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Welcome to the Cottage.

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.

Repurposing Bottles Around the Home

Repurposing Bottles Around the Home

One of the DIY-lite projects I’ve long enjoyed is using branches and repurposed bottles to craft space-savvy garden stake vases.

Above: Photo from an East Coast wedding I produced in 2015.

Above: Photo from an East Coast wedding I produced in 2015.

After completing a recent creative project for which I was hired by Wonderful Wine Co., we had some leftover bottles that I decided to repurpose around the house and garden. (Transparency note: this blog post is not sponsored.)

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It’s estimated that almost half of a wine bottle’s carbon footprint comes from the production and mishandling of packaging. These particular bottles are made with lightweight glass that requires 20% less energy and 12% percent less water to produce, cutting back this company’s carbon emissions by approximately 26% overall, and making the bottles particularly usable for upcycling projects.

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With the help of a few materials + accessories already here at the cottage, we turned the bottles into the garden stake vases, a dishwashing soap dispenser, a candle holder, a nightlight, and a simple vase to prolong the life of a tomato branch that was snapped off by a particularly rude mouse.

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Remember: only a small percentage of recyclables actually gets recycled.

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So before you chuck something into the bin, explore its other potential uses first.

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Additional photos below.

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