Texas Scandinavian Farmhouse Chic

 Swedish Grandfather Clock

Katrin Cagill is a creative producer for the interiors market.  For more than 18 years she has created visual images for advertising, and produced style features for interiors magazines.  She has written 14 books on interior style, designed products for Shaker and The Rug Company, and carries out private decorator commissions.

Give Your Home Welcome Appeal with a Pretty Porch

Cottage Style Home Decorating: What's Your Favorite Cottage Style?

Cottage Style decorating can have many variations depending on personal taste, but one thing is certain--comfort, ease of living, and a welcoming feel take priority. The style lends itself well to small spaces, whether you live in a home, condo, or an apartment.   My husband and I have decorated all 11 of our dwellings during our 25 years of marriage in several variations of Cottage Style and we have found it to be a flexible and affordable way to create a comforting and welcoming home.

What's your favorite Cottage Style?

Romantic: Think lots of colorful flowers on everything from upholstery to pictures, plates, and linens. Colors are often soft pastels of pink, peach, green, and rose, but can be more vibrant hues of gold and burgundy and deep green. Antique wooden furniture with soft curves is often mixed in with curvy wrought iron gates and beds. Furniture finishes can be original dark wood, or painted white or a favorite color.



Eclectic:  Think artfully arranged collections of the owners, both in furniture and accessories. Treasured items purchased while on vacation, or at flea markets and art fairs are proudly displayed. Favorite colors of the owner are also used. Upon entering this home, it has a sense of "personal style."

Beachy: Easy-breezy! This one might include lots of white and blue, and maybe a touch of yellow or red. Furniture lines are often simple and a tad rustic in keeping with the casual lifestyle at the beach. Think white slipcovered sofas, blue striped pillows, painted wood floors with sisal rugs, Adirondack chairs, and of course, shells displayed in interesting containers.

Garden: Cottages often blend both indoors and outdoors for a comfortable "garden-y" look. Just do inside what your garden's doing outside! Think cabbage rose prints on linens, vines and leaves stenciled on a wall, birdhouses and trellis. Textures found in nature include furnishings in wicker, rattan, or twigs.

English: This cottage style is aristocratic--the result of the landed gentry scaling down after changing economic circumstances--a blend of the grand with the inviting. Think large armoires, floral camelback sofas with rolled arms, leather-bound books, and generational family photos. A faded look of age which includes Oriental rugs and tapestry footstools and chair seats is typical.

Shabby Chic: This style was started by Rachel Ashwell. It usually includes lots of white walls with pale pink, green, and robin's egg blue linens and accessories, quirky old chandeliers with crystals, white loose-fitting slipcovers, distressed painted furniture, with a touch of Old-World French style tossed in for charm.

Modern: Forget the cozy clutter. This one has furniture with modern simple lines but perhaps accented with a touch of softness and favorite colors in the throw pillows or textured throws on the sofa. A few carefully chosen and favorite accessories and art are present, but not overpowering.

Cabin/Camp: If a cozy retreat in the woods is your passion, then this is the Cottage Style for you. Knotty-pine walls and bookcases, berry red and forest green plaid blankets, twig furniture, and Native American artifacts like arrowheads are the hallmark of the camp cottage look.

Vintage: Generational family photos in black and white, lace curtains and tablecloths, family heirloom antique furniture, and aged floral draperies used for upholstery fabric make this Cottage Style. Collections might include old figurines, pottery, handkerchiefs, and jewelry.

French: This style blends tradition with a twist. Graceful curves on some furniture combines with other durable farmhouse furniture for a refined yet rustic look. Colors often include mustard and royal blue. Toile prints on fabrics and wallpaper are popular.

No matter which variation of Cottage Style is your favorite,  by artfully arranging your personal things, you'll be on your way to your very own cozy, comfy Cottage Style home.

c2005 Kathryn Bechen. All rights reserved worldwide.

Kathryn Bechen is a veteran freelance writer, and a former interior decorating consultant and professional organizer who has been interviewed by and featured in San Diego Home & Garden Lifestyles magazine, the Omaha World Herald, RealtyTimes.com  and others.  Her originally authored articles have been published in newspapers, a national decorating magazine,  and across the internet.  Kathryn is also author of  two e-books:  191 Tips for Indoor & Outdoor Cottage Style at Home and Moving With Ease:  The 8 Week Plan for an Organized & Stress-Free Move Whether You Hire a Mover or Do It Yourself! In addition, Kathryn has taught organizing seminars and spoken to groups as large as 400, and has also taught writing.   For more information, go to http://www.kathrynbechenink.blogspot.com

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Cottage-Style-Home-Decorating:-Whats-Your-Favorite-Cottage-Style?&id=87930] Cottage Style Home Decorating: What's Your Favorite Cottage Style?

A Farmhouse Table Sets the Tone For Country Decor

Whether you routinely feed a big crew or just love the lived-in look of a country kitchen, you will find that a farmhouse table is a lovely way to set the tone of your decor. Big and solid with the inviting beauty of natural wood, handcrafted or made to look that way, it will be the focal point of family get-togethers.

A farmhouse table can really be anything from a linoleum dinette set to modern bistro seating, according to individual preference. However, when speaking about rural-style decor, what comes to mind is well-used, lovingly maintained, heavy wood pieces with a naturally distressed finish.

Among the different designs of furniture that may suit your vision of country decor, the trestle table, the round pedestal, and the turned-leg varieties will fit the bill.

A trestle style piece has two legs that are joined with a cross-piece near the bottom, with the top surface longer and narrower than a conventional design. Some trestle styles have decorative features such as cut-outs in the cross piece, but generally they are plainly made.

A pedestal design, which you can often find in vintage furniture stores, is heavy oak with a center leg that extends into four feet at the bottom for stabilization. These feet, on vintage oak farmhouse tables, often have carvings like claws.

Turned-leg styles are simply square or rectangular in shape with four legs at the four corners. These legs, turned on a lathe, have decorative rounds and ridges. The farmhouse table itself is solidly constructed of such materials as pine or oak, and has a durable, serviceable appearance.

If you don't buy a set of farmhouse table and chairs, you can select the seating you prefer. A trestle piece lends itself well to bench seating, with a long bench on each side. This arrangement is both authentic to rural decor and allows lots of space for big families. For a round oak piece, you may want to keep the seating very simple and plain, with Shaker-style straight-backed chairs. If you are adding chairs to a turned-leg table, you may want to match the style of the legs with your chair leg design.

Once you have chosen and installed your dining set, you can dress it up as you wish with a calico cloth, a centerpiece of wildflowers in a vintage enameled pitcher, or a wire egg basket and rooster accessories.

Give your farmhouse dining table a loving polish once a week, enjoy happy family meals gathered around it, and it will serve you faithfully for years to come.

Cheryll Archer enjoys writing and sharing informative articles on a broad array of interesting topics. To read more great information about designing your dining area and buying a [http://villageviews.net/guide-to-buying-a-farmhouse-table/]farmhouse table visit [http://villageviews.net]Village Views.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?A-Farmhouse-Table-Sets-the-Tone-For-Country-Decor&id=4389389] A Farmhouse Table Sets the Tone For Country Decor