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!
Welcome to Spring—the season to celebrate the awakening of the garden and new inspirations for inside and outside our homes. In this issue, there is an array of fantastic decorating themes and styles, but all create comfortable spaces or reflect the homeowners’ personal styles. One of my favorite features in this issue, “Living Large in a Small Space,” uses clever lighting effects and space planning in the kitchen and dining area. The chandelier is constructed of colorful turquoiselike stones, drawing your eye to the central focus of the room: the dining area. The rest of the larger room is designed with soft cream tones and just a hint of color to keep the setting tranquil. This farmhouse was originally several small rooms, but it has been renovated and modernized with…
Tablecloth from La Maisonnette, lamaisonnettefrance.com or 858-551-1222. Dishes from Lambs Ears, Ltd., lambsearsltd.com or 205-802-5700. White pitcher from Williams -Sonoma, Williams-sonoma.com. Bike picnic basket from Land’s End, landsend.com or 800- 963-4816. Tea towels from World Market, worldmarket.com or 877-967-5362. Vintage stoneware lids and wood spindle headboard with knobs from Creative Co-op, creativecoop.com or 866-323-2264. Floral pillow from Bagatelle, 205-414-6001. MacKenzie-Childs flower market and parchment check enamelware and , Le Jacquard Francais napkin from Christine’s, shopmountainbrook.com/christines or 205-871-8297.…
Ripe with opportunity to showcase your personal decorating touches, porches are an often-overlooked but useful part of a home. When decorating your porch, consider what kinds of activities you want to be able to enjoy in your outdoor room. Sip a tall glass of tea and a read a magazine in a rocking chair; add a table and chairs to use your porch as a dining room for hosting outdoor gatherings. It’s a versatile area that’s perfectly suited to act as an extension of your indoor living space. Useful Space A cozy seating group encourages family time and entertaining in an outdoor living space, and a twin-size swing bed turns the screen porch into an outdoor bedroom during the warmer months. A ceiling fan creates a pleasant breeze on the…
With lots of living taking place on your porch, it eventually begins to show wear and tear. So when it’s time to update, consider using a low-maintenance material to replace worn wood. Today’s options are environmentally friendly and look like wood, but there’s no painting or sanding involved. Even porch furniture can be made from these materials. But remember, the key to successfully achieving your desired look for this project, or any remodeling, is to find the right contractor.…
Carole’s interest was piqued by the antique candy molds she would see at markets and shops, and she soon began searching them out. First used by candy makers in the 1800s, the molds were made from expensive copperplate. Less expensive tinplate molds came into fashion in the mid-1800s with designs by noted German mold maker Anton Reiche. The years of 1880 to 1930 are considered the glory days of chocolate candy molds, including holiday shapes of all sorts and Santa, but the most popular shapes were thought to be Easter bunnies and rabbits. Carole displays her collection of molds as artwork in her kitchen, over doorframes and alongside cabinets. In her mix, she has bunnies of course, but she also has fork and spoon molds, small three-tiered cakes, and even…
When Kathy Cooper was looking to move her family into a historic neighborhood in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the artist knew she needed three bedrooms and a place where she could work. What she didn’t anticipate was how smitten she’d soon be with her home’s masterful millwork, glorious fixtures, and bountiful glow. “The house had 13 broken windows when I bought it,” Kathy recalls, “but it was so full of light that it felt like the outside was in. It was glorious.” An internationally recognized floorcloth artist as well as the author of best-selling books (see Resources) on the topic, Kathy soon converted the former maid’s apartment into a large working studio. She also spent a great deal of time revamping the kitchen, a space that had been only minimally enhanced…
