A Joyful Cottage

This week's featured small space is a 464 sq ft tiny house by Clayton Homes.

Welcome to the 113th post in the series

"Living Large in Small Spaces".

If you're a regular reader of A Joyful Cottage you know that my husband and I live in a 670 sq ft cottage we designed and had built just about three years ago. We considered several conceptual designs before moving forward with the one we finally built. The largest home we designed was about 1,200 sq ft, the smallest approximately 325 sq ft. We also considered a manufactured home, but scratched the idea when we couldn't find a home that met an important design criteria, namely it had to have character.

Things may have turned out differently had I first seen the home I'm featuring today: a tiny home designed by architect Jeffrey Dungan of Birmingham-based Jeffrey Dungan Architects as part of Clayton Designer Series tiny homes. The name "Low Country" comes from the southern region that inspired its design.

From the exterior's poplar bark siding with 1x4 vertical shiplap and cedar shake and metal roof, to the easy flow of the interior, this tiny home is big on character. Let's take a look inside.

Double entry doors open wide to a living room with vaulted exposed beam ceiling, ship lap walls and an abundance of gorgeous windows.

Just look at these tall windows that bring the outdoors in, and the beautiful oak hardwood floors.

The kitchen has a bar that seats 4 people. There is a large pantry to the right of the full-size refrigerator.

Other deluxe appliances include a gas stove, dishwasher, and washer/dryer.

Next to the kitchen is a room with storage and counter space for folding laundry. But imagine what other uses this could have, such as a craft or sewing room, or an office.

Across from the laundry room is the full bathroom.

Storage above the tub/shower shows that no space is wasted.

The master bedroom has dual closets and an alcove for a desk or other piece of furniture. Think, though, how sweet this would be with a window seat.

The bedroom accommodates a queen-size bed with room for nighstands. You can't see it in these photos, but there's an exterior door in the bedroom that could lead onto a private deck or garden.

I love this little house. It's a tiny house that's not on wheels and accommodates free standing, full-size furniture. The Low Country is thoughtfully designed to live large. And it's approved by my personal resident architect. He likes it as much as I do.

The Low Country is not yet available for purchase, but we understand it will be soon. For more information and to see a floor plan you can visit the Designer Series Clayton Tiny Homes website here.

Click here for a 3D tour of the Low Country.

Disclaimer: This is an independent post and the author is not associated with Clayton Homes or its representatives. The opinions expressed are her own and she is not endorsing Clayton Homes or its tiny home series. Interested parties should conduct their own thorough research before making any purchase.

Join me next Saturday for another post in the special series

Living Large in Small Spaces

See more home tours in the

Living Large In Small Spaces Series here.

Welcome to the 112th post in the series

"Living Large in Small Spaces".

Today it's my pleasure to welcome AnnMarie of the blog Musings of a Vintage Junkie to Living Large In Small Spaces. AnnMarie is sharing the darling home of her niece and her husband, and the story behind it.

Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am a regular follower of Nancy's blog and I love her series,
Living Large in Small Spaces. You can imagine my excitement then, when
I realized that my own niece, her husband and daughter are
doing just that. Thank you to Nancy for allowing me
to share with you their sweet, small home
in Upstate New York.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When you see a turquoise mailbox post amongst the regular brown ones all down the street, you can assume these homeowners love color....

And you'd be right!

This cute updated ranch home built in 1991,
is full of color and charm, design and character.

Behind the turquoise door

and the pretty turquoise accents on the porch....

is a DIY lovers remodeled dream home decorated

in a contemporary eclectic style by its owners,

my niece Danielle and her husband Mike.

Together, with their almost 3-year-old daughter Bria, they are

living large in this small space. The square footage

is 1176 with about 700 more square footage in the

recently renovated basement.

The home didn't look this fresh and cute when they first

bought it in 2013. As a matter of fact

the homeowners insurance was cancelled

until they removed the overgrown landscape. This home

had been neglected for some time.

They pulled out all the old trees and bushes around the house back then

and recently had the new patio installed in the front and back.

They planted the new landscape themselves....

along with a vegetable garden in the back.

They did most of the interior work

themselves over the past four years. The first year

they gutted the inside, painted the walls, put the

floor in and painted the kitchen cabinets.

Danielle and Mike are fortunate to have the same

taste in decorating. Mike is a master at painting

and they chose the colors and décor together,

Danielle having the final say of course!

Let's take a look inside. You will see some different themes

throughout, like turquoise accents, wall stickers,

bold colors and Mickey Mouse!

Walking through that pretty front door you are greeted by this sweet wall.

From here the home opens up to reveal bedrooms

to the left, living room to the right and kitchen and porch in the back.

Here is some of that color I mentioned....

As you can see, Danielle loves pattern and color and texture.

She has a degree in interior design and finds lots of inspiration from HGTV (the channel and the magazine),

the Property Brothers in particular.

I can see that!

She also gets inspiration from her Mom.
Growing up in a beautifully

decorated home with a lot of different design elements, she

can take advantage of her Mom's eye for decorating and

have the benefit of some great hand me downs.

The kitchen is painted a bold pink

with white cupboards and turquoise accents....

and lots of other colors mixed in.

The doorway into the living room was recently opened up by Mike

which gives it all a better flow.

What you don't see anymore are dark cabinets and floor, old appliances

and one of those drop down cupboards over an island.

There are sweet wall stickers on the doors and walls throughout

which adds so much personality.

The one above is on the kitchen door to the garage and the next one
is on the basement door. Danielle has a love of
Mickey Mouse as you will see throughout the house.

Words with nice sentiments are sprinkled throughout...

Across from this door is the hallway to the bedrooms and bathroom.

The cute chair is a hand-me-down from Danielle's Mom
and the light fixture is something her Mom found while
out of town. Danielle loves light fixtures!

There is so much going on in this little hallway and a

look to the left or right fills your senses with

more color and texture and design.

The use of gray walls just makes the color of the décorative items pop.

Every wall and corner is used to its full potential.

In the second year the bathroom was completely gutted
and Mike did all the tile work, painting
and installation of everything new.

The dramatic colors and pretty tile makes for a very pretty bathroom.