The Cottage Journal Autumn 2025

If there’s any region in the United States that’s synonymous with autumn, it’s New England—and rightfully so. There’s no experience quite like strolling the history-filled streets of Boston or traversing hills wrapped in technicolor wonders, appreciating views that people have enjoyed since long before the country’s founding. That’s why, for this issue, we made a point of visiting homes in and around this iconic locale, showcasing the spirit unique to this corner of the nation. From a family home in Massachusetts made timeless with personal style and a historic working farm with ties to the Rockefellers to Connecticut-based artisans who honor the processes of the past, the features to come are as rich with stories as they are with the vibrant shades of fall. If you’ve ever savored the season…

While cottage style means many things to many people, at the heart of everything is something that lives in a storybook—thatched-roof homes hidden away among the rolling hills of the country, surrounded by rippling creeks, stretches of green, and fields of jovial wildflowers. This is the image that first enamored many of us with cottage style—and in the English countryside, it often comes to life. That’s why we at The Cottage Journal are thrilled to introduce our newest book, The Collected English Cottage. Through its 220 pages, we present the spaces, elements, and principles that lay at the roots of cottage style, from personal homes in the Cotswolds to historic manor houses as rich with pattern and color as they are with history. Readers will discover the allure of pattern…

When traversing pastoral landscapes of the Hudson River Valley in New York, one does not have to travel far before stumbling upon orchards ripe with fruit or hillsides dotted with grazing cattle. In this agriculturally rich region, one particular property is a sanctuary for livestock, a gathering place for farming discussions and education, and a setting of timeless beauty, thanks to builder and designer Rick Anderson and interiors curated by Marina Case, principal designer behind The Red Shutters. A beacon for sustainable food practices, the 250-acre Churchtown Dairy was originally established in 2012 by Abby Rockefeller, a fourth-generation descendent of the famed American family. “Abby really wanted a place to springboard her activism to bring back good, nutritional food to people,” Marina says. A grouping of six buildings serves the…

Though New England’s fiery foliage often steals the show, the region’s ubiquitous bank barns are an equally intriguing sight. Usually located directly behind a classic white Cape Cod–style house, the weathered edifices serve as year-round reminders of the region’s agrarian roots. But when the owners of a Vermont vacation home wanted to add space for a growing family and extra guests, Ann Sargent, the creative principal of Sargent Design Company, recognized the barn’s multilevel structure offered the perfect framework for their project. “New England has a short building period,” Ann notes. With that in mind, she turned to a prefab timber frame with fully insulated wall and ceiling panels crafted by Bensonwood. “It’s not the same as buying a manufactured house,” she says. “You’re just getting parts of it done,…

Built in 1988, the home on the South Shore of Massachusetts certainly wasn’t the historic space Jen and Cory Smith had been looking for—but the two were quick to recognize its utter charm and endless potential. “The thing that stood out to us about this home was that it had really good bones and a generous amount of land,” says Jen, and she felt confident they could imbue it with the timeless style they preferred. Jen, who follows a philosophy of “slow decorating,” explains, “Interior design, for me, is about telling a story.” That meant that the refreshes and renovations the Smiths dove into were aimed at bringing the home closer to a reflection of their tastes and interests. Inspiration flowed from various places, from the New England scenery to…

In 2012, Cailan Matthews moved to Iowa. Her husband had just obtained a position at the university, and the retiring English professor whose mantle he would be taking up happened to be vacating his residence. The Sears Roebuck kit home was built in 1914 and, though it wanted for some alterations, seemed the perfect place for their growing family to settle. Oak-trimmed interiors set Cailan’s heart aflutter, and ideas began to brew like an eagerly anticipated morning cup of Earl Grey. Over the course of the next thirteen years, the place would be transformed by way of new paint and old furniture; brass fixtures; and a bounty of books, cherished china, and much more—all the while nurturing the hearts of the six Matthews family members (and four pets) who dwelt…