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While cottage-style homes have been around for a long time, the trend (more commonly known as cottagecore) really took off in 2020. Thanks to a comfort-first mentality, a rise in antiquing and vintage furniture purchases across the industry, and Taylor Swift's album folklore that idealizes living in a cabin in the woods, cottagecore is still one of the most prominent interior trends of the last five years.
At its essence, cottage style is meant to evoke a comfortable, cozy, and homesteading style aesthetic. Picture rustic furnishings, wooden antique furniture, and plenty of patterned wallpaper. The more color mixing and matching, the better. Cottagecore is often compared to farmhouse design, but this style is more rooted in the European countryside than shabby-chic Americana. The best cottage-style homes blend modern design with vintage finds to create a blended interior (instead of transporting you to a time before electricity).
Whether you live in an actual countryside cottage or a new build in a major metropolitan area, there are myriad ways to incorporate cottage-style home ideas. To spark your inspiration, we've gathered our 20 favorite cottage-style home ideas. Read on to bring a cozy country aesthetic into your own home.
For even more cottagecore inspiration:
- Everything You Need to Know About the Cottagecore Aesthetic
- Madeline Albright's D.C. Home Is Cottage Style at Its Finest
- The Enduring Appeal of English Country Style
1
Decorate With Antiques
For those with more modern tastes, a practical way to incorporate cottage style is to decorate with antiques. Take a note from House Beautiful's 2023 Whole Home—designer Caitlin Wilson took inspiration from the elegance of Downton Abbey opting for rows of antique dinnerware along the walls in lieu of traditional artwork.
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2
Add Trellising to Your Exterior
Blending your home with nature as seamlessly as possible is key for a cottage-style home. These wooden trellises not only add warmth to the exterior but also provide structure for the crawling vines below.
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3
Create Quaint Symmetry
In this Nashville children's room, designer Pfeffer Torode opted for symmetry across every element. Rich hues pair perfectly with subtle patterns to add visual interest in a cottage-style home.
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4
Embrace Your Rural Surroundings
Nashville may be the home of country music, but it also has very rustic roots. Embrace that history in your cottage-style home by incorporating elements akin to your area's past. This antique farmhouse sink is the perfect functional piece for a mudroom.
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5
Maximize Outdoor Space
Cottages are notoriously small, but that should simply encourage you to took to the great outdoors for more relaxation space. A perfect fit for two, this lounge area is mere steps away from both the kitchen and the pool.
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6
Opt for Colored Cabinetry
A key element of cottagecore interior style is the use of rich, yet muted colors. Rather than defaulting to a neutral, take a note from this cheerful kitchen and opt for pink cabinetry with a contrasting interior. Wallpaper adds a nice vintage touch in a cottage-style home.
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7
Add Natural Textures
Bring the outdoors in by incorporating natural textures into your cottage-style home. This Kemble Interiors mudroom utilizes rattan and cane to offset the cool-toned paint and wallpaper.
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8
Utilize Wood Paneling
Embrace the coziness and rustic vibe of wood paneling in order to make a modern build feel more like a cottage. This kitchen by Pfeffer Torode combines a neutral beige paint with natural wood finishes for a warm feeling.
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9
Hang Your Accessories
Look to your inner Jane Austen (or Bridgerton) character and embrace a wildflower-inspired color palette for your cottage-style home. Bonus points if you display your favorite accessories that look better suited to frolicking than a 9-to-5.
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10
Embrace Original Fixtures
Abandon the notion of 'out with the old, in with the new', and instead keep the old. These original stained glass windows dating back to 1913 illuminate the entire home with character and warmth.
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11
Mix Patterns
Mixing and matching colors and patterns is a great way to incorporate some off-kilter eclecticism into your cottage-style home. Play with scale in a single color palette, as designer Annie Kern did in this historic home.
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12
Play With Upholstery Textures
Combining different textures and weights of upholstery fabric creates a more layered design. Linen, velvet, embroidery, and fringe all craft a cozy and cohesive living room in this home by Katie Hodges.
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13
Bring In Nature
Rather than traditional florals and houseplants (both of which we love), opt for a more dramatic way to bring in nature through branches or literal tree limbs like in this Nantucket home.
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14
Hang Sheer Linens
Easy, breezy, and beautiful, linen curtains portray a sense of ease wherever they're placed in a cottage-style home. Take inspiration from Katie Hodges and place your curtain rod close to the ceiling to make it look taller.
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15
Accentuate Small Spaces
Square footage is often limited in cottage-style homes, but instead of trying to make it look bigger, embrace the small space. This powder room in a California floating home is small yet mighty with red-painted ceilings and on-theme coastal wallpaper.
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16
Texture Your Drywall
Warmth can be created through more than upholstery and furniture choices. By using plaster or interior limewash, as designer Katie Hodges did here, these walls have added character and coziness.
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17
Display Every Knickknack
The best cottage-style homes are often cultivated and collected but never cluttered. If you're a fan of trinkets, now is the right time to take them out and put them on display. Every flat surface, like this vintage coat rack, is fair game.
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18
Focus on Low Silhouettes
To trick the eye into thinking your space is larger or your ceilings are higher, opt for furniture pieces that stay low to the ground. This space from designer Amanda Jacobs furthers the illusion with a wash of classic, white paint around the entire room.
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19
Plant Trailing Ivy
Your exterior deserves just as much love as your interior. To make your home appear like it has always been there, no matter how new it is, trailing vines and ivy can add instant character.
Related: The Best Front Door Plants
20
Showcase Antique Pieces
It's tricky to incorporate antiques in a kitchen where everything is functional and new. However, you can carve out corners, like this one, where antiques are a seamless part of the modern design.
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