How do you create this cozy and inviting style? Here are some great ideas and tips for cottage style furniture and accessories.

First, decide where and how you are going to shop. Authentic pieces are pretty cool, but make sure you are purchasing sturdy items that are strong enough to provide the intended function.

Here are the next ideas for your cottage home decor, for the casegoods (wood pieces) and upholstery (sofas, chairs, etc).

Casegoods are typically constructed from pine, birch, oak or poplar. A natural finish is always good, although most often you'll find cottage style furniture is painted in light shades, including white, cream, blue, green and pink.

Many times cottage furnishings are distressed, either from a natural aging and wear and tear process, or intentional distressing. Hint: A light sanding over selected areas of a piece will create an aged look to a piece of painted wood furniture.

Wicker pieces blend well in a cottage style decor, as do accent pieces with an iron base and wood top. Just make sure the iron is not too heavy looking and overpowering in the room.

Upholstered pieces usually have floral patterns, checks, small stripes or prints in the light color palette described above. Slipcovers are always a great choice and can give refurbished or used furniture a new and beautiful life. Adding pillows in complementary colors and fabrics is also a staple of cottage style furniture.

Here is your next cottage style furniture idea, and that is to create a unique and interesting look in your home by using pieces for a different function than originally used or intended.

For example, you might find an old wood door that has a great appeal for you, and you use it as a headboard in a guest bedroom. Or, a vintage treadle sewing machine serves as an accent piece in your home's entry. You may use an old barrel found at a flea market as an end table.

The next tip for your cottage furnishings is another fundamental of this type of decor, and that is to mix and match your pieces. Cottage style decor is charming and cozy in part because of the fact that the pieces are NOT a matched set.

For example, your kitchen table may be painted white and the chairs around it painted in other pastel colors. In fact, the chairs may not match in design, either, and they don't have to. If the chairs are the same general size, go ahead and paint them and have fun with your newly created kitchen set!

If you are creating a true cottage style look in your home, the cottage style furniture will come from a variety of sources, some old, some new, and you'll create the charm by blending them side by side.

Shop Country Cottage Decor Find all the best furniture and unique accent pieces for your cottage style decorating!

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