Homemade Cottage Decorations

Linens

• Make decorative linens for your cottage rooms, using fabrics that coordinate with your color scheme. Mix large and small prints with stripes and solids to sew pillows, window toppers, table linens, quilts and lampshades. Keep the color scheme and patterns within one decorating style. As an example, use cool blue and white checks along with large and small floral prints for a beach cottage. For a French country cottage, use blue, white and yellow chintz or toile fabrics. An English garden cottage style would utilize pastel floral prints in the decor. Since many cottage furniture pieces are re-purposed and refinished, use fabrics to decoupage old hat boxes, chests, and accent furniture pieces for an eclectic cottage style.

Collections

• Follow the theme of your cottage style and shop flea markets and thrift stores to start or add to collections. Make shadow boxes filled with shells, sea horses and starfish for a beach cottage; use memorabilia for a vintage style and keepsake family heirlooms for a shabby chic decor. Fill various sizes and shapes of apothecary jars with collections of shells, beads, buttons, small toys, or other collectible miniatures. Paint several birdhouses and decorate with silk flowers and fake birds. Arrange them on staggered posts or mount them on pedestals to sit on a shelf for a country cottage feel.

Photographs

• Bring the homey feel into your rooms with photographs of your family and friends. Paint different sizes, styles and shapes of frames white or black, depending on the style and color scheme. Arrange them randomly on one wall or display a grouping on a shelf or mantel. Create a collage of family vacation or reunion pictures and mount on a bulletin board or in a large frame. As an alternative to family photos, create an arrangement of vintage images. Download images from a specific period or place, frame them, or make a collage to display. For example, consider Victorian images for a shabby chic style or black and white photos of Paris for a French country cottage. Whatever expresses your personal taste will work in a cottage setting.

Flower Displays

• Visit most cottage homes and you will find flower displays in every room. Make unique fabric flowers and assorted containers to match your style of cottage. Use pastel floral prints to make large cabbage roses for an English country cottage room. Make muslin and homespun sunflowers for a rustic cottage. Decoupage tin cans, old watering cans and wooden crates with vintage images, such as seed packs or botanicals. Arrange flowers in floral foam in the containers and trim with homespun stripes or floral fabric ribbons to coordinate with your cottage style.