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.
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.
