Cottage Charm

These simple cottage rooms are cosy, colorful and inviting.  

Each of them has at least one or two of the following elements - open rafter ceilings, studded walls, painted floors or plain pine floors, floral cotton fabrics, slipcovers, quilts, painted and/or distressed furniture, area mats, wallpaper, beadboard walls, planked painted walls and fresh flowers in every room!

Just charming!

 

Libby Cameron

BHG

Kate Forman

Alexandra Stoddard

Gary McBournie's Nantucket Cottage

Hi there,

Had a great weekend and hope you all did, too!  The sun came out yesterday after a couple of days of on and off snow.  It was just like spring!  What a surprise!

When I came upon the latest Nantucket cottage by interior designer, Gary McBournie in House Beautiful this weekend, I was surprised by the flood of color.  I've followed his work since the 90s and have loved everything he's ever done.  And while he's always used a lot of color, this color scheme was a bit different and took me a few minutes to really appreciate it.  After all, blue, orange and green are not typical colors one would see together very often.

Then, when he explained how he came up with this color scheme, it all fell into place.  The way he described it was quite funny, but made total sense.  He said, "I was in Copenhagen for about a year-and-a-half before I found this house, and I loved the Danish-modern white-box interiors there, where people's floors and walls are all white, clean, and crisp. Later, I went to Marrakech, which is a whole other situation. You have all this fabulous saturated color coming at you — oranges, blues, and yellows. I think I got the two of them mixed up in my head, and out came this hybrid."

So, he used complementary colors of blue and orange with splashes of green throughout and even though each room and patio has it's own distinct look, the whole cottage flows beautifully.

To see more of Gary's interview, click here.

To see more of the cottage, click here.

Enjoy!

Besides offering privacy, this privet hedge and door certainly adds a sense of intrigue and would cause one to wonder what's behind that door?  Love it!

Winston, Gary and Bill's Welsh terrier, lounging in the garden.

Winston no doubt wondering who the person with the camera is!

All white walls and floors.

Silvio Cattani art work.

Reflective wallpaper in the dining room adds mood by candlelight.

Winston is looking very cozy (and still wondering who the person with the camera is)!  Love the fresh green in the library!

The painted checkerboard floor is a nice jolt of color in the all white kitchen.

The blue door to the mudroom also adds a nice accent.

A large swath of blue Marimekko fabric adds a sea of color to the master bedroom.

Vintage bamboo furniture was painted with marine lacquer to preserve it.

House Beautiful

Windover 1 & Windover II

Good morning!

Here I am in Nova Scotia again........came over last week to stay with our grandchildren while their parents are enjoying a little getaway.

It's really, really cold here this week with a bit of snow yesterday, but I still have cottages on my mind.

The cottages I'm sharing today are really unique in that there's a main house and then a cottage/guesthouse/boathouse.  How would you like that?!

They're located in Muskoka, Ontario.........an area well known for it's posh weekend living with over 100,000 summer residents who live in mega mansions.  (Year round residents number about 60,000.)

According to Wikipedia, "many of the seasonal properties are large mansion-like summer estates, some of which have been passed down through families from generation to generation. Most of these expensive properties can be found along the shores of Muskoka's three major lakes: Lake Muskoka, Lake Rosseau, and Lake Joseph. In recent years, various Hollywood and sports stars have built retreats in Muskoka, including Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Mike Weir,^[2] Martin Short, Harry Hamlin, Cindy Crawford, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell."

That gives you an idea of summer living in Muskoka!

Enjoy!

Windover I

The main house.

Windover II

Guesthouse/Boathouse

Just park your boat next to the living room!

Love this living room in the boathouse.

The family room.

Muskoka Living

A Very Colorful Home

When decorator Ann Pyne's (of McMillen Inc.) mother decided to redo her Southampton home, she called on Ann to help her pull it all together.  Ann's mother, renowned decorator, Betty Sherrill, had lived in the house for many years and wanted a fresh and colorful new scheme!

Collaborating on the design, incorporating old and new, adding fresh fabrics and colors has produced a comfortable, colorful and cosy home for Mrs. Sherrill to enjoy with her family, friends and beautiful pets, Louis Quatorze and Marie Antoinette.

Enjoy!

Love, love, love this 1960s fibreglass Alberto Bazzani draped coffee table.

The French 1950s vase is referred to as 'the brain'.

And Louis Quatorze and Marie Antoinette are perfect accessories to this colorful room!

The Brunschwig & Fils fabric on the sofa reflects Sherrill's love of animal prints.

Sheepskin rugs placed throughout.

Don't you love the swan planter?

The daffodils on the mantel are from Mrs. Sherrill's garden of 50,000 daffodils!

The back hallway with painted floors, victorian hatrack and ceramic garden stool.

And another sheepskin!

Bronze table and beautiful trompe l'oeil trellis on walls.

Shell console table in foyer.

Color scheme taken from Zoffany wall fabric 'Snow Blossom' for Mrs. Sherrill's bedroom.

Guest room in mauves and purples

Dora Frost art in guest room.

Detail of guest room fabric, 'Beekman Place'.

House Beautiful