Living Large In Small Spaces - Christmas Decorating

Now that we've enjoyed a lovely Thanksgiving celebration with friends, my thoughts are turning to Christmas.

Isn't this a beautiful room?

Source: Susie Watson Designs

Welcome to the fifty-ninth post in the series
"Living Large in Small Spaces".

As I consider how to dress up our own small cottage for Christmas, these are some photos that have inspired me. They may inspire you, too. Even if your space is larger.

There's a lot packed into Courtney and Matt Brown's apartment living room, yet it doesn't look cluttered. 

12th & White Home & Antiques

I like the Christmas tree on the white wicker trunk and the wreath hanging on the old door.

12th & White Home & Antiques

I love the simplicity of Maria's unadorned Christmas tree in the pale blue feed bucket.

Source: Dreamy Whites

Just a few pine cones and miniature lights dress this minimalist tree. Three candles and a gorgeous basket add warmth.

When floor space is at a premium, hang a Christmas tree. Framed by the windows and the candles' amber glow, this is a stunning look.

Source: Digs Digs - 30 Creative Decor Ideas For Small Spaces

Sasha's chalkboard makes a big statement over her tiny trees.

Source: Lemonade Makin' Mama - Hall Decking With Heart

Bedrooms are fair game for holiday decor too. Accessorizing with red and touches of evergreen creates instant Christmas.

Source: Rusty Hinge - 2013 Holiday House Walk

For a completely different color palette, a beach cottage Christmas bedroom designed by Tracey Rapisardi.

Tracey Rapisardi Style - Christmas Cottage On A Seaside Cove

I love the little vintage tree on the bedside table. Oh, that enamelware pail!

Tracey Rapisardi Style - Christmas Cottage On A Seaside Cove

If you're lucky enough to have a footboard, hang a wreath on it.

Source: Dig Digs - 32 Adorable Christmas Bedroom Decor Ideas

Source: Dig Digs - 32 Adorable Christmas Bedroom Decor Ideas

If one wreath is good, several are even better.

Source: Country Living - Christmas Cottage

I think it's safe to say small homes have windows.  If you're good at following instructions, this site (click on the caption) will give you the details for making this window sill garland.

Source:  Easy Craft Ideas - Window Christmas Garland 

I don't think it would be hard to re-create this delightful scene. One birch branch+craft birds+spanish moss+twine for hanging and glue. Pine topiaries in terracotta pots with a few snowflakes and you're good to go. (I'd leave this up all winter.)

Source: Stylish Eve - Christmas Cheer With A View, Decorating Your Holiday Windows

If that's too much work, how about this. Super easy. LED star string lights. No little figurines in your stash? Use your imagination. I could see a row of little white or terracotta pots with red geraniums on the sill. Charming.

Source: Stylish Eve - Christmas Cheer With A View, Decorating Your Holiday Windows

Or how about vintage post cards?

Source: Country Living - Christmas Cottage

Vintage Christmas aprons. So cute in this red and white kitchen.

Source: BHG

Finally, I've got a major crush on this bathroom. Oh, those towels!

Source: 52 Flea - More from Evi's Holiday Home

Well, I'm ready to jump in and get Christmas decorating started. How about you?

Join me next Saturday for another post in the special series

 Living Large in Small Spaces

See more home tours in the 

Living Large In Small Spaces Series here.

From the comments I've received, many

people have been encouraged by the homes and lives 
shared in this series.

If you live in a small space I'd 

love to feature your story, too.

Send me an email and let's collaborate.

(See the "Contact Me" page for my email address.)

Too Soon Snow

The garden shed is silent.

Miss Pine is wearing white.

Quilt blocks are lining up in rows.

The fire is burning bright.

My front porch gourds are sad, it's true.

"Too early," I hear them say.

Our calendar agrees with them

"Please wait a few more days."

Although it's technically still fall, here at A Joyful Cottage winter has arrived. News tells us it's that way around most of the country. 

For me the time to quilt and enjoy other activities inside our cozy cottage has arrived.

Coffee or tea anyone?

Wishing all of you a safe, warm and happy Thanksgiving.

Living Large In Small Spaces - Rosehill Cottage

Is this cottage familiar to you?

Welcome to the fifty-eighth post in the series

"Living Large in Small Spaces".

If you answered "yes" to the posed question, then you may know that this is Rosehill, Iris' cottage in the 2006 movie The Holiday. Although it's been shared on other blogs, I decided to feature it after Connie of Gosherd Valley Cottage sent me an email with an interior photo of Rosehill and asked if I "knew" it.

Actually, the lead photo isn't the exterior of an actual cottage. It's a shell constructed in Surrey, England for the movie. The interior cottage shots were filmed on a Hollywood sound stage. But this post isn't about the movie, or its production. We're here to see the delightful Rosehill Cottage (real, or not). Can I get an "amen"?

Alrighty then. . .let's have a look. 

Rosehill's entryway is situated between the kitchen and the living room.

Jon Hutman the production designer on this project created the quintessential English country cottage. Cozy and comfy.

I love the vintage drum repurposed into a table between the two chairs. (Old drum + glass cut to fit the top = instant fabulousness.)

This is the photo Connie sent me.

Stone walls, beamed ceilings and exposed timber headers over the windows are classic English cottage architectural elements.

The dreamy eat-in kitchen has painted cabinets and a fireplace (one of three in the cottage).  

I think I once owned a kitchen cart like the one in this scene. To the left of the cart (out of the camera's range) is a door that leads to the library. 




And here it is. The Library.
I don't even know what to say. . .BIG LIKE.





The bedroom is perfection. Well, of course it is, because when one is designing a set one can make it. . .perfect.




Small bathroom? Perhaps, but authentic for a true cottage, and you can't deny its charm. (I know somewhere there's a commode. But then, again, it's a stage set. . .so probably not.) 

The fact that the movie is almost 10 years old yet the decor doesn't appear dated attests to the timelessness of cottage design.

So there you have it. Rosehill Cottage.
A cottage that's not really a cottage. 

But who cares if it's only make believe?

Join me next Saturday for another post in the special series

 Living Large in Small Spaces

See more home tours in the 

Living Large In Small Spaces Series here.

From the comments I've received, many

people have been encouraged by the homes and lives 
shared in this series.

If you live in a small space I'd 

love to feature your story, too.

Send me an email and let's collaborate.

(See the "Contact Me" page for my email address.)

Living Large In Small Spaces - Gosherd Valley Cottage

We wish to extend our sincere condolences to the families who lost loved ones in the terrorist attacks in Paris yesterday. You, and all of France, are in our thoughts and prayers.

Gosherd Valley Cottage

Looking at the photo of this colorful cottage nestled in snowy woods, one might assume it to be in Scandinavia. That assumption, while not true, would be taken as a compliment by the cottage owner, Connie Cunningham.

Welcome to the fifty-seventh post in the series

"Living Large in Small Spaces".

The paintings of Swedish artist Carl Larsson inspired Connie's color choices for the cottage.

Getting Ready For A Game of Cards by Carl Larsson 1901

When Connie's mother, Patty, purchased an1800's farm after her retirement as a commercial artist, the homestead cottage was quite dilapidated, with no electricity or plumbing. Patty made some improvements, added the utilities and painted everything white, but it was "still incredibly rustic."

Twenty-five years later Connie moved to the farm from Chicago -- where she had a successful landscape design business -- to care for her mother, who was diagnosed first with Alzheimer's and then lung cancer. When her mother died four years later, Connie remained on the farm she had come to love and made living arrangements in the barn's loft. She and her sister Chris, along with the help of friends, then went to work on the cottage renovation. 

Part of a working goose and poultry farm, the 1200 sq ft cottage is now a B&B rental located in a historic German region of Missouri that specializes in Wines, Spirits and Breweries.  "We have wineries all around, " Connie says. Gosherd Valley Cottage ships once a year for Holiday geese. They are AWA certified (Animal Welfare Approved) the hardest independent certification process in the country to attain.

When I first saw this photo of the kitchen, I knew the rest of the cottage would be utterly charming. I was so right.

Connie says the cottage was "created for people to unplug and relax and eat locally produced foods in their own cottage." Cottage says,  "A lot of people now request a thawed chicken for when they arrive."

The kitchen is stocked for guests to make their own breakfast. Connie explains that all products are local. "My neighbor's bacon or ham... my eggs, the local German bakery with fruit stollen with marzipan folded into the dough, two amazing jelly makers provide spreads, etc.. and of course I sell my own farmed chickens and geese here for guests to cook up for dinners."
  

Connie painted the existing kitchen cabinets. She repeated the scalloped trim on the new cupboard beds she designed for the cubby room, which was originally the one room log home.   

The vintage quilts were purchased at a local estate sale.

A tag-sale pillow embroidered in German speaks to the region's German heritage.

"Sleep Tight"

Rather than strip the painted ceiling beams, Connie painted them with a faux wood grain.

A previous owner had poured concrete floors throughout the cottage. Connie gave them a wood grain look, too.

Much of the decor comes from Connie's own extensive vintage and antique collections. "Everything is for sale in the cottage. . ." Connie says,  "all the antiques and artwork." 

Warm and cozy, the living room invites lingering. Connie's mom painted the wood grain on the faceless clock. 

Connie's love of primitive art is reflected in the painting she chose for the master bedroom.

Connie antiqued the new bed to make it look old.

Furnished with a full-size antique iron bed, the back porch bedroom was originally the front porch. 

Two full walls of windows make this a beautiful, light-filled room.

A wonderful spot to snuggle under a throw and read, or nap.

The fabulous bath vanity was made from an old dresser Connie found on Craigslist.

She found the claw foot tub on Craigslist, too. It came with the feet detached, which presented a bit of a challenge for Connie. A tub restoration company "walked her through the process" of reattaching the feet.

Windows open to enchanting views of the farm.

Cottage guests are encouraged to pick and enjoy fresh produce from the 1600 sq ft historic German four-square garden.

Geese roam freely in the pastures.

Great Pyrenees guard dogs watch over the geese.

Max and Angel guard the sheep. Belle (center) is retired from active duty.

Belle and her small friend certainly look relaxed to me.

I urge you to watch this lovely video (less than 7 minutes) of Connie and Patty's story, and how the cottage and goose farm came to be. I promise you it will touch your heart. And you'll get to see so much more of the cottage and farm than I can show you here. It's really beautiful. So go get a cuppa, settle in and watch. (You can thank me later.)

Visit Gosherd Valley Cottage online: www.gosherdcottage.com

Facebook: Gosherd Valley Cottage

Photo credits: Carmen Troesser, Connie Cunningham

A special thank you to Connie Cunningham for allowing me the privilege of sharing her delightful cottage here at A Joyful Cottage.

Join me next Saturday for another post in the special series

 Living Large in Small Spaces

See more home tours in the 

Living Large In Small Spaces Series here.

From the comments I've received, many

people have been encouraged by the homes and lives 
shared in this series.

If you live in a small space I'd 

love to feature your story, too.

Send me an email and let's collaborate.

(See the "Contact Me" page for my email address.)