As the housing market continues to see improvements across the country, interior design and renovation are at the forefront of many homeowners’ minds. Those looking to sell are refreshing their home’s style to maximise its market value, while those moving into a home are looking to make it their own space.
This is leading to a number of residents to seek out the most popular and desirable interior design trends, rooting through the latest magazines and combing through online search engine results to see the latest, most favoured styles.
2020 saw one particular interior design style launch itself into mainstream popularity to become one of the most sought after styles. It is an aesthetic known as cottagecore.
What Is Cottagecore
Cottagecore is a term that, when applied to interior design, describes a focus on rural, traditional, and organic design preferences, such as those associated with rural homes and cottages. Often, it is presented with a focus on natural features, such as exposed and raw wood furniture, plants and flowers, as well as natural tones and colours.
This aesthetic is believed to have become popular for a number of reasons, such as its celebration of self-sufficiency in the wake of climate change and as a counterculture to urban glamour. It was, however, the pandemic lockdowns of 2020 that triggered the aesthetic to become widely popular as it helped residents to transform their isolation into a pleasant, even romantic, lockdown experience.
Cottage Core Interior Design
Within homes, and even in gardens, as seen with log cabins, residents are welcoming nature into their aesthetics. Alongside floral prints and natural colours, especially dark greens and blues, are antique furniture items, an absence of electronic devices, and an abundance of cosy fabrics. Instead of embracing the minimalism of previously popular Scandinavian designs, known for their sparse white and clean interiors, cottagecore homes are often tactfully and tastefully messy, imitating the casual abundance of rural homes. This means wicker baskets, patterns fabrics, dark woods, and shelves decorated with dried flowers.
This aesthetic is also associated with specific lifestyles and those who endeavour to redesign their homes with cottagecore furnishings and style will also typically embrace traditional activities, such as foraging, sewing, knitting, and baking bread. The tools used will often be those of previous generations too, as cottagecore enthusiasts seek the most authentic representation of a simple life. So, if you’re interested in sewing, you might also want to seek out an old, cast iron Singer machine too!
The Future of Cottagecore
Cottagecore, as with many aesthetics and interior designs, is often adopted and merged into other styles. For some, transforming an entire home into a rural cottage is too much of a compromise. Fortunately, the cottagecore is flexible and is seeing itself brought into homes in small ways too. For some, this is a floral statement wallpaper and, for others, it is the celebration of hessian and wicker across their furniture.
These additions don’t compromise a larger or more neutral aesthetic, while still adding the sense of a natural environment. And, because of this ease, it seems like some semblance of cottagecore will be around in many homes for years to come.
