Cottage Style Guide :: Day #7 – Mixing Furniture (& Link Up)

Cottage style homes are filled with furniture that doesn’t match! Mixing and matching old and new pieces creates a wonderfully eclectic and cozy atmosphere that makes you want to sit down and stay awhile. It’s perfectly acceptable to have different styles of furniture in the same room when decorating your cottage style home. The key to Cottage style is having a collection of things that appear as they have been collected over time.

What Do You Look For? Look for pieces that appear to have already lived a good life, but are still sturdy. Look for furniture pieces that are just bursting with character and unique attributes. Weathered, worn, and distressed furniture is perfect for a cottage home!

However, if you find naturally stained furniture that you just love, these pieces will also compliment your cottage style very nicely. Painted furniture is also a cornerstone of cottage decorating, so feel free to paint any piece you think needs a little tender loving care.

I have painted many pieces of furniture, giving new life and a fresh look to pieces of furniture in my house.

It’s easy to turn any chair, end table, armoire, kitchen table, coffee table, hutch, or dresser into something that appears to be vintage but is really pretty modern. That’s the rub – you can take a more modern piece of furniture and distress or paint the surface to make it look old and it will fit perfectly into your cottage décor.

Multi-tasking Furniture

Cottage furniture can be used for more than one purpose, so when you’re looking at a specific piece, think outside the box.
• Move the breakfast nook kitchen table into the office and use it as a desk
• Create tables from old wood shutters
• Armoires – computer desk, craft closet, quilt storage
• Dining room hutch – display collectibles in the living room or use in child’s room
• Potting bench – bring it inside and use as baker’s rack or mudroom storage

Cottage style furniture is an excellent mix of old and new, worn and sturdy, and just plain interesting.

See you tomorrow for Day #8 of our Cottage Style Guide series!

Photos courtesy of Country Living

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Life In Bloom Link Up

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