Writer: Helena Bergström
Welcome to ”step into” the living room of our houseboat. We choose to join a ”blogtia” with questions and answers about the living room. Because yes, we have a few things to tell you about the living room in our houseboat!
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ShareThe five bloggers who collectively initiated the topic and their posts can be found here: Anna Forsberg, Life in the suburb, Channal, Monnah and Sara in Barcelona.
Table of contents
1. How is the living room used in your home?
We watch TV in the living room, which is at the top of the houseboat, and Peter has his study here. Occasionally we might have some guests here too, but not very often. And sometimes guests stay overnight - the sofa is a sofa bed!
2. Is there any item that is particularly important to you in your living room?
I love the stove in the living room. Now in the winter we fire it up every now and then, and it's really super cosy. If it feels a little cool before, it also gets very warm quickly.
3. Which place in your living room do you like the most?
Yes, but it's the sofa then! I find it cosy and relaxing to watch TV series sometimes. We all prefer to watch fantasy series, but we also like dramas and thrillers.
4. What would you like to change in your living room?
It would be great if there were fewer gusts from the north. But these things may not have to do with the room itself...
5. If your living room could talk, what would it complain about most?
I don't know, it's windy, rocking, snowing and rough? The living room is at the top of the houseboat, so it is the part most exposed to the weather. Maybe the living room would also complain that we sometimes bring electric bikes and scooters into the room ...
6. What in the living room has stuck around the longest, and why?
One of the very first things we installed in the living room is the stove. This was bought by the previous owner, who never got round to installing it. We have, however, managed to replace the sofa ...
7. What would you like to have in your living room, but you can't have there?
I do not know? Because of all the windows, it's hard to have tall furniture and paintings, but I don't know if I miss it either ...
8. What technology do you have in your living room, and where is it located?
We have a large TV in the living room, along with speakers. Peter also has his computer here, as well as a printer. At the moment we also have a cool box with wheels, which we plan to be able to roll between houseboat and motorhome, depending on needs.
9. Why do you think your living room is worthy of its own blog post?
Our living room is special to us, because we built it ourselves. When we bought the houseboat, the living room (the top room) was extremely small and equipped with single-glazed windows and thin planks with gaps in between. We were compelled to renovate.
We took the entire houseboat ashore, where we remodelled everything. Among other things, we demolished the entire old living room and built a new one - wider, longer and higher.
It was a big job. In addition to building walls, windows and roofs, there was insulation, flooring, electricity, etc.
10. Do you have any particular memory(s) associated with any of the living rooms throughout your life?
The former living room was also special. We bought a simple flat in Sundbyberg, which had previously been used as premises, and renovated as we pleased. Peter went all in moulding stucco and painting the walls and ceiling. We get a little nostalgic when we look at pictures from this apartment. We have great memories here!
What does your living room mean to you?
What does your living room look like, and how is it used? Feel free to answer these questions in a comment - or in your own blog if you have one!
English (UK) 
Svenska
Jossu says:
It's so cosy with a fireplace, especially at this time of year. The view looks so nice that it's like a painting surrounding the living room, so I wouldn't miss having paintings, or tall furniture.
19 February 2026 - 6:56
Monnah says:
I understand that it will be extra cosy with a stove in the boat, there you are even more ”one” with the surroundings with all the windows. What a project you took on with the renovation! Looks like it was very, very successful. I am so fascinated by the fact that you live on a boat, it is still exotic and I don't think I have ever met anyone else who has done that. Well, some of our previous choir participants have been BTH students who lived on the disgusting student boat. (They told us about poo floating in the showers and rats running around and the like. The boat was a floating hostel, which was then rented out to students for a lot of money despite the miserable conditions. Now the municipality has bought it to scrap it, there has been a hell of a halabaloo around this accommodation).
I have to give the living room in Sundbyberg its own space - so, wow! It's hard to believe that this used to be ”a simple apartment”. It really looks like a really exclusive apartment on Strandvägen. Successful project, I understand that you think of this place from time to time.
What fun it was to follow you into your living room for a round! Thanks for joining us.
19 February 2026 - 7:28
Anette says:
A nice and cosy living room that absolutely doesn't need any paintings, every window is like a work of art.
It's a big contrast to your last room, but that's the fun of it, not repeating yourself but doing something new and different.
I would love to have the stove, especially this long cold winter.
19 February 2026 - 7:33
Channal says:
Hi Helena! Glad you are hanging on and inviting us to your living room! So cool and unique that you live on a houseboat! I love the proximity to water and luckily you have a wood stove! So cosy!
KRAM to you! Anna
19 February 2026 - 7:35
Sara i Barcelona says:
Gomorron Helena!
So glad you joined us😃
How cosy your living room looks, and the stove I really understand that you appreciate having där☺️ Cool that you built ”a new” living room when you bought the boat, and I understand that it was needed on the description of the old one ...
How elegant your old living room in the apartment was then! Custom mouldings even 😃
Thanks for watching! Hugs!
19 February 2026 - 7:39
Anna i Portugal says:
So fun to read more about your living room on the boat, the first thing I think is that you really have a wonderful number of windows and that you live as in a conservatory. Fantastic! But of course hard when the weather is less fun. Your apartment, thank you for linking there, I did not follow you then so have not seen it before. What a job you put down, the feeling in the apartment is magical. Wonder if it looks the same today. Thanks for hanging on!
19 February 2026 - 8:26
Annika says:
But how nice that you hung on, Helena! SO fun to see your living room. Wonderful with a stove on board. can imagine that it warms WELL. Love the light in the room. What a place to hang out! I know where you have your boat, and that makes it all extra fun. Remember your lgh from before, and all the work you put in there.
Who needs paintings on the walls when you have a living room like yours! THANK YOU for hanging on! So fun to read and see!
19 February 2026 - 17:56
Ditte says:
What a lot of work you put into getting the living room and everything else in order when you bought the boat. And I can imagine that you enjoy the view. we have similar views where we live. But it does not swing but the house is on the quay 20 m from the Salt Lake. We live six steps up so the view of the neighbourhood, boats, (houseboats and others of all varieties) light from surrounding buildings is what I love about our living room. And that I can see everything without getting up. The living room above goes into the dining area and there too is this view. The fact that the south/west facing balcony goes out from the living room means that from March-October (depending on the weather) it gives the same pleasant view means a lot. As for whole walls, they are not so many, but the windows are the more and the light flows. Would not want to live anywhere else. Well. maybe on an island in the Stockholm or Åland archipelago.
19 February 2026 - 18:40
Hannas krypin says:
What fun to read a post about your houseboat. Do you have more posts on your accommodation? I can imagine that it is a special feeling to live on a boat when the wind blows around the knots.
20 February 2026 - 10:38
Helena says:
Absolutely! We've written a bit more about houseboat accommodation here:
https://www.freedomtravel.se/2025/01/hur-ar-det-att-bo-i-husbat/
https://www.freedomtravel.se/2025/01/husbatslivet-under-ett-ar/
https://www.freedomtravel.se/2023/10/livet-i-husbat/
20 February 2026 - 11:33
Lena i Wales och lite överallt says:
Nice to visit you.
For me, the living room means a lot. Mainly my paintings, the art I like and something that means something to me.
Take care!
23 February 2026 - 12:30
Lena - gott för själen says:
Hehe, yes you undeniably have a unique living room. Not many people have rocking rooms 🙂 The best thing about our living room is two things, the light intake and the stove. Love it!
Hug Lena
23 February 2026 - 14:49