Showing posts with label Houseboat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Houseboat. Show all posts
Monday, November 14, 2016
Houseboat on Dry Land as a Tiny Home
How's this for a weird sounding tiny house idea? Build a houseboat on pontoons, then park it on dry land and live in it. That's what someone in Connecticut did.
My former next door neighbor built this houseboat in the backyard of his business location. When he finished it he actually used it on the water for many years. Eventually, he had it moved back to where he built it, landscaped around it a bit, and moved in. I understand from communicating with him via email recently that he lives in it on a full-time basis for about half the year. That's because he's retired now and he spends the other half of the year in Florida. Someday I hope to get back to the area, catch him at home in the houseboat, and get some photos of the inside. I'd love to see how he laid-out the interior, wouldn't you?
My former next door neighbor built this houseboat in the backyard of his business location. When he finished it he actually used it on the water for many years. Eventually, he had it moved back to where he built it, landscaped around it a bit, and moved in. I understand from communicating with him via email recently that he lives in it on a full-time basis for about half the year. That's because he's retired now and he spends the other half of the year in Florida. Someday I hope to get back to the area, catch him at home in the houseboat, and get some photos of the inside. I'd love to see how he laid-out the interior, wouldn't you?
The crazy thing is, for all the talk you hear about how difficult it is to find a place to legally live in a tiny home, and with all the sneaking around and flying below the radar that tiny homeowners do, this place is out in the open on a busy street. Anyone driving by could spot it easily, and literally thousands of people drive by it every day. The icing on this particular cake is that it's not in a sleepy backwater, it's in an expensive Connecticut shoreline town where the current average listing price is $839,000. This is not a place where they ignore zoning laws.
Next time I talk with the owner I'll have to ask him how he did it.
Next time I talk with the owner I'll have to ask him how he did it.
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Wednesday, October 19, 2016
A Houseboat as a Small Home
Houseboats are pretty much by definition smaller than houses that are not boats. I'm not sure what the square footage of this nice houseboat is, but I'm inclined to say it's considerably less than 500 square feet.
Of course a houseboat doesn't have a yard in the common sense of the word. They tend to take full advantage of any outdoor space, decks, roofs, what have you, to gain a little outdoor living space. In this particular case, the outdoor spaces span many levels. Stairs can eat-up a lot of space so ship's ladders are used to move between levels, both indoors and out.
Houseboat kitchens, or "galleys" tend to be quite small and feature compact appliances.
Houseboats in many ways are just small floating homes. Many people make them their year 'round place of residence. Since they tend to be small, the rooms within them are often small too. People who design tiny homes often take inspiration from space saving techniques found in boats.
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| Houseboat exterior |
Of course a houseboat doesn't have a yard in the common sense of the word. They tend to take full advantage of any outdoor space, decks, roofs, what have you, to gain a little outdoor living space. In this particular case, the outdoor spaces span many levels. Stairs can eat-up a lot of space so ship's ladders are used to move between levels, both indoors and out.
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| Interior view looking toward dining area with kitchen and bathroom beyond. Note the "ship's ladder" used instead of stairs. |
Houseboat kitchens, or "galleys" tend to be quite small and feature compact appliances.
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| The galley |
Houseboats in many ways are just small floating homes. Many people make them their year 'round place of residence. Since they tend to be small, the rooms within them are often small too. People who design tiny homes often take inspiration from space saving techniques found in boats.
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| Top level living area with sliders leading to outdoor deck. Note that the ceiling is just high enough to accommodate the doors. This is to keep the boat's center of gravity low, making it more stable. |
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| Another view of the top level living area. This direction also features sliding doors and yet another deck, this time with a ladder leading to a rooftop deck above. It looks like there are sleeping bags stowed under the couch, suggesting that it doubles as a bed. |
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| Dining table. The vase and flowers are a nice touch. |
Click here to see a previous post about a 750 square foot house boat.
Click here to see a previous post about ship's ladders and other space saving stair alternatives.
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