Cottages and Bungalows October/November 2018

FALL IS MY FAVORITE TIME TO TRAVEL. The weather is cooler, but long days still linger; the crowds have ebbed, and the landscapes are full and golden. I got married in the fall, so every year our anniversary beckons us to pause the work schedule and make time to visit different parts of the world. It’s a wonderful time in between the energy of summer and the frenzy of the holidays. Inspired by my traveling, I’m always amazed at how refreshed I feel when we come back home. I look at home with a fresh pair of eyes, full of optimism and eager to turn the house into a place that will soon welcome friends and family. This issue is a combination of those two ideas. We visit homes in…

Want More Travel Tips and Insights? Go to our website and sign up for our Fall Roadtrip email series, where we share even more on this month’s pick of cottage cities! Be Our Guest: Harvest Dinner Get inspired by this gorgeous outdoor dining setting that will wow your guests for seasons to come. Back-to-School Basics Check out our home office and organization finds that will get the whole house in working order. Cozy Kitchens Looking for kitchen design inspiration that eschews the ubiquitous white in favor of rich wood tones? We’ve got the gallery for you. No-Carve Pumpkin Ideas Check out this roundup of our favorite quick and easy ways to decorate with pumpkins. No knife needed! Follow us online on Facebook and Instagram for inspiration daily! WEB Look for…

Buyinga house is a little bit like marrying into a new family—you not only get the house, but the neighborhood as well. This historic part of Minneapolis, Minnesota, is full of charming 1930s and ‘40s cottages. When a family bought one of the properties with the intention of building a larger house, they still wanted it to fit in with the feel of the area. “The scale and height of these houses are different,” says architect Jean Rehkamp Larson of Rehkamp Larson Architects. “They have lower profiles compared to modern houses.” Jean and her team helped to create a vintage look for this new house. SQUARE FOOTAGE First, they needed to add square feet without making the house look massive from the street. “We made the back of the house…

The older the antique, the rarer and more expensive it is. But what if you don’t want to spend that much on your décor? In her new book Rescue, Restore, Redecorate: Amy Howard’s Guide to Refinishing Furniture and Accessories, author Amy Howard shares her methods for aging, antiquing and restoring furniture. “There’s no reason you can’t have a chair with a patina of age like the one at your favorite restaurant, or a dresser that’s as gorgeous as the one you’ve been coveting in the window of that antiques store,” she writes. “Thanks to some amazing behind-the-scenes chemistry, we can now speed up the process [of aging] from decades to hours and minutes.” Here’s how you can age a galvanized bucket to give it that charming cottage patina. What You’ll…

Autumn is a great time to enjoy warm, cozy comfort, whether you’re indoors or outside. Looking to stay snug and toasty in beauty and style this season? Try these stunning, unique fine-art blankets from Hillery Sproatt. Hillery is a fine artist whose process begins with making paintings on paper, which she then translates into textiles. Her organic shapes, whimsical landscapes and childlike creatures make evocative connections between home and nature. Her intuitive painting process lends itself to the discovery of beautiful patches of densely knit pattern and abstract marks, and the resulting art-inspired blankets are designed to inspire sweet dreams. ALWAYS AN ARTIST “I always made little drawings, dolls and books,” she says. “Making things never felt like a choice as much as it felt like something I was called…

• “I work with a wonderful family-owned knitting mill here in the U.S. They make it part of their mission to source recycled cotton yarns for their throws, which are knit on Japanese industrial knitting machines,” Hillery notes. • Each blanket is made from 80% recycled cotton and 20% poly, making them the perfect weight for year-round use. • Recycled cotton is created from preconsumer fibers and scraps that have been discarded during the cut-and-sew process. These fibers are then broken down and spun into new yarns by a process that requires less energy and conserves natural resources. • Designed with everyday life in mind, the blankets can be machine washed and dried. FUN & FUNCTIONAL. Hillery’s powerful fine art pieces—whether drawings, paintings or the warm, lovely blankets depicted here—are…