My head is hardwired to go straight to Hansel and Gretel or The Three Little Bears once I hear the word”cottage” — and you will find places like Carmel, California, where cottages do have that fairy tale allure. But with so many versions, I didn’t limit the style to the daintiest of these charming and small houses as I assembled these 10 strategies to catch the sweetness of a cottage.
Whitten Architects
Insert interest without insanity. Varied widths of wall boards and two-tone paint add interest to this open and airy kitchen. Rather than breaking up the flow with a ceramic or tile steel backsplash, a very clear shield covers the wood behind the cooker to protect it. Open shelves over the windows and easy pendant lights keep the space bright.
Kelly and Abramson Architecture
Keep it humble. Wood ceilings and rafters will be the perfect backdrop for the vintage sink and stove in this kitchen. It’s not unusual to see receptive upper cupboards, however in this house, the owners abandoned the doors off a lower unit and topped it with wood. It feels like they slipped it into position and picked it up.
Rebekah Zaveloff | KitchenLab
Let design and function work together. For storage requirements, opt for accumulated pieces of furniture history and character instead of utilizing newer built-ins. To stay true to the look, transfer lotions and soaps into glass jars for display and use. Use Engineered timber hampers and wastebaskets.
A wonderful way to add personality to your bathroom is to some bring in a beautifully framed mirror to hang above the sink. It’s not necessary to match the other items in the room, but do ensure the scale is right — typically, it shouldn’t extend past the width of the vanity.
Sethbennphoto
Re-create the past. Most often, beadboard is hung vertically, but find out the way running it horizontally pulls you right to this cottage tub?
The continuation of the wood right onto the ceiling creates the feel of an old cedar closet. If you’ve got the space to let the bathtub stand alone, by all means do it. Without the demand for a drape, you can flaunt that antique bathtub.
Jeffrey Dungan Architects
Give it a twist. Large runs of reclaimed wood railings and beams make this room feel like the offspring of a farmhouse and a cottage. For people who enjoy cottages but prefer a less dainty atmsophere, try using 4- to 6-inch-wide boards onto the walls. Go with bigger pieces of furniture with iron accents, steering clear of the delicate look of scalloped trimmings, lace and granny rocking seats.
Sethbennphoto
Create a mood with lighting. I can practically smell this room throughout the film: a blend of older, scuffed floorboards, lake water and fireplace embers. Are you ?
The gold stain on the walls grows richer with the amber lighting, creating a soft glow. Lighting sets the mood in a space select sconces and lamps that will help keep it interesting.
Rethink Design Studio
Twist the whites. Keep layering on the whites in your beach cottage, using different colors for depth. Tiny sample cans of paint are fantastic for experimenting to discover just the right ones. After the paint is up, work in window treatments and furniture to get yet another layer. Then have fun with the accents.
Accent with colour. Use those white walls as your canvas to bring in vivid splashes of colour. I happen to enjoy any shade of blue with white. But also consider a bright orange or lime green. If you’ve got an old necklace, paint it a wild color and locate some significant glass knobs and you’ll have an entirely new piece for your room.
Bosworth Hoedemaker
Proceed beyond white. There’s definitely a theme here: whitened walls. However, this room has some thing a bit more pastoral going on with the various colors of wood within the room.
It combines a weathered, lighter wood supporting the rafters, a gold stain on the window and varying colors on the wide-plank floor. Don’t be scared to present an assortment of stains and woods into your rustic cottage.
Frederick + Frederick Architects
Soften the outside. Use as little hardscaping as possible when setting your outdoor places. Edges of a cottage yard should be soft, or even punctuated with huge hydrangeas. Create unpaved driveways and walkways characterized with soil, mulch and pebbles.
Now kick back and revel in it!
Watch more guides on today’s rustic styles