Cottage Style Decorating Adds Warmth and Comfort to Your Home

The cottage style is a style where everything old is new again! If you're a champion bargain hunter who loves to navigate flea markets and Grandma's attic for that perfectly charming wagon, hat box or antique plate, and you want a style to match your passion for quaint decor and your casual lifestyle, then the cottage look may be perfect for you. Almost anything goes when putting this look together, and that's just how you like it.

As far colors go, perish any thoughts about electric pink and neon green. Modern, overly bold colors need not apply for the cottage look. However, the rest of the color world is left to plunder to your liking. For a picturesque, English-style Cottage, go with rosy pinks and ivy greens. Or, go coastal with blues, beige and other calming neutrals. And for rustic, go forest green and tawny brown. And don't forget your whites, off-whites and grays. Because it's easy to make a mistake mixing prints and colors, make the foundation an easy to match neutral (like ivory or cream) and use one unifying color per item or textile accent (lilac, for example).

You want your room to look like it's always been lived in and loved. Consequently, now is not the time to refurbish your wood floors, but count your good fortune in every distressed detail of older planks. If warmth and comfort are you main concerns, throw a plushy braided throw for a homey, inviting look. When picking rugs, choose softer, faded-looking colors and consider the patterns on your walls and fabrics to ensure a good match.

Vintage-looking light fixtures are your friend. Lights that lack that shiny new feel are appropriate for your decor, as are ones that appear to have jugs, vases or some other charming component as a base. Crystal chandeliers or wrought iron fixtures work well too!