The Houseboat Studio That Wasn't

This is a story of heartbreak and disappointment. A story of what might have been. A story of a unique floating studio right down the elevator from our city crash pad.

I'm sure many of you know we live in two places. We have our beach house, which was supposed to be our "most of the time" house, and we have a tiny city crash pad. We make all these big plans, and then life gets in the way, it would seem.

A Different Kind of Interior Design Project

Remember last year, when we bought our new condo?  Well, it came with a boat slip. We have kept the slip rented for over a year, but recently my tenant moved on, and I was left trying to rent the slip again.

My husband decided this would be a great time to go boat shopping, and he declared a race. I would continue trying to rent the slip, and he would look for a boat to buy. Whoever succeeded first would be declared the "winner".

I will confess to dragging my feet just a little toward the end, because he seemed so excited about having a boat -- after all, you only live once, right? If playing around on the water will give him joy and give him a chance to decompress from a high stress job, why would I get in the way of that?

My husband did tons of research and decided to buy an older "classic" Tollycraft. Tollycraft was a PNW boat maker, with a great reputation. Tollycraft is no longer in business, but the boats have a loyal following.

On the final weekend of our "race", I actually had several interested parties who wanted to see the boat slip. That same weekend my husband wanted me to go look at several boats with him. What's a girl to do?

He was just so excited about the boats he was going to look at, so I agreed to go with him.... and he declared himself the winner of our race... even though he had not actually bought a boat yet.

We looked at several different boats that weekend, and finally settled on a 30' Tollycraft Sedan.  I liked it best, because it has a large comfortable salon. It rains a lot in the PNW, so it will be good to have a nice roomy cabin.

The boat even came with nautical themed plastic dishware, a roll of toilet paper, and three boxes of tissue.

The kitchenette is pretty roomy, and had a propane stove and oven, and a double sink.

The boat sleeps six.

It has a private berth, a marine head with a shower, a settee that slides out to become a double bed, and a dinette that drops down to become a bed.

It even has a little built-in fan.

My husband has suggested we redo the interior. It will be my first boat interior design job, and I really look forward to doing it, but for now I want to live with it just like it is, and see how well it works for us. The basic layout looks very functional, and I suspect only needs a bit of tweaking. I'd like to wait at least one season before making any decisions. What do you think?

Now, I just need to learn to pilot the new boat -- perhaps I should start with the little dinghy!  Baby steps, right?

Our Newest Make-Over Project

We signed our closing documents today for our newest project!    It's another condo in our building -- right in the middle of a big city, but right on the edge of a lake and wetlands.  The seller signs tomorrow, and hopefully the rest of the closing will go smoothly. (closings are different here -- sellers and buyers don't sit down together, and you usually sign a day or so before the actual closing)

I was waiting to share more on this project till the closing was completely finished, but I was too excited, so here is a peak of the views from the new condo.

How to Paint Perfect Stripes

Renovations at our little pied-a-terre in the city are moving along -- albeit, at a snail's pace.  That's the problem with living in a space while you renovate.  We still don't have one. completely. finished. space. Sigh....

Well, I decided to do what any sane person would do when they are surrounded by renovation projects.  I painted stripes on my wall.  Because stripes are important.

We have this wall in our living room that was just screaming for "something".  There is a fireplace in the corner of the room, and the wall next to the fireplace just felt "blah".  I LOVE how our stripes turned out.  Here is how you can paint perfect stripes, without any paint bleeding underneath your painter's tape.

Start by marking where you want your stripes to go.  In my case, I wanted wide horizontal stripes -- each stripe is about 12 inches wide.

Next, using a long level, lightly mark the edge of each stripe.

Apply painter's tape, masking off the edge where you *don't* want paint.  As a reminder,  tape several "X"es on the stripes you will not be painting.

Now, using the background color (the color that the wall is already painted), paint over the edges of the paint to "seal" the edges.  Any paint that may bleed under the tape will match the existing paint.

Paint your stripes, using a couple of light coats of paint.

Before your paint completely dries, gently remove the painter's tape. Pull the tape down at right angles from the newly painted area.

We still have a long way to go in this space -- honestly, I've forgotten what it's like *not* to have hammers and tile samples and buckets of paint everywhere, but for now my new stripes make me happy.

Do you ever stop right in the middle of a big project, just to do a smaller project?  Sometimes, when we're doing larger renovations, it's these happy little projects that keep me sane!