We wanted to share with you, all of our faithful readers, that September marks our One Year Milestone!  We couldn’t be more excited to celebrate this momentous occasion.  And what better way to celebrate than to look back on all of our favorite articles, projects, posts, and cumulative creativity that this blog has shared over the past twelve months.  The Distinctive Cottage is proud to be able to continually expand on our original mission: to create, inspire, share, and highlight ideas & trends about living beautifully in today’s home.  Here are a few of our favorites to recap a spectacular year in the world of home decorating!

Staff Picks: Jennifer’s Living Room

Distinctive Cottage Decorating | Jennifer's Living Room

This was the first of many Staff Picks! We often encounter customers who want a coastal look without being “over the top nautical”.  Jennifer’s Favorites is a perfect example of how to create and capture an ocean-inspired theme without cluttering every nook and cranny with seashells.  The colors in this space are the perfect interpretation of the sea, sandy beaches, and natural driftwood.

Project: Deck Design Dilemma

Deck Dilemma Product Specs Deck Dilemma Open Umbrella


This was a really fun project, and a great example of one of our long distance design projects.  Our store is located in Cape Neddick, Maine and we work with clients all across the country.  It’s amazing what you can accomplish through emails, photos, videos and phone calls.  This project was for a couple that live near New York City, and needed a little help making their patio and backyard into a functional extension of their home.  Click
here to find out more about the creative and space-saving suggestions we gave them!

Get The Look: Balanced Bedroom

Distinctive Cottage Decorating | Get The Look
Inspiration Image: Houzz

To help our readers recreate a room from an inspiration photo, we introduced “Get The Look”.  By clicking on any image you will find where to find the piece, and any custom options that may be available, including changing the color!  These fun and inspiring posts take the guesswork out of putting together a beautiful room.

Rooms To LOVE: Rustic Dining Charm

Distinctive Cottage Decorating | Rooms To Love
Image: Southern Living

A key part of re-decorating is to first find inspiration photos to get your creative energy flowing.  That is why we created “Rooms to Love,” to help you find photos that will inspire a fresh perspective.  It can be very difficult to express your own decor style; by collecting inspiration photos you love, it can help you identify what elements you want to re-create in your own home.  With each of these posts, we include an overview of the space, why it works, and identify the key design elements that make it unique.

Inspiration Board: Whimsical Sun Porch Dining

Distinctive Cottage Decorating | Inspiration Board

We love putting together these inspiration boards, to do just that, inspire our readers!  Textiles, lighting, finishes and accessories are all highlighted around a central theme or color(s).  We typically start with a rug, or a pillow that we LOVE and work around the inspiration piece to create a complete look.  All we need now are a couple of beverages and a delicious meal to enjoy this backyard dining experience!

Design Tip: Colorful Dining Room Chairs

Distinctive Cottage Decorating | Design Tip
Image: Home Owner Buff

Article: Pros and Cons of Stylish Trends

Distinctive Cottage Decorating | Article
Image: Matters of Style

Each month we post a design tip and a featured article to explore specific topics in the world of interior decorating.  In order to create reliable, informative, and relateable articles we combine research and personal experience!  So much of decorating can be trial and error, and we want to share our experiences and knowledge with you to help save time and money!

Color Board: Jewel Tones

Jewel Tones Board

Want to see unique and creative color concepts?  Come check out our color boards!  They are a great way to help brainstorm colors you might like and combinations that will be stunning!  Anytime we use Benjamin Moore or Sherwin Williams colors we will label them, so you can head right to the store.

Thank you to all of our dedicated readers who continue to support our blog, and we hope you are enjoying it as much as we are!

Featured Image: Nest of Posies

Brought to you by Cottage Home– specializing in cottage furniture & farmhouse tables

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