We all have our particular tastes and unique preferences, but when it comes down to it, most of our homes are pretty similar. Whether it's an apartment or a house, it probably has four walls and a sturdy foundation. But if that sort of conventionality bores you, there are plenty of other options — from a yurt to a houseboat! Check out these unusual homes and tell us, would you ever move there?
Would you ever live in a lighthouse? The Smith Point Lighthouse is a caisson lighthouse in Chesapeake Bay and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It also happens to be for sale! Its interior has a 19th-century nautical charm, but with modern amenities. And great water views in every direction!
In the 1950s, architect Buckminster Fuller popularized the geodesic dome, a spherical structure composed small circles that intersect to form triangles (for those of us who aren't mathematically inclined, just think Epcot). It's not easy, but you can still find some geodesic domes designed to live in, like Keith and Fran did. They have to contend with the challenges of sloping walls, but they're happy living in their work of modern art and physics!
When we were kids, a treehouse was a wonderful haven, a safe escape and a great lookout. Should our adult homes serve the same purpose? Tereasa and David's friends built this house around the trunk of an old tree, making a grownup aerie in the woods.
A yurt is a round structure designed to be easily collapsed, like a tent. Originally the portable homes of nomadic peoples in the Asian steppe, it is now a popular type of semi-permanent structure in the West. With perfectly round walls, open ventilation at the top and no indoor plumbing, it may not be for everyone. But is it for you?
While some of these unusual home types suggest some degree of isolation, houseboat-dwellers are typically part of a tight-knit community, sharing the harbor and a culture that seems romantic and free to a landlubber. And while many houseboats are small, some of them are downright luxurious, like Sue's Simply Stunning Houseboat, in Seattle. Would you ever leave terra firm and live here?
I'd have to wimp out on the first one as lovely as it is - I couldn't sleep thinking about rogue waves and such. But absolutely yes on all the rest - love domes and yurts especially.
The lighthouse would be a dream! Sans the foghorn of course. I wonder how loud it is? How weird!!
love the lighthouse and houseboat options!!! would live in either place - in a second and without a doubt - but only if my family is there with me. love, love, love!!!
ps: now i dislike my current home even more than i already did before reading this post. thank goodness it's a rental!
There's something about that lighthouse that makes me feel panicky. The word "stranded" comes to mind.
houseboat here. I've always wanted to live on one.
This lighthouse is everything you have dreamed of and more! I am the daughter of the man who owns this lighthouse as of now and I have spent many of summer days out there relaxing, enjoying the breeze, and watching all the sail boats sail by. The lighthouse is definitely the most relaxing place I have ever been. It is very spacious and all finished and furnished ready for anyone to live in! But, the best news of it all, THERE IS NO FOG HORN! Once our family bought the lighthouse and started spending a lot of our time out there enjoying everything the lighthouse has to offers, they decided lose the fog horn, so now all you can hear is the wonderful waves lapping up against the house. This is truly a dream location and almost the perfect home away from home.
Wow, thanks for that, @ Cait!! Everything about it seems wonderful and beyond wild imagination. I'd get a little crazy, though, not having the freedom to just run out the door and play. As for the rest of the houses, yes! Of course! Especially the yurt...I have a 30' one in my future..paid for, just trying to find the right land to put it on. Thanks for providing details, Cait.
The lighthouse certainly seems appealing on some level, but I'm sure that having to tote out 200 gallons of water plus gasoline for the generators, and of course food and supplies would get to be both a pain, as well as expensive. And for a half million dollars, it's really not very nicely outfitted.
Yes to all EXCEPT the first one!!!
Growing up I had a friend who lived in a houseboat in Seattle. Their houseboat was at the end of the dock and only one story, so we would jump off the roof into the lake. They also had a rope swing on their front deck that you could swing out over the water on and jump in. I always wished my house were that cool.
Yurt, dome, houseboat on a lake, treehouse...yes. The important thing is Colorado. I must return home. I'd live in an RV to do that.
The lighthouse is cool, but I don't understand how an *active* lighthouse can be sold and made into a private home? Apparently, the coast guard still has access from what I read.
I guess as long as the foghorn is gone, then I wouldn't mind the light--part of the charm of a lighthouse!
Yes to all except the 1st one. I would live in a lighthouse but those are usually on Shore and very close to the water. As much as I love water, #1 scares me.
That treehouse is super cool.
Yes.
I love the lighthouse! I would totally need to remodel the common area though...needs a major revamp, but that staircase, that view, that brick...wow!
I would to the houseboat in Seattle. I recognized the picture immediately because it was one of the best AT's House Tours! (My dogs would not be very impressed with the lack of yard, though).
I would try the first one, but I might have difficulties with it, but yes yes yes to all the others.
I would willingly live in that Treehouse.
My dream weird home and a house that can fly away...in the event of the impending zombie apocalypse.
Wow...these are really unusual homes but they are all so awesome in their own way.
i would be scared to live on the water because what if there is a tsunami
four walls and a sturdy foundation. But if that sort of conventionality bores you, there are plenty of other options — from a yurt to a houseboat! Check out these unusual homes and tell us, would you ever move there?
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I'd have to wimp out on the first one as lovely as it is - I couldn't sleep thinking about rogue waves and such. But absolutely yes on all the rest - love domes and yurts especially.
The lighthouse seemed super cool, until I read the part about the foghorn blasting every 15 seconds.
http://lighthousestars.wordpress.com/2007/10/08/smith-point-lighthouse-extreme-makeover/
Houseboat though? In a second.
The lighthouse would be a dream! Sans the foghorn of course. I wonder how loud it is? How weird!!
love the lighthouse and houseboat options!!! would live in either place - in a second and without a doubt - but only if my family is there with me. love, love, love!!!
ps: now i dislike my current home even more than i already did before reading this post. thank goodness it's a rental!
There's something about that lighthouse that makes me feel panicky. The word "stranded" comes to mind.
houseboat here. I've always wanted to live on one.
This lighthouse is everything you have dreamed of and more! I am the daughter of the man who owns this lighthouse as of now and I have spent many of summer days out there relaxing, enjoying the breeze, and watching all the sail boats sail by. The lighthouse is definitely the most relaxing place I have ever been. It is very spacious and all finished and furnished ready for anyone to live in! But, the best news of it all, THERE IS NO FOG HORN! Once our family bought the lighthouse and started spending a lot of our time out there enjoying everything the lighthouse has to offers, they decided lose the fog horn, so now all you can hear is the wonderful waves lapping up against the house. This is truly a dream location and almost the perfect home away from home.
Wow, thanks for that, @ Cait!!
Everything about it seems wonderful and beyond wild imagination.
I'd get a little crazy, though, not having the freedom to just run out the door and play.
As for the rest of the houses, yes!
Of course!
Especially the yurt...I have a 30' one in my future..paid for, just trying to find the right land to put it on.
Thanks for providing details, Cait.
The lighthouse certainly seems appealing on some level, but I'm sure that having to tote out 200 gallons of water plus gasoline for the generators, and of course food and supplies would get to be both a pain, as well as expensive. And for a half million dollars, it's really not very nicely outfitted.
Yes to all EXCEPT the first one!!!
Growing up I had a friend who lived in a houseboat in Seattle. Their houseboat was at the end of the dock and only one story, so we would jump off the roof into the lake. They also had a rope swing on their front deck that you could swing out over the water on and jump in. I always wished my house were that cool.
Yurt, dome, houseboat on a lake, treehouse...yes.
The important thing is Colorado. I must return home. I'd live in an RV to do that.
The lighthouse is cool, but I don't understand how an *active* lighthouse can be sold and made into a private home? Apparently, the coast guard still has access from what I read.
I guess as long as the foghorn is gone, then I wouldn't mind the light--part of the charm of a lighthouse!
Yes to all except the 1st one. I would live in a lighthouse but those are usually on Shore and very close to the water. As much as I love water, #1 scares me.
That treehouse is super cool.
Yes.
I love the lighthouse! I would totally need to remodel the common area though...needs a major revamp, but that staircase, that view, that brick...wow!
I would to the houseboat in Seattle. I recognized the picture immediately because it was one of the best AT's House Tours! (My dogs would not be very impressed with the lack of yard, though).
I would try the first one, but I might have difficulties with it, but yes yes yes to all the others.
I would willingly live in that Treehouse.
My dream weird home and a house that can fly away...in the event of the impending zombie apocalypse.
Wow...these are really unusual homes but they are all so awesome in their own way.
i would be scared to live on the water because what if there is a tsunami