Believe it or not, this intriguing structure is a houseboat on the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. The brainchild of architect Robert Oshatz, the house was custom designed as a summer house for a couple who divides their time between Portland and the Far East.

“These clients were interested in loft-style living; they are avid readers; and they also wanted space for a study and a guest room,” – Robert Oshatz for Houzz.com

Though it’s only a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom structure, it still boasts a comfortable 2,300 sq. ft. and looks absolutely dreamy. The structure itself is inspired by the locally-sourced logs from which it was built. Definitely not your typical houseboat!

I am something of a houseboat stalker from way back. When I lived on the Upper West Side in the eighties, I regularly hung around the (locked) gate to the 79th Street Boat Basin, smiling at the people coming and going, hoping to be invited in to one of the super-high-end houseboats taunting me on the other side of the fence. (Can’t imagine why that never worked.) There are a few houseboats in Broad Channel, and we often “casually” cruise by them on our kayaks, just dying for a look inside. Then there’s my dream vacation, a week in one of the vintage houseboats for rent in the heart of Paris. Sure, we live on the water, (and for a little while during Hurricane Sandy, we lived in it), but I’ve always wondered what it’s like to live ON the water.

EPILOGUE: I was reminded that I once before posted about a crazy kind of a houseboat and some very creative architecture problem-solving in the post “Flotation Device.” Give it a read!