Three people living in 45m2
Of all the issues we faced, the lack of space was the one we were most worried about, but its turned out to be almost a non-issue.
Space to cook and eat
Our kitchen is just like a regular kitchen, with an oven, grill and induction hob, a washing machine, fridge, freezer and plenty of work surface to prepare food on. The breakfast bar isn’t where it should be, but three can eat at it fairly comfortably. It’s probably one of the best kitchens I’ve cooked in, partly because I can reach out and touch everything I need.
Space to work and rest
I work mostly at the breakfast bar using a Harmoni Standing Desk, which works great for me, and if I want to give my legs a rest I can sit on the tractor seat bar stools and adjust the desk stand to that new height. The big windows mean I’ve always got plenty of natural light, even in the winter.
Chill-out time is mostly spent on the couch, or outside. Because it’s so close it’s really easy to just nip out to the rear deck and feed the ducks, fish, do some birdwatching, photography or filming. In the spring, summer and autumn we’ll spend a lot more time outside, even sleeping on the rear deck when the summer nights are warm!
Space to sleep
We’ve got two bedrooms, Laurelin’s bedroom in the middle of the boat and our own at the front. Neither is perfect in their current form due to mistakes by the original boat builder but there’s enough room to sleep, read a book, play games or just chill, and the views are amazing. Not many kids get to see kingfishers right outside their bedroom window!
Space for storage
This is where you have to be clever, and minimalist. We use every space we can, and we’ve got plans to improve our use of space when we refit the boat to fix all the defects. The key thing is not to accumulate loads of stuff you don’t need, and then make sure there’s a place for everything. We basically had to go full Stacey Solomon ‘Sort your life out‘ before we moved onto the boat, but it’s so relaxing not having so much stuff.
