A colorful cottage...

The view as you walk in the front door. Below, you can see the dining room to the left, the hall that leads to the bathroom and bedroom on the other side of the book case, and of course, the kitchen off to the right.

My friend's fabulous quilt.

I piled some bright pillows in the reading chair as well and used my old trunk for a coffee table.

Color, color, color seems to be my motto for our new little cottage.
I'm a pastel girl as a rule, as you know, but I was inspired by a fabulous quilt that belongs to a friend of mine to go bolder in the living/family room this time. With the move to a smaller place, we got rid of a few things, and quite a few more things headed to storage to wait for our move back East next year. We ended up keeping my sweetie's leather couch for the living room because it was the newest piece of furniture. Well, as nice as it is, I'm not one for leather ~ and leather in the summer in a beach cottage with no air conditioning is unfathomable, even with the mild weather we usually enjoy here. I knew I'd have to throw something over it. But instead of going with my pretty pink rose slipcover, I thought I'd try something different. I wanted more color, a little more funky feel, if you will. I felt like the house was crying out for bright, happy colors. I knew my friend's quilt was the answer to both my problems ~ cheery and bright while still being pretty, it also doesn't feel too warm on your skin when you sit on it.
So I threw the quilt over the couch (thank you, Julie, for again inspiring me), bought some brightly-colored pillows at Target, selected some art that played off the bright colors and before I knew it, I had a cozy, comfy and bright living room, chock full of books, art and flowers ~ perfect.
Next up in the new home tour is the dining room, which I'll show you in my next post. Wishing everyone a lovely Saturday...

P.S. Click on each photo to enlarge for a better view.

The beautiful fireplace. The stones mirror the ones used in the pillars for the porch.

The gorgeous archway that leads to the kitchen. The archway is not original to the house; the latest owners built it to match the rest of the Craftsman features in the home.