18 October, 2018

Who doesn’t love that warm and cozy feeling of being in a cottage-themed home? Delicate details, refurbished furniture, and vintage finds are the makings of a great cottage living room. However, if styled incorrectly, the end result could resemble your grandmother’s outdated decor more than a charming countryside cottage.

In this article, we’ll show you some super simple ideas on how to create a darling cottage living room with five key elements.

1. Use Natural Aesthetics

Any interior decorator will tell you that the first step to designing the ultimate cottage living room is to use natural aesthetics. Instead of hiding those worn-wood walls with a thick layer of paint or wallpaper, let the wood tie the room together. Buy comfortable living room chairs comprised of bare wood, wicker, and soft, natural earth tones. Choose wall hangings and accent pieces that accentuate the natural feel of the design like burlap pillows, handmade flower pots, wicker baskets, birch tree branches, and a wool rug. Hire one of those interior designers Billings (or anywhere near your home) as they would be able to give you more ideas regarding your home decor.

2. Distressed Cottage Furniture & Antiques

The best cottage furniture is largely comprised of distressed focal points and refurbished antiques. Distressed furniture is an extremely popular home decorating trend. Look for rustic, quaint cottage-style media consoles to add an organizational element to your living room. Distressing furniture is also a common DIY project to take on — all you need is a can of paint and a sander.

Of course, you don’t want to distress every piece of furniture in your home — that’s just overkill. Choose the focal pieces to distress, like the media center, shelving, or the kitchen table.

3. Make It Super Cozy

With all of these natural aesthetics and raw materials, you’re going to need to add plenty of comfort to your cottage living room. After all, what is a countryside cottage if not cozy? Creating a place of comfort and relaxation takes a great deal of cushion, plenty of soft fabric, and the best cottage furniture.

When choosing your cottage furniture, opt for deep-seated armchairs, plush sofas, and maybe even a chaise lounge. Once you’ve filled your space with plenty of comfy seating, take your cottage living room to the next level by dressing the room in overstuffed pillows, knit throws, and a super-soft and fluffy rug.

4. Mix White With Warm Colors

It wouldn’t be a cottage home without a balanced mix of colors. When styling your cottage living room, we recommend you start with white as the foundation for your color scheme and layer warm colors to add depth. A distressed white coffee table, white eyelet lace curtains, and white wooden floors are all great ways to establish your base color.

Once the white paint has set, it’s time to start layering warmer shades. Your natural aesthetics and distressed cottage furniture will play a great role in laying the foundation for a warm color palette, but you shouldn’t stop there. Add rugs, pillows, and wall hangings to the mix to accentuate the warm colors in your design.

5. Repurpose Vintage Finds

One of the most important steps to designing a cottage-style home is to repurpose practically anything. All those vintage finds that you’ve accumulated over the years can be incorporated into your design as accent pieces or functional focal points. For example, sliding barnyard doors, vintage shutters, and three-tiered cupcake stands are all the rage in rustic home decor these days. You can repurpose an old door to be a charming dining room table or a simple, but darling headboard. Use a wire cupcake stand as a makeshift fruit bowl. Paint old mason jars and fill them with peonies (you can order peonies, or other flowers of your liking from a Doncaster florist, or elsewhere). The possibilities for repurposing vintage finds are virtually endless and will add a great deal of personal detail to your home.

If you use these five home decor tips to craft your cottage living room, your result will be a warm, inviting, and comfortable space. Enjoy the creative process and don’t forget to add those personal touches that make it your own.