The Cottage Journal features decorating ideas, style tips, creative inspiration, and delicious recipes - and now you can enjoy every single page on the tablet! Create a warmer, more magical home with the beauty of nature and The Cottage Journal!
In this special Holiday Home issue from The Cottage Journal magazine, you’ll discover ideas to make your season merry and bright. Joyful anticipation abounds in preparation for holiday guests. So with all of the season’s gatherings in mind, we have filled our pages with grand inspirational homes dressed to celebrate. Welcoming doorways adorned in greenery and ribbons invite guests into halls of glistening trees laden with heirloom ornaments. Traditions are recaptured as mantels are lavished with garland and candlelight, miniature trees and baubles. The spirit of the season comes alive in each of these featured homes. From vintage chic to French Country Christmas, you’re sure to find a space that inspires your own festive celebrations and unique personal style. Most of all, we hope this season is one shared with…
In her early 20s, Mary Carol Garrity returned to her hometown of Atchison, Kansas, and decided to open a small gourmet food shop in an old bank. With a suggestion from her sister Judy, they decided to name the shop Nell Hill’s after their maternal grandmother, an early Kansas pioneer. “It didn’t take long to realize I couldn’t make a living selling cheese and crackers, and besides, I was putting on weight,” Mary Carol says with a chuckle. Not giving up, she reconsidered her product and swapped food for furniture, taking Nell Hill’s in a different direction. Mary Carol attended Christmas markets and Junior League shows around the state hoping shoppers would discover Nell Hill’s and drive to Atchison. And drive they did. She packed the store with great stuff…
One of our favorite things about the Christmas season is getting to bring our homes to life by gathering with friends and family. The last thing you want to worry about is the stress of what to make, what to give, or how to decorate. Beat the stress! Enjoy every minute of the holidays with a little help from Christmas Cottage Cookbook (Hoffman Media, 2012), brought to you by the publishers of The Cottage Journal magazine. Ideas abound in this 240-page cookbook packed with more than 150 festive recipes and menus to celebrate the season in all manner of style. A tall and elegant dark chocolate raspberry mousse cake or an apple-glazed crown pork roast will impress any holiday visitor, or try gingerbread scones, pizza rolls with marinara sauce, or…
November and December are a time for holiday entertaining. During Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s, parties and dinners seem to multiply. For a beautiful table, bring out the old and the new. Gather candlesticks of various sizes and metals, both glass and porcelain plates, and add a dash of greenery and candlelight for a little holiday magic.…
Even before the boxes of Christmas decorations are pulled from the attic, Jennifer Dent is shopping for gifts. She starts early so she can find the perfect gift but also because she loves wrapping presents. “Each year, I find a new theme using awesome handmade paper, vintage postcards, or a photo of the person instead of a gift card. I may get a little carried away, but I just love doing it,” she says. Jennifer also admits, “Really, my very favorite thing about Christmas, though, is my Christmas card. I start early in the year coming up with an idea.” Jennifer’s holiday cards go far beyond a simple family photo and envelope. In years past, they have included snow-globe frames, View- Masters with photo strips of the year’s highlights, and…
The holiday welcome at Carolyn Featheringill’s 1939 Colonial-style home begins in the marble-tiled entry where cachepots filled with pink poinsettias frame a painted porcelain Nativity set. Delightful seasonal touches continue into the main hall where a 10-foot-tall tree sparkles at the foot of the graceful staircase. Usually, Carolyn garlands the entire staircase, but last year, inspired by a photo in a magazine, she decided to let the stairway stand on its own. A new tradition was born, with big gold bows accenting the railing and a simple garland and wreath highlighting the Palladian window on the landing. Carolyn, an attorney and retired law professor, credits her late husband, Bill, with the way the house looks today. In 1993, he collaborated with Hank Long of Henry Sprott Long & Associates to…
