A Houseboat as a Small Home

Houseboats are pretty much by definition smaller than houses that are not boats.  I'm not sure what the square footage of this nice houseboat is, but I'm inclined to say it's considerably less than 500 square feet.

Houseboat exterior

Of course a houseboat doesn't have a yard in the common sense of the word.  They tend to take full advantage of any outdoor space, decks, roofs, what have you, to gain a little outdoor living space.  In this particular case, the outdoor spaces span many levels.  Stairs can eat-up a lot of space so ship's ladders are used to move between levels, both indoors and out.

SPACE SAVING STAIRS & LADDERS FOR SMALL HOMES

In small, tiny, or "right sized" homes, you don't want to sacrifice usable space if you can avoid it.  That's why you see so many ladders leading to the lofts of tiny homes. It's the perfect solution for some, but others may want something that makes loft access more, well, accessible.  The idea of negotiating a steeply pitched ladder in the middle of the night might deter many otherwise would-be small home owners.  I'm going to discuss space saving stairs and ladders including ship's ladders, alternating step stairs, and spiral stairs.

Gorgeous narrow diameter wooden spiral staircase.