ABOUT US

Cottage + Sea seen at instagram.com/cottagenandsea is a 1930s Spanish Style Cottage and a tiny 388 square foot beach bungalow at instagram.com/bungalowandsea steps from (world renowned) Moonlight Beach in the quaint surf town of Encinitas near San Diego, CA. We lived in the 388 square foot bungalow while we renovated the cottage. We never knew we could live tiny however as we have learned to live more simply with less “stuff”, it is so very freeing and we were able to spend time on things that are most important to us. While our indoor living space was a small studio with kitchenette + bathroom with fireplace, we love outdoor living and spent a lot of time on our upper patio that serves as a living area as well as our outdoor fire pit seating area. There is also a rooftop balcony with couches and tables as an outdoor living space with an ocean view that we loved to enjoy. We also spent time gardening on our patio with our plants/trees such as tomatoes, peppers, mint, blueberries, guava tree, lemon tree, lime tree, loquat tree and plumerias. We love our cozy space and at the same time, we love the outdoors and spending time exploring. We shared the entire process of renovation in the cottage and now share renovation ideas and home decor ideas on Instagram and rent our spaces out. Steve is an avid surfer and we both love to ride bikes, try new restaurants, take hikes, walk to world renowned Moonlight beach, go to church, spend time with friends + family, ride the train to nearby cities (including a Padres game in San Diego). Moonlight beach, in walking distance, is one of the most family friendly and nicest beaches and often hosts events such as Wavecrest, Bro-Am, concerts by music artists such as Switchfoot and more. Steve loves surfing at D Street, which is walking distance, where famous surfers love to go including Rob Machado, Coco Ho and others. Nikki loves to find creative ways to design and Steve loves to refurbish furniture and refinish things around the house such as re-grouting and refinishing wood embellishments. We also love to offer our home as an occasional Airbnb to share our space with guests.