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Featured Design Site

Take a moment to visit The Red Horse Inn in Landrum, SC. 

The Red Horse has captured the essence of Elegant Romantic Country Inn Style.  Great site, lots of pictures and design examples.

Todays Feature:

Cottage Chic Style

Cottage style has evolved over the last decade.  Where once it was strictly flea market and slipcovered “shabby chic”, now the style has subcategories that refine the design.  These subcategories range from “light intensive"  classical Swedish Country Cottage to clean lined Beach Cottage to chinz layered and overstuffed Victorian Cottage.   

The common theme to all Cottage looks is light and airy with floors that are bare with the exception of occasional throw rugs.  Depending on the Cottage Style there is a design track.  While some overlap is ok,  a “classical” feel will lead towards straighter lines, the occasional antique, less clutter.  A “Victorian” feel will offer more patterns on walls, richer fabric slipcovers, window treatments and picture matting.  A “Country” feel will tend towards more folk art, straw hats, and quilts.   Cottage-style rooms are generally highly accessorized, but never go overboard or the clutter will prove distracting.

Cottage style living furnishings are relaxed and unpretentious.  The sofa has a relaxed attitude with an overstuffed style and fabric that incorporates the cottage style.  A floral, an awning or pillow tick stripe, or a nubby cotton works with most styles and can be a slipcover or not.   Big rolled arms and a cushioned back sofa are a choice as are wicker porch-style settees and day beds that are full of mismatched pillows. 

Easy chairs that are in the same general style but don't match are part of the mix.  Cottage style is eclectic. Keep the budget low with an Adirondack chair or two old dining room chairs with arms…just add cushions. Make sure the coffee table is large enough to hold stacks of classic books, or trays of treasures.  Perhapes an old kitchen table that has been cut down, an old tea tray on legs or a large ottoman with chenille throw over it. 

Riots of Color in the Garden

Cottage gardens are overfilled and spill out onto gravel or brick walkways.  The designs don't need to be formal, but formal architectural accents set the tone.  Glass Gazing balls, Wicker furniture tucked into a seating area at the end of a path, fountains as focal points in the plantings all lend to the design.   A picket fence, garden gates and Stone Urns of plantings make a "formal" cottage garden while curving paths, hidden arbors and eclectic planters such as wheelbarrows or milk jugs make a "traditional" cottage garden look. 

Plantings should be perennial with the odd annual here and there for color.  "Old Style" flowers, hollyhocks and foxglove to the back, peonies, daisies, phlox and daylilies mix together.  In the shade bleeding heart, forget-me-nots and soft whites create a soothing scheme. 

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