The Cottage Journal French Cottage 2 2022

French Inspiration Bienvenue! This special issue of The Cottage Journal is one our team looks forward to all year long. French-cottage style exudes a classic timelessness; it transcends the seasons, and each design element tells a story. This issue is filled with elegant homes, decadent gardens, and simple style tips to inspire ways to add storied charm and French flair to your home. Sit back and enjoy an armchair tour of our eight highlighted home tours from across the country. Drenched in natural light and organic materials like wood and stone, these homes beautifully blend the romantic and rustic details we adore about French style. Each of our featured designers and homeowners shares that their inspiration can come from just about anything—like a grand bucolic view of a family farm on page…

When interior designer Mary McCollister Finch began her full-scale redesign of this Alabama home, her client provided only one stipulation: for the interiors to be a blend of traditional and contemporary styles. Opting for more relaxed furnishings with French influence, Mary captures the gracious balance between elegance and ease that makes the French aesthetic so highly sought after, leaving us with a collection of style ideas to incorporate into our own homes. AN ARTFUL APPROACH Ensure the main gathering space feels polished and welcoming by tucking away electronics, such as a TV, when they are not in use. “The landscape over the fireplace hides a TV in the living room, but I think it’s a very nice focal point, too,” says interior designer Mary McCollister Finch. From paintings to cabinetry, the creative…

Enjoy the joie de vivre of an afternoon spent alongside friends inside a dreamy French-inspired hideaway. Imagine a gentle breeze as you sit surrounded by European ambience, with an easygoing vibe and carefree conversations taking place. While the sunlight glows over the table, sip on Champagne and nibble sweet confections straight from the pâtisserie as you linger in reverie. FANCIFUL FLORALS Bring a relaxed French style to your tablescape with a precious centerpiece of fresh flowers, either handpicked from your garden or selected from a local florist. Incorporate a few wildflowers into the arrangement for an informal look that doesn’t distract from the luscious colors of bright yellow tulips and a scarlet-hued vase. Keeping the bouquet small allows other tabletop décor, like a grouping of lemons and freshly pressed linens, to shine. ALLURING…

When Kim McDivitt and her husband moved just outside their hometown of Houston, Texas, they were eager to incorporate the French ambience they both enjoyed from their years living abroad. However, the couple’s 2006-build home was dark and dated and didn’t have a great flow for entertaining, so they called on the design expertise of Peggy Fuller, owner and principal interior designer of By Design Interiors, to help them create a comfortable retreat filled with light. “The bones of the house were good, but it was heavy, dark, and the space wasn’t utilized well,” Peggy says. “[Kim] knew what she wanted, but she didn’t know how to accomplish it. So, that’s where we came on the scene, and we had a lot of fun figuring out what to do.” Throughout the…

Bethany O’Neil discovered the home on her daily walk through her neighborhood in Naples, Florida, when she happened to take a different path. “One of the things I loved about it was that it had French doors off the back when just about every other house in the neighborhood had sliders,” she says. “I learned that the actual developer of the community built this house with the intention that he was going to be living in it himself.” The interior designer and her husband took advantage of the “For Sale” sign in the yard and spent the next few years making minor changes while they decided if the cottage was going to be their forever home. “And we were pretty content there until Hurricane Irma came along,” Bethany says. While they…

Situated amongst the rolling hills of bucolic Brenham, Texas, a beautiful farm found its way back to a Houston couple whose family had owned it from 1968 to 1999. The current homeowners were high school sweethearts when the husband’s parents purchased it, and they helped restore a 1920s farmhouse on the property that they continued to use after discovering the land on the market and buying it in 2015. The country escape quickly became a place where longhorn cattle, horses, donkeys, deer, and more kept company with a revolving rotation of visitors. After a few years, it was clear they needed more space, so the couple built a new farmhouse centered around entertaining with French-country character that elevates the interiors but keeps them big family- and farm living-friendly. “They’re empty nesters…