How to get the look of a classic English country cottage
Is there anything cosier than settling into a plump sofa in a charming country cottage? Being enthusiastic cottage devotees, we think not. Warm colours, plush furniture, and a generous scattering of art and antiques make these country interiors perfect settings for curling up with a cup of tea.
Cottages have been part of the English ideal since the late nineteenth-century, when the Industrial Revolution sparked a longing on the part of city-dwellers for the rural life. It's amazing to think that, up until that time, they were more a symbol of poverty and a cramped, harsh, rustic existence - far from desirable if one had the money for anything grander. How times have changed - all their disadvantages have now become part of their charm - just think of the cottage from The Holiday and Cameron Diaz looking fetching in a tiny bathtub. Now we can't get enough of the look - overstuffed living rooms, wooden kitchens, flagstone floors and metal bedsteads.
The style isn't restricted to cottages themselves though - anyone can bring a touch of this traditional design into their home, whether you're nestled deep in the English countryside or not. Scroll down for our favourite examples of ultra-cosy cottage-style interiors, and prepare to get comfortable.
MAY WE SUGGEST: An ancient Sussex farmhouse filled with inherited furniture and flea-market finds
Mark Anthony Fox1/32Phoebe Clive’s cottage in the pretty Herefordshire market town of Ledbury sits somewhere between an 18th-century cabinet of curiosities and a folly. Phoebe zhuzhed up the beige rental-appropriate units in the kitchen with ‘Invisible Green’ from Edward Bulmer Natural Paint on the cupboard fronts and the addition of a playfully shaped pediment that almost gives the guise of a dresser.
Dean Hearne2/32Alexandra Tolstoy has owned this cottage in Oxfordshire for 20 years, and has made it into a beguiling blend of perfectly preserved English tradition and Central Asian colour and pattern. The English and Welsh antiques that fill the house were mostly found at a nearby shop, and suit the cottage’s unassuming style. “They’re not grand things,” says Alexandra. “It would be completely incongruous to have expensive, special pieces in this house
The house is entered through the large kitchen, where cabinets designed by Emma Burns occupy one wall, and an antique farmhouse table sits in the middle. Emma brought in joiner Chris Bell to create units an inch shallower than the existing ones, which helps the kitchen feel larger.
Brent Darby3/32Cottages were originally modest workers' dwellings, and they can be incredibly beautiful when they hark back to such roots. This 18th-century Carmarthenshire cottage had been uninhabited for four decades when current owner Dorian Bowen discovered it and sensitively brought it back to life.
He has used antiques of local origin throughout: this South Wales pot board dresser was sourced from Carmarthen market. Dorian has dressed the piece with pewter plates, metals jugs, original utensils, stoneware confit and earthenware pots. To the left sits a carved wooden dough trough and a butter churn.
Michael Sinclair4/32After sensitively reconfiguring its interior to suit the needs of their family, the owners of this Welsh cottage have furnished it with an appealing mix of homely pieces gathered over the years. Whitewashed brick walls and stone floors are a classic cottage look. Antique leather armchairs with sheepskins and kilim cushions face each other across an ottoman upholstered in vintage fabric bought years ago from Robert Kime. A sofa from Graham & Green is covered with a floral throw. The antique occasional tables were inherited from both sides of the family.
James McDonald5/32What can be more typical of the English country cottage than a tiny attic bedroom with a sloping ceiling. We love interior designer James Mackie's approach in his Cotswold cottage: treating the walls and ceiling as one canvas, he has papered the lot in Morris & Co’s ‘Willow Bough’ wallpaper. A paisley cotton bedcover picks up on the warm tones of panelling on either side of a fireplace, designed by James and painted ‘Deep Reddish Brown’ by Farrow & Ball. Short curtains in a deep green with a cheerful red trim add to the comfortable, informal feel of the room.
Jonathan Bond6/32Many of the cottages on our pages take the approach of keeping the walls very simple, while piling on colour and texture in the form of fabrics. This style is exemplified by interior designer Katharine Paravicini's Wiltshire cottage. As in much of the house, the walls are painted in Farrow & Ball's 'Pointing', which forms a neutral backdrop for Katharine's arrangements of fabrics. The rug, which provides a colourful anchor for the space, was a bespoke commission from India.
7/32Antiques dealer and decorator Max Rollitt has a living filled with antiques in his eclectic Hampshire farmhouse. The traditional room is painted with Edward Bulmer's 'Lilac Pink.' This is a warm-toned shade, perfect for country houses.
Rachel Whiting8/32Although this picture comes from interior designer Octavia Dickinson's former flat in Battersea, it's a perfectly lovely cottage-style bathroom. Woodwork painted in Sanderson's 'Oyster White' and a blind in a simple checked fabric from Linwood allow the bathroom's Cole & Son wallpaper to shine; the bath is from the Bathroom Discount Centre.
Paul Massey9/32A large painting by Irish artist Martin Finnin hangs in the living room of a tiny barn on the edge of a Gloucestershire meadow, decorated by antiques dealer and designer Christopher Howe. The space is filled with varied treasures collected by the designer, providing its owners with an idyllic and rustic country bolt-hole.
Paul Massey10/32Flowers on the bathroom sink bring the local bounty of the surrounding meadow indoors, while also freshening up the space, in a tiny barn decorated by antiques dealer Christopher Howe.
Paul Massey11/32It is a book room with rather more to it than meets the eye. Wanting a place to display her treasured collection, Emma Burns, senior decorator at Sibyl Colefax & John Fowlerhttp://www.sibylcolefax.com/, transformed a converted barn at her country home into a sitting-room-cum-guest-cottage full of hidden surprises and witty details. The sitting room is flanked by shelves on both sides and has a glass-fronted bookcase from Robert Kime and a pair of armchairs upholstered using jajim rugs.
Ngoc Minh Mgo12/32When interior designer Harriet Anstruther took possession of her run-down Sussex farmhouse, she put her eclectic mark on it, while keeping its original features. The sitting room features a distinctive cowskin ottoman from George Smith.
Simon Upton13/32Interior designer Flora Soames found solace – and the focus to design her first fabric collection – in decorating this former gamekeeper’s cottage in the West Country and filling it with her most treasured possessions. The kitchen is a delightful example of the cottage style. The cabinets are painted in ‘Indigo’ by Edward Bulmer. An antique Swedish refectory table from Talisman is teamed with Arts and Crafts chairs with seat pads in leather from Soane.
Michael Sinclair14/32The designer John McCall was asked to decorate a small and imperfectly formed stone cottage perched high above the wild Pembrokeshire coastline.The chimneypiece is made from stone reclaimed from a larger version that the previous owner had installed. Cottage Interior, Evening by Ivon Hitchens hangs above it. The Victorian reading chairs and Edwardian sofa were bought at the Decorative Art & Antiques Fair in Battersea. Opposite the chimneypiece, shelves painted a strong shade of green take up the entire wall.
Michael Sinclair15/32The kitchen of the same cottage has units designed by John and made by Mark Stone’s Welsh Kitchens. The worktops are made from hammered black granite.
Paul Massey16/32With inviting new interiors by Annabel Elliot, Prince Charles’s sixteenth-century house in Cornwall is at the centre of a community regeneration project that includes a sustainably designed plant nursery. Walls painted in a light blue by Sanderson are a calming backdrop for textiles in a variety of colours and patterns. These include ‘Merino Wool’ in turmeric by Lewis & Wood on the armchair and ‘Kentmere Check’ by Colefax and Fowler on the ottoman. The antique rug was bought at auction. The sofa on the right is covered in a Welsh blanket, with cushions in a selection of fabrics from Bennison. The large blue lamp on the table was originally a Spanish painted terracotta oil jar. Annabel found the painted panel behind, featuring flowers and birds of paradise, at an antique fair in Bath.
Caroline Gavazzi17/32In a story from our archive, we take a look at the Hampshire cottage of the late chef, restaurateur and writer Antonio Carluccio. He and his wife, Priscilla, allowed the atmosphere of their weekend cottage to dictate its restoration. In the kitchen, rush-seat chairs surround a scrubbed wooden table.
Paul Massey18/32When former Vogue editor Fiona Golfar was told by her husband that he had bought a house in Cornwall, she fell over in shock. But she wisely held her tongue and, as she explains, it did not take her long to realise that she had fallen on her feet. In the sitting room, fleeces by local firm Celtic & Co and a rug from The Rug Company soften the look of salvaged shelving and a log wall.
Simon Brown19/32In Caroline Holdaway's Cotswolds cottage a steel and glass wood-burning stove from Scan warms the sitting room, while violet velvet upholstery from Emery & Cie on the armchair complements a Sinclair Till flatweave rug.
Simon Brown20/32Also in Caroline Holdaway's cottage, this small bedroom is so charming with its whitewashed walls and simple furniture; we love the picture rail on the wall.
Simon Upton21/32The main bathroom in this Wiltshire farmhouse, on the top floor under the slope of the roof, has a stripy flatweave rug brightening up the white walls and floors; the view from the window above the sink is across fields and copses.
Simon Upton22/32A spontaneous viewing led to a quick purchase for Miranda Alexander, but her Dorset house, made up of two buildings from different periods, has turned out to be the perfect fit. Little Greene’s ‘Pearl Colour’ provides a backdrop for Miranda’s art collection, including Chard by Binny Mathews, who was born in Dorset. The painting over the mirror is by Fred Cuming. The sofa is covered in ‘Olive Sacking’ by Guy Goodfellow Collection. Indulging her ‘very English and traditional’ taste in interior decoration, Miranda has used a selection of pretty printed cottons from UK-based fabric houses. Among them are, cushions in the spare room in ‘Chalvington’ (putty), £120 a metre, from Nicholas Herbert, and this ottoman in the drawing room in ‘Marden’ (275), £110 a metre, from Fermoie.
Tim Clinch23/32In a story by Nicholas Foulkes from 2000, we see that a home is made not found, and some places just need more work than others. Down on the south coast, Kit Kemp coaxed style and comfort from an uninspiring Thirties retreat. Sofas covered in Brunschwig & Fils's 'Bichon' chenille plaid face one another across a Philippe Hurel coffee table.
Simon Brown24/32The living room of Ptolemy Dean's home in Sussex, is painted in Farrow & Ball's 'Light Blue.' This tone clashes wonderfully with the rust red ottoman from Teasal England (used here as a coffee table). In true country style, this room is meant to be comfortable rather than grand. The large mirror above the fireplace was a lucky find from Long Street Antiques in Tetbury and the kilim-covered sofa is from Settle.
Rhapsody25/32Front doors often open straight into a sitting room or kitchen. Using a row of portraits, Caroline Holdaway wittily alludes to this room’s hall function, leading the eye up the stairs. Yet the colour of the staircase – ‘Kasbah’ from the Paint & Paper Library archive – combined with raspberry and citrus-toned fabrics, creates an elegant scheme.
Rhapsody26/32Flora Soames has chosen a pair of antique Fortuny damask panels and a Turkish rug to add warmth and texture to her own sitting room. The plain white walls and an enamel pendant light balance the heavy fabrics.
Rhapsody27/32Tiny rooms, like this jewel of a bar in James Mackie’s Cotswold home, provide an excellent opportunity for using flashes of colour. ‘Arsenic’ from Farrow & Ball is a good choice for rustic walls and is balanced here by the rich red of Bennison’s ‘Woodcut’ linen.
Rhapsody28/32Molly Mahon’s charming block-print fabrics jostle for space in her vibrant kitchen. This room originally had a very low ceiling, so Molly and her husband decided to dig down to create more height without changing the look of the room.
Rhapsody29/32The attic bedroom in this converted dovecot by Emma Burns of Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler has steep roofs, the tricky angles of which have been put to use as bookshelves. The valances and bedcovers are in ‘Ludlow’ rose chintz by Ramm, Son & Crocker.
sibylcolefax.com | turnellandgigongroup.com/ramm-son-crocker
Rhapsody30/32Tongue-and-groove panelling suits a country bedroom and can carry strong colours, such as Taubmans’ ‘Pink Flambe’ used here by Anna Spiro. It provides a lively backdrop for folk-inspired textiles – including ‘Aurel’ and ‘Natacha’ by Décors Barbares.
taubmans.com.au | annaspirodesign.com.au | decorsbarbares.com
Rhapsody31/32In this Cumbrian former cowhouse, Robert Kime has used a 17th-century crewelwork panel as a curtain. Leaving it ungathered is appropriate for this weight and style of fabric, and allows the intricate pattern to be seen clearly.
Rhapsody32/32Paolo Moschino commissioned artist Dawn Reader to paint a mural inspired by the Le Manach ‘Mortefontaine’ curtains in this bedroom. Hand-painted elements suit cottages, especially as the smaller scale of the rooms makes such an undertaking easier. Here, the dark beams help to ground the delicate pattern.
