This Old Houseboat

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  By Todd Biernacki, homeowner
  Remodeled Houseboat
  
  In 2001, after deciding to start a family, my wife, Krissy, and I realized that our 1,390-square-foot one-bedroom houseboat on Seattle's Lake Union wouldn't be big enough for us for long. We decided to add on and reconfigure the inefficient layout, which required us to walk through four rooms to get from the main entrance to the home's only bathroom. Seattle laws limit the height of floating homes to 18 feet off the water, but I didn't want some boxy structure with low ceilings just to get extra square footage. I fought to maintain the look and feel of the original gabled structure. I decided to keep the south half of the house, with the living room, dining room, and one of the home's two upstairs sleeping lofts, largely intact. At the north end of the house, I planned to raise the roof and add a gabled dormer to fit a full-fledged master suite upstairs and a bedroom downstairs. The two rebuilt bedrooms and a new bath added only 30 square feet of space but helped preserve the houseboat's gabled charm.

  Alex Hayden

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  Kitchen
  
  The flooring and peninsula in the kitchen are also reclaimed: teak plants from a mid-19th-century Dutch colonial building in Indonesia. We happened to find the exotic boards in the back room of a local furniture importer. The refinished shell of an antique wood-burning range encases a new glass cooktop. A black stovepipe masks the ducting that leads to a vent fan in the attic. The 5-foot salvaged sink came from a local hotel that was condemned after an earthquake. I saved about $10,000 by buying off-white, stock kitchen cabinets at Home Depot, then tricking them out with extra trim and matching paint.

  Alex Hayden

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  Living Room
  
  A bank of nearly floor-to-ceiling windows, a French door, and a skylight-one of eight in the house-bring in enough natural light even on cloudy days to brighten the large living room.

  Alex Hayden

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  Master Bathroom
  
  To get the feeling of an outdoor shower, which we originally wanted, we installed two skylights and a window in the master bath.

  Alex Hayden

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  Master Bedroom Built-in
  
  One of several built-ins, this fir storage unit in the master bedroom holds clothing and audio equipment.

  Alex Hayden

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  Plexiglas Window in the Floor
  
  The whole family enjoys peering through the inch-thick, 2-foot-square Plexiglas window in the floor outside the first-floor bath. There we can view the houseboat's original timber raft, as well as crawdads that scuttle over it and fish that swim in the waters below.

  Alex Hayden