The Coziest Cottage Tiny House! Cottage Decor & Small Space Ideas

Welcome to the cottage at Eagle's View in the picturesque countryside outside of Hendersonville, North Carolina. This tiny house is cottage perfection. It's a perfect blend of rustic charm and modern luxury. Hi, I'm Alexis and I'm Christian and we are Tiny House Expedition and this is a new episode of our small space design series where we share tours of small houses and give our ideas on how to optimize them. So stick around until the end for our ideas on how to make this sweet little cottage work better for full-time living. All right, let's do this. First thing we got to talk about is this porch and this outdoor living space. It's amazing. What's more relaxing than sitting in a porch swing watching these adorable cows? So the cool thing is it's cut up into a couple of different spaces so you can hang out on the front porch if you want but you can also go over and hang out in front of a little fire pit area which is what we did last night and then there's even a little covered sitting area in like what would you call that little space? Good question, like gazebo-esque? Yeah, it's kind of like a gazebo but it's got back wall and stuff so it's really charming the whole thing. All right, now it's time to go inside. You guys ready? All right, welcome inside. This is a 400 square foot cozy cottage. Okay, I have a question. What is a cottage actually? Well, a cottage is simply a small modest house full of charm located in the rural countryside. So there are a few different styles of cottages but this one is a smaller version of a bungalow so it's got a wraparound front porch, a low gabled roof and inside it has an open floor plan and an asymmetrical design which creates depth and visual interest which makes it feel more character rich. It's definitely got some character and I get the whole bungalow thing because like front porch to me always says bungalow so yeah absolutely but no matter the cottage style they all feature natural elements like beautiful exposed beams. We definitely got a bunch of those in here and built-in shelves and cozy nooks because cozy comfort is what it's all about and here's a great example which is the dining room nook. Oh yeah, so yeah look how cozy and nooky it is over here. This is such a great use of space and you could sit probably five people over here. Yeah I could see that. Yeah and of course great views of the countryside wherever you look. Mm-hmm. But this is really a great example of cottage decor you know using rustic or vintage furniture pieces. Yeah I have always thought about like cottagey is the mixture of using light and dark so it's having the white walls with some kind of either warm tone like this table or maybe even a dark tone wood like the coat rack. And we didn't mention it but this is actually an Airbnb so if you wanted to try out the cottage life you absolutely can and also they give you delicious chocolate chip cookies. We ate a couple of those already. Yep and I'm gonna eat the rest right after we shoot this video. Oh hey there. During our tiny house build I learned countless valuable lessons like measure 12 times, cut once and custom furniture is the best way to maximize a tiny layout. That's why I'm excited to join the Woodworkers Guild of America, today's video sponsor. The Guild is your online resource for woodworking instructions, ideas and information. They have a ton to offer anyone interested in building a tiny home. Like their hugely important shop safety videos and helpful tutorials including how to build a wall cabinet. The project I'm excited about is the end grain cutting boards. I have some really gorgeous slabs that are just waiting to be used. Whether you're a beginner or a master of your craft feed your passion by joining so you can learn new techniques, get inspired by new ideas and connect with other passionate woodworkers. The first thousand of you to click the link in the description will get a full year premium membership to Woodworkers Guild of America for only a dollar and forty nine cents. And next to the dining nook is the tiniest kitchen. This is a perfect size for an Airbnb and has everything that you need including a super cute retro fridge. Despite the itsy-bitsy size of this space it's actually pretty functional and this sink is a great example. It's not very wide but it's steep and that's what you need for washing a pot. And it's something I always look for when I go to any tiny house is can I put a big pot in this? So check. And because of that this actually might be the perfect sink to use in our shuttle bus conversion so we're gonna have to do a little searching. Something I always appreciate is a window above the sink so that when you're washing the dishes you can enjoy views of the outside. This kitchen is bringing major cottage vibes. We got cute open shelves and really great glassware and pretty vintage items. And then on the functional side I am a huge fan of drawer storage and bonus they're all soft clothes. Love that. So next to the kitchen is the living room. This cute cute little living room. And such a comfortable sofa. Yeah this is great. This is another thing that we always talk about. Table and a nice sofa. Absolutely for both a full-time tiny home or an Airbnb. Totally. Absolute must. What I love about the living room decor is its cottage perfection yet again because we have all these layered earthy textures. Yeah with having that layered look to things with having lights and darks all over the place like having these you know dark wooden things up on the wall back here just really makes it look really pretty. And you might notice that there's not a TV visible in here and that's because like a lot of cottages they've downplayed modern technology but in fact it is just around the corner mounted so that you can move it to watch it either in the bedroom or in the living room. Something I always enjoy is having seating options and I particularly love a comfy chair. And this lovely little chair over here is also a recliner and it's a pretty good small space recliner. If you recline it all the way it does take up quite a bit of space lengthwise. Yeah you're just about laying down. But you don't have to recline that far and it is pretty narrow and I have to admit that when we arrived yesterday I took about an hour long nap in that chair. So it's my turn to show you guys the bathroom. Come check this out. What I really like about small spaces is when there's not a lot of stuff but the things that are in there are visually interesting. You know the details are done right. Like this sink it's probably new but it looks vintage and it's a hammered copper vessel sink with this really neat looking faucet that I've actually never seen one like that before. And this house isn't lacking hooks at all. In the bathroom here they have these nice brass hooks and they are again visually interesting. They didn't just put you know like a cheap old hook on the wall. It's a really nice hook. But all over this house man there are so many hooks and that is something Alexis and I both love. And side-by-side over here are the like toilet nook, another nook, and the shower. And I'm gonna turn this on. The lights connected to the fan so you're gonna hear that now. And as a tall guy, a big tall guy, I like a big shower and this is really really awesome. One thing I didn't think was gonna work was these subway tiles with this like earthy toned tile on the floor. But it totally does. It's crazy. And you see with the contrast too on the subway tiles they used black grout to really pop it off the wall. So that's again with that contrast. And a toilet nook is just that. A toilet nook. Welcome to the bedroom nook. The biggest nook of all. And I love this because you have some perks of having a downstairs bedroom but it's open so to keep this 400 square feet feeling more spacious. Yeah since the space is asymmetrical there's just this room just kind of pops out of the rectangle shape of the house. And it's great because it gives the house a little more shape but it's defining you know. This is another room as opposed to that room. Exactly and it's big enough for a king-size bed. Yeah this is always fun because we don't touch. I just love how they designed the space with the mantle. Also helps to define the bedroom. And then these beautiful windows that let in so much light and of course views of the cows. And in the bedroom you really see an example of two things that little contrast and the textures I was talking about before. Because like you got this tan blanket on this white bed and it looks really cool. It looks like you want to touch it. You get the different patterns and textures of the pillows also. It gives it so much character through just these simple touches. Yeah but it's all soft you know. So like it really really makes you want to touch. Like I said touch it. Touch the pillows. Touch the blanket. Get in the bed. Cozy core to the max. Yeah. And yet again you'll notice tons of hooks. Well in this case they're pegs but basically the same thing. Yeah totally. You just can't have too many. They're perfect for hanging anything. Great simple storage. And speaking of which we have TV storage like we mentioned earlier. That's just tucked away. I love that it's not a focal point of any of the rooms. This cozy cottage is an absolutely dreamy Airbnb and it's perfect for getaways. But we have some ideas for how to optimize this space to make it suitable for full-time living. Yeah mostly because we just can't help ourselves. We just we just got to tell what we're thinking. It's very true. And here in the entryway is a great place to start. So right next to the door I think you could fit a piece of furniture. Yes and I really like the idea of a shoe cabinet. You know something cute with the vintage feel. It one stows your shoes so it doesn't clutter the space. And two provides a little tabletop where you could set your keys or your glasses or mail when you come in the front door. One thing I would not change in this cottage is this dining nook. We are huge fans always of having a table and a tiny home. It's one of my top three must. But if there's one thing that I would tweak it would be to make this bench a storage bench. There's loads of storage opportunity right here but currently you just can't open the top. I do like this table and nook just kind of how it is with the bench. But I'm always up for changing things so making the bench maybe as long as the window could help with changing the shape of the table. So you could have you know like a square or a rectangle table here and have a little bit more room to eat on or if you like work from home it would give you more space to kind of spread out on. So when it comes to a fully functional full-time home this kitchen has the most room for improvement but it's an easy fix I think. I always love a u-shaped kitchen because you get that great pivot that I'm always talking about where you can reach everything. So the way to do that would be to add a second counter space or island right here and what that would allow you to do is have room for a stove or a small range and of course more workspace and more storage. And the last thing that needs to be solved is the bigger fridge of course but it has to be this cute retro style absolutely just more like an apartment size and I think you could easily place that over here maybe shorten this counter a little bit and still have plenty of room for the nook. So yes I would make the living room space a little smaller but there's so much open space over here that I think with a little furniture rearranging it's totally achievable. Alexa's talked about putting another counter in the kitchen and if you did that you definitely have to move the living room around a little bit. So it is possible you could actually put like one bigger sofa here or even just slide this down the wall and turn it a little bit. And another idea is over in front of the mirror create a faux fireplace where you have the mantle up top which is great for book storage and then beneath you can add a tiny wood stove or one of those electric stoves. Yeah so you get the idea of a fireplace but it's not a real fireplace. Exactly yeah but they still put off heat and of course for additional heat and cooling we didn't mention earlier but there is a mini split in here. Because it's so tiny you don't necessarily need the heat but doesn't a fireplace just feel right in a cottage? Yeah totally. Something I think would make the bathroom a little bit more full-time ready would be easy stuff. It's a handful of shelves so more shelving to put things and behind this mirror you could build a little bit of a medicine cabinet. You can even build like a box with shelves and just put this on a hinge on the front of it and you got a medicine cabinet. So that's another way to save space but to have more storage for full-time living. So the main thing that this cottage needs to make it suitable for full-time living is more storage but there are loads of opportunity in this super cozy bedroom. The first one is this bed. You could put hydraulic arms on the bed and have a massive storage compartment or I think big drawers would actually work really well and these drawers could be accessed on two sides so that the drawers aren't too crazy deep so it's more accessible for you know daily use. And then the other thing is on this wall where the TV is there's plenty of room to put a large wardrobe and of course something vintagey and charming. I think between those two add-ons you would have a massive amount of storage and could really live in this thing year-round. So what do you think? What would you change in this adorable charming cottage to make it suitable for full-time living for you? Let us know in the comments below. Thank you for watching our video and for stopping by tiny house expedition I'm Alexis and I'm Christian don't forget to Like comment and subscribe and for more tiny home tours and stories click the videos below and join us on Instagram for bonus content including face-to-face conversations with us we hope to see you there all right thanks guys have a good one