November is Cottagecore Month on the blog and I wanted to kick things off with a quick home tour highlighting the aspects of my home that fall under the purview of "cottagecore." Full disclosure - as someone who lives in a condo townhouse in the middle of the city with no yard and a lot of interests that are not cottage in any way, my home is not completely cottagecore. But it's also not all of any one style. It's just the physical representation of the things that make my spouse and I happy.
Let's begin...
(Full disclosure - Some of these photos are from earlier in the year as I am currently in the process of redecorating the downstairs for the holidays. Also, I have brown/tan walls, almost all yellow lightbulbs, and very little direct natural light...that sepia tint on everything? Not a filter. And any links may be an affiliate link where I earn a commission on your purchase at no cost to you.)
Welcome to my Cottagecore Home Tour!
The Container Garden
Depending on the time of year, I may or may not have a container garden on the front porch. I like growing tomatoes, peppers, herbs, cucumbers and lettuce. I don't have the space for preserving anything beyond herbs, but it encourages us to eat more veggies in the summer. My front porch only gets good/solid sunlight in the middle of the summer and anything not up against the wall is libel to get moved/ruined by the landscaping crew, so I can't grow year-round. I would love to grow things out back as it gets full sun year-round, but there is no easy way to water everything without carrying pitchers of water out back at least three times a day, not mention the only door to the back is through my bedroom.
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My container garden at the beginning of the season. It has since finished for the year.
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| My backyard view. I can't do much beyond keeping the trash from the road picked up, but I do love the moss instead of grass. |
Stepping Inside
From the second you step foot inside my home, you will notice I have a lot of vintage and antique furniture. About half of my furniture is 20 years old or more, with several pieces from the 1950-70s. I have zero problem with second-hand stuff and as such the newest items in my home are a couple of chairs upstairs. Because we like wood finishes, most of our furniture is dark and heavy. In the summer, we will cover pieces with lighter fabrics but prefer the cozier feel of the dark colors once the weather turns cool. And while we don't have a fireplace, we have a couple of electric heaters with fireplace fronts that we use during the cooler months.
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My cozy reading corner
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| Phil hung all of these up together one day and I love how it lightens up an otherwise dark corner. |
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| Cat tax pic :) Toothless can often be found snoozing in the coziest of spots. |
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Marty saying hi before we moved the bookcase, hutch, and rugs.
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| We have a beautiful collection of Boyd's Bears from Phil's childhood. And since Jellybean does not want the virus, he no longer accompanies me to shops and instead spends his days talking to the bears. |
A Place for Fae
Another thing you will notice if you hang out in my home for any length of time is the number of fairy villages, miniature houses, woodland creatures figures, cubbies to hide in, and various tiny teacups everywhere. If fairies are real, they know they are welcomed into my home, gardens and candy stash.
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I adore incense burners that double as homes for my fairy villages and miniatures.
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Another little set up in the upstairs office area.
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Stacks on Stacks on Stacks...of Books
We have a lot of books. Like they are stashed on shelves and tables all over the house. They fill our built-ins, they fill multiple bookcases, and we even have some stacked in closets. Whenever we get extra spending money and make it over to the bookstore, I usually walk out with a hardcover or two of fairytales, myths, legends, or classic lit. All the books come in handy during hurricanes when we lose power.
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| Growing up, I had an old set of fairy tales and classic lit in hardcovers that I read until the spines fell off. I now am working to recreate the collection, even if they aren't a set. |
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Our built-ins are filled with books, movies, figures, and things we love.
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Kitchen Quaintness
My kitchen is the tiniest one I have ever had, but luckily it is open to the living areas so I don't feel isolated when cooking dinner. Even still, I think I have maximized my space as much as possible while keeping things I use daily within easy reach. My coffee corner includes my Chemex pot, electric kettle, cup tree, filters, and all the fixings. I like the idea of putting everything out of sight, but I make coffee at least twice a day. I am not dragging everything out only to put it up 30 minutes later and then pull it back out in a couple hours. Same goes with the dish drain (though I do fold it up when it's empty), air fryer, and wooden cutting board base. The built-in microwave died the second we moved in but since we had a bigger working one, I turned the built-in into a spice cabinet and told the landlord not to worry over it. Looking closely around my kitchen, you will find plenty of evidence that I like to cook and bake. But you won't find a lot of electric gadgets. I have them, I just don't use them often. My slow cooker is dying a slow death in a closet, used only at holidays and only to keep things warm. My electric mixture is begging to be replaced with a KitchenAid mixer, but again it only sees the light of day during the holidays. I just prefer the manual way of cooking and baking.
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| My morning view of my coffee corner and built-ins. (And yes, my dish drain is turned the wrong way. It was to protect anyone from hitting the silverware and causing an accident.) |
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Tea anyone?
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| When I moved in, there was a magnetic knife strip behind the stove. I used it to hang these little metal signs I picked up years ago at a discount store. |
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This vintage jar was my grandma's (I think) and I have had it in my possession for years. I now keep old dried black-eyed peas I've used as pie beans in it. My garlic jar is just a simple pickle jar I cleaned out and use to store my loose bulbs.
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And that is pretty much it!
As you can see, my home might not be the largest but it is full of a lot of personality. Cottagecore has been part of that personality before I knew what it even was and has been blended in with all our other interests. From vintage mushroom canister sets, to cream stored in a glass milk bottle, to flannel scarves doubling as table runners, the touches are subtle but noticeable if you take the time to look. And when you do, you might just see a fairy fighting you for that last peanut butter cookie.
Until next time, my lovelies!
-M
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