Over the past five years we’ve been lovingly updating our tiny cottage to create a multi-functional and cozy oasis on the water. Keep reading to see all the creative and beautiful solutions we (my hubby and I) came up with. I hope you enjoy! If you have a tiny space, these ideas can be applied to any small space.
Tiny Cottage details
It’s a 2011 Northlander Park Model (on wheels so it’s moveable!), 3-bedroom, 1 bathroom, 14ft x 36ft, plus a 18ft x 10ft insulated sunroom. Total square footage including sunroom is 630 square feet.
Here’s the original floor plan of the inside without the sunroom and before we moved the fridge orientation.
Current location
All inclusive waterfront lot at McCreary’s Beach Resort on Mississippi Lake (Perth). Open May 1 until October 31 annually.
The Kitchen
The first thing I did was paint the kitchen cabinets and upgraded the hardware. I used chalk paint in a fun coastal aqua colour and white up top! I took a little creative liberty here, because where else but the lake can you have cabinets in this beautiful colour. We also added a new brushed black kitchen faucet, the drawers have little sea turtles as hardware (I need to add a pic though there’s a little glimpse in one of the photos below). To create more space, we also added a new shelf above the kitchen window. We also tiled the kitchen with a simple white ceramic tile and beautiful glass accent tiles.
Because we’re on a resort, we have cottages right next to us, so to create privacy but still let the light in, we added in privacy film on the bottom of the kitchen window. We also updated all the lighting and added under cabinet lights that have a remote.
Originally, the fridge was located facing the hallway – which in such a tiny space, was awkward to get around if you had the fridge open, so we switched the orientation to face outward. Added in a huge pantry and giant above the fridge cabinet.
We also added a L shaped bar top so we can now all eat at the kitchen peninsula.
What a difference, eh? Here are a few more photos of the kitchen.
I will have to share pics with the hardware and framing around the pantry. Stay tuned. We also got this nice new bigger fridge – we eat lots of snacks when we’re running around all day!
The Living Room
We added in a gorgeous ship lap wall with custom wood word art (made by yours truly on my scroll saw) – it’s our cottage mantra “Wild and Free” – we absolutely love that our kids can run wild and free here. Then, we added in a cute electric wood stove fireplace. This tiny fireplace gives off a wild amount of heat when needed. We also have a propane furnace and A/C.
Every piece of furniture is multifunctional. The chaise of the couch is all storage, then the back of the couch pulls down to create a double bed for extra sleeping space for guests. The Ottomon also has storage.
The Sunroom
This is one of my favourite spaces for so many reasons. The entire room is modular to suit every need.
First, we insulated our sunroom wall and added wall panels. To do this, we framed the windows. I know this sounds like the opposite of what you’d want to do but because our neighbours are so close, we kept curtains closed so we didn’t stare at their siding. And there are two HUGE windows and doors at the front and back so there is still so much light that comes through.
To frame the wall, we used 2 x 2’s. Then we added insulation, and you can’t really see this from the exterior window side. Then, we added in the chevron wall panels (purchased from Rona). There is a hook up for a/c so we removed the doors between the cottage and the sunroom (we put them back on to close the cottage over the winter months). The sunroom is often cooler (or hotter – we have an oil heater in there for the fall months) than the rest of the cottage in the summer.
This space is 100% modular. The tables can be set up along the walls around the bar fridge, or they can be put together as a dining table for eating. There are also black out thermal curtains that close between the cottage and sunroom to make this an oversized guest room – or just a private room space if you need some down time. Then, we have a high Queen air mattress that blows up beautifully in here to give guests their own space.
I almost forgot that we also added in wall-to-wall book cases with storage on the cottage side of the sunroom. This hides all of our toys, games, puzzles and the first one is our shoe cupboard.
The Bedrooms
We added barn doors and new light fixtures to each of the secondary bedrooms. The one bedroom has a double bed on the bottom and single on top. The top bunk in this room, is set up as our kids play space, so their toys are actually up top.
Then in the other room, it’s two thin single beds. We removed the bottom bunk to be able to create a gaming space. There is a cozy chair that folds out into a single mattress if extra sleeping space is needed. We used 4 trones storage containers from Ikea to create a space to put clothes and toys.
In the primary bedroom, we painted an accent wall and ripped out the closet. There is wall to wall wardrobes that provide so much extra storage. In the first cupboard, we have our brooms and vacuum that stand up, plus storage. The middle cupboard holds all of our bedding and towels. Then the double wardrobe holds all of our clothes and the queen mattress for the guest room.
The bed also has drawers underneath, so it doubles the amount of storage we have. And of course… we added new lighting, new black out blinds and thermal black out curtains. We also added the privacy film on the lower window, so just in case the blinds are left open, no one can see into our space.
Bedroom 1
Bedroom 2
Primary Bedroom
The Bathroom
This is a tiny bathroom with lots of storage. We found this amazing full-length mirror and medicine cabinet, plus the storage under the sink. Again, we added the privacy film to our window that lets the light in but the neighbours wont mistakenly see you naked. lol
We also added some peel and stick tiling in a honeycomb pattern, just because it’s pretty. We increased the overall space in the shower by adding in a shower curtain rod that is rounded.
Outside
We absolutely love being outside and that’s where we spend most of our time – if we’re not at the beach that is 4 cottages down from us, then we are chilling on one of our decks. We extended our decks on both sides to give us additional living and entertaining space. Depending on the time of day and what you’re looking for, each deck offers different sunlight and wind protection. The waterfront deck has storage all underneath it too – perfect for storing our kayaks and paddle boards over the winter.
We also purchased a shed to store all our outdoor toys including our telescope for star gazing from the dock or our deck. And every cottage needs a nice large fire pit – so we added that too!
Of course, I had to paint our front door turquoise too.
We all absolutely adore our tiny cottage and have loved every inch of our journey to create such a special place and functional space that we can concentrate on making memories and taking in the beautiful surroundings. See the deer?
If you have any questions about any of our updates, please feel free to comment or ask. I would love to share.
Here are a few more pics to take in and enjoy our happy place.
Here’s our beautiful fire pit and view from our deck.
Here’s one of our iconic Mississippi Lake Sunsets. Life is good.
