July/August issue

[shabbychick]

So I'm reading the new issue and find an article about the remodel of a 5000 (yes, 5000) square foot house, and at the end of the article the owner says, "The house is very comfortable for two people. It's not a huge amount of space, but it can easily accommodate guests." Five thousand square feet is not a huge amount of space? That's almost five times the size of my place. And for two people? Holy cow. It's beautiful, but I don't think it qualifies as cottage. Personally, I would rather read about tiny little houses made both efficient and beautiful within their small footprint.

[memmey]

5000 com"on really? That is ridiculous. What about leaving a small carbon footprint and the whole less is more thing. 5000 square feet. Now what do think a house cost that is that big???????:confused:

[Bungalove]

"Personally, I would rather read about tiny little houses made both efficient and beautiful within their small footprint."

I completely agree. I want to read about cottages and bungalows, not McMansions.

[Bungalove]

I have another comment in a similar vein, but it refers to the May issue, which I have finally read in its entirety. It's about the house on pages 60-71. It has a very nice look and the photos are beautiful, but near the end of the article, the owner says she loves her "little, simple house." OH, PLEASE! The master bath has Carrera marble floors and counters. The house is full of English, French, and Chinese antiques. She has a "tea hut," a spa, and a swimming pool on her one-acre property.

Now, I know tastes and budgets vary, but if this kind of costs-a-fortune decorating is going to be typical of the magazine I'm not sure how much I'm going to be buying it. No, I don't want to see shacks and mobile homes, but neither do I want to feel like I'm watching "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous."

Please, please, please show more schemes that are do-able for average people.

[Gigi]

We moved last year from a 5800 sq. ft home, five acres--etc...into our beach home- about 1800 sq. ft. (that may be pushing it)- and I can tell you for two people 1800 or even less is best!

Although- I truly truly miss our home of 25 years- I don't miss all the rooms that weren't being used, and all the land we had to maintain.

[Breezy]

Aren't cottages typically small, modest dwellings? Hmm it sounds like someone really missed the mark on that article.

Bungalove - I've seen some really lovely smaller mobile homes that have been turned into "cottages".

I don't personally care if the dwelling is a mobile home or shack or apartment or tent or even an igloo as long as it's small & "done" in the cottage/bungalow style.:)

[memmey]

Don't you remember this is exactly what happened at Cottage Living and we all know what happened there. Remember the houses where fab-u-lous and HUGE and expensive.
So let me ask you... is this whole cottage thing just a "style"? Do these humongus house owners just want to decorate "cottage like" and it is not really about a real cottage at all. Awwwh... maybe this is just a style, think about it. What is difference between decorating a McMansion like a cottage and decorating an apartment like a cottage. It still is just decorating . It is just decorating...:(
My house may not qualify as a cottage. I mean I call it one, but really is it? Really????
Pretty fancy houses sell magazines not semi-tastefully decorated homes. Can you imagine that you would open the pages and see a glaring decorating mistake and say, "Oh look how pretty." They need to be almost flawless.
I think that is too much work or concentration on the superficial.
I don't care if my things don't belong on a magazines pages, I collected and inherited and was given everything I own and it is my child's home...
We can be glad to have a place to meet and know that the slick expensive 5000 foot houses don't define what we think of as cottage.
HAHAH I think that each article about the glamorous "cottages" should also have a photo of their last electric bill.HAHAHHAHHA

[ChapterTwo]

So let me ask you... is this whole cottage thing just a "style"? Do these humongus house owners just want to decorate "cottage like" and it is not really about a real cottage at all.



With cottage decorating, as with many other things in life, I believe it is open to interpretation.

With that being said, Memmey, I tend to think that WE have it right! lol It's my belief that cottage style is meant to be simple and humble...and it becomes "beautiful" by virtue of its simplicity and humility. There is also no "formula" to this style, because the person's perception, approach, and likes/dislikes come into play in a huge way, making each cottage interpretation "unique".

When the decorating mavens of the world seized on the idea to "do" cottage, they somehow didn't realize that the "humble" part was key to the look and feel of the cottage style. They totally missed the point and made everything bigger, grander, newer...NOT what this style is truly about, in my opinon.

Any thoughts on the subject?

[Bungalove]

Breezy, I apologize if I offended you with my "mobile homes" remark. You are correct -- many mobiles are nicely kept and beautifully decorated.

While "cottage" may be a decorating style, I agree that "humble" is part of the cottage mentality, so to speak. 5000+ square foot mansions for one or two people are not what I want to see. I don't want to see sloppy decoration, either -- of course not! However, I want to see decorating and accents and ideas that are do-able on a middle class budget.

Your mileage may vary! Good discussion. :)

[memmey]

I still think that the magazines are out of touch with the real reader. Always there will be the affluent decorator but if you surveyed the "average' reader you would find regular folks who treat themselves to a few good magazines.
Each l home loving little decorator dreams of being on the pages of a magazine. The validation that their things are top notch, but is is not so hard to be top notch if your rug cost $1100 and your side chairs $350 each.
What about clever thoughtful decorating with re-purposing and green ideas. Why not? The gulf is being destroyed, plastic water bottles are soiling the landfills and we are eating tablespoons full of pesticide in our food....can't we turn toward the future where people are thrifty and help the lesser of us,animals included and we learn to live littler and with less.

[Gigi]

I LOVE the thought of decorating with re-purposed and green items.

[ChapterTwo]

I....can't we turn toward the future where people are thrifty

And actually, Memmey, "turning towards the future" really requires us to look back to the past. Years ago people went through such hard times in the Great Depression. One of the mottos back then, “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" is as applicable today, as then, although far too many people don't abide by it!

[memmey]

Two, that is the perfect slogan. Why can't we do this whole less is more thing even if it is just between this tiny group. We could share ideas or sources and hints. We could do it ourselves. We really don't need the whole world to join us if we just do our part. I would love to know any hints that any of us use to make things go farther ...anything helpful.
My town is a tiny semi-country town and we do not have recycling but we do have a huge bin we can bring our things to
. I took some of that plastic lattice I had taken down from a project gone bad:o LOL. It is 8 feet long and about 2 feet wide. I used a zip-tie to make a circle and sat three of them in a row against my fence. I put everything compostable into these three circles. I have started buying laundry soap in a box and I tear the box into little pieces and put that in the circles also. All of my shredded junk mail, watermelon rinds, vegetable peelings. I don't eat meat so EVERYTHING I eat can go into the circles. I did that last year and this year I added the soil to my flower beds.
I put my cans and can lids in a big wire basket. When it is full I sit it by the road and people pick them up to sell. Remember when they took my basket and brought it back? Now I just put my trash out once every 2 weeks. I don't hardly have a can full when I do.
I'm trying but I know there is so much to share and learn. Why can't we do this?????? Gigi didn't you tell us how to make dish washing liquid or was it Rosemary? I need to find that post. Come on you guys it will be fun what do ya say?

[Gigi]

Hi there Memmey- Dishwashing liquid- it must have been Rosemary. Let's see if she chimes in.

[yarborough house]

Memmy- we have a big recycling program where we live..
And my kids do it and so does the whole town. We have a recycling truck come every week same day as trash. It is funny because our recycling bin is a small box about the size of those plastic tubs you store holiday stuff in. I have 2 and then I always have extra bags of recycling too. I have more of that than the big trash can they give us for trash. We recycle paper, glass, plastic, metal..you name it.

I have converted to using dry washing soap- thanks to Carrie for that. Love it.

And we have started to wean ourselves off of paper plates..that is a hard one for me as with 6 the dishes pile up so much.

[shabbychick]

We have recycling here, too, and it's a pretty good program. They won't take plastic grocery bags. I have to take those back to the store. I try to remember to take in my reusable totes but usually forget them in my car. The last two times I took the totes in but forgot to give them to the checker...who didn't ask. I need to be better than that.

I have a big recycle bin that is collected every two weeks. My smaller trash can is collected weekly, though I don't generate that much trash. They could pick it up only every two weeks as far as I'm concerned.

I'm not allowed to compost here or at work (where we have a community garden and 600 kids who generate trash every day). They're afraid of rats. I might get a rain barrel, though, if I can get one mosquitoes won't breed in.

[Nikki]

I remember chiming in on a thread just like this over at the Cottage Living site....back when we were all disgusted over their McMansion-sized "Idea House" which came out just as the recession was starting.

I was hoping that with the economic downturn would promote a shift in the housing market towards smaller homes. It doesn't seem to have happened. My boyfriend and I have lived in a small (800 SF) cottage for 7 years now, and before that, I shared a 500 SF apartment for several years. Our new house, which we are moving into this summer, has the exact same footprint of our cottage, with the advantage of a higher-pitched roof, which allows us to have usable attic space. Still, the home is small by most peoples' standards...about 1300 square feet. To us, this place feels huge! I could not imagine heating, maintaining, and furnishing a place any larger.

The BEST thing about having a small home(and therefore smaller utility and property tax bills) is that we have enough money left over to do what we really love...traveling the world :)

[shabbychick]

I agree, Nikki. My condo is smallish at 1275 square feet (including a one-car garage and an attic I'm not allowed to do anything with). I would have liked something a little bit bigger (fewer bathrooms but with a laundry room) but this was affordable. I bought something that was not at the top of what I could afford, and now I'm really glad I did. It's not expensive to maintain, and I have money to spend on fixing up the interior. One day I'll have an actual house, but it will probably still be under 1500 square feet. I don't think I need anything bigger (and it prevents other people from wanting to move in). :)

[Nikki]

Also....check out the July/August issue of Coastal living. There are 3 "smaller" homes featured....2000, 1600, and 1200 square feet and they are all gorgeous, unique cottages. Especially the "Coastal Americana" feature.

[RoseMary]

It wasn't me with the dishwashing liquid, either~but I'd like to know how to make it:).

With this economy, more and more people are going to learn the value of living thrifty. I am still looking for a really good book that describes the true day to day living of the Great Depression. Surely some woman kept a diary/journal that told how she managed her household. I know that circumstances were different for people in each part of the country, but I'd love to read how several women ran their households.

[memmey]

I am thinking of a rain barrel also There are some donuts you can buy that kill mosquito lavae in water. The city I used to live in would give them to you sometimes if you had a drainage canal or whatever near your home. I believe it is a harmless to humans bacteria that feeds on the mosquito eggs . They worked well and they sell them at Lowes. They last a while and are not expensive.
I pour my dogs left over water everyday into the plants on my back steps OR take take three more steps and pour it into my flower bed.;)

[shabbychick]

We bought a water barrel for the community garden. It has a nice screen on the top that I hope will keep mosquitoes out. We buy those egg-killing pills at the hardware store for the ponds around my complex. We put a few in each season and they work pretty well. On the other hand, I went for a walk down by the river this week, and every time I stopped to take a picture, I was bitten. I'm scratching like a dog with fleas now. Bugs. Yuck.

[chyna]

We did have this discussion at CL and even told them repeatedly what we'd really like to see in there with no luck. Unfortunately I've had the idea from day one that C&B would be even more of the bigger is better. they are nice to look at but not really where I am in life. Though I would love to have a vacation home by the water.;)

I know we all look to our foremothers for inspiration on making due but it occurs to me that as soon as it was over people went hogwild. I look to be more of in between, frugal but I do like new things too. :o