This boathouse dream garage hangout is part of a family complex that sits on the shores of a large New Hampshire lake. Its owners have a collection of canoes and boats and wanted a place large enough to house them, guests and their cars, boat trailers, and function as a place to relax by the water.
Upstairs is a great room with kitchen and dining areas, a bedroom and bath, a sleeping loft and a deck that was designed to be like "the prow of a boat," according to architect Bill Holtz of Bensonwood Homes. The interior finish wood is Port Orford Cedar, which is as strong as fir, light as pine, and is fitting for a boathouse, as it's a wood used in boatbuilding. -Kira Obolensky
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It seems as if the driveway to this building is made of water. In fact, this guest cottage doubles as both a garage for boats and for cars. Sited lakeside, the cottage offers a safe haven for boats through one end and cars through the other.
Designed by Bill Holtz of Bensonwood Homes, the boathouse is part of a family complex that sits on the shores of a large New Hampshire lake. Its owners have a collection of canoes and boats, including a war canoe that's big enough for 10 people. They wanted a place that could store boats and also serve as a private place for guest, particulalry visiting family members.
Garage: Reinventing the Place We Park 
The boathouse combines all these functions: It's deep enough to store that very long canoe, house a workshop for boats, and provide parking spce for guests' cars and boat trailers. For parking, there's a drive-through garage, behind the boat slips.
Upstairs, accomodations include a great room with kitchen and dining areas, with a soaring ceiling and sweeping views of the lake, and a bedroom and bath toward the back of the structure. A sleeping loft that opens to the great room can sleep several children.
The boathouse and the house it accompanies are stunning examples of timberframe construction, which is a method of building that literally shows off the "wooden bones" of the structure. The interior finish wood used for the boathouse is similar to that used in the house - clear Douglas fir and Port Orford cedar.
The cedar, which is actually from the cypress family and is white, is as strong as fir, light as pine, and is fitting for a boathouse, as it's a wood used in boatbuilding.
By Kira Obolensky
A Boathouse Dream Garage
This lakeside hangout combines a boathouse, a garage, a workshop, a great room, kitchen and a guesthouse.
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