Meet Tracy Metro and her lush 560 square foot houseboat that she and her husband live in full-time.
She’s the designer on I Live With My Mom and she calls her small houseboat the Metro Retro.
Tracy and her husband bought the boat and it had a challenging layout, so she completely changed it up as you’ll see in the video tour below.
When you walk in there’s a bar and a hangout right in the kitchen area. Go down a couple of steps and you’re in the living room.
The bedroom is interesting because it’s the opposite of what you find in most tiny houses on wheels since you crawl into it instead of climb up into it. It’s located underneath the kitchen.
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Photo Credit SpacesTV on YouTube
Tracy leaves you with some insight when designing a small space that I found important and helpful and that’s to take into account every little square inch of space when designing, building, and/or renovating your small space.

Photo Credit SpacesTV on YouTube
As you’ll see in the video, she used the most unlikely areas for storage when lots of folks would have overlooked these and missed out on taking full advantage of the space.

Photo Credit SpacesTV on YouTube
I encourage you to watch the complete video of Tracy’s small houseboat below:

Photo Credit SpacesTV on YouTube
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Alex
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THANK YOU so much for highlighting our boat the Retro Metro! Just wanted to make sure everybody knew that we actually do NOT live on the boat full-time! It’s a wonderful weekend get-a-way.
Hi Tracy! Thank you so much for stopping by and clarifying that. Love what you did with the place.
What area is this located?
Very nicely done, I must say. Not sure I would have thought of that bedroom placement, but I like it plus the seat that folds back to reveal the stairway. While I’ve never seen it before the idea of drawers underneath the base cabinets is great. This woman knows how to use available space to great advantage.
I hadn’t seen that kind of storage done before either. Glad you got something out of it, Carl! Thanks!
I was looking forward to seeing this video especially since it was from a designer who took on small space. Disappointed as I thought we would get a bunch of neat ideas about using space differently. Not just recommending we treat space differently when we are designing small space living. Basicly we got the cool drawers under the counters and a bedroom down below instead of above. Nice what I saw but didn’t rock my socks in terms of ideas Check out this ROCK YOUR SOCKS LINK of a 68 square foot Tiny Guesthouse built over a grotto in Seatle.
http://www.houzz.com/photos/347851/Plan-View–family-room-seattle
Check out the full sized tub hidden in the floor under a hatched door. This was an amnazing use of space.
Hey Val thanks for that link, what a cool/unique house! Yeah- it would’ve been cool to get even more tips from the video. I thought it was “short and sweet”. I’ll keep your suggestions in mind! Thanks! That hidden tub is so cool!!
Wondering if I somehow missed the bathroom? Didn’t see it…
Hey Marci, you must have just missed it! But the video does show it for like just 2-3 seconds at 2:23. 🙂
I would die in that bedroom. I would feel so claustrophobic!
A gorgeous space nonetheless!
I love Tracy’s design!
… and the loveboat looks good too!
The only issue could be the height of the bedroom … and its location below the deck – it’s like a smuggler’s hideaway, but if you open it, inside will be a real treasure: a beautiful lady with many talents … (and a lucky husband!).
I wonder how would look like a tiny house designed by Tracy?
This is really a nice use of space and as far as decor, really cool. Honestly, the “crawl into” bedroom would give me a major case of claustrophobia! One little tiny doorway to crawl out of and no windows, not even a skylight or place to put one! NO way!
this is so cool
Cool i like,questions1.about what would you spend on budget,2.the other is weight concerns
Would love to see what she did with their full-time home!!!!! 🙂 interesting decor!!!!
Also I would not prefer the bedroom down below (coffin) but it’s an amazing use of the space…:)
were is it at ?