save our neighborhood mascot.”

Ben Cruz’s message was short and sweet with just “fight the power!!!” and Tracy Bower wrote that the lawn commode “must be preserved as a historical landmark of this neighborhood.”

While several of the residents in the neighborhood get a hoot out of his unique lawn décor, some are not so keen on the commode.

MyWindsor knocked on the door of one of McGarry’s neighbors to get their take on the toilet and was met with hesitation and the comment, “he’s a good neighbor so I really don’t want to say anything.”

McGarry has also received some flack over the toilet from fellow residents in posts to the RainDance community Facebook page.

“Some neighbors don’t like it and think it’s inappropriate,” he said.

The decorated toilet isn’t McGarry’s first attempt at trying to make people laugh and smile.

During COVID, he and some of his friends were part of the Crumbl Bandits. The group would purchase Crumbl Cookies and randomly leave them on the doorsteps of neighbors, coworkers, strangers and friends. The group was similar to the popular Wine Ninjas, who did the same thing, except with goodie baskets of wine, spirits, beer and other treats.

“My dad died about nine years ago and before he died, one of the last things he said to me was ‘life must be lived, and it must contain laughter’,” McGarry explained. “So I’ve taken that as a mission to make as many people smile and laugh as possible.”

For updates on McGarry’s campaign to keep the lawn commode, or to make a donation to his GoFundMe account, go to http://bit.ly/3EISST3. To see the infamous toilet in person, or to snap your photo alongside the possible historical icon, head over to the 1700 block of Country Sun Drive in Windsor and look for the gleaming porcelain throne in the yard.

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