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Cozy Cottage Decor!Cottage decor is a personal, charming and fresh way to decorate. A few of the words that describe cottage style are feminine, floral, cozy, pastel, and distressed. Here are a few tips to consider when decorating a Cottage room. Charm: Room details like lace window panels, ruffled pillow trims, and eyelet curtains are small touches with big impact. Consider painted wooden shutters for shades instead of the traditional blind. Color: Pastels are the order of the day for cottage decor rooms. For the walls, pale pink, lavender, blue, green, or a yellow finish creates a perfect background. If you choose white furniture, the colored walls will show it off well. Collections: Whether you collect pitchers or teacups, a cottage decor room is the perfect place to display these treasures. Show them off on a distressed finished bookcase with doilies or plaid napkins below them. Hang a garland across the top of the bookcase. What could be more cottage decor than that? Distressed finishes: Shopping at flea markets and junk stores is great when looking for furniture and accents with aged paint finishes. They also have areas that are chipped and worn, all offering the look of a cozy well-used cottage decor home.
Cottage Decor Furniture! Garden themes: Bring in fresh flower bouquets, botanical prints, and garden furniture to reinforce the look of the outdoors. I always say you can never have too many flowers. Silk flowers are great for cottage decor, such as hanging a swag above a door or wrapping a garland along a stairway banister. Lattice: Painted white lattice adds the feel of pure cottage charm when used to cover cabinet doors, ceilings, walls, wainscots, or even the backs of shelves. You could even put a small trellis with silk garlands to add a garden touch to your room. Lighting: Think candles and crystal! Charming crystal fixtures, sconces, and glass lamp bases are all possibilities for romantic lighting. They have some beautiful crystal chandeliers now, some even use candles for the lights! Sparkle: Consider bringing in a touch of sparkle with crystal, silver, or ceramic accessories. These can be accent pieces or an accent to an existing piece, such as hanging a crystal on a lampshade you already have or decorating it with lace. Some people through scarves over their lampshades, but I'll warn you on this one. It can be a fire hazard and if left long enough can actually start a fire. I wouldn't recommend this little technique. Romance: Look for details with a hint of romance. Vintage mirrors, tole trays, floral china, and pretty pillows all add charm in a cottage decor space. Use some old victorian postcards, especially valentines ones, as little decorations. Or even frame them to use as pictures. White: Crisp bright white to creamy ivory is best to use for trim, furniture, and accessories. Accent colors tend to be pastels but you can always add some bright tones to spark things up. Wicker: From baskets and trays to wicker tables and rocking chairs, wicker evokes instant cottage decor. Especially if you can find some wicker furniture and paint it white. Then add cushions and pillows in an accent color to bring your room together. Wood: Natural woods may also be used in cottage decor rooms. Hardwood floors, paneled walls, pine bookcases, and old mahogany tables add more warmth from wood. My favorite is the knotty pine look that is the real light color. That just seems to fit right in with the cottage look.
Gilding is the process of applying a thin layer of real or imitation gold to a surface. This is very popular in cottage, victorian and shabby chic decor. The process can be used on wood, metal, ivory, leather, paper, glass, porcelain, and fabrics. It is also used to embellish the decorative elements, domes, and vaults of buildings. The mechanical and chemical gilding of metals has largely been replaced by electroplating. The art of gilding is ancient in origin. It was lavishly used in Egypt, Greece, Rome and during the Renaissance. It has been used continuously in Asia. Metal leaf, or leafing, is a thin foil of some nearly pure metal, often gold, silver, aluminum, copper and sometimes palladium. Gold leaf is only a few micrometers thick and is delicate. Metals that are made into metal leaf are very soft. They can be pounded into sheets just micrometers thick without breaking or tearing. When made by hand, small pieces of metal are placed between sheets of parchment and pounded repeatedly with wooden mallets. As the metal thins out, it forms large sheets. These sheets are divided and the process repeated. The final sheets of metal are trimmed, cut to various sizes, and sandwiched between sheets of paper to protect them. A small amount of metal will result in a sheet with a large surface area but only a few atoms thick. Metal leaf is most often used for decoration. Before the discovery of electroplating it was the only cost effective way to gild statues, rooftops or other objects. It is still used in some places, such as Atlanta's and Denver's Capitol building. Just a little interesting background on gilding and metal leaf. It's always good to learn one new thing a day they say! Resources Here are some great books on decorating and design about Cottage Decor. 1) Cottage Style by Denise L. Caringer 2) Garden Style by Better Homes and Gardens 3) Garden Style Projects: Decorating Ideas for Indoors and Out 4) Garden Room Style by Peter Marston 5) The Garden Room : Bringing Nature Indoors 6) The New Cottage Home by Jim Tolpin 7) The Illustrated Cottage 8) The Perfect Country Cottage by Bill Laws 9) Cottage Living by Ellen M. Plante 10) Second Home: Find Your Place in the Fun
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