~ by Trenda
Cozy and cottage go together like peas and carrots and a way to add some “cozy” to your home is to display the things you love to collect. In my first chapter of The Cottage Series and also in The Cottage Series Part 2 I’ve shown you some of the collections inside the crooks and crannies of Cottage Green and given you some decorating tips on how to add the “cottage look” to your home. My kitchen cupboards display a lot more than just the usual dishes! Nestled and peeking out among the plates and dishes of my kitchen hutch, you’ve seen an assortment of things I love to collect … salt cellars, silver spoons, Staffordshire creamers, thatched roofed sugar bowls, miniature tea sets, and Boyd’s Bear collectibles.
I have a collection of “farmyard fowl” that all began after my mother-in-law gave me the rooster and hen set I’d always admired that she kept on a little shelf in her kitchen. My husband said “as long as he can remember” this rooster and hen were displayed in their kitchen. I love that she gave them to me and I now have them in a little cubby Richard made in our kitchen, that I fondly call “the chicken coop.”
The coloring of the smaller rooster on the right, matched perfectly with the antique rooster and hen my mother-in-law gave me, so I grouped them all together. I can never resist antique dishes in green and white and I loved this plaid plate when I saw it! Though there was only one and I didn’t know yet, how I would use it … I bought it. After Richard made my little “coop” I placed the plate in the back of the shelf and loved the bold background and the way it contrasted with the colors of the roosters and hen.
The middle shelf is anchored with a quaint coffee mill, another cherished gift from Richard’s mother. A music box we bought in Switzerland – is not something you would usually find in a kitchen (; It plays the sweet tune of “Edelweiss” and is wood carving of a young boy in overalls, holding his pet rooster in one arm and a pail of feed in the other … with a trail of chickens behind him. The music box looks perfectly quaint, centered on the coffee mill and right at home in the kitchen with some smaller hens, ducks, baby chicks and geese I’ve collected and “scattered” for company on the shelf. Another plaid plate propped behind the farmyard scene is another orphaned plate I found!
Make sure your shelves don’t appear top heavy or out of balance. Decorations on your top shelf should appear visually “lighter” and simpler than the items placed on your lower shelves. A French inspired hen by Villeroy and Bach and a Colonial Homestead plate by Royal China is a simple and sophisticated “finial” perched above the other shelves.
On the other side of the kitchen, Richard removed the doors from these cabinets so I could display my collection of antique green and white dishes and other cherished pieces. The dishes are a mixture of patterns … Currier and Ives “The Old Curiosity Shop” … Old Colonial Homestead … and Green and White transferware from England but they’re lovely “mixed together” all in the same shades of greens.
Stacking dishes in your cabinets not only creates visual interest, but also gives you more room … a double bonus! (:
More roosters, ducks, chicks, and even eggs are a punctuation point on each shelf and a re-occurring theme. Each season, I replace these accent pieces with different decor. Red, white, and blue Americana is getting ready to replace the hens and roosters … which will later be replaced by autumn decor … which will be replaced by antique Thanksgiving turkeys … which will be replaced by Christmas treasures.
A beautiful pierced aluminum antique ceramic casserole dish belonged to my mother and was a present, I was thrilled she gave to me. The beautiful matching brass-handled casserole dishes on the top shelf were a gift from Richard, 40 years ago. ❤ Sweet memories I get to look at every day that are easily reached and are practical and useful decor!
Visually uniting my cabinets to my counter tops, I placed a Fitz and Floyd platter on the counter top that matched both the French Country cabbage serving bowl and the storybook, goat-topped dish in my cabinets. The canisters match the sugar and creamer set and the ceramic colander on the shelves.
By the way, open shelves are easy to “create” in your home by removing your cabinet doors, filling in the holes left from the hinges with wood filler, and then painting. Though open shelves definitely add a “cottage feel” to any home, I also use these decorating tips “behind closed doors.” (; It is delightful to open a cabinet door and see a vignette made up of sparkling dishes, artfully arranged.
From my cottage to yours ~ Trenda
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Gazing beyond the window at blue skies and spring blossoms, and inside … lace-y tree branches reflected on my grandmother’s glass-topped table … a dreamy place to work!
Instructions for dying Graham Cracker Crumbs
I love using cabin and lodge decor in our cottage. According to the dictionary, another synonym for cabin is cottage.
“Cabins are of many kinds …”
“There’s always the possibility of magic …”
“Everybody feels at home right away. A cabin’s furnishings are simple, often treasured family hand-me-downs. Its sleeping lofts, tucked under the eaves, evoke memories of childhood. Its fireplace or wood stove provides physical and emotional warmth.”
A peek inside our own cottage/cabin walls. Tartan plaid walls topped with crests and a trio of Loon Duck plates “nest” on the walls of our home on the lake. Lots of wood, books and collections exude that cabin-y feeling.
The mirrored cubby in our German “schrank” which loosely translated means cabinet, holds another collection of “treasured family hand-me-downs” from the years we lived in Germany … a German music box, crystal decanters and mugs, pottery, a stein from Oktoberfest, hand painted glasses, a wooden “Smoker” and a special gift from our landlord and friend; a decorative piece that says “Stammtisch” which denotes a table reserved for the regulars.
“In a cabin retreat, pleasure overcomes duty for a little while.” ~ Bill Holm
A rustic blend of frames imbibes that “cabin” feeling … “Home Sweet Home”
In this bedroom the Adirondack decor, warm colors, and the quilted bedding adds cabin charm. A little tree “glows a welcome” and stays up all year decorated cabin-style … wooden bobbers, lures, hand-carved canoes, fish stringers, and twinkle lights adorn it’s boughs.
Cabin decor … Boat Rentals 1/2 Mile
A desk with lots of cubby’s and glimpses of “the outdoors” is tucked away in a little nook, perfect for writing or musing.
A sweet reminder of our own little fisherman.<3
Warm woods and shelves always add cottage and cabin charm.
A little twilight and cottage glow …
Then, what better way is there to add a bit of cabin coziness to a home than to have a Honey Bun Cake baking in the oven; the smells alone conjure up cabin luxury at it’s best! This recipe is an old standby adapted from a favorite Betty Crocker recipe. Our rainy, cool, foggy day in February seemed the perfect time to get out my mixing bowl. Just as the last of our day was slipping away, the fog lifted and the rain stopped in time for a beautiful sunset!
Hope your last days of February are warm and cozy in your own “version of the ten-foot thatched hut.”(: Last blog on “all things winter!” In 2 days, it will be MARCH and the season for all things SPRING … sunshine and shamrocks … bunny’s and The Lamb! 
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To make the woodland centerpiece I took the plastic covering off of 2 blocks of floral foam and hot glued them into the bottom of a woven basket I had. Then I began filling the basket with a collection of grasses, cattails, pine cone floral stems, pheasant feathers and birch twigs I had “amassed” over the years. The tallest part of any arrangement should be in the center, so after anchoring my tallest pieces I began “fanning down” both sides from the center of the arrangement, inserting my filler into the florist foam. The last addition and focal point I added to the arrangement was a metal art piece … a copper stag among metal fir trees. 
For my place settings I used pieces of vintage Hull and Pfaltzgraff pottery, a treasure that Richard found and bought for me at an auction he went to with his brother, Bob. The dishes are a sweet remembrance for both of us since Bob passed away this past October. ❤ The pattern on this stoneware is known as “Brown Drip” pattern, a favorite of both the Hull and Pfaltzgraff Stoneware Companies during the 1930’s.
These simple, rustic napkin rings are made using mini-grapevine wreaths. I downloaded my free 
I love these darling little bean pots and keep collecting them whenever I see them at antique stores. 
They look charming holding BBQ beans for autumn wiener roasts … filled with 
Crystal glasses and little goblets from Germany are etched with grapevines and are rimmed in gold and have golden bases. I love the look of the fragile crystal contrasting with the heavy pottery and the comparison makes the crystal seem even more delicate. 
And this hand painted canoe makes a darling caddy for sweeteners!
A mixture of metals … the copper stag and the goldware add gleam to all the forest browns, moss greens and the deep brown dishes. For a final touch of coziness, I added this little lamp that looks like it was made for my woodland tablescape! The golden lampshade matches the carved canoe and also highlights the goldware and golden goblets while the dark silhouettes of the spruce trees and moose on the lamp shade adds more “depth” to my rustic theme.
You know how I love using every day objects in unusual ways?! I pulled Richard’s cashmere muffler from the closet and thought it made the perfect table runner for my woodland tablescape! The softness of the muffler contrasted with the rough basket centerpiece and it’s color … the same browns and moss-green colors found in the forest!
Juxtaposition/definition by Merriam-Webster: the act or an instance of placing two or more things side by side often to compare or contrast or to create an interesting effect. Hmmm … crystal next to pottery, textured, woven centerpiece sitting atop soft, luxurious cashmere, and rustic grapevines mixed with elegant goldware??? I love juxtaposition decorating! (:
After our second Bald Eagle flew off, our “Blue, Super Moon” was just begin to rise and it was gorgeous! I couldn’t help but think of the scripture I had just read that morning …“Praise the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty. He wraps himself in light as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters. He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind.” Psalms 104:1-3
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