What is Cottagecore?
Cottagecore is the incorporation of rural lifestyle aesthetics. Take yourself back to the times of simple living. Those when people used to deck their homes with nature and the rustic elements of old fashioned farm life.
Gone are the times when this was solely reserved for those that spent their days mucking out horses, herding sheep or harvesting fields of vegetables. Cottagecore is for people who both live within the rural homesteads of Cornish farmlands all the way to those who choose to hang their hat in their modern apartment in the middle of London.
Anyone can achieve that Cottagecore vibe if you know-how, and that is what we are here to help you with.
Where to begin to decorate?
Decorating to produce a Cottagecore aesthetic is simpler than you might think. The first question I would ask is if you are turning your entire home into a Cottagecore haven, or just a room? Are you going to redecorate completely, or simply start to replace items of furniture and slowly build your chosen vibe?
Kitchen
We would like to start with the kitchen. It is the one place everyone ends up, and like the folks from farmsteads all from a time bygone, everything slows down in the kitchen. Farmers wives used to spend all day in the kitchen preparing stews for the family, sneaking treats to the sheepdogs and house cats, and so we begin with the creation of a rustic vibe in our favourite room.
Rustic tableware is more commonplace these days and is always a welcome addition to the kitchen for both the décor and the creation of a more Cottagecore feeling when you are sat down eating your porridge for breakfast or Sunday roast. Under your plates could be your favourite cork mats to protect your wooden dining table or kitchen top from staining or other damage.
Subtle alterations like using a milk jug instead of your plastic bottle from the supermarket can all add to that feeling of rural farm life. In fact, it is often the more subtle decorations that create a more authentic feel, especially when you are entertaining.
Jars full of ingredients on your kitchen side, not only help with storage space but also adds to the feel of your rustic kitchen. A sturdy wooden breadbin for your chunky toast in the morning would be a welcome addition, as would your block of real butter from a butter dish, the type that you can’t spread on your warm bread, but have to slice.
Bedroom
Let's move on to the bedroom. The bedroom is the place where you should feel your most comfortable. But unlike the usual minimalistic feel of modern decorating, Cottagecore is the opposite. You need to create a feeling of calm and comfort by using the right things to fill your room and fill your room you should.
Cottages generally have small rooms, this is quite often to ensure that each room is easy to keep warm. An old cottage would have been built in a time when central heating was nothing but an open fire in the lounge, and therefore, the bedrooms would have been filled to the brim with blankets and cushions to keep you warm in the colder months,
Comfort and warmth are the characteristics that you want to introduce into your bedrooms when producing your Cottagecore feel. Don’t be shy about mixing patterns too. It is commonplace to have mismatching furniture, blankets and decorations to fill your spaces.
Lounge
Finally, let's talk about the lounge. You may not all be able to have an open log burner in your home, but that doesn’t mean you can’t produce that feeling of warmth into your modern space.
After a long day of work with the animals or plough, what better way to take a load off than to sit in your favourite chair with your favourite book. As we have already mentioned above, cottages were often a mismatched plethora of different furniture, yet one aspect would ring true with all, and that is that vintage, well-used feel. Plucking your book from a shelf that matches that rustic feel will add to the entire atmosphere of the room. Wood and distressed metals are a perfect match in your Cottagecore lounge, and marrying that with other vintage furniture and perhaps the odd oil painting, can help your room come alive, giving you that warm, cosy winter feel.
Steering away from the minimal and creating rooms that feel lived in is the core of the cottage creation. Filling your rooms with natural decorations, wood and flowers are a perfect finishing touch.
What will you get from your Cottagecore vibe?
Bringing in plants and flowers (especially wildflowers) can help to create that cosy and warm cottage feeling to your home. Smothering your spaces with vintage wooden furniture, kitchenware and adding those subtle changes to your interior design will help to create a farm loving lifestyle feel to any space, be it a real cottage or farmstead, or modern home.
Simplicity and comfort are achievable if you handpick what you are choosing to have in your home and if you need help selecting the right bits and bobs for your interior design, why not give us a call.
Visit our website to view our full ranges at www.sandcornwall.co.uk