Blog Posts by cottages-gardens.com

See how animal prints and antique are used in these classy homes to add a homey feel and a touch of whimsy.

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Give a small bathroom character with koi fish wallpaper.

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A few choice butterflies add s sense of movement under this light fixture.

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The stone fireplace, itself a work of art, is adorned with a copper fish sculpture from the homeowners' antiques collection.

PLUS: A Peek at Some Unique Homes

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A hand-printed English phoenix-patterned fabric lines the walls in the powder room, where a traditional console sink from Waterworks stands next to a patterned hand-knotted antique rug. The chandelier is Venetian. .

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An alligator print and a green cut velvet fabric woven with turtles liven up the mudroom, lit by nickel wall lanterns.

PLUS:
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How to Decorate With Photographs
Innovative Ways to Design an Edible Garden
Stunning Designer Tablescapes
Amazing One-Room Makeovers
15 Environmentally Friendly Products
Earth Friendly Resources for Designers
The Art of

Entertain in style by creating a dining oasis. See what these three amazing homes have done with their dining rooms.



Create a theme: Split-bamboo shades give a dining area a tropical boost, along with a Jansen table, a Marc Newson wicker chair and a throne-like vintage wicker chair from a Paris flea market.



Create a mood: Use paintings to transport the diner, as this mural does. The handpainted Stark mural depicts West Point on the Hudson River. Reproduction Queen Anne chairs surround the 18th-century English dining table.

PLUS: A Peek at Some Unique Homes



REALLY transport the diner by setting up outdoors. A freestanding pavilion on the terrace of this Ocean House residence was transformed into a private dining room with 360-degree views. The patio furniture is from Restoration Hardware. If you don't have a pavilion, set up a tent.

PLUS:
Follow us on Facebook
How to Decorate With Photographs
Innovative Ways to Design an Edible Garden
Stunning Designer Tablescapes
Amazing One-Room

Kill the chill in the spring morning with these luxury items from the simple to the ultimate



1. The ultimate luxury (above) -- A heated toilet seat and a foot warmer: Kohler's Numi toilet combines modern design with cutting-edge technologies like a motion-activated lid and seat, integrated bidet and air dryer, and a heated seat and floor-level vents to keep your feet warm.

2. Heated towel bars: Add a touch of luxury to your bathroom with this affordable addition. Find out other ways to turn your bathroom into a spa escape.

3. Heated floors: Installed in the bathroom, across the whole house, or in an outdoor space, heated floors are sure to make you home a comfortable haven. A Murado painting hangs behind the Cavalletto dining table and Azucena chairs. Heated Kota limestone floors continue through the first floor. From Best Plumbing, Stamford

PLUS:
Follow us on Facebook
How to Decorate With Photographs
Innovative Ways to Design an Edible Garden
Stunning Designer Tablescapes
Amazing

Here's the skinny on a celebrated townhouse in the West Village: At just 9½ feet wide and 30 feet deep (including the rear garden), the Millay house at 75½ Bedford Street is universally described as the narrowest abode in New York City-and it's on the market.

Best known as the former residence of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Edna St. Vincent Millay (actors John Barrymore and Cary Grant also once lived here), it's being advertised as both a sale and a rental: Lease it for $13,500 a month, or buy it for $3.95 million-$550,000 less than its $4.3 million ask this past December. Built in 1850, the recently renovated 990-square-foot townhouse hardly seems claustrophobic, with three bedrooms, a balcony overlooking a private garden, four wood-burning fireplaces, and a washer/dryer.
-Barbara Thau

PLUS:
Follow us on Facebook
How to Decorate With Photographs
Innovative Ways to Design an Edible Garden
Stunning Designer Tablescapes
Amazing One-Room Makeovers
15 Environmentally Friendly Products

Don't have a green thumb-or the time-for exotic flower beds and perfectly tended gardens. See how this landscape architect incorporates the surrounding into his designs.

1. A grassy ramp connects different areas of the garden at a 26-acre Hamptons estate.


How do you make a landscape look natural?
You can usually make a few bold changes to a garden that are actually very subtle to the eye but help to tie a landscape together. Also, I think it's a mistake to fight the natural plant palette-or the regulations that might exist at a site-so you should never do anything that's too radical.

2. Wisteria clambers up a pergola in Water Mill, creating a shady retreat. The rough stone walls contrast with a series of bluestone slabs set simply into the grass.

How do you create a low maintenance garden?
By first explaining that "low maintenance" is a relative term, and that most any garden will require some degree of maintenance. One helpful solution is to limit the plant palette to several key

Check out these amazing sustainable products. Tell us how green would you go?



Walls made from recycled corks
Habitus cork is created using sustainably harvested cork-the bark of the Mediterranean cork oak tree is merely trimmed, allowing the trees to live up to 200 years. I was pleased to learn that Habitus cork mosaic tile is recycled from Spanish and Portuguese wine stoppers, making my occasional glass of Vinho Verde feel especially verde. The hand-cut chips are warm, insulating and antibacterial, with an assortment of organic stains available. Their richly textured custom finish brings contrast and depth to a modern space.
 Habitus Finishes LLC, 800-729-5120,habitusnyc.com.



Baskets made from recycled rubber

A group of women based in Rome handknit baskets using Neoprene, a type of rubber used in the plumbing, car and motorcycle industries. We think they're the height of eco-chic.$220 for red, $180 for white, available at Design Within Reach, Greenwich, (203) 422-2013, and Westport,

Creative architects, designers, and more were called on to turn these unique locations into actual homes.



Converted Home from an Abandoned Water Tank
Sixteen years ago when the opportunity arose to purchase a cistern perched on a hillside just outside of New Haven with views of Long Island Sound and the Gothic spires of Yale, architect Peter de Bretteville didn't hesitate. "There's something extraordinary about industrial buildings like warehouses, mills and water tanks. They are bigger than life-taller, wider and more robust-than normal residential buildings," says de Bretteville. "And there's something so appealing about living in an old relic."

See the amazing images of a home build inside an abandoned water tower.



Converted Barn from Roxbury Landmark
Connecticut is famous for its barn-style homes, a type of dwelling that allows ex-urbanites 
to live in a loft that looks humble-appealing to our Yankee desire to avoid flashy fanciness-
but is loaded to the rafters with cool stuff.

Here are four very different ways of decorating with photographs. Let your space and color theme be your guide.


1. Find a close up with the colors you are looking to bring into the room.
A NASA photograph of Saturn's rings hangs on the wall in the living room of the apartment shared by design gurus Bob Willliams and Mitchell Gold. The photograph brings the elements of the living room together.

Plus: A Peek at Some Truly Unique Homes



2. Creative placement of similar theme.
Susan Penzner's photo collection, mostly portraits of women, provides an arresting backdrop in the high-ceilinged living/dining space in her reinvented 1965 Sag Harbor rambler.



3. Sometimes more is more.
Photographs line the main hallway drawing the eye forward and adding a familial and cozy element to this 10,000-square-foot compound in the Hamptons.



4. The element of surprise
In the bright kitchen above the fireplace, an elephant embryo photograph by Montauk neighbor Peter Beard takes center stage in a charming