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Portage Bay Floating Home


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This is the Portage Bay Floating Home designed by Ninebark Design Build.

It’s a modern floating house with a really interesting layout. How do you like it?

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The Beautiful Portage Bay Floating Home by Ninebark Design Build

The Beautiful Portage Bay Floating Home by Ninebark Design Build

Photos by Aaron Leitz for Ninebark Design Build

The Beautiful Portage Bay Floating Home by Ninebark Design Build

Photos by Aaron Leitz for Ninebark Design Build

The Beautiful Portage Bay Floating Home by Ninebark Design Build

Photos by Aaron Leitz for Ninebark Design Build

The Beautiful Portage Bay Floating Home by Ninebark Design Build

Photos by Aaron Leitz for Ninebark Design Build

The Beautiful Portage Bay Floating Home by Ninebark Design Build

Photos by Aaron Leitz for Ninebark Design Build

The Beautiful Portage Bay Floating Home by Ninebark Design Build

Photos by Aaron Leitz for Ninebark Design Build

The Beautiful Portage Bay Floating Home by Ninebark Design Build

Photos by Aaron Leitz for Ninebark Design Build

The Beautiful Portage Bay Floating Home by Ninebark Design Build

Photos by Aaron Leitz for Ninebark Design Build

The Beautiful Portage Bay Floating Home by Ninebark Design Build

Photos by Aaron Leitz for Ninebark Design Build

The Beautiful Portage Bay Floating Home by Ninebark Design Build

Photos by Aaron Leitz for Ninebark Design Build

The Beautiful Portage Bay Floating Home by Ninebark Design Build

Photos by Aaron Leitz for Ninebark Design Build

The Beautiful Portage Bay Floating Home by Ninebark Design Build

Photos by Aaron Leitz for Ninebark Design Build

The Beautiful Portage Bay Floating Home by Ninebark Design Build

Photos by Aaron Leitz for Ninebark Design Build

The Beautiful Portage Bay Floating Home by Ninebark Design Build

Photos by Aaron Leitz for Ninebark Design Build

The Beautiful Portage Bay Floating Home by Ninebark Design Build

Photos by Aaron Leitz for Ninebark Design Build

The Beautiful Portage Bay Floating Home by Ninebark Design Build

Photos by Aaron Leitz for Ninebark Design Build

The Beautiful Portage Bay Floating Home by Ninebark Design Build

Photos by Aaron Leitz for Ninebark Design Build

The Beautiful Portage Bay Floating Home by Ninebark Design Build

Photos by Aaron Leitz for Ninebark Design Build

The Beautiful Portage Bay Floating Home by Ninebark Design Build

Photos by Aaron Leitz for Ninebark Design Build

The Beautiful Portage Bay Floating Home by Ninebark Design Build

Photos by Aaron Leitz for Ninebark Design Build

The Beautiful Portage Bay Floating Home by Ninebark Design Build

Photos by Aaron Leitz for Ninebark Design Build

The Beautiful Portage Bay Floating Home by Ninebark Design Build

Photos by Aaron Leitz for Ninebark Design Build

The Beautiful Portage Bay Floating Home by Ninebark Design Build

Photos by Aaron Leitz for Ninebark Design Build

Learn more

Ninebark Design Build | Aaron Leitz (photographer) | Dwell (as seen on) | Seattle Times (as seen on)

Our big thanks to Ryan of Ninebark Design Build and Aaron Leitz for sharing!🙏

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Alex

Alex is a contributor and editor for TinyHouseTalk.com and the always free Tiny House Newsletter. He has a passion for exploring and sharing tiny homes (from yurts and RVs to tiny cabins and cottages) and inspiring simple living stories. We invite you to send in your story and tiny home photos too so we can re-share and inspire others towards a simple life too. Thank you!
{ 21 comments… add one }
  • Donna Mauldin-Bishop
    July 12, 2019, 4:18 pm

    That is one beautiful houseboat.

  • Raven
    July 12, 2019, 5:48 pm

    Beautiful float home!

  • Bill Gestwicki
    July 12, 2019, 6:05 pm

    Nice! Would have liked to have seen more of the bathroom and sleeping area.

    • Andrea Quintana
      July 19, 2019, 12:57 pm

      Same here, but it is one gorgeous home. I would not mind living in this tiny home!

  • Jerry
    July 12, 2019, 6:15 pm

    Rather large and wasteful that could use a lot more boat and less wasted space.
    You could do everything in about 50% of the space, cost.
    And way too much window.

    • SHARON B FRIED
      July 12, 2019, 6:19 pm

      I think the window is the best part 🙂

      • Jerry
        July 13, 2019, 6:06 am

        I like them too, just not so much and floor to ceiling makes privacy rather hard as more cooling and heating needed.

    • James D.
      July 12, 2019, 11:12 pm

      I would have to disagree on the basis that anything that effects quality of life can’t really be considered a waste of space if it is what benefits the life of the person(s) living there.

      House designs are not absolutes that will work exactly or equally the same for everyone. People are just too diverse and both the physical and emotional needs of the people living in a home have to be considered and accounted for in order for the home to be optimal to their needs.

      Besides, life on a house boat is not the same as a regular house on land. For example, you can’t simply go out and do activities around the home with a house boat unless you plan on swimming, etc. no matter the temperature or weather. Otherwise, you have to go to the dock and walk back to land before you can do anything other than what you can do in the home. Meaning there’s more emphasis on the home providing everything and less on the surrounding area…

      There is also the issue that it’s on a floating platform. So everything in the design has to balance the weight distribution, among other factors that can constrain the design options. So the design isn’t as flexible as a home on land would be…

      Sure, everything could be more compact but there’s a point that it might as well just be a regular boat then and not a house boat and would only really work if that’s what the people living there wanted and suited their needs optimally…

      • jerry dycus
        July 13, 2019, 6:17 am

        First this is a Tiny house blog dude It’s not a tiny house for the # of people it lives.
        You have a top deck for a yard if you bother to look as houseboats should have..
        The boat is so big, you’d have to use a couple of Jersey barriers on a side to make it lean at all. NTW I design, build them for 50 yrs.
        This really isn’t a houseboat but a land house built on a barge.
        An Eco, econo person that follows TH here would see this as a wasteful design.

        • James D.
          July 13, 2019, 7:55 am

          Sorry, but again,have to disagree. The top deck is not a full replacement for an actual yard as again you can’t easily go past it like you can on land and do things like go for a walk around the neighborhood or play a sport game and not worry about having to get wet to retrieve a ball or whatever.

          While eco/econo doesn’t mean a home stops being a home and isn’t going to be designed for who will live in them or doesn’t have to factor how many people will be living in it or what lifestyle it will have to support..

          Yes, this is a tiny house blog but that also involves discussion on alternative living options and the simple fact not everything is going to be equally practical for everyone else in the world, which is the problem with trying to impose universal standards as they ignore what’s appropriate to the individual situation.

          The problem with calling things wasteful is that’s subjective as almost anything can be wasteful to someone else who doesn’t need it but not to those who do.

  • Vickie
    July 12, 2019, 6:19 pm

    I love this roomy and elegant home. Wonder what the selling price would be.

    • Richard L Herrington
      July 12, 2019, 10:18 pm

      A lot more than the average person could afford.

  • richard thibodeau
    July 12, 2019, 10:22 pm

    What about the other rooms?

  • John L.
    July 14, 2019, 10:04 am

    Nice, beautiful house, though not to my personal tastes. Too much window for me.

    I agree there is a lot of “wasted” space in this house, but it appears to set up to entertain a lot of guests at once. If you live a more party-rich lifestyle, then this would be an effective use of space. Alternately, if you have a hobby that takes some space, this would be nice as well.

    With 2 changes – less window, hobby table and display shelves instead of wet bar/guest tables inside – it would be about perfect for me. But then, this wasn’t built for me. 🙂

    Still, a very beautiful house, and shows a small house built for those who like to have more than one or two guests at a time, which we don’t see often here.

    • Alex
      July 14, 2019, 1:00 pm

      I like what James said about ‘wasted’ space. To some, it’s wasted. But to others, it’s used/utilized. Even if it’s just for the sheer pleasure of it. For example, the windows may not make sense economically, but they do make sense in the way that it can add value to one’s daily experience. Though one certainly does not NEED such a luxury, for you can just go out for a walk, and that is arguably the better thing to do anyway. It’s all subjective, isn’t it? 😀

      • John L.
        July 14, 2019, 4:12 pm

        All true. As I said, it is a beautiful house, and the space and windows are what the person living there wants. It is their house. I also appreciate the inclusion of a more guest-friendly house. The more common small and tiny houses really can’t have more than a guest or three over without becoming claustrophobic. That house looks like you could have a dozen over and still feel like you all had at least some space. It’s nice to occasionally see options that I don’t want, as they often sed ideas to do what I do want in different ways, sometimes even in better ways than I had thought of before. Which is really the strength of a blog like this – seeding ideas from wider experiences. 🙂

  • Theresa Perdue
    July 17, 2019, 12:08 pm

    Absolutely stunning 😍. Just waking up and being able to put your feet in the water while drinking your coffee would be wonderful.

  • July 22, 2019, 3:47 pm

    I’m sure anyone who lives in a “floating home”, is well aware of the pros and cons. This home is simply beautiful….

  • Jayne P
    July 22, 2019, 11:56 pm

    I think it’s wonderful. Two members of my family have breathing problems and when they are in a flare triggered by grass and certain kinds of pollen (Olive and Sycamore trees), a floating home with a high ceiling and open visual space helps with that feeling of being closed in, and smothering would not be a waste of space to them at all. It may just be a slice of heaven to be near the water. Also it might be nice to not have to stop whatever you are doing because the leaf blower and gardeners are doing their jobs in the complex. A tremendous relief from dust, dirt, leaves etc. So it is, to each their own.

    For me personally, I lived on a small boat in Oakland, CA. After one very, VERY windy night, an entire portion of a dock broke off boats and all and I bumped my head several times trying to get out to see this. And off they went, the live-a-boards and empty boats alike floating towards the San Francisco Bay, so there’s that…

  • abcameron
    August 22, 2019, 4:26 pm

    Very nice what we see. Like a show place, but I too would love to see the bedroom/s and the bath areas, as well as better idea of the kitchen. I love the idea of the home, and not having young children might work fine. Idea of cost… dock fees etc.

  • Annie
    July 28, 2021, 3:56 pm

    Ninebark Studio needs to update their website as it’s using flash is no longer supported so nobody can actually SEE or use their site. Feel free to contact me if you want help building a new one that doesn’t use outdated formats.

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