The Cottage Journal Winter 2022

COMFORT AT HOME The new year brings fresh inspiration for making home a place of comfort and peace. We love providing you with curated ideas for a cozy, winter-styled home. And we really enjoy not only helping you refresh your cottage for the new year but also letting you hear from expert designers. Within this issue are six full home tours, from historic to contemporary, and personal stories of homeowners who share an inside view of how they executed their visions. A preservation challenge in Alexandria, Virginia, was the situation one family faced in “Old Town Made New” on page 61. Through planning the remodel with the family in mind, the design team added period details to bring a storied home back to life. Similarly, another historic renovation, featured in “A Tudor…

Creamware was perfected in the mid-1700s as Europe’s economical counterpart to popular but expensive Chinese porcelain. This refined earthenware pottery naturally acquired its name from the creamy color of its appearance. Although many experimenters and developers had a hand in creamware’s birth, Josiah Wedgwood is best remembered for his refinement and successful marketing of the product. He became known as the Potter to Her Majesty after furnishing Queen Charlotte with his creamware line, which he then proudly (and cleverly) renamed queensware. The majority of creamware is plain, but this versatile pottery was also decorated with transfer print designs, as well as monochrome and polychrome enamel colors. Many pieces were reticulated or pierced, which gives the edges a lacy appearance. Creamware can be found today in fine antiques stores, shows, and specialty dealers.…

Interiors offer far more than what meets the eye. They are the spaces that greet us with warmth and comfort after extended time away and where we gather to celebrate joyous occasions. Lauren Liess delves into the emotional connection between design and lifestyle in her third book, Feels Like Home: Relaxed Interiors for a Meaningful Life. A decorator, textile and furnishings designer, and founder of the design blog Pure Style Home, Lauren has also starred in the HGTV show Best House on the Block. She now resides in northern Virginia with her husband, five children, and their multitude of pets. Throughout the book’s 288 pages, Lauren shares how creating the ideal blend of interior styles unique to your needs can encourage you—and those you live with—to consciously cultivate the most meaningful lives…

Whether you’re on the fence about incorporating antiques into your home’s interiors or you just aren’t sure where to begin, Jessica Lev of Jessica Lev Antiques recommends starting small. Don’t let their compact size fool you—these pieces make a big impact as they lend warmth and add depth to any room. “Accessories are the easiest way to bring antiques into your house and see how you feel about them,” says Jessica, who runs a custom antiques sourcing business in Houston, Texas. “They’re little, portable, can be shifted around, and are much more economical.” A firm believer that finishing touches are the most important elements in a space, Jessica considers antique boxes and books her go-to accents. Gently worn leather-bound books in rich hues anchor airy palettes while stacked antique boxes give dimension…

Nothing makes a wintry day at home feel warm and cozy quite like a one-of-a-kind rug underfoot. Choosing an antique rug for your space is exciting, but selecting the right one can be a daunting task—and taking care of your investment is even more challenging. To help, Joanna Mahserdjian, owner of Upstate Rug Supply based in Hudson, New York, imparts her expertise on the selection, care, and keeping of antique rugs, ensuring your new favorite accessory will add comfort to your cottage for decades to come.…