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Storied Spaces S04E04
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00:01houses are more than shelter the second we walked through the threshold of the
00:09door we both looked up looked at each other this is it yeah this is the space
00:15we wanted to live in the light and we wanted to live in the landscape for us
00:23it was a way to sort of connect my roots and expose our children and continue
00:28that legacy from our parents we sort of fell in love with the place and each
00:36other at the same time this building it's a real landmark around here it's an
00:43unconventional house but it's pretty fun the fact is that houses are dreams
00:50they're an expression of who we are and what we believe in
01:06moving here I didn't realize how quiet living on the water would be you come
01:12through that gate from this kind of industrial Dickensian street and the door
01:18clang shut and then you're in this other world
01:31I'm Katie Hickman and I'm a writer I'm Matthew King and I'm a designer and sculptor
01:42it's a fantastic community there's about 60 boats owned by individuals like us if you want to get a
01:51mooring here one of the stipulations is that your boat should be a working boat this happens to be
01:58what's called a Humber barge it was built in 1912 in the north of England this used to transport 200
02:06tons
02:07of coal a week from a coal mine to an electric power station I like it because it has much
02:14more volume
02:14inside the boat is about 650 square feet it's a proper living space which surprises people when they
02:24come it has two bedrooms and a wheelhouse which is where I have my office and we have breakfast
02:42so this is the wheelhouse the room with a view there's canary wharf a mile or so down river we
02:50can see
02:50Tower Bridge Tower of London it's a very special place as you can see up here the color schemes this
03:00neutral kind of soft gray and white detailing which is a boaty thing so on the steps you traditionally
03:06had that white for safety thing and I've taken that through onto the edges of the counter originally
03:13it was a flat boat designed for canals which have no current so if we go anywhere from here it
03:20is
03:20always going to be towed this is the original helm so this comes off and we can bolt on the
03:27steering
03:27wheel again the wheelhouse is the boatiest part of the boat much more homely downstairs but it's still
03:35got the same theme and the same color scheme so it all feels a part of the same space the
03:43noise you
03:44can hear is the sound of the ropes creaking which you kind of don't notice after a while you can
03:53hear
03:53the waves breaking it's lovely sound well we go downstairs here to get our way in holding on as
04:03we go down when people first come in here they're always rather amazed that particularly having seen
04:09the outside of what we've got in here and the sense of space and light they're amazed because
04:15they're expecting somewhere that's small and dark and damp and they've got somewhere which is bright and
04:21light and they can actually stand up when I bought it there were no portholes and no light it was
04:29a dark
04:30dark hole so I put them in all the portholes the idea was to get as much light in as
04:36possible and here
04:38the shadows and the lights move so the whole place is animated we also know when our resident fox has
04:44been
04:45visiting so we get little foxy footprints I can see oh you can see some up there I'm designing things
04:53to
04:54fit in with the basic principle try and make it look as clean and uncluttered as possible stressing
04:59these horizontal lines keeping the planks going the whole way round so it's this unifying grid almost so
05:08the kitchen doesn't dominate it's it's part of the wall most things fit apart from my shoes yes how did
05:20I
05:20get together with Matthew well we'd known one another at quite a long time as friends with no romance in
05:27it
05:27and then the years roll by both of us got divorced uh Matthew came with this rusty hull to London
05:37and I
05:38used to come and visit him while he was doing his repairs with a little basket yes with sandwiches in
05:46and a bottle of wine to um you know to well to bring you some sustenance yes and you weren't
05:53very
05:53interested at all because he was too busy too busy with his building and then uh Katie moved in quite
06:00soon after his perfect bachelor no it's a family home yes making this bachelor bad and here we are
06:0780 years later and I'm still here we got married here on the moorings in 2021 tower bridge behind when
06:23it's
06:23lit up at night looks absolutely amazing it was the most fitting place for it was a moorings romance
06:31this cocoon-like womb-like room is the main cabin there's a lot of light in here coming from um
06:39yet another skylight you get this big pool of light coming down i can actually see to do my makeup
06:46on a
06:46good day depending on the cloud cover and and it just transforms the whole place
06:56you can feel as we're standing here that when i'm just slightly rocking from side to side
07:01and when you're lying down at night it's brilliant way i've never had any problem sleeping on the boat at
07:10the pool you get this amazing soundscape but if you if you listen you can hear all the waterfowl calling
07:19to one another you can hear coot geese ducks swans right in the middle of london
07:33this is the other bedroom um spare bedroom for gas managed to get a bit of outside light with a
07:40porthole up there this was a piece i made in my prior life and that had to have its own
07:46little spot
07:48all the things i make and like a diary in terms of the period of life when i was making
07:52them that was
07:54on a hilltop in dartmoor i was you know in my 30s when i was making these they are my
08:01reference to
08:02different eras of my life and it's quite nice having them all together in this new life and it's really
08:08lovely to share it with katie and she loves to tease me about it all but i know she loves
08:13all the things
08:14as much as i do it's a very special place indeed you are intensely romantic person you you you
08:23certainly not you you don't want to admit it but you are this boat is a is a is a
08:28is the product
08:29of a dream yes that you had for many years before it even became even a possibility and the romance
08:35of where it actually is yeah the fact that it's this ancient part of london but this incredibly
08:40modern part of london as well it's the everything is concentrated to this to this place
08:51oh
08:51son
09:07oh look can you see it oh yeah
09:13there's just an overall calmness and slowness that you feel here that you just don't feel
09:19anywhere else
09:23it's absolutely magical
09:33our lives are pretty busy my husband's a lawyer i'm an interior designer and we work pretty hard
09:39and so when we come up to the lake it is just our time to absolutely relax and unwind
09:46get away from all the hustle and bustle of living in a big city
09:52the house is shaped like an a-frame which allows you to have floor-to-ceiling windows
09:57and so as soon as you open the front door you can just see lake the sky and trees
10:04and nature and beauty and it's just breathtaking
10:15my name is heather lucas and this is our cabin on lake ponderae
10:22lake ponderae is in northern idaho we're about an hour south of the canadian border
10:27we really fell in love with lake ponderae somewhere i had been in my teenage years my
10:33husband had skied a lot at tritzer mountain when he was growing up and we wanted our kids to have
10:39some of the memories that we had growing up on the lake that just can't be replicated anywhere else
10:46we bought this cabin about three years ago sight unseen the cabins that are waterfront are barely
10:52on the market a day before they get snatched up my first time stepping foot in this house is when
10:59we
10:59owned it and i opened the door and i mean i i cried i was like i can't believe this
11:04is our house
11:08so when we bought the house it was a tan color with dark brown trim
11:12so we wanted to kind of just update it and make it a little more ours so we painted it
11:16navy
11:17with a black trim we did a little bit of work to the house we did some painting and switched
11:22out some
11:23lighting and kind of made it our own but besides that it's pretty much what it's always been since
11:29the 70s so the first thing you notice when you walk in the space is obviously this insane view of
11:39the
11:39lake and it was what made us fall in love with the property the view from every room in the
11:45house
11:46is of this lake whether i'm doing dishes or whether i'm waking up first thing in the morning opening in
11:52the shades it's the lake it's the most amazing view but the room definitely felt a little bit dark right
11:59when we bought it so we knew we wanted to lighten it up so we painted everything white the fireplace
12:06is
12:06original to the house and it's a wood burning working fireplace which is great in the winter
12:11so um after a day of skiing after the kids hot tub we'll come up here make a big fire
12:16and keep that
12:17going most the night
12:24so this is the kitchen the focus of the kitchen is obviously the view and there is just nothing
12:32better when you have a sink full of dishes that you can just be looking out there used to be
12:38upper cabinets above this peninsula and we removed those to make the space feel more open
12:43we got new countertops and new appliances but besides that these are the original cabinets for the 1970s
12:51one of my favorite features of the kitchen is this hot pink neon no pasanata sign my husband spencer
12:59he studied abroad in spain and he picked up this phrase no pasanata which essentially means like
13:04don't worry about it relax and it's kind of become like the spirit of our cabin there's so much active
13:14activities that you can do here yet there's no schedule and i think that's what makes it so relaxing
13:21and so inevitably you'll go paddle boarding at least once a day wake surfing at least once a day the
13:27kids
13:27take the jet ski out at least once a day but it's never at the same time and it's always
13:33just when we
13:33feel like it no pasanata
13:42so this is a primary bedroom
13:45and i absolutely love waking up in this bedroom it has the most amazing lake view
13:51absolutely gorgeous and it makes me so excited about starting my day here between the view at the lake
13:56and the the fun pops of color it's just a really happy room to be in
14:04this home has five bedrooms one of the fun things about designing a lake house is that
14:12kind of are able to take risks and be more fun with your design choices
14:20right outside the upstairs guest room we have this picture wall it's kind of a fun tradition we
14:26started the first summer we were here every group that comes will do a group photo at the end of
14:33the
14:33weekend and so eventually i'm assuming this entire wall will just be filled with all the groups of
14:40friends and family that have come and spent time with us in the summer
14:52so this is our fire pit area which is right off the bunk room and this is where we spend
14:58a lot of
14:58time especially at night we like roasting marshmallows and sitting around the fire looking at stars
15:05it's a really beautiful lakefront yard
15:11we are right across from this island and we love taking our paddle boards over there
15:17my son loves fishing off this island out in our bay it's only about 20 feet deep but if you
15:23keep
15:23going down the lake it gets up to 1200 feet deep which is pretty crazy but right where we are
15:29it's a
15:29little bit more shallow which is nice because it keeps the water a little bit warmer and um it's just
15:34a beautiful it's a beautiful clean lake
15:56we wanted to have a home that allowed us to be close to the people who are the most important
16:01to us
16:04and it brings us so much joy
16:21there's something magical about opening your eyes in the morning and looked around and it's water all
16:26around you you feel drawn to opening the door and go outside and and take it all in
16:42the water all in the water all in the water all in the water all in the water all in
16:51the water
16:53my name is hannah i live in a floating house in richardson bay
16:58and my house is part of a houseboat community in sausalito
17:04sausalito is a small town across the gonagate bridge north of san francisco
17:09in sausalito you're surrounded by the sea by the mountains by the trees
17:17as soon as i walk through the outside gate my stress starts to melt away little by little
17:24it's a transition from being in the big world to to my sanctuary
17:36the house has three levels the entry level is actually the highest level the top level it's a foyer
17:44where you stop for a minute and take in the view
17:50there's a primary suite with a sleeping loft
17:55and then you go down the stairs to be the second level and that has the living room the dining
18:01room
18:01and the kitchen and then the bottom level it has two guest bedrooms one and a half baths
18:09and the two bedrooms open to a garden
18:21the house took a year to build and the first step to build a houseboat is you have to build
18:26a barge
18:27which makes it float and the barge is nothing more than a concrete box so essentially that's the
18:33foundation then we framed on top of the barge i was searching for an architect and i found craig
18:40steely craig's style is very modern and modernism can be very stark my personality is more playful
18:50and whimsical i named the house the moon gate the moon gate is a an architecture popular in asia
19:00symbolizes unity and connectedness to nature and i find that very compelling for me
19:08the left of the entrance of the house is the primary suite as you can see there's a huge bathtub
19:16for me it's a treat to take a bath after surfing with the view so this bathtub serves a big
19:23purpose in my
19:24life behind me is the loft with the bed inside
19:32i don't have any window covering for the great round window and it makes me wake up with the sun
19:50as you continue down there is a staircase that is a very wide staircase for the size of the house
19:59one of my fondest memories growing up is being in my grandmother's house in vietnam she lived right
20:06next to a river so i would sit on a staircase by a window looking out the river reading so
20:13when we're
20:13building this house i told my architect about my favorite memory that's why he came up with the stairs
20:20where i can sit and read a book it brings me back to my childhood memory
20:31as you come down the staircase you're in the dining area i have dinner with my neighbors at least like
20:38twice a week sometimes i feel like it's a i live in a community center my entire life i wanted
20:43a long
20:44dining table that's live edge so when i had the opportunity and the space i actually went to a
20:50mill and picked out a tree and then had it milled and made into a table one of the things
20:55i love the
20:56most is the reflection of the water onto walls or windows i didn't even envision that it's going
21:03to be that beautiful before the house was was finished
21:10this house is no sheetrock we had wood slats covering almost all of the walls and the ceiling
21:16it's just so beautiful like every time i sit in this living room looking up i'm like pairs of hands
21:22have touched every single pieces of this wood slat and there's so much love going into building this
21:30house the kitchen itself is sunken so this is my favorite part of the house it's three steps down
21:39from the living room and the dining room so i'm literally walking on water there's something about
21:46being close to the water level you take it in differently when you're above it
21:55this little garden area is tucked between the two guest bedrooms downstairs and it's literally inside
22:01the barge so where i'm standing now i'm under the water line because it's sunken um it's protected
22:10from the wind and it gets a lot of sun it's not typical to have a garden inside a houseboat
22:17but here we are
22:24being near the water it somehow allows me to be a kid again
22:31i never had a chance to be a kid for many many many years
22:36i was born into a war-torn country and then we came here as refugees and then i had to
22:43learn english and
22:45had to do well in school and had to work and living here allows me to be a kid again
22:52and i've never been happier
22:58my house is always an open door for for my family
23:05so this house is built for entertaining
23:08and the more i live here the more i use that for that purpose
23:17so it's beyond just the view beyond just the water it's a community that is so special
23:26it's a nice house great nice we're living in it well
23:32it brings you back to the good part of human nature
23:37i am so grateful to have found this way of living and being in this gorgeous beautiful house with the
23:51view
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