The Cottage Journal Romantic Cottage 2022

Enchanting Dreams From the quaint streets of New Orleans, Louisiana, to neighborhoods in historic Washington, DC, to hidden riversides in Franklin, Tennessee—graceful style welcomes with unforgettable imagery. Window boxes with colorful, cascading flowers embellish façades, and rooms of collected treasures add welcome respite to every home included in this issue. It is our hope that you find many inspiring ideas for your home to make it a sanctuary of comfort. In this special issue, we have included some of our favorite homes and gardens from The Cottage Journal, from renovated age-old cabins to new builds. Whether styled with a love of natural light or with views of the garden, each remarkable home is filled with unique stories, intriguing style ideas, and best-laid plans by each homeowner. Interiors decked in vintage accents and…

The bedroom is arguably the most ideal space to decorate with romantic style. Soft hues, cozy linens, and delicate furnishings are both serene and relaxing, perfect for lulling you to sleep or providing a graceful awakening each morning. This sentiment rings true even in children’s spaces. Homeowner Melissa Sturdivant Smith has a style that is distinctly French romantic, with a mixture of old and new throughout. After years of working as a stylist, Melissa subconsciously created a method for the mixture of contemporary and antique in her own home. “Striking the balance of new and old in a space must be the most difficult to get ‘just right,’” she explains. “I unknowingly use a 50/50 method. As I think through the rooms in my home, it seems if all of the…

When interior designer Margaret Chambers thinks of romantic style, she thinks of timeless beauty. “Romantic is a little bit from the past,” she says. “It’s made the test of time.” It’s no surprise, then, that she turns to the past when it comes to designing her clients’ spaces. Utilizing the enduring appeal of the handmade, Margaret’s designs feature a spirit meant to stand up to time, rather than following the current trends. “All of these beautiful, handmade things—furniture, fabrics, needlepoint, tapestry—have a history and a warmth and character to them that you can’t reproduce by machine,” she says. Crafted with a careful attention to detail, these spaces exemplify the timeless, classic charm that characterizes romantic style, providing plenty of inspiration for anyone who wishes to introduce this beloved aesthetic to their own…

Although New Orleans, Louisiana, is known for its vibrant culture and cuisine, the city also boasts a delightfully charming cottage scene. Seated in the Uptown-area neighborhood just off the famed shopping destination of Magazine Street is a recently renovated shotgun-style cottage. The renovation transformed the home with updated amenities while remaining true to its heritage. No longer shotgun style in architecture, the now 2,220-square-foot, three-bedroom, three-bath floor plan was thoughtfully designed by Andrew Stout of Stouthaus Architecture. Originally 1,560 square feet, the home had been partially gutted and sat vacant for 13 years. In 2017, Andrew reimagined the floor plan, adding more than 600 square feet to the rear of the house in order to expand the family room and kitchen, which now open onto a new rear deck. Ann Williams…

When it came to renovating their 1927 cottage in Washington, DC, landscape architects Leslie Gignoux Fritz and Scott Fritz were set on crafting a space that would foster creativity. Largely untouched until the couple purchased the property in 1996, the home was the perfect canvas for creating a cottage-style haven in the middle of the city. “There’s a feeling that you’re walking down a country lane,” Leslie says. “You know, we can’t get to the country as much as we’d like to, so we created it here.” From the curved stone pathway to the cheerful blue shutters, it’s clear even from the yard that Leslie and Scott were careful to honor the traditional Arts & Crafts style of the home. Inside, the design places an emphasis on natural light and an…

Harpeth Side, as this cottage is named, sits quietly tucked into the curve of a road that backs into the picturesque Harpeth River on the rural outskirts of Franklin, Tennessee. Undoubtedly, it was this spectacular setting, along with the old home’s historic allure, that had homeowner and local artist Carol Reynolds drawing up plans almost immediately upon seeing it. “My husband, Allen, and I discovered this property quite by accident on a Sunday drive out in the country, back in 1988,” says Carol, warmly recalling the memory. “We weren’t even looking to move—we were really very happy living in our tiny little 1930s home in the Highlands of Belle Meade,” she says with a laugh. Harpeth Side’s original owner was John Motheral of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who was granted 400 acres of prime…