Create Cozy Cottage Home Decor in 7 Easy Steps

Have you ever spent the weekend in a cozy cabin in the woods or mountains?

Maybe you have an annual beach vacation where you stay in a cottage on the shore.

It’s easy to see what we love about hiking through the woods or feeling the sand between our toes, but there’s something special about the end of the day too.

When you come back indoors and sip hot cocoa by the fireplace, there’s a kind of magic to the cozy cottage that we miss when we come back to our real lives.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could capture a little bit of that magic, and create cozy cottage home decor at home?

Well, with these 7 simple design ideas, now you can! Read on to turn your home into your very own vacation destination!

1. Pick a Theme

Close your eyes and picture your dream vacation. When you think the word, “relaxation,” what comes to mind?

Are you on a beach listening to the waves washing away the sand?

Maybe you’re on a farm with miles of grassy hills around you, and a little pond that’s all yours.

Wherever you see yourself, it’s a good idea to have a theme that you stick to throughout the decorating process.

If you’re going for a beach cottage, consider going with an aqua and tan color scheme to remind you of the ocean and sand. For table decor, try putting some seashells in glass jars and placing them all around the house.
If you’re going for a cozy cabin style, try using a natural wood finish for your furniture and floors that will remind you of the trees in the forest.

2. Wicker Is Your Friend

Wicker is one of those styles that fits naturally into any cozy cottage.

It has a handmade look that gives people a sense of home, and it has an extremely long lifespan.

Take advantage of the fact that you can get nearly anything in wicker, and use it when your room needs that extra dash of character.

If you look hard enough, you can probably find anything made of wicker, but here are a few options that might strike your fancy:

Flower vases
Laundry Baskets
Rocking chairs
Trash cans
Tables
Dressers
Nightstands

Warnings!

Wicker will dry out if left in direct sunlight for long periods of time, so try to store it away from sunlight.
It also has a tendency to rot when it remains wet for too long, so it doesn’t work well as outdoor furniture.
Wicker should be periodically stained and repaired, or it will start to fade and weaken.

3. Fresh Flowers

Fresh flowers can bring the look and smell of your theme to life, and add some color to every room.

Try adding a touch of authenticity to your vacation cottage by using use flowers native to whatever location you would find your dream cottage.

If your life is a beach, try going with exotic flowers like Alpinias, Amazon lilies, or angel wing Begonias.
If your heart is in the mountains, you’ll want lots of mountain wildflowers. Try growing some Buttercups, Fireweed Blossoms, or Western wood lilies.

Do a little research on the local flora, or collect your favorite flowers next time you’re on vacation and bring them back with you.

4. Fresh Greenery

Perhaps just as important as the fresh flowers is fresh greenery.

You can use the same method here and pick local plants for your cottage decor, and place them in vases near the entrances to your home. Check two items off the list by getting some wicker planters!

If you’re going with a beach theme, try putting a few cattails in a vase and putting it in your living room.
If you’re going with a snowy mountain cottage, you can grow a mini evergreen indoors. Or ignore the “green” part and put a few painted pine cones in a glass bowl.

5. Pillows and Blankets

The word “cozy” can not legally be used to describe anything that doesn’t involve fluffy, overstuffed pillows and warm, comfy blankets.

So if you’re decorating your cozy home, and you haven’t incorporated pillows and blankets into your plans, you’re missing the most important part!

The name of the game should be comfortable (or cozy), but don’t be afraid to throw some decorative pillows out as well.

6. Candles

Another essential in making a cozy home are candles. Turn off your lights in the evening time, and enjoy reading by candlelight (possibly with a glass of wine).

If you want to get bonus points for sticking to your theme, try getting scented candles that remind you of the place you want to be.

For your beach cottage, try some beach wood, or ocean spray. You can even find bonfire scented candles in a lot of stores now!
For your cozy cabin, you can buy evergreen or winter forest.

There’s a scented candle for nearly every scent you could think of, so look around and buy whatever your heart desires.

Candles are relatively inexpensive, and you can never have enough of them, so put some in every room!

7. Rocking Chairs

Finally, no cozy cottage would be complete without a good old-fashioned rocking chair. I’ve literally never been to a cottage that didn’t have at least one rocking chair. And I wouldn’t like it if I did.

Rocking chairs are extremely versatile, and there’s almost no occasion where they can’t pull a room together.

You can check two items off the list with a wicker rocking chair.
You can keep it flexible with a rocking chair that fits any cottage theme.
Or you can be more specific to your theme with a South Beach-style rocker, or Log Cabin-style rocker.
And you can cozy up the kiddies’ rooms up as well with children’s rockers or rocking horses.