A Boathouse in the City is a Boatload of Adventures
Auckland is known to be the City of a Thousand Boats. Fittingly, the statistics support it. One in every three households in New Zealand’s largest city owns a boat. This fact doesn’t really come as a surprise since Kiwis are rooted in fishing. So, you might ask the question if Urban Sales will now be selling fishing gear. Well, no. But you might be convinced to live in a boat instead of an apartment.
Because if you take a step back and rethink where and how you live, possibilities might just open up. And it wouldn’t stray much from our urban lifestyle because we can live just anchored on the Tamaki River. The chap that we set as an example just lives in his boathouse, moored on the river Thames in Bristol, England. Yes, our example came from our colonizers. His name is Gareth. And he just answered a phone call from his friend suggesting they buy a boat and make it their home. And they did. Now, we are going to show you how to make a boathouse as functional as any house. All aboard?
“Right now we’re three couples.” Below decks, the Dutch barge is now a home with three bedrooms and an open-plan central dining, living and kitchen space. The boat has modern conveniences: Dishwasher, oven, washing machine but the internet is terrible! Boat life can be a juggling act, things break and need fixing. It’s made me more practical – I like that.”
Living rooms and dining rooms are common places inside the house. Unlike a yacht, the innards of a boat hasn’t a great deal of space to work on. You need smart furniture to divide the space, maximize the available area, and1 remain stylish and functional all at the same time. The IKEA HOLMSUND 3-seat sofa is a great way to separate the living room from the dining area. The veritable KALLAX 77x147cm can be a TV bench when installed horizontally, and you’d still have storage for boat stuff in its shelves. Since limited light enters a boat’s hull, having a well-lit space for resing can be accomplished by the IKEA BAROMETER floor lamp.
IKEA BAROMETER, $179
Speaking of lights, your dining area should be like a galley. The HEKTAR pendant lamp can bring a nautical feeling to your dining experience. Meanwhile, the MELLTORP dining table is a budget friendly dining table you can pair with the VADDO stool so they can be stacked when not in use.
“I’d feel disappointed if I had a perfectly functioning apartment. With the boat you get both sides. There’s a bit of roughness – things always need fixing – but it’s also pretty. And a fun party space!”
The bedroom need only a bed like the SVARTA bed frame so you can have space to work inside your private place. And to save on space, have an open wardrobe like the ALGOT and the MACKAPAR.
Need you ask if you are going to live like in the olden days, you are not. You can have electricity inside the boat via solar panels to have electricity and perhaps a generator that runs at night. It can have a dishwasher and a laundry. And unlike in a traditional apartment, you can have a vast space for drying your clothes. You can have one installed from bow to stern. Or maybe several shorter ones from port to starboard. Cool, eh?
““We’ve got a nice balance between feeling homey and it still being boat-like – none of us wants it to be super sharp and modern in here. When something’s needed we make it, find it, or buy something that fits in with an old wooden boat.””
Gareth’s boathouse floor plan
