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HGTV shows first-time homeowner’s custom houseboat become her dream home
SEATTLE - We can't speak for all reality TV, but we can say this: When Sarah J. Haggard first sees her brand-new custom houseboat, in the HGTV show 'Home Afloat,” her reaction is giddily genuine. That is real-life surprise. She hadn't set eyes on her very own afloat home since it'd been framed.
Her lack of tears is honest-true for real, too.
'They tried to make me do it again to cry,” Haggard says of the filming crew. She did not.
You'd be all smiles, too, if you had this Epiphany.
Haggard has had several - including the official name of her home.
'I knew I wanted to live on the water from the moment I first stepped foot on a houseboat,” said Haggard, the founder and CEO of the mentorship app Tribute. 'The peacefulness of the water combined with the bohemian lifestyle appealed to me. A few years ago, I decided to take a chance, and signed a five-month lease on a rental.”
Four months into that lease, life on the water got a little rough: The owner of her rental houseboat was going to start renovations. Haggard had gone through a breakup and had nowhere else to go. But then, she said, 'Something incredible happened.” Her longtime friends Todd Filer and Kent Perry (houseboaters who owned their own design/renovation business for 20 years) had been approached by HGTV to star in its new show. 'They just needed a client to build a boat for - and so they called me,” Haggard said. 'I'm a believer in universal energy, but this was too good to be true. I immediately said yes, although I had no idea how it would all work out.”
The universe came through, energetically. 'Literally at the last hour, the houseboat owner said I could stay. I said I couldn't afford it on my own, and he dropped the rent $1,000 a month. I stayed there while we built the houseboat. So many stars were aligning.”
Following city law, Haggard said, she could not build a new houseboat unless it replaced an existing one. 'You have to be mindful; you can only build in the footprint.” She found a 60-by-15-foot houseboat for $55,000 but then couldn't find a loan to build her new one.
This is where Haggard's own mentor turned into one of those aligning stars. Haggard had worked with Eileen Kollmeyer at Microsoft; she and her husband, Charlie Kollmeyer, had built their own floating home, and also knew Filer and Perry.
'They're kind of like my parents,” Haggard said. 'This is the first home I ever had. Eileen said, ‘You'd better get used to asking friends and family for money.' I called Eileen and said, ‘I know who I'm going to ask: you.' They gave me money from their own home so I could build my dream home.”
Armed with a $450,000 budget and a dream that wouldn't sink, Haggard joined the show and shared her water-life wishlist: an open floor plan (plus outdoor spaces) for entertaining, a real bathtub, a dedicated laundry area, a killer view of Seattle and a boatload of light.
Filer, Perry and Charlie Kollmeyer got to work at Seattle's Canal Boatyard. ('Normally, you have to hire an architect, engineer and interior designer. These three were all of that in one,” Haggard said.) HGTV filmed the whole process, on a rigorous schedule. 'From the barge up, everything was built in six weeks,” said Perry. 'We had to prove we could do it.” (They did, but 'Home Afloat” was scuttled before it became a series; Filer and Perry were featured in the first two episodes, which continue to air.)
Haggard's dreamy two-story, 1,400-square-foot Epiphany is now the star of the airwaves and of the watery waves of its Lake Union marina. 'It's a mixture of seaside cottage meets Midwest farmhouse, with a modern spin on houseboat living,” said Haggard. Everything - every thing - she had hoped for is here. ('You have to visualize your dreams before they happen. The view from the master bedroom is exactly what I had envisioned,” she said.)
And then there were even more genuine surprises:
A fantastic, expansive plywood bookcase filled with actual books that are actually read hides a secret powder room between the kitchen and the living room on the lower level. 'The bathroom is a crowd-pleaser,” Haggard said.
Following the hidden-happy-surprise concept, a good-sized square of the floor in the kitchen opens to reveal a wine cellar below, where it stays 50 degrees. Beyond this stretches a play area for Haggard's three nieces - or for Mr. Pants, her prancing cat, when strangers pop over for a tour.
Even her houseboat's name was a fitting surprise. When Haggard registered her new custom houseboat with the Coast Guard, she discovered the original houseboat - the one she gave away before building the home of her hopes - was named Epiphany. And even modern mariners know you shouldn't change the name of a boat.
Some of the furniture was staged by HGTV, says designer/builder Kent Perry, and some was offered to homeowner Sarah J. Haggard. 'A lot of it did work, and Sarah fell in love with a lot,' he says. In the living room, Perry says, 'We knew we wanted natural light and air flow, and to clean the windows, she can tip the sashes.'(Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times/TNS)
When Sarah J. Haggard was renting a houseboat, she really missed a real bathtub. Her new custom houseboat made room for this deep soaking tub, while also creating an actual laundry area behind a pocket door for her washer and dryer. (Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times/TNS)
The master bedroom opens to an upstairs deck, with a propane fireplace and glass railings. There's another, more public, deck on the lower level, with access to the lake, and LED lights under warm cedar soffits. 'When she's entertaining at night, it glows,' says designer/builder Kent Perry, who lives in a houseboat with his partner, Todd Filer, on the same dock. (Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times/TNS)
There are three sources of energy aboard Sarah J. Haggard's houseboat, she says: 'electric; propane; and the pellet stove, the main source of heat in the winter. It's nice to come here and put the fire on. I have to keep it going. I have 2,000 pounds of bags delivered.' The half-spiral staircase, with a piping railing, leads to the two bedrooms and full bath above, with storage under the landing. (Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times/TNS)
Mr. Pants the cat strolls atop the custom table in Sarah J. Haggard's houseboat, with an open plan designed for entertaining and community. At one end of the kitchen (but out of view), a Dutch door leads to the dock. 'That was a specific request, to engage with neighbors,' Haggard says. (Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times/TNS)
Sarah J. Haggard was in the market for her first home when the opportunity arose to build a houseboat through HGTV's show 'Home Afloat,' with fellow Seattle houseboaters/designers/builders Todd Filer and Kent Perry and their mutual friend Charlie Kollmeyer. 'This is a much more affordable way to live,' says Haggard, whose new, 1,400-square-foot houseboat Epiphany is moored on Lake Union. 'I feel like I have a million-dollar view for half of that. It's definitely a lifestyle. It isn't for everybody.' ( (Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times/TNS)
A secret door in a plywood bookcase (by Kerf Design) opens to a powder room. 'In the first concept, one of the things she wanted was a library as part of the communal space,' designer/builder Todd Filer says of homeowner Sarah J. Haggard. Adds his partner, Kent Perry: 'This way, she has her bathroom not in the middle of the room, plus everyone loves it.' 'It worked exactly the way we hoped it would,' Filer says. (Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times/TNS)
Kent Perry designed the 'coral lights' over the custom kitchen table, along with a similar fixture in the powder room. 'The lights are an octopus, an art display,' says homeowner Sarah J. Haggard. 'When we get windstorms, the big bulb comes down.' (Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times/TNS)
LED lights illuminate the below-deck wine cellar when the panel in the kitchen floor is raised. 'The wine will always stay at the perfect temperature,' says designer/builder Todd Filer. (Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times/TNS)
Todd Filer and Kent Perry designed and created the centerpiece table in the kitchen, using reclaimed lumber from Second Use atop a copper base. 'For me, the strong vision is this kitchen: seaside cottage meets farmhouse kitchen,' says homeowner Sarah J. Haggard, who has entertained up to 30 people on her 1,400-square-foot houseboat. 'I'm from the Midwest. I knew I wanted a community table.' (Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times/TNS)
A view of Lake Union and the Ship Canal Bridge serves as a visual headboard in the master bedroom aboard Sarah J. Haggard's houseboat, Epiphany. Living on the water, she says, 'You have to be thoughtful and mindful. This is our backyard; we're the greatest stewards of the lake.' (Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times/TNS)
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