Home Sweet Houseboat

Living year-round on a houseboat in Minnesota hadn't occurred to Tim and Mary Forsythe until they were finishing dinner one evening at the No Wake Café on Harriet Island. The soon-to-be empty-nesters were discussing what life would be like once the last of their four sons left the family home in Grant Township. "It sounded kind of gloomy to be padding around in a house that had been so full of kids and activity," Tim Forsythe recalls. "So we asked ourselves, 'What would be fun? What would be an adventure?'"

As it turned out, adventure was waiting for them just outside. Through the restaurant window, they spotted a beautiful riverboat for sale. Talking their way onto the boat, they met its owner and remodeler, Dave Nelson, a residential contractor who had lived on the river for 11 years. Although his finely crafted boat proved too small for their needs, the idea of living on the river intrigued them. They began exploring the notion by going to the Miami Boat Show, visiting a thriving houseboat community in Sausalito, California, and attending parties at the St. Paul Yacht Club. "The more we looked into it, the better it sounded," says Tim.

For the Forsythes, the real fun began when they received a call from Don Gussler, the harbor master at the yacht club, letting them know that one of the riverboats docked there, The Elena Queen of Hearts, was coming up for sale. "The next thing you know, we owned a boat," Mary Forsythe says. "And almost everyone thought we were crazy."

When the Forsythes took possession of the 79-foot-by-26-foot boat, it only had a few windows on the upper deck, and the lower deck was divided into several small, dark rooms. It took imagination to envision living on-board, but the Forsythes were enthusiastic about the possibilities. The boat had 1,800 square feet of living space on two levels, and it needed work. Desiring more space and light, the Forsythes decided to raise the ceiling height, push out the walls on the upper deck, and add more windows. To make sure the changes didn't compromise the lines of the boat, they hired Tom Ellison and Todd Hansen of TEA II, to adapt the exterior and rough out ideas for reconfiguring the space. With basic plans in hand, the Forsythes contacted Dave Nelson—whose houseboat remodel first inspired them—and he and his coworker Mark Moffa agreed to do the renovation.

One of the biggest challenges the construction crew faced was the boat's curved walls and ceilings—with everything 3 degrees off plumb, they couldn't use a level and every piece of railwork and cabinetry had to be custom-designed and fitted. Nelson figures they used approximately 4,000 board feet of hardwood and 300 pounds of glue on the boat. "I've never seen finer woodwork," says Tim Forsythe, who owns the largest residential appraisal business in the Midwest. "It was the equivalent of building fine furniture, and all the woodwork was done right on the boat."

The Forsythes hired Mary Ann Falkenberg of Crystal Kitchen Center, to design the galley. "It's not a typical boat galley," Falkenberg says. "It's more the size of a normal home kitchen." To complement the linear design of the the Brazilian cherry and maple floor-which the Forsythes had admired at a local store and planned to duplicate on the boat-Falkenberg specified streamlined natural maple cabinets with cherry trim. She packed every bit of storage space possible into the sleek galley, including lazy Susan corner units, drawers for everything from ports to place mats, and floor-to-ceiling pantry units. All the cabinets were manufactured by Crystal Cabinet Company and installed by Crystal Kitchen Center, including an entertainment unit in the living area and a wall-hung vanity in the powder room.

Shirley Scott of Gabberts, who has experience designing custom built-ins, was the interior designer on the project. "Things had to be anchored down so they wouldn't slide around when the boat was in motion," Scott says. She designed built-in banquettes for the seating areas and selected a heavy travertine table for the dining area. The Forsythes requested a light, warm, contemporary feeling, so Scott brought in the subtle colors of the sea and sand in her selection of upholstery fabrics and carpeting. Two embossed leather accent tables repeat the dark cherry color of the beams and trim. "When the Forsythes first met with me, I thought they were incredibly adventurous to move from a big home to a houseboat," Scott recalls. "I thought, 'Wow, that's gutsy.' And the whole project turned out wonderfully."

Credits

Text
Jan Senn

Interior Design
Shirley Scott for Gabberts Interior Design Studio

Construction
Dave Nelson and Mark Moffa