The Tiny Houseboat That Makes Me Want to Escape Manhattan

Sure, tiny houses are great and all, but what’s better than a tiny house? A tiny houseboat. Besides the upper and lower decks, this stylish, modern houseboat has a comfortable but trim indoor footprint of 30 square meters, or 322 square feet — and if you get tired of where you’re docked, you can just pilot your little floating home to another shore.

Although it was the beautiful, modern design that initially drew me in, the more I look at this little houseboat the more I find myself thinking, “You know, I could actually live here.” I love the generous ratio of indoor to outdoor space, and even the petite interior seems quite spacious, thanks to minimal detailing and walls of curtain glass that open the space up to the outdoors.

The bedroom includes a built-in bed (with storage underneath) and four built-in wardrobes, enough for even the most exacting dresser. And unlike in most tiny houses, you don’t have to climb a ladder to get into bed.

Doors in the living room open onto a 215-square-foot deck, which includes a walkway that wraps completely around the boat. In the back of the boat there’s a staircase that leads to the upper deck, which has a whopping 538 square feet of outdoor space (and possibly a hot tub).

The whole thing has me dreaming of summer parties on the water, chilling on the roof of my tiny, perfect houseboat home with 20 or so close friends. Perhaps you are thinking the same thing, and want to know how much one of these beauties will set you back. The base price is €139 000, approximately 163k in American dollars. Not cheap, but certainly less than buying an apartment in Manhattan (plus it’s a boat!). The real difficulty, though, is the shipping, because the manufacturing company is based in the Czech Republic, and it turns out you cannot pilot a houseboat all the way across the Atlantic.

So my dreams of escaping the oppressive New York real estate market on my very own boat will have to remain just that: a dream. If you would like to dream too (or you live in Europe, and want one of these for your very own), visit the website at No. 1 Living.