Innholdsfortegnelse for Country Cottage 2019 i The Cottage Journal

Welcome to Country Cottage, a special edition of The Cottage Journal magazine. This edition affords a fresh look at indoor and outdoor living. We offer collectible treasures, artists’ works, and a variety of cottages for decorating inspiration. “Homage to Heritage” on page 29 has easy decorating ideas using refurbished antiques and pops of bright color for outdoor room spaces. Planters, vines, and pillows add an inviting touch, creating a comfortable place to stay awhile—one of our favorite aspects of country style. We also have cottages with character that have survived years of fun vacations. The homes have become family heirlooms, passed along from one generation to the next to enjoy time spent away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Not so perfect in a sense of decoration, but…

For centuries, horses have provided civilizations with transportation, vitality, and companionship. And individuals who share a bond with horses often find ways to showcase their affection through various equine collections. For Linda Holman, who has been gathering an array of equestrian art and keepsakes for almost four decades, collecting equestrian memorabilia is more than just a hobby—it’s a way of life. “This type of collection does not just consist of photographs of you and your family with your own horses,” says Linda, who grew up riding and now works at a tack shop. “It goes further than that. It’s a passion. It’s a broader appreciation of equestrian art.” Linda started her equestrian art collection in 1978 when her mother gave her an antique horse brass, a small plaque that hangs…

When Wendy Morrison purchased her North Carolina cottage in 2012, she could see past its decade of renter neglect. Mustard yellow walls, a leaking roof, and worn floors didn’t dissuade her. Instead, she found motivation in the idea of her home’s first family, embracing the energy of their 1920s middle-class life. “From the start, my focus was preserving the integrity of this home’s history,” Wendy recalls. Her neighborhood is decidedly bohemian, with eclectic boutiques, creative cafés, and architectural restoration. So when it came time to revive her 1927 cottage, Wendy wanted to blend many of the home’s original features with an inviting, livable space for her own busy family. The kitchen became her first project. When she moved in, a 36-inch stove with no ventilation dominated the 9x9-foot space, and…

Seven years before Layla and Kevin Palmer moved into their cozy lakeside cottage in the country, Kevin drove through the neighborhood and instantly fell in love with the style and architecture. When he returned home, he said to Layla, “You’ve got to see this place.” With the neighborhood’s idyllic movie set charms, nestled between cotton fields and a gorgeous lakefront, the Palmers knew they had found their dream home. Unfortunately, at that time, their dream was out of reach. Years passed, but they never stopped dreaming. When the economy crashed and the housing market dipped, they found their dream home in foreclosure. It was a sign. In fact, the home sat vacant the whole seven years—as if it were waiting just for Layla and Kevin. “For us, it seemed like…

It’s easy to find inspiration for interior design and décor in the pages of magazines. Bringing that inspiration to life, however, can be a challenge. For Kim Adkins and her husband, Marshall, it was a challenge they embraced and enjoyed working through when they purchased their farm, which they affectionately deemed Adkins Orchard, in Fayetteville, Texas, in 1999. In 2003, the Adkinses decided to build a barn-inspired home with room enough for friends and family. The project took two years to complete. “It was basically one man and a helper who built the red house,” Kim says. “It was a bit of a crazy endeavor!” The building process gave Kim just enough time to make the house exactly what she wanted. “I put together a binder—these were the days before…

This quaint stone building provides the necessities for a gardener’s potting shed. A worktable and chair make the task of planning and potting a little easier. Several old wooden cabinets have been collected and repurposed to provide needed storage. Behind the glass doors of one cabinet you can see the vases and pots awaiting flowers. To minimize clutter, tools that are not required on a daily basis are stored in lower cabinets. And with the addition of a few nails, the lattice shelf near the door is a handy place to hang a garden hat and a convenient spot for smaller hand tools. The drawers at the base of the shelf are home to collections of seed packets. Large tools such as shovels, spades, and rakes stand at attention in…

GARDENING ON A SHOESTRING By Alex Mitchell Creating a welcoming garden doesn’t have to be expensive. In Gardening on a Shoestring, Alex Mitchell shares tips on growing fruits and vegetables, dealing with pests, and building flower beds without breaking the bank. With easy-to-follow project directions and colorful photography to inspire your green thumb, this book will have you reaching for the spade and gardening gloves in the first sitting. THE LITTLE VEGGIE PATCH CO. DIY GARDEN PROJECTS By Mat Pember and Dillon Seitchik-Reardon From planting fresh produce to building a pallet wall garden, Mat Pember and Dillon Seitchik-Reardon make outdoor projects easy and accessible. They don’t want you to buy a tool shed or mini greenhouse; they want you to get your hands dirty and make them for yourself. Filled…

Horse brasses are thought to have originated in the pre-Roman period because of a complete set of ancient horse trappings found in North Africa in 1932. Horse pendants resurfaced around the 12th century in medieval England, where the decorations were used to show the status and rank of the horse’s owner. The early forms of horse brass were mostly made of bronze, but rarer pieces made of silver or gold inlay have also been discovered. Brass was not made in England until the reign of Queen Elizabeth I during the 16th century. The early hammered brass pendants of the 17th and 18th centuries are the rarest and most highly prized collectibles today. Horse brasses came to more general use during the Napoleonic Wars in the early 1800s and were prominently…

From the outside, this brick Cape Cod-style cottage, nestled in the center of a town where there are more apple orchards than traffic lights, may seem like any other house on the street. But open the front door and that illusion quickly vanishes; there is nothing ordinary about this place. Home to Marian Parsons, entrepreneur and author of the Miss Mustard Seed home interiors blog, the dwelling bears her artistic signature in each beautifully decorated room. Her style has evolved through the years, and its present look surprises this former Army brat just a bit. “To me, white walls meant military housing,” Marian says, “or that you were afraid to paint or make design choices.” But in the last few years, she’s come to realize that a snowy backdrop best…

“Everyone loves when you’re sitting on the porch; it is like being in a tree house.”—LINDA CONSTABLE In 2008, Dershie and Larry McDevitt decided to take on a major renovation of the home they had purchased 15 years earlier. The house sits in a valley near Asheville, North Carolina, and Dershie exclaims, “It’s truly a fun house on a very busy piece of property with its 25 or so wild turkeys and four or five deer in the yard.” The couple substantially changed the footprint of the house during the renovation and that partially explains why the house is so funky-looking, but Dershie admits it started out being a little funky. One of the reasons the couple’s interior designer Linda Constable so enjoyed the project was Dershie’s love for a…

Brown floors, brown cabinets, beige walls—Peggy Barnhart thought these were the makings for kitchen drudgery. And as an artist and lover of color, Peggy’s color choices are anything but dull. So her designing mind began planning and plotting how to create a unique cottage kitchen. As the remodel began, everything but the floor was removed. That included a washer and dryer that had been behind bifold doors. Peggy used the former laundry space for custom cabinets that house the refrigerator and double ovens. The sink was kept in front of the window, and a cooktop was installed on the counter to the left. “I like to use stuff where it’s not supposed to go.”—PEGGY BARNHART To keep the room open and create a simple country aesthetic, Peggy decided not to…

“Horses can teach you a lot once you learn how to listen to them,” Wayne Parden says. Such is the case with the Belgian draft horses Wayne and his wife, Jenny, raise on their farm. Using their horses as his initial inspiration, Wayne set out to channel his creative lessons through ironworks.After working with a farrier, he developed an interest in using horseshoes in a new way. Wayne also gets a lot of satisfaction from working with reclaimed metal and small pieces of iron, forging them into beautiful pieces of sculptured artwork often inspired by horses and rustic living. Some pieces take several months, while others take days to craft from a combination of everything from found iron and metal tubing to purchased pieces for framing purposes. He twists and…

Country cottage style is warm and welcoming, often with an eclectic twist—and precisely the look Trissy Holladay has achieved in her dwelling. With her eye for design, she has created cottage treasures from what many would call junk. Days of antiquing in flea markets, antiques stores, and junk stores from New York to Florida have provided her with hours of fun and entertainment. As a result of her travels, Trissy’s back porch displays a compilation of treasures that are sure to spark your own creative ideas. For instance, two large corbels, thought to be originally from New York, had been in her mother’s basement for some time when she decided they would make ideal supports for a buffet top. A 7-foot piece of iron fencing became the back, and Trissy…

Tucked away from the Florida sun, this shady Seagrove cottage welcomes friends and family for afternoons of fun in this seaside resort. The cottage’s crisp white exterior shines bright against its vibrant red double doors that open to an inviting front screened porch boasting a rich family history. Lucy Armour says she and her husband, Jim, love decorating with things they’ve inherited from their families. Stepping onto the spacious front porch, the familial love is obvious, as the majority of the furnishings have been passed down from their grandparents. Not only have the Armours furnished the space with family treasures, but the porch also pays the family another special tribute. “Jim’s grandparents had a house in the same spot ours is in,” Lucy explains. “We had to tear it down,…

Driving up to Celia and Greg Turner’s charming Tennessee cottage-style farmhouse, you’ll notice the street’s large, arching trees; wide, inviting spaces of green; and general lack of traffic, making it all too easy to feel like you’re deep in the country. But the Turners’ street is something of a treasure because, while it feels country, it’s no more than a stone’s throw away from major shopping retailers—a perfect combination for a modern family on the go. “It feels like the country, but it’s not,” Celia says. “As Nashville’s getting busier and busier, it’s nice to be able to come here and sort of retreat and feel like we’re in the country.” She calls her home a modern farmhouse—touches of vintage and funky eclectic finds are scattered throughout—reflecting each family member’s…

Dershie McDevitt studied nursing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, but later in life, she decided to return to school and take the liberal arts courses she felt she missed. Her writing teacher assigned her to write a novel as her master’s thesis, and that’s when she says the real writing began. The couple was living in this house and she designated the room at the highest point to be her writing area, aptly named the Cuckoo’s Nest. Dershie was soon invited to join the oldest writing group in North Carolina. “We meet every two weeks and the group has probably produced close to 50 or 60 books and stories. We all write very different things, some fine literature and biographies,” she says. “Mine are clearly ‘cozies.’”…

Jack Fhillips really doesn’t mind if a squirrel family takes up residence in his potting shed. “I don’t like to kill anything, so my attitude is to let them be,” he says. The shed, which stands behind the garage of his vacation home in the Catskill Mountains, was probably originally a stable for a horse. It had double Dutch doors, a wooden trough, and a dirt floor, but was almost falling down when the interior designer bought the property nearly 30 years ago. Jack salvaged it, put in a new poured-concrete foundation and floor, and turned it into a “play space.” Although he enjoys planting containers of flowers to display on his deck, he says he’s not much of a gardener. “I love gardening as long as it’s done by…