my cool houseboat: an inspirational guide to stylish houseboats

by Jane Field-Lewis

My Cool Houseboat  features boats of all shapes and sizes restyled and refurbished for modern life; from canal boats and riverboats to barges and cruisers moored in marinas from Europe, North America and Australia. Not only static residential boats and floating dwellings, houseboats are now holiday homes, bookshops and vintage clothes stores. About 15,000 people live permanently afloat on canals, rivers and coasts in Great Britain alone, but thousands more enjoy holidaying on boats or own them as weekend retreats in the UK and abroad. This book will feature not only static residential boats and floating dwellings but also those used as holiday homes and funky modern businesses – houseboats can range from canal boats, riverboats, narrow and wide beam boats, barges, Dutch barges, static houseboats and even seaworthy cruisers moored in marina. The book will cover stylish boats from the UK, North America, Europe and Australia. The houseboats engage the reader through their history and owners’ stories, which are told in lively text and colourful images. People fall in love with boats and own them for a variety of out of affordability and necessity; a love of the water; closeness to nature and the environment; or just because they yearn for a different and more relaxed style of living/working space. This book shows how houseboats can offer an attractive, practical and alternative solution, as well as amazing and often idiosyncratic solutions to living successfully in a small space. My cool houseboat covers the following stylish architectural , from San Francisco to Prague; thrifty and eclectic , as an affordable solution to conventional city dwelling; businesses , using houseboats as unusual workspaces, from a book barge to an allotment; modernist , from a Finnish floating office to an Amsterdam watervilla; recycled , ranging from an Ellis Island ferry houseboat to a converted minesweeper; and soulful , covering alternative ways of life, relaxation and recreation, from a New York City houseboat to a stylish Paris home. Word 25,000

Genres: Nonfiction

160 pages, Hardcover

First published April 16, 2015

Reviews

[Lena · Rating 4 out of 5]

“With no demands on mains electricity, water or drainage, this home has un-told potential for modern sustainable cities.”

This book was gorgeous and inspirational. I had always found houseboats charming but I did not know they came in such variety.

The home pictured above is Pieter Kromwijk’s Autarkhome. It is a cheerful beacon of a sustainable future.

[A B · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find the tiny house/living in a van trend somewhat intriguing, but mostly annoying. People talk about how awesome it is but are ultimately mooching off of anyone with a place they can park. (And take advantage of public toilets and guest bathrooms a little more than they should.)

So I guess it's only natural that the next level would be a houseboat.

I've always pictured a houseboat as a house that you could sail away on when you moved (I know, that's the idiot's interpretation). This book isn't quite like my childish interpretation of the term; there are a number of floating offices, businesses, and even a school. Many of them don't appear to be functioning boats. They seem to just sit on water instead of a terra firma lot.

I liked the minesweeper, bookstore, and Ellis Island ferry boats. Those really were cool. They actually looked like boats inside and out, which to me is what the appeal of a houseboat is all about.

The rest were mildly interesting at best, and pretentious at worst. Expect lots of mumbo jumbo terms like "holistic" and "energizing". Some of the interiors looked like minimalist social experiments rather than cozy living spaces. I'd be terrified to live in some of them.

The photography was nice, but some of it made no sense. You would see a nice set of bookshelves instead of something that is obviously boaty. I also wish there were diagrams of the boats' interiors. That would have bumped it to 5 stars for me because I find floor/space plans very helpful and interesting.

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to this book as I love individually designed small living spaces and houseboats seem to be an ideal combination of the tiny home ideal and my love of water. However I was massively disappointed: the photographs do not give a real idea of the layout or overall design of the boats but tend to focus on some of the detail. As for the text - well bland-designer speak. Uck! What could have been a fascinating book was ruined by both of these. The only saving grace is that the photographs are beautiful and the boats are amazing - if only we could have seen more of them!