Life in a houseboat, what is it really like? We offer a home report from our house, in the houseboat where we live. Recently, we have cleaned up, fixed and bought some new furnishings, so we have some new things to show you as well.
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Life in a houseboat
Life in a houseboat is different, but it has many similarities with living in a house. What is special is that it always rocks a bit, you feel the wind and you are surrounded by an environment of boats and seabirds.
I the marina where we live there are 40 houseboats, of which 25 are floating villas and the other 15 are various types of boats and barges. You own your boat and rent the site. All have municipal water and sewerage, via pipes running under the piers.
We have lived here for ten years, and we usually tell stories and show pictures from time to time. Now we have just cleaned up and fixed some new things, so now it's time for a home report again. Welcome to peek into our houseboat, via text and pictures!
Welcome to the hall!
Welcome to our hallway! Our hallway is really not big, but it works. Now we have a new hallway carpet, because the old one was so worn and boring. Suddenly it feels much nicer and more cosy!
The kitchen - on the middle deck
From the hallway you go straight into the kitchen. Our kitchen is also quite small, which is especially noticeable because we have limited cupboards. It's just a matter of adapting - we've cleared out a lot of stuff and put bowls within bowls in the cupboards...
One of the best things about the kitchen is the view. Boats chug by, and sometimes swans or ducks swim right outside the window. When we make breakfast in the morning, there's usually a heron on the jetty opposite.
In the kitchen I (Helena) have my workplace. We have installed compartments on the wall, where I can keep pads, pens and other things, which makes things much easier.
The bathroom - on the middle deck
Our bathroom is next to the hallway and kitchen. It's so small that we can't even install a shower cubicle. But we have a shower, with shower curtains. So yes, we have everything we need. On the window we have a film that allows you to see out, but not in.
Living room - on the upper deck
If you go up half a flight of stairs from the kitchen, you come to our living room, on the upper deck. We built this part of the houseboat ourselves, when we rebuilt the houseboat ten years ago. Just recently we got a new sofa bed here. The old one, which was beige, was both worn and impossible to clean. Now we got a grey one instead, from Ikea. We are very satisfied!
From the living room we have a balcony door to the foredeck, where we have our outdoor furniture. Here we often have a view of beautiful red sunsets.
In the living room, Peter has his study area. We recently bought a new light grey carpet here, which makes it feel a bit more cosy. What about the fireplace? Yes, we sometimes use it when it's cold. Then it becomes both cosy and super warm.
The bedroom - on the lower deck
If we instead go from the kitchen and down the narrow little staircase, we come down to the lower deck. This is perhaps the largest room, although the ceiling height is a little lower than standard. Here we have a bedroom and an exercise room. Yes, we run training programmes on the TV and work out on the carpet!
At the far end, there is a small door to a cold store in the bow. We put the panelling on the walls ourselves when we renovated ten years ago.
At the other end of the bedroom we have a kind of open wardrobe, with hangers, a chest of drawers and boxes of clothes.
The boiler room / cloakroom
From the large room on the lower deck you can go into the boiler room, which was once an engine room. Today there are no boat engines left. In the boiler room we have a boiler, washing machine, shoe racks and boxes for storage. The washing machine is new, as the old one broke down. In here it is (for most people) not standing height ...
This is life in a houseboat ...
Yes, this is what life can be like in a houseboat... Very cosy, we think! What would a report on your home look like?
You might also like:
Houseboat in Stockholm - some photos from our accommodation
Being at home in the houseboat in Stockholm again
Living on the water in winter - a picture bomb
Houseboat life in winter - how we live in wintertime
Inspecting and repainting a houseboat - here's how it went
English (UK) 
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Ditte says:
It's fun to follow along! And you have certainly done a lot to maximise the small area. Very nice.
It would probably look similar for us, but we have 70m2 to deal with. We live on the quay with a sea view from the entire apartment, but no waves. On the other hand, we have sailed a lot and like it so no problem in itself with it.
We are surrounded by houseboats that are moored here at the quay in municipal places and otherwise we are probably surrounded by the same things as you are. But in a larger area. And since we live in a free location, 6 stairs up and a sea view from the entire apartment, we also see far and wide. There is always something to look at both in the water and along the quay and on the houseboats. The fact that the apartment is south facing and the balcony in all locations except north is no disadvantage.
Thanks for the visit!
Thank you for your visit
01 October 2023 - 14:10
Helena says:
It sounds so lovely where you live! Always nice with water close we think!!! 🙂 And water always offers something to look at, a living environment, we like that!
03 October 2023 - 17:33
BP says:
How incredibly nice you have done in Freedom! Remember your previous "at home" report and see that you still have so many pairs of shoes - hahaha! Then the storage baskets have also come along. Your memory must be really sharp, I mean how do you remember what is in each basket ...?
01 October 2023 - 18:44
Helena says:
Thank you, how nice that you like it! Haha, I still have a lot of shoes 😉 And well, my memory isn't that sharp maybe, I often open the wrong basket... (There are things like hats and mittens and stuff ;)).
03 October 2023 - 17:35
Anna Nilsson Spets says:
I could imagine a barge, minimalism is not my thing. Looks great in your house.
01 October 2023 - 18:48
Helena says:
Houseboats can be both large and small, there are all variants! 🙂 We have just over 70 sqm (but less if you count rooms with full ceiling height). Enough for us, but several of our neighbours have larger ones.
03 October 2023 - 17:36
Lena - good for the soul says:
Very charming accommodation. Can believe it is special, and very lovely if you like the swing! Order and order, and very nice!
Hug Lena
02 October 2023 - 5:45
Helena says:
Of course we like the environment! 🙂 Order and order is good, then maybe it was a little extra tidy when I took the photos 😉.
03 October 2023 - 17:37
Monica says:
I immediately think about how quickly it has passed! Ten years already and I remember seeing the apartment you lived in and Peter's armouring, renovating it. Stucco on the ceilings etc. What a memory I have, haha. And that he painted over everything so that it would be uniform when selling, I remember correctly😊well?
And how nice that you have it well planned here and that you find the hats sometimes. And nice with a view and water. Do you usually sit outside all year round? I thought that it is nice as long as the clothes are the right ones. We have started to do so, take breakfast outside, have both a large apartment and a large green balcony and now I have found a good solution with evergreen plants there, yes trees, they survived last winter and how nice it feels with them. Let's see how long we do that.
Fun to see everything, I love interior design and different styles. Fix a lot and often.
Have a nice October, it started well on Sunday, a little rain afterwards doesn't matter because I think it will be sunny again.
04 October 2023 - 0:13
Helena says:
I can only agree, time goes by sooo fast! And yes, what a memory you have, it is exactly right that we had to paint over the stucco. White was easier to sell ... Of course it is cosy to sit outside, but it is mostly when it is hot. In fact, it can be quite windy in the bow ... 😉 Likewise, wish you a really nice October!!!
04 October 2023 - 8:13