Boxing Day starts Friday, December 20th! Take 40% off Holiday, including party, cards + greens. Discount applied at checkout.
Indoorsy: A Blog Dedicated to The Great Indoors

AHR's Guide to Cottagecore

February 20, 2022

AHR's Guide to Cottagecore

Even if you’ve never heard the word cottagecore, you’ve most definitely seen it in action, and if spring and fall product lines are any indication, you’re about to be seeing a whole lot more of it. Wikipedia defines cottagecore as “a fashion aesthetic popularized by teenagers and young adults celebrating an idealized life. It was developed throughout the 2010s and was first named cottagecore on Tumblr in 2018. The aesthetic centers on traditional rural clothing, interior design, and crafts such as foraging, baking, and pottery”. If you’re a follower of Jillian Harris, her recent farmhouse renovation is cottagecore to its, well, core. Thrifted chairs, found pillows, family heirlooms, charming cherry wallpaper, vintage style appliances, and a burgeoning flower farm all tucked into a perfectly rustic setting. There are Instagram accounts, clothing lines and home goods collections dedicated entirely to the cottagecore aesthetic, but what accounts for it’s sudden rise in popularity?

Cottagecore had been gaining popularity in the years leading up to 2020, with renewed interest in thrifting, homesteading and anything vintage, but it was the arrival of the pandemic that accelerated it’s cross over to mainstream. Cottagecore provides a way of experiencing the look and feel of a simpler time, even as our fast paced, technologically advanced way of life swirls around us. It’s not-so-subtle references to grandma’s house filled our urgent need to feel safe and our yearning for a time when things were, seemingly, much less stressful. Baking sourdough bread, an interest in all types of gardening, and a focus on the safety and comfort of our homes provided us a sense of control in a world that was turned upside down pretty much overnight.

The off-shoot tenets of cottagecore, coziness, comfort, and pleasure in simplicity or a simpler way of life, may bring to mind the Danish concept of hygge. Defined by Oxford as “the quality of being warm and comfortable that gives a feeling of happiness”, Oxford goes on to give this example: “The hygge experience includes warm cups of mulled wine, blazing log fires and candles galore.” And while there are definite parallels in the feelings offered by both lifestyles, they aren’t interchangeable. Where hygge more broadly focuses on the feelings created by items and activities no matter their style, say a cozy blanket and a candlelight dinner, cottagecore is more narrowly defined by its aesthetic (a vintage quilt and a home-grown meal with hand rolled beeswax candles). In other words, cottagecore is almost always hygge, but hygge isn’t always cottagecore.

As a style, cottagecore might not be for everyone, but the great thing about it is that it’s accessible to everyone. Thrifting, making use of family hand me downs (or heirlooms if you’re lucky), and hand crafting mean that, no matter your budget there is a way to participate. So, what are the hallmarks of a cottagecore home aesthetic and how can you spot it in the wild? Simply put, if it would work in your grandmother’s house, it’s likely cottagecore. Tiny floral prints, farmhouse plaids, ticking stripes, antique (or antique looking) dishes, embroidery, chenille bedspreads, oversize chairs with cabbage rose prints, chintz, wicker, ruffled trims, and a variety of “old world” or vintage farmhouse items.

If you’re looking to incorporate a little cottagecore into your every day, like any trend, you don’t have to go all in. Start small by incorporating something with a bit of history and maybe some personal meaning. If you’re light on family heirlooms, remember similar items can often be found relatively inexpensively at thrift stores, it doesn’t actually have to have belonged to your grandmother for it to remind you of her. Use an old Royal Doulton serving dish as a fruit bowl, add a ruffle trim pillow to your bed, do a little cross stich and frame it. Pick a corner or a space and make it your little cottagecore nook.

Just as mid-century modern style developed post World War ll in response to a world eager to leave the past behind, cottagecore has developed as a respite from our overwhelming and stressful way of life. Throw in a pandemic for good measure and the idea of creating a space reminiscent of a time of safety and nurturing seems like the antidote to all.

If you’re interested in exploring cottagecore more thoroughly, below are a few of my favorite accounts to follow.

Lifestyle Inspiration

Food Inspiration

Flower Farm Inspiration

Illustration Inspiration


Leave a comment

Also in Indoorsy: A Blog Dedicated to The Great Indoors

Summertime Sadness
Summertime Sadness

July 06, 2024 2 Comments

“What are you even doing with your summer?” Every year around this time, this is the thought that runs through my head. Summer is so fresh and new, the weather still tentative (as if that changes). Everything’s lush, the air heavy with the scent of late blooming lilacs, peonies, fresh cut grass. The giddiness of that first drink on a patio, hanging baskets overflowing, summer is at its finest. The possibility of what lies ahead is overwhelming. Completely overwhelming. Because I am not a summer person. I love the great indoors and summer is a season notorious for the enjoyment of outdoor pursuits. The result? A certain kind of summertime sadness that can only be born of the concern not that summer is passing too quickly, but too slowly.

Continue Reading

Dressed in Holiday Style
Dressed in Holiday Style

December 11, 2022

Whenever I hear that verse of Silver Bells, I always imagine myself bundled up in a long coat, wearing a jaunty little hat (not unlike the one worn by Mary Steenburgen in Elf) and carrying several brown paper Macy’s shopping bags. I am standing outside of a store gazing at its Christmas window display while around me the shoppers rush home with their treasures. All at once, I am jostled by a passerby and one of my packages drops to the sidewalk. I bend down to pick it up and come face to face with the stranger, who has also bent to retrieve it. He looks alarmingly like Jude Law as he did in the movie The Holiday, his eyes- how they twinkle, his dimples how merry! When he speaks, I swear I can hear a hint of an accent, ”Drop something?” he says, his droll little mouth drawn up like a bow. I have only slightly regained my composure when Clint sidles up behind us and says “I’m so tired. Why do malls make me so tired? Where did you get that hat?” And as I turn back to thank my kind stranger, I hear him exclaim, as he walks out of sight, “Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!”

Continue Reading

AHR's Guide to Being Scared Silly
AHR's Guide to Being Scared Silly

October 16, 2022

Allow me to immediately absolve you of the illusion that I’ve been a lifelong fan of all things scary. It’s true that movies like Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th and Halloween were all the rage when I was a teen but, unfortunately for me and my street cred, I was the kid who’d leave the room at the mere mention of them. I once found myself in a situation where I was forced to watch Children of the Corn and it traumatized me for YEARS. For literal years, every time I thought about the movie, I’d get a chill that would run from the front to the back of my left shoulder. I literally have no idea how I ended up in a situation where I watched this movie, but it probably involved a boy and dear reader, it was not worth it. I’m still not into slasher flicks, mainly because I just find them a little ridiculous, but I am into psychological thrillers and have a passion for true crime that occasionally concerns my husband (but also keeps him on his toes?). Apparently, I’m only engaged if these horrible things are within the realm of possibility? I’d prefer not to look too closely at the psychology behind that, so let’s get down to business!

Continue Reading