Ideas to Steal From Your Fantasy Holiday Cottage Bedroom
Let your dream country bolthole inspire you to create staycation bliss at home, starting where you wake up...
Holing up in a rustic retreat or a seaside cottage makes for blissful escapism, whether it’s for a family summer holiday or a romantic, wintry weekend break. The interiors-savvy know that a dreamy home-from-home isn’t just about its location and amenities – the perfect décor comes first, but what makes up your ideal holiday cottage? Rustic beams? A tongue-and-groove wall? A cosy kitchen? Or perhaps it’s all about the perfect wood-burning stove.
Whatever its components, be inspired by this new series, which will move from room to room, helping you to create an array of fantasy cottage boltholes… and we’re starting with the bedroom. So why wait until your next holiday to get a cosy, cottagey bedroom? Let these ideas inspire you to make your home a bit more like your dream getaway.
Whatever its components, be inspired by this new series, which will move from room to room, helping you to create an array of fantasy cottage boltholes… and we’re starting with the bedroom. So why wait until your next holiday to get a cosy, cottagey bedroom? Let these ideas inspire you to make your home a bit more like your dream getaway.
Help yourself to hooks
Storage is of secondary importance in a holiday cottage bedroom. As such, hanging space is often limited to a peg rail or shelf-hook arrangement, like this one.
You may want to keep your wardrobe, but supplement it by installing a lovely, antique hanger. Use it for handbags, pretty PJs, a colour-coordinated collection of hang-ables, or a few tasteful towels. The only downside? Discipline and tidiness make this work as an attractive feature – using it as a jumble rail for your erstwhile ‘floordrobe’ just won’t cut the country-style mustard.
Storage is of secondary importance in a holiday cottage bedroom. As such, hanging space is often limited to a peg rail or shelf-hook arrangement, like this one.
You may want to keep your wardrobe, but supplement it by installing a lovely, antique hanger. Use it for handbags, pretty PJs, a colour-coordinated collection of hang-ables, or a few tasteful towels. The only downside? Discipline and tidiness make this work as an attractive feature – using it as a jumble rail for your erstwhile ‘floordrobe’ just won’t cut the country-style mustard.
Try out a twin
Twin guest rooms are common in holiday cottages, where bedrooms are often shared by children or friends. It’s also a good tip for a flexible spare room at home – and can look beautiful.
In this coastal-style room, the décor is kept airy with plenty of white and a subtle dash of nautical navy, plus headboards that look like salvaged shutters.
Should a couple come to stay, you can push the beds together and the eminently practical ladder shelf/bedside light holder to one side of the new double bed. If you want to ensure both parties have lamplight, attach a slim shelf, painted to blend in with the wall, above the bedheads – this will also give you a flexible way to position the lighting.
If you have simple divans, ie, without headboards, consider fixing panels – or a single panel – to the wall to do the job instead. Look out for old shutters, doors or other salvaged wood to stretch the width of both beds (chop it to size if you don’t find something in the perfect dimensions), making it even easier to slide the beds about in different positions.
Twin guest rooms are common in holiday cottages, where bedrooms are often shared by children or friends. It’s also a good tip for a flexible spare room at home – and can look beautiful.
In this coastal-style room, the décor is kept airy with plenty of white and a subtle dash of nautical navy, plus headboards that look like salvaged shutters.
Should a couple come to stay, you can push the beds together and the eminently practical ladder shelf/bedside light holder to one side of the new double bed. If you want to ensure both parties have lamplight, attach a slim shelf, painted to blend in with the wall, above the bedheads – this will also give you a flexible way to position the lighting.
If you have simple divans, ie, without headboards, consider fixing panels – or a single panel – to the wall to do the job instead. Look out for old shutters, doors or other salvaged wood to stretch the width of both beds (chop it to size if you don’t find something in the perfect dimensions), making it even easier to slide the beds about in different positions.
Get into the tongue-and-groove
There are few décor touches that instantly conjure up a cottage vibe than painted tongue-and-groove panelling. It’ll really up the cute factor in a bedroom, especially when paired with soft vintage-style florals and well chosen antique details, such as the lamp and pastel green-painted shelf seen here.
Go for full wall height, as in this sweet sleep space, or halfway up, and top with a dado rail. White paint will keep the space feeling airy, however small. Choose a satin finish for a soft sheen and light-bouncing properties or, if you prefer a matt look, go for eggshell, which will do the job but still wipe clean.
There are few décor touches that instantly conjure up a cottage vibe than painted tongue-and-groove panelling. It’ll really up the cute factor in a bedroom, especially when paired with soft vintage-style florals and well chosen antique details, such as the lamp and pastel green-painted shelf seen here.
Go for full wall height, as in this sweet sleep space, or halfway up, and top with a dado rail. White paint will keep the space feeling airy, however small. Choose a satin finish for a soft sheen and light-bouncing properties or, if you prefer a matt look, go for eggshell, which will do the job but still wipe clean.
Fake it with cottagey touches
You don’t need to live surrounded by fields to add a few country touches to your bedroom. Lace is one such classic touch. Here, a lace-style lampshade does the trick (and will cast a pretty patterned glow when turned on). Alternatively, trim a vintage linen pillowcase with antique lace, or hang some up as a half-window screen.
An understated striped Roman blind is another detail to help you build the look. Make one from linen ticking using an easy-to-assemble kit, which is widely available.
A stack of antique books lined up on a handy bedside ledge completes the look. Perfect for early nights tucked up reading Jane Austen by candlelight (or by a dimmable bulb, so you can switch between atmosphere and practicality).
Need more inspiration? Take a look at these gorgeous country-style bedrooms
You don’t need to live surrounded by fields to add a few country touches to your bedroom. Lace is one such classic touch. Here, a lace-style lampshade does the trick (and will cast a pretty patterned glow when turned on). Alternatively, trim a vintage linen pillowcase with antique lace, or hang some up as a half-window screen.
An understated striped Roman blind is another detail to help you build the look. Make one from linen ticking using an easy-to-assemble kit, which is widely available.
A stack of antique books lined up on a handy bedside ledge completes the look. Perfect for early nights tucked up reading Jane Austen by candlelight (or by a dimmable bulb, so you can switch between atmosphere and practicality).
Need more inspiration? Take a look at these gorgeous country-style bedrooms
Dare to be bare
What’s wonderful about sleeping in a dreamy cottage bedroom is often the sheer simplicity of it. It’s not a bedroom you need to use every day of the year, or pack with hidden storage, so it can afford to be a perfectly pared-back space.
How lovely to see right under that bed – no slide-out storage drawers needed here. And how blissful to have uncluttered bedside tables. Of course, practicality has to come into play in your own bedroom, but steal a couple of tricks and you’ll get some of this serenity for yourself.
First, go all white – floor and walls – to get the unfussy basics. Shun any non-white bedding and keep your furniture in the same shade – wood is good for a simple rustic effect, but remember to use the same type. Choose bedside tables with legs (furniture you can see beneath boosts airiness), but opt for versions with drawers or doors, so you can stash away unsightly clutter.
What’s wonderful about sleeping in a dreamy cottage bedroom is often the sheer simplicity of it. It’s not a bedroom you need to use every day of the year, or pack with hidden storage, so it can afford to be a perfectly pared-back space.
How lovely to see right under that bed – no slide-out storage drawers needed here. And how blissful to have uncluttered bedside tables. Of course, practicality has to come into play in your own bedroom, but steal a couple of tricks and you’ll get some of this serenity for yourself.
First, go all white – floor and walls – to get the unfussy basics. Shun any non-white bedding and keep your furniture in the same shade – wood is good for a simple rustic effect, but remember to use the same type. Choose bedside tables with legs (furniture you can see beneath boosts airiness), but opt for versions with drawers or doors, so you can stash away unsightly clutter.
Nestle into a nook
A bed butted up against a window, especially where it stretches the width of the room, is a common small-space frustration.
But take the holiday cottage approach and turn it into a lovely feature – by building out from the walls to partially section off and enclose the sleeping space. What could be cosier?
Consult a good carpenter to discuss your plans – it’s not a structural construction, so it shouldn’t be complicated – and consider cladding in tongue and groove for a final rustic touch.
If your window is too high to offer a view from the bed, raise the bed up and seek out some small rustic steps so you can climb in. But will you ever want to climb out…?
No room for a bedside shelf? See how to squeeze one into the smallest of spaces
A bed butted up against a window, especially where it stretches the width of the room, is a common small-space frustration.
But take the holiday cottage approach and turn it into a lovely feature – by building out from the walls to partially section off and enclose the sleeping space. What could be cosier?
Consult a good carpenter to discuss your plans – it’s not a structural construction, so it shouldn’t be complicated – and consider cladding in tongue and groove for a final rustic touch.
If your window is too high to offer a view from the bed, raise the bed up and seek out some small rustic steps so you can climb in. But will you ever want to climb out…?
No room for a bedside shelf? See how to squeeze one into the smallest of spaces
Snuggle down
This room is proof that you don’t need stone walls and wooden beams or a view across rolling fields to create your own cottage-level-cosy hideaway.
The simple trick here is the soft, inviting throw in a pale colour, while the artwork (the colours of which are picked up in the rest of the bedding) conjures up the sorts of skies you’re likely to see on a country walk.
The glow of a scented candle also boosts the mood. Splash out on your favourite scent, or seek out smells that conjure up your imagined slice of rustic bliss – you can get candles that smell like salty sea air, wood smoke and more.
This room is proof that you don’t need stone walls and wooden beams or a view across rolling fields to create your own cottage-level-cosy hideaway.
The simple trick here is the soft, inviting throw in a pale colour, while the artwork (the colours of which are picked up in the rest of the bedding) conjures up the sorts of skies you’re likely to see on a country walk.
The glow of a scented candle also boosts the mood. Splash out on your favourite scent, or seek out smells that conjure up your imagined slice of rustic bliss – you can get candles that smell like salty sea air, wood smoke and more.
Go into the attic
As already mentioned, holiday cottage bedrooms don’t generally need generous storage, unlike the homes we live in. This may be why many of us avoid having a small room as our main bedroom at home.
However, there are benefits in this blissfully cocooning holiday-style cosiness, as seen here in this cute, comfortable attic room. If you have a little roof space you’re thinking of converting or reconfiguring, it could be the perfect bedroom for you. Is there a decent-sized landing where a wardrobe could be accommodated with some bespoke carpentry, or a generous armoire?
As already mentioned, holiday cottage bedrooms don’t generally need generous storage, unlike the homes we live in. This may be why many of us avoid having a small room as our main bedroom at home.
However, there are benefits in this blissfully cocooning holiday-style cosiness, as seen here in this cute, comfortable attic room. If you have a little roof space you’re thinking of converting or reconfiguring, it could be the perfect bedroom for you. Is there a decent-sized landing where a wardrobe could be accommodated with some bespoke carpentry, or a generous armoire?
Take a bit of tartan
If you dream of a Highlands hideaway, style it to fake it (just like this bedroom, which is, in fact, in Gloucestershire). Steal the use of a soft tartan blanket, blue heather hues and stag motif and you’ll be well on the way.
A rugged stone wall, like this rustic beauty, may not be at your disposal, but there are companies that do amazingly realistic faux stone-wall panels that’ll give you the same look.
If you dream of a Highlands hideaway, style it to fake it (just like this bedroom, which is, in fact, in Gloucestershire). Steal the use of a soft tartan blanket, blue heather hues and stag motif and you’ll be well on the way.
A rugged stone wall, like this rustic beauty, may not be at your disposal, but there are companies that do amazingly realistic faux stone-wall panels that’ll give you the same look.
Now all that’s left is to imagine that this is what you can see outside your bedroom…
What kind of holiday home do you hanker after? Tell us all about it and share any suitable Houzz photos you love in the Comments below.
What kind of holiday home do you hanker after? Tell us all about it and share any suitable Houzz photos you love in the Comments below.
It’s a classic country staple, and something you’ll often find in dreamy rustic boltholes. Seek out a well-preserved vintage eiderdown (and take expert advice on cleaning this very delicate item), or look out for new but old-style reproductions, which are easy to find.
Team with a classic metal bedstead and you have cosy country retreat nailed – even if you live in the city.