Thursday, July 23, 2009

Welcome Aboard - The Salon

What exactly is a salon? Originally it's a a fancy French term for reception hall or living room. The Encyclopedia of Nautical Knowledge defines a salon this way: “In a cargo and smaller passenger vessels, the main cabin, or that serving as a dining-room, assembly room, etc.” Some say salon, some say saloon. Tomato, tomahto - you get the idea.

On our boat and most cruising sailboats, it's the main living space that serves as the living room, dining room, play room, office, guinea pig ranch, craft area, homeschool space, and anything else we do from day to day.

This is the view when you walk in the sliding glass doors... (photo taken in spring time)

To the port side of this main table is the computer area and mess of plugs. You see the breaker panel, marine radios, radar, and stereo too. And if course, the guinea pig.


The wide counter to the far left above (and where Zach's bum is planted below) is the freezer (the top opens up). And where Zach's legs are dangling lies the 3 steps down to the galley.

That main table has storage underneath, so aside from the toys spread across the back window ledge and out around the room... all of the rest of the toys Zach has are under the table.

Somewhat organized in to baggies. But this is IT as far as toys go. With the exception of dress up clothes in his bedroom and a handful of stuffed animals on his bed... this is the entire toy collection.

To the right of the table is our calendar and map and the stairs that lead to the Book Nook and Zach's room.
The salon gets messy FAST because it's also the place where laundry is sorted, dirty dishes are abandoned, and stuff to be put away waits for a home.

If you dropped in completely unannounced, this is a more realistic view of what we'd look like. But being such a small space, it cleans up almost as fast as it get messy... so the chaos is short lived.

So this little space is where we spend most of our indoor time. For a sailboat, it's pretty spacious and very comfortable. For a "house", it's pretty darn small. It's all a matter of perspective, but we feel like we have more than enough space.

10 comments:

Dim Sum, Bagels, and Crawfish said...

Love these real glimpses into your life on a boat. Truly fascinating and inspiring. So tell me about the guinea pig. We haven't had any family pets yet because of our frequent moves but seriously considering it once we get settled in the next few months. Are guinea pigs good pets for younger kids? Never even imagined it would be a possibility on a boat, but why not, right?

Cap'n Franko said...

For a sailboat, y'all have a mansion!

Happy Learn Nothing Day!

lil' bit said...

I love seeing into peoples homes and seeing how they live thank you for sharing =o)

Lee-Anne said...

What a wonderful space. I am so surprised at how much space you do have! Thank you for sharing!

wholarmor said...

Looks like a great place to live! Before we moved into the tiny basement apartment we are living in, we lived in a tiny trailer home. I'd much rather live on a sailboat! ;)

Little Lovables said...

This is a great space! I love how his toys are sorted into baggies and his things are more focused on learning activities and crafts.

We have a "dumping area" on our table too, I put it all in a box so it looks contained and throw a pretty piece of fabric over it when I can't deal to look at it before I have a chance to sort it.

Lily Boot said...

It looks very cosy. We spent two weeks on a yacht in the Whitsundays a couple of years ago and the salon was certainly the room for everything. I was amazed at all the wonderful storage opportunities - every single nook and cranny is used aboard. Your salon certainly looks like it has a lot of light - ours was quite dark - you went down about 10 stairs from the cockpit into the kitche, then the salon. The bedrooms opened off it (under the cockpit) as did the bathroom, and then behind the salon was another smaller bedroom with bunks and another bathroom behind that. I cannot imagine living aboard the yacht we were on - but yours looks so homely. And I LOVE the guinea pig at your feet!

boatbaby said...

Dim Sum - the pig is a "nice" pet. Low maintenance, furry and cute, some are cuddly some are scardy-pigs (our is 80% scared/ 20% cuddly) and they have a short life span (a plus for us since we hope to sail away in a couple of years). For me, the little guy doesn't have the same emotional satisfaction that a dog brings. does that make sense? But Zach loves him and they are very kid friendly and easy enough that except for cage cleaning, zach takes care of him as well. let us know what you decide!

boatbaby said...

Frank -- Yes our boat is spacious, but it's also me knowing how to take photos :)

Single Wide- thanks, I will drop by!

Lee-Anne - thank you, she looks sleek from the outside and we are nice and roomy inside

wholarmor - we always joke that we're just a floating trailer.

Little Lovables - I love your box idea! I may try that!

Lily - that's the whole monohull vs catamaran debate right there! Argument #27 in favor of cats -- fabulous natural light!

mamakopp said...

Thanks for sharing your space with us! I love it! I wanna live on a houseboat right now! ummm.... do you have to know how to sail? :D

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