This 400-Square-Foot Narrow Boat Is the Cutest Floating Home, Possibly Ever

Name: Andrew Dunford and my partner, Asha
Location: London
Type of home: Narrow Boat
Size: 400 square feet
Years lived in: 3 years, owned

My home is a 60-foot narrowboat that I share with my design partner at Lunar Lunar studio and girlfriend. We continuously cruise our home around London, and it recently became our working studio, too, so at seven feet wide, the interior needs to work hard in a lot of ways!

Originally the narrowboat was full of tired, built-in furniture and cabinetry everywhere you turned, making the boat feel dark and limiting how we could use the space.

Our vision was to create a floating apartment, maximizing the narrow space as much as possible. We ripped out the vast majority of the fit-out and brought in furniture and pieces that we loved and served a great purpose, like our folding desk/dining table.

The main cabin and bathroom are painted in light tones to open the space, and the bedroom is painted darker to emphasize the cosiness. We have a combination of old and new furniture, which softens the contemporary feel. We love that we now have a space that is our cozy, relaxing home as well as an interesting place to work.

What is your favorite room and why? We don’t have many to choose from but our favorite is the lounge area with its wood-burning stove. It’s a very changeable space, acting also as our office and dining room. It’s light in the summer with the hatch and plenty of windows, and cozy in the winter with the stove blazing away.

If you could magically change something about your home, what would it be? The wood-burner is our only source of heat—we do miss the convenience of central heating.

What’s the last thing you bought (or found!) for your home? The last things we bought for the boat were a selection of pieces from a trip to India and Sri Lanka—a bronze donkey, a brass head, ceramic chai cups, and some hand-painted wooden figurines. Oh and a carved mask for the wall!

Which fictional character would be most at home in your place? Monica Geller. Someone who loves things perfectly organized, would be good at decluttering, and is in her own words a “tiny little woman.”

Any advice for creating a home you love? Plan storage carefully. Be ruthless with possessions—declutter and only purchase pieces that you love to use and look at, even practical items can be pleasing to the eye if you take your time and research well.

Shop secondhand where possible—it’s good for the soul and the planet, and you’ll find uniqueness and quality. Planting can bring life to your home but choose wisely depending on the amount of daylight your location gets.

Thanks, Andrew! You can read more about this home’s renovation on the Lunar Lunar website. And keep your eyes peeled for the couple’s next project: They actually have since sold this houseboat and moved to a bigger boat! They now live in a widebeam barge, which they are in the middle of renovating.

This submission’s responses have been edited for length and clarity.