The Tiny Canal Cottage is a resource for helping folks mindfully conceptualize, decorate and enjoy versatile + smaller home spaces. Founded by designer, consultant, stylist, creative director and author, Whitney Leigh Morris, this family-owned small business recently finished the construction of a new, compact cottage and greenhouse-office in the southeastern US, and are also restoring a little 1800s French farmhouse and its outbuildings with co-stewards. Morris’ focus is crafting flexible, sustainable, and more community-focused home spaces. Explore Whitney’s book, blog, and social channels for years of tips and tales from living and working in — and with — a smaller footprint.
Original architectural plans and engineering: Jennifer Langford (Click here to Meet the Architect)
Interior design: Whitney Leigh Morris
Artistic renderings: Magdalena Zolnierowicz
Note: The artistic rendering of the floor plan and additional visuals are not building-ready plans, and are intended for reference and creative inspiration.
General Design Details
Footprint: 913 sq ft / Porch: 260 sq ft / Total under roof: 1173 sq ft
Heights: 10’h main room + bedroom walls + beams, 16’h main room peak, Bathroom and bedroom peak at 12.5’h
Flooring: 7”w river-recovered character pine and remnant character wood shorts via The Goodwin Company, Montpellier stone via Historic Decorative Materials.
Interior Doors: Double pocket doors for bedrooms at 2/6 x 8/0 per door (4 total), single pocket doors for utility hall, plus bathroom / laundry Room: 2/8 x 6/8 each (2 total)
Windows: Marvin, Elevate Series, Casement, Bronze Exterior, White Wooden Interior, Interior Screens, energy efficient Duette Honeycomb Shades from Hunter Douglas
Skylights: VELUX Fresh Air Solar Venting with optional shades
Exterior Doors: Marvin, Elevate Series
Exterior Paint: Natural Choice by Sherwin-Williams
Exterior Materials: Soffits and Porch Ceiling in Reclaimed Character Cypress
Wood Burning Stove: Morsø Squirrel
Large Kitchen Appliances: Café Appliances
Stacked Washer + Dryer: Haier
6-Way Shower Valve: Delta Faucet
Bedroom Walls + Ceiling: Color Atelier “Cobblestone” Lime Paint
Bathroom Walls: Color Atelier “Nue” Tadelakt
Kitchen Sink: “Creating Concrete” by Stanley Artisan Concrete via Etsy
Kitchen Countertops & Island Sides: Spare floorboards
Island Countertop & Shower Curb: Cambria Quartz
Pictured Above: NORTH SIDE OF COTTAGE
Doors & Windows: Aluminum clad wood
Exterior Posts: 4 x 4, wrapped to 6” sq
Roof: Metal
Note: The single window pictured on the right is not part of the porch, but is instead part of the shower bump-out as seen from this angle.
Pictured Above: EAST SIDE OF COTTAGE
Windows: Marvin, Elevate Series, Casement, Bronze Exterior, White Interior, Interior Screens
Exterior color: Natural Choice by Sherwin-Williams
Soffit & Porch Ceiling: Reclaimed Cypress from The Goodwin Company
Pictured Above: SOUTH SIDE OF COTTAGE
Children’s room on left, kitchen on right), with peek-a-boo glimpse of the height of the overhead beams in the main room, and the ceiling + roof design. HVAC ducts run along the triangular corridor between the rooms.
Pictured Above: WEST SIDE OF COTTAGE
From left to right is the 10’ porch, the primary bedroom, the 8’ wide shower bump-out, and the children’s room. There is no gutter system, as the rain flows off the metal roof to a drip line below, where native prairie grasses catch the water.