Living Large In Small Spaces - The Edwardian

An Edwardian showman's wagon is this week's Living Large In Small Spaces feature.

Welcome to the 101st post in the series

"Living Large in Small Spaces".

Before we tour this unique vacation home I want to announce the winner of the Bungalows and Cottages Magazine subscription giveaway:

Mary - A Breath of Fresh Air

Congratulations, Mary! I hope you enjoy the magazine.

I received so many lovely comments from all of you last week and I appreciate every one of them.  How I wish I could give each of you a subscription. Thank you for making this a joyful place to hang out with you -- my friends.

So, after the big 100th post celebration last week I wondered how I would follow up, until I found this intriguing holiday home in Wales. 

The Edwardian began its life as a circus showman's residence.

And now this green-and-gold-ribbed beauty is  the ultimate in glamping.

The wagon's interior is stunning. It's believed that originally the color scheme was burgundy and gold, and that palette has been retained in the restoration. 

The filigree gold-leaf stencilled ceilings and detailed wood panelling are amazing.

Antique red velvet curtains dress the windows. Notice the shutters on the kitchen window. So charming.

Modern conveniences have been masterfully integrated into the wagon's design. An example is this 1950's gas stove.

In the sitting room a wood burner keeps the space toasty warm, and adds a bit of ambience. The stove-side arm chairs invite relaxing in front of the French windows.

The old gas and paraffin lighting has been replicated by gentle electric light.

I really like the way they kept the furnishings appropriate to the age of the wagon. Even if they may not be exactly furnishings from the original period, they do hint at an earlier age. 

Plenty of windows and natural light to keep the cozy sleeping nook from being claustrophobic. 

Behind the wagon a cedar extension with a turf roof complements the wagon.

The addition houses a hallway with pantry and fridge, and a bathroom.

Cedar lines the bath.

I'd say this is refined rustic. I love the sink.

The large shower is made of Moroccan plaster in a shade of Veronese blue. A high window looks out on a wooded glade at the back of the wagon.

Dining on the deck affords beautiful views of the countryside.

Including this one of the orchard.

I guess I'm a hopeless romantic, for I've always loved the idea of living in a wagon like this. Especially perched in an orchard.


All images are owned by Blaentrothy Holiday Cottages and used here with their permission.

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.

Cottage Life - The Secret Revealed, Food, and An Announcement

One of the greatest challenges of living in our 670 sq ft cottage has been storage. Even though we've minimized our possessions to a large extent, there are still items that need to be stored. 

Enter our latest storage solution, this cupboard; the secret I promised to reveal in last Wednesday's post.

The cupboard started life in our local coffee shop. I didn't take before photos, so you'll have to imagine it painted black with red fabric panels in the cut-out areas on the left. Dennis covered the cut-outs, made it critter-proof, reconstructed the inside to provide a hanging rod, installed a padlock latch on the right side, and gave it a new paint job.

Now the cupboard's left side houses his outerwear and duffel bag. (Notice the direction of the top of his hangers. Am I the only person who would hang clothing here with the hanger's hook facing to the left?) Shoes and boots are stowed under the cupboard, accessed by opening the doors.

Dennis uses the right side of the cupboard for artist supplies and painting necessities.

The rustic cupboard sits on the breezeway, right outside Dennis' studio. Very convenient, and believe me the breezeway will look a whole lot better with all his artist paraphernalia tucked away in the cupboard.

I actually feel like decorating the rest of the breezeway now that all the junk miscellaneous items have disappeared.

Last Saturday our church hosted a ladies luncheon, which meant I needed to make a dessert and a main dish to share. I don't bake much anymore -- as we try to limit our sugar and are pretty much gluten free -- so I don't keep flour and other baked good ingredients in the cottage. I didn't want to buy those things for just one recipe, so I opted to make a cranberry orange loaf using a Krusteaz mix. Mary at a Breath of Fresh Air blogged about using the mix for her cute Easter muffins. She said the mix -- which has a separate can of cranberries in juice -- baked up moist and not too sweet, and she was right. Very tasty. 

For the main dish I made a romaine salad with chicken, chopped green onions, pecans and dried cranberries, and tossed it with poppy seed dressing. I found the poppy seed dressing recipe online. It was pretty good, but it uses mayo and sour cream. Next time I'm going to try a non-dairy version. Overall, though, this salad is scrumptious. Dennis had some and loved it. I don't think you can go wrong with chicken, cranberries and pecans. Adding the green onion really works, too.

Now for the announcement. Very soon we'll be opening an online store where we'll offer Dennis' art, my handcrafted rugs and mixed media collages, and eventually other items. We've been talking and praying about this for a couple of years, but the timing never seemed right, nor was I comfortable with the mechanics of e-commerce. Recently, though, one of my readers contacted me about buying a watercolor print and after we sold it -- and she loved it -- it got me to thinking that maybe now's the time to sell through the internet. I've had a fair amount of retail experience. I've been a window dresser, sales associate, buyer, and I managed our own gallery and consignment shop in Estes Park, Colorado. In fact, that's where the name of this blog came from. Our shop's name was A Joyful Cottage, and that will remain the name of our new store. My blog won't change or relocate. A Joyful Cottage blog will still be about cottage living and I'll continue featuring small homes every Saturday in my Living Large In Small Spaces series. The only difference will be that I'll have a shop tab that will take interested readers directly to our store. And from time to time I may mention shop happenings.


So, right now I'm immersed in e-commerce, and what an education that is! Fun, too. I guess I love a good challenge, love change, growing, and trying new things. I'm an adventurer at heart. And a dreamer. Oh, yes. I'm a dreamer.

"Sometimes are dreams were so big 

that it took two people to dream them." 

-- Marie T. Freeman

When we launch the store, you'll be the first to know.