REAL ESTATE NEWS (Paris, France) — The Loft Blog found this tour Youtube video interview of a couple who converted an old freight ship into an amazing urban area river home with lots of natural light and views of nature:
It doesn’t feel like Paris. It seems more like countryside, but it’s actually less than ten minutes from the Arc de Triomphe — very close to Paris, without having that feeling of being in a city. Thus, it has the right balance between being in nature and city. The converted bulk transport boat has been converted into a breathtaking dream home on the lovely Seine river of Paris, France. The name of the houseboat is “Panjab” unjab and it’s the region that my husband is from. he’s from pakistan and his region where he’s originally is punjab and so we called it punjab because it was kind of a dream that he was having to to live by the water and the dream came true like after many years but still it came true. you have so many plants. actually Jeremy is my husband, who is crazy about plants. We have a lot of very plants downstairs too, so we want to have that special view . we bought the plants before buying the furniture. we have a lot of windows. It is opened to the sky, because light is really important. that was the main idea behind having this boat. it’s like totally being in nature. we are actually inside but still we feel like if we are outside. look at that! it’s floor to ceiling windows. we didn’t want to cut the view regarding the water, so we didn’t even put any protection or security. we have like the view on the water straight away. should you walk out there, like my husband does, as he waters the plants, he has not fallen in yet, but it almost happened to me. instead of having cars coming next to us, we have boats, and this is a nice a nice thing! it’s another type of life. For us, it’s all about our neighbors, so we know all of the people. how has living on this boat changed your life? your your day-to-day it hasn’t changed.
The water color changes, so that’s the advantage of being in nature. you see everything changing. Ducks sometimes come around. Swans live here now. The most problematic issue of such a beautiful, comfortable boat is that we don’t go outside anymore. We are forcing ourselves almost to go outside. i will go to a restaurant, but is it better than my place? No.
The glass floor inserts and glass stairs let extra light into the lower floor. Those are living plants. they like much light from every side. i’m realizing now that we’re partly under water. Your legs need to adjust, but it feels nice to look out and think. Just to have the water — only water — in your sights. We removed the engine. Now you have a storage room with an electric clothes washing machine. This really was an old grain transport boat that you transformed. This river boat was originally built in 1954. | VIDEO
This is a huge project. why did you want to do this?
We were frustrated. We were in an apartment before, and we were frustrated with having less than 100 meters (less than 1,000 sq ft). We could not have people visit with us, receiving family and friends. Now, finally we can have our family, we can host our family and friends. we have friend visiting from Italy stay with us, so he he’s around for a few days here. The boat can now host anyone. The kitchen is my my space, because i love cooking. we created a space that where we can enjoy spending time with our friends and stuff. we have a big table for 12 people. This stove is gas. Gas is quite tricky in a boat, so we ran the gas line outside because because it’s illegal to put it inside.
Wow! it’s so calming because we are below street level, so we cannot hear the cars. You forget that you are in paris. It’s a holiday feeling, even after a very hectic work day. It’s calm. it’s peaceful. This is important for us. Normally, i could not live in a city. i mean like i cannot be in the middle of paris.
There is a dressing room on each side of the houseboat, with plenty of space huge walk-on closet space. I can even change my clothes here. From the shower, we have a view on the water. This is the best spot to take a shower because actually you can wash your hair, for example, and you have the water view. The stone is from Italy, hand-crafted. It’s a different color in each bathroom. We have thought about every single detail. we took our time. it took us almost almost two and a half years so far, starting from scratch. The beautiful corridor feels like we’re on a cruise ship or something. The nice bathroom comes with a sauna.
We created like an independent studio unit, which has its own separate entry. It has its own living place and small kitchen. We used every single square meter in this boat. Nothing was left. This section works like a studio apartment. Independent, with a separate entrance. So, if you ever wanted to have a parent who lived with you, family member or friend, it has privacy.
The house boat project took a great deal of work, but it was worth it.
I’m from morocco. We don’t have boats there. I’m not like from Netherlands or something, so people can imagine what it’s like to live in a boathouse one day, but i’ve never imagined it. I was not sure about his project at first. It took me two years to adopt it really.
Historically, people who were struggling to have houses were living in boats. A lot of artists were living in boats and also even painters and stuff. Today, it’s Bo-Bo fashionable. Now it’s much more limited and it’s being also legalized. every houseboat has documentation. Previously, it was random. Now you have to buy someone else’s house boat, otherwise you can apply for it, but you have a 20 to 25 years waiting list. Jeremy received a gift from the government after he helped create many jobs in France. I don’t think you could get an apartment or house like this here. Not anymore. I think it’s very hard to have something like this now.
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