Cottages
This Book Takes You Inside The World’s Coziest Country Homes & Rural Retreats
Published on January 27, 2022
At this time of year, we all start to look inwards. If you’re in the mood to shut out the bitter winter cold, a new book, Country and Cozy: Countryside Homes and Rural Retreats (Gestalten, 2021) has compiled some of the best houses to retreat to.
Scroll down and get cozy!
The book hopscotches around the globe to find genuinely old, treasured houses that have been lovingly restored without eradicating all their natural charm. Country and Cozy pulls back the floral curtains to reveal whimsical English cottages, Hudson Valley farmhouses, converted stables and Tuscan convents.
This farmhouse hallway in Sharon, CT, contrasts simplicity with bold color. Inspired by Hancock Shaker Village, items like Shaker pegs, chairs and homespun cleaning tools are evocatively humble. Subtly burnished lime plaster walls and ceilings are a backdrop for moody blues and a pop of yellow trim in the dining room.
Anthony D’Argenzio (CEO of the consultancy Zio and Sons) sensitively renovated a building dubbed the Old Maison Hudson in Upstate New York, creating a medley of quirky regional antiques, French country charm and understated glamor. In the kitchen, bits of brass enliven rustic woods and a peachy cabinet topped by a new sink and faucet.
This spare, romantic farmhouse bedroom is set under a pitched roof. Built-in niches and cupboards store bedding and keep clutter at bay.
This 19th-century home in Somerset, U.K. is perched on a steep hill on the edge of a forest. The stone house has a log-burning stove tucked between two shelving units in the living room.
This rural retreat is set in England’s Lake District, immortalized by Beatrix Potter and William Wordsworth. Designers Jessica Gibbons and Kat Turner of Field Day Studio wanted the home to feel like it had been there forever and used a timeless palette of soft greens and blue-greys. The slate floor in the kitchen is matched in drama by huge metal pendants and an impressive range hood.
This weekend escape in Bucks County, PA is evocatively dubbed Coltsfoot Farm by its owners James Gager and Richard Ferretti. A stony grey palette, portrait and wide plank floors give the bedroom a distinctly colonial vibe.
The cedar-shake cottage on Shelter Island in New York is designed by the buzzy Brooklyn firm Workstead. The furniture in the living room has almost a Japanese aesthetic, with stark geometric forms.
Mother and daughter team Holly Lueders and Venetia Sacret Young used traditional techniques and local materials to restore an abandoned convent in Tuscany. In this dining area, the floor is poured concrete to mimic the feel of a dirt floor when animals were sheltered in the room. Their feeding troughs have been repurposed to create benches.
A former dairy in Byron Bay, Australia was re-envisioned by Julie Weis and Lucy Haidamous. Bi-fold glass doors open the living room to the lush outdoors. Dark-toned walls highlight timber accents, a stone fireplace and overstuffed armchairs.
“My home is my playground,” says interior designer Soraya Forsberg of her two-storey 19th-century farmhouse in the north of Sweden. Pale grays and greens, and raw, reclaimed wood are soft and welcoming. In the kitchen, baskets of different shapes and sizes hang above a large French vintage dining table topped with a group of bottles to create a still-life effect.