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Welcome to the Cottage.

The Tiny Canal Cottage is a resource that helps folks mindfully conceptualize, decorate and enjoy versatile, smaller home spaces. The Cottage was founded by consultant, stylist, creative director and author, Whitney Leigh Morris, whose focus is crafting flexible, sustainable, and more community-focused home spaces. Explore Whitney’s Substack, book, blog, and social channels for ideas that explore joyful, mindful ways to live in — and with — a smaller footprint.

The Upcycled Bedroom Sink

The Upcycled Bedroom Sink

One of the small but mighty features I was most excited to include in the design of our new cottage is the sink in our primary bedroom.

Our ~900 sqft home has one bathroom for the four of us, which we believe is enough since the kids’ grandparents’ home, which has multiple bathrooms, is a lovely one-minute stroll away. Plus, a key concept behind this “ADU” cottage and our French Farmhouse is to live with less stuff by sharing more resources.

One of my clients overseas has a sink in her bedroom, and it’s a design feature I enjoyed often when staying at her home. I found the opportunity to keep select self-care routines within the intimate cocoon of the bedroom to be beneficial in terms of both logistics and mental wellbeing.

I personally don’t function well when I’m rushed, and having (wonderful) children tugging on my clothes while I attempt to capture two minutes for myself at the bathroom sink to be stressful, but not reason enough to add a costly and largely unnecessary second bathroom.

Per usual, our aim behind the design of this sink was to use up as many existing items as possible, rather than sourcing newly-manufactured goods. However, I do intend to acquire a decorative switch plate cover and electrical outlet plate via Buster & Punch, as those standard white plastic ones make me cringe.

  • The sink is an antique, wooden French bowl (via Elsie Green). It’s coated / waterproofed inside with Rove & Dwell finish coat.

  • Much of the copper piping was salvaged from local, small business that was modernizing their interior.

  • The pedestal is a handmade plant stand I found on Etsy,

  • The mini cabinet was a second-hand find.

  • The ledge is a spare, river-recovered pine floorboard from The Goodwin Company.

  • The hooks and folding mirror were leftover from a previous project.

  • Clay candleholder is vintage via SSS Atelier.

  • Lime paint in “Cobblestone” by Color Atelier.

  • Vintage-style rotating soap holder via Vivi et Margot.

Our friend Danny helped us bring this to life, and we’re thrilled with how it turned out. It’s one-of-a-kind, meaningful, and ever-useful.

Simple, Intentional Exterior Lighting

Simple, Intentional Exterior Lighting

Our New Cottage's Combo Bathroom + Laundry Room

Our New Cottage's Combo Bathroom + Laundry Room