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How to get the look of a classic English country cottage
Is there anything cosier than settling into a plump sofa in a charming country cottage? Being enthusiastic cottage devotees, we think not. Warm colours, plush furniture, and a generous scattering of art and antiques make these country interiors perfect settings for curling up with a cup of tea.
Cottages have been part of the English ideal since the late nineteenth-century, when the Industrial Revolution sparked a longing on the part of city-dwellers for the rural life. It's amazing to think that, up until that time, they were more a symbol of poverty and a cramped, harsh, rustic existence – far from desirable if one had the money for anything grander. How times have changed, as all their disadvantages have now become part of their charm – just think of the cottage from The Holiday and Cameron Diaz looking fetching in a tiny bathtub. Now we can't get enough of the look; think overstuffed living rooms, wooden kitchens, flagstone floors and metal bedsteads.
The style isn't restricted to cottages themselves though, anyone can bring a touch of this traditional design into their home, whether you're nestled deep in the English countryside or not. Scroll down for our favourite examples of ultra-cosy cottage-style interiors, and prepare to get comfortable.
Dean Hearne1/30The dining area of the characterful Sussex cottage of knitwear designer Anna Phillips cleverly combines cosiness with a contemporary feel. This is largely due to the warm, putty palette of colours and the tongue-and-groove on the walls and ceiling, which are a common feature in English cottages and beach houses. The walls are painted in Atelier Ellis's ‘Canopy’, while the wall lights are by Jamb. The dining table was sourced from Howe, and the ceramics on it are from The Marches Pottery in Ludlow. Above the table hangs a specimen frame, which Anna has used to display a collection of antique primitive wooden farm animals that she mounted onto a piece of linen.
Dean Hearne2/30The kitchen of the same Sussex house features an amalgamation of rustic furniture and trinkets, like the ceramic pottery displayed on an antique display shelf. The antique delft tiles lining the window are a recent addition and Anna sourced them one by one.
Brent Darby3/30Dorian Bowen’s sensitive restoration of a dilapidated 18th-century hand-built rural farmstead acts as a living testimony to age-old Welsh architecture and simpler times. The main bedroom opens into the interlocking second bedroom, which features a traditional Welsh box bed dressed with ticking and a Welsh quilt. Dorian subtly introduced electricity to the cottage, hence the discreet addition of the pendant light to complement the enamel candle holder.
Mark Anthony Fox4/30Lucy Cunningham's Hampshire cottage is a place of considered beauty, and the sitting room perfectly achieves that lovely layered and welcoming look, with a perfectly squishy sofa and elegant blinds in a Décors Barbares fabric. The striped sofa is in Guy Goodfellow's ‘Olive Sacking', and the cushions are a mixture of Noble & Thane Tetbury and Susan Deliss.
© Rachael Smith Photography Ltd5/30As is so often the case with country cottages, the layout of this Norfolk cottage by Anna Haines isn't straightforward. This room totally embraces that uneven look, using carefully-placed antique furniture to create a cosy aesthetic. The sofa in Tinsmiths’ ‘Checker’ fabric in dawn grey picks up on walls in Paint & Paper Library’s ‘Porcelain V’, while an ottoman in Robert Kime’s ‘Caspian’ cotton, a kilim from London House Rugs and slipper chairs in Rose Uniacke cotton velvet in cedar introduce warmer tones that echo the original fireplace.
Rachael Smith6/30You don't need to be in the countryside to achieve the rustic cottage look. In the dining room of Fiona de Lys's north London house, the deep pink wall colour has an English heritage feel, which sets off the Italian 1850s cut crystal and bronze chandelier that belonged to Fiona’s grandfather, which hangs above an auction-find oak table with chairs from Battlesbridge Antiques Centre and an antique ship’s cargo trunk. Beside the fireplace, with a wood burner from Direct Stoves, a Kuba-cloth-draped door conceals the staircase.
Boz Gagovski7/30Layering clashing patterns is a good way to achieve the cottage-core look, as seen here in the summer house of a Wiltshire cottage by Brandon Schubert. The walls are papered in Sweet Pea from Cole & Son, with curtains in a bright yellow linen from Pierre Frey and the ottoman in a fabric from Octavia Dickinson and Claremont. The cushions were made from an antique Turkish caftan that Brandon picked up on his travels.
Eva Nemeth8/30Is there anything more charming than a country cottage bathroom? In this idyllic 17th-century Sussex cottage, the paper-white walls make the dark beams and flooring sing, and the yellow free-standing bath adds a touch of sunny colour. They also added a sort of bath-side table: a great place to hold a glass of wine and a candle.
Mark Anthony Fox9/30Phoebe Clive’s cottage in the pretty Herefordshire market town of Ledbury sits somewhere between an 18th-century cabinet of curiosities and a folly. Phoebe zhuzhed up the beige rental-appropriate units in the kitchen with ‘Invisible Green’ from Edward Bulmer Natural Paint on the cupboard fronts and the addition of a playfully shaped pediment that almost gives the guise of a dresser.
Dean Hearne10/30Alexandra Tolstoy has owned this cottage in Oxfordshire for 20 years, and has made it into a beguiling blend of perfectly preserved English tradition and Central Asian colour and pattern. The English and Welsh antiques that fill the house were mostly found at a nearby shop, and suit the cottage’s unassuming style. “They’re not grand things,” says Alexandra. “It would be completely incongruous to have expensive, special pieces in this house."
Dean Hearne11/30Normal design rules can be broken in cottages, where eccentric layouts and limited space often lead to cute and creative ways of making things work. The children's bedroom of Alexandra cottage started off with one bed but now has three squeezed into it, giving the room a charming Charlie and the Chocolate Factory feel. In fact, the bed on the left had to be specially shortened to fit into the room. The puffy quilts in a chintz pattern add to the cosy, vintage aesthetic.
Brent Darby12/30Cottages were originally modest workers' dwellings, and they can be incredibly beautiful when they hark back to such roots. This 18th-century Carmarthenshire cottage had been uninhabited for four decades when current owner Dorian Bowen discovered it and sensitively brought it back to life. He has used antiques of local origin throughout: this South Wales pot board dresser was sourced from Carmarthen market. Dorian has dressed the piece with pewter plates, metals jugs, original utensils, stoneware confit and earthenware pots. To the left sits a carved wooden dough trough and a butter churn.
Michael Sinclair13/30After sensitively reconfiguring its interior to suit the needs of their family, the owners of this Welsh cottage have furnished it with an appealing mix of homely pieces gathered over the years. Whitewashed brick walls and stone floors are a classic cottage look. Antique leather armchairs with sheepskins and kilim cushions face each other across an ottoman upholstered in vintage fabric bought years ago from Robert Kime. A sofa from Graham & Green is covered with a floral throw. The antique occasional tables were inherited from both sides of the family.
James McDonald14/30What can be more typical of the English country cottage than a tiny attic bedroom with a sloping ceiling. We love interior designer James Mackie's approach in his Cotswold cottage: treating the walls and ceiling as one canvas, he has papered the lot in Morris & Co’s ‘Willow Bough’ wallpaper. A paisley cotton bedcover picks up on the warm tones of panelling on either side of a fireplace, designed by James and painted ‘Deep Reddish Brown’ by Farrow & Ball. Short curtains in a deep green with a cheerful red trim add to the comfortable, informal feel of the room.
Jonathan Bond15/30Many of the cottages on our pages take the approach of keeping the walls very simple, while piling on colour and texture in the form of fabrics. This style is exemplified by interior designer Katharine Paravicini's Wiltshire cottage. As in much of the house, the walls are painted in Farrow & Ball's 'Pointing', which forms a neutral backdrop for Katharine's arrangements of fabrics. The rug, which provides a colourful anchor for the space, was a bespoke commission from India.
16/30Antiques dealer and decorator Max Rollitt has a living filled with antiques in his eclectic Hampshire farmhouse. The traditional room is painted with Edward Bulmer's 'Lilac Pink.' This is a warm-toned shade, perfect for country houses.
Rachel Whiting17/30Although this picture comes from interior designer Octavia Dickinson's former flat in Battersea, it's a perfectly lovely cottage-style bathroom. Woodwork painted in Sanderson's 'Oyster White' and a blind in a simple checked fabric from Linwood allow the bathroom's Cole & Son wallpaper to shine.
Paul Massey18/30A large painting by Irish artist Martin Finnin hangs in the living room of a tiny barn on the edge of a Gloucestershire meadow, decorated by antique dealer and designer Christopher Howe. The space is filled with varied treasures collected by the designer, providing its owners with an idyllic and rustic country bolt-hole.
Paul Massey19/30Wanting a place to display her treasured collection, Emma Burns, senior decorator at Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler, transformed a converted barn at her country home into a sitting-room-cum-guest-cottage full of hidden surprises and witty details. The sitting room is flanked by shelves on both sides and has a glass-fronted bookcase from Robert Kime and a pair of armchairs upholstered using jajim rugs.
Ngoc Minh Mgo20/30When interior designer Harriet Anstruther took possession of her run-down Sussex farmhouse, she put her eclectic mark on it, while keeping its original features. The sitting room features a distinctive cowskin ottoman from George Smith.
Simon Upton21/30Interior designer Flora Soames found solace – and the focus to design her first fabric collection – in decorating this former gamekeeper’s cottage in the West Country and filling it with her most treasured possessions. The kitchen is a delightful example of the cottage style. The cabinets are painted in ‘Indigo’ by Edward Bulmer. An antique Swedish refectory table from Talisman is teamed with Arts and Crafts chairs with seat pads in leather from Soane.
Michael Sinclair22/30The designer John McCall was asked to decorate a small and imperfectly formed stone cottage perched high above the wild Pembrokeshire coastline.The chimneypiece is made from stone reclaimed from a larger version that the previous owner had installed. Cottage Interior, Evening by Ivon Hitchens hangs above it. The Victorian reading chairs and Edwardian sofa were bought at the Decorative Art & Antiques Fair in Battersea. Opposite the chimneypiece, shelves painted a strong shade of green take up the entire wall.
Michael Sinclair23/30The kitchen of the same cottage has units designed by John and made by Mark Stone’s Welsh Kitchens. The worktops are made from hammered black granite.
Caroline Gavazzi24/30In a story from our archive, we take a look at the Hampshire cottage of the late chef, restaurateur and writer Antonio Carluccio. He and his wife, Priscilla, allowed the atmosphere of their weekend cottage to dictate its restoration. In the kitchen, rush-seat chairs surround a scrubbed wooden table.
Paul Massey25/30When former Vogue editor Fiona Golfar was told by her husband that he had bought a house in Cornwall, she fell over in shock. But she wisely held her tongue and, as she explains, it did not take her long to realise that she had fallen on her feet. In the sitting room, fleeces by local firm Celtic & Co and a rug from The Rug Company soften the look of salvaged shelving and a log wall.
Simon Upton26/30A spontaneous viewing led to a quick purchase for Miranda Alexander, but her Dorset house, made up of two buildings from different periods, has turned out to be the perfect fit. Little Greene’s ‘Pearl Colour’ provides a backdrop for Miranda’s art collection, including Chard by Binny Mathews, who was born in Dorset. The painting over the mirror is by Fred Cuming. The sofa is covered in ‘Olive Sacking’ by Guy Goodfellow Collection. Indulging her ‘very English and traditional’ taste in interior decoration, Miranda has used a selection of pretty printed cottons from UK-based fabric houses.
Tim Clinch27/30In a story by Nicholas Foulkes from 2000, we see that a home is made not found, and some places just need more work than others. Down on the south coast, Kit Kemp coaxed style and comfort from an uninspiring Thirties retreat. Sofas covered in Brunschwig & Fils's 'Bichon' chenille plaid face one another across a Philippe Hurel coffee table.
Simon Brown28/30The living room of Ptolemy Dean's home in Sussex, is painted in Farrow & Ball's 'Light Blue.' This tone clashes wonderfully with the rust red ottoman from Teasal England (used here as a coffee table). In true country style, this room is meant to be comfortable rather than grand. The large mirror above the fireplace was a lucky find from Long Street Antiques in Tetbury and the kilim-covered sofa is from Settle.
Rhapsody29/30Flora Soames added a layer of warmth and texture to the dining room of her West Country cottage by adding a pair of antique Fortuny damask panels to the walls and a Turkish rug under the dining table. The plain white walls and an enamel pendant light balance the heavy fabrics.
Rhapsody30/30Tongue-and-groove panelling suits a country bedroom and can carry strong colours, such as Taubmans’ ‘Pink Flambe’ used here in Anna Spiro's Melbourne house. It provides a lively backdrop for folk-inspired textiles – including ‘Aurel’ and ‘Natacha’ by Décors Barbares.
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