Stalking little country cottages

Stalking today in the little country town of Woodend, Victoria. A sweet cottage overflowing with period features. So cute you want to pinch its cheeks and tell it how pretty it is. Pressed metal, tongue and groove walls, honey coloured pine floors marry with a relaxed and shabby modern country look. Perfect for a weekender away from the madding crowd of Melbourne and a short drive to the mountains or perhaps a picnic at Hanging Rock. Rose Cottage (built in 1905) has just one more feature you'll need for when I come to visit. A separate studio. I promise I won't bother you except at meal times. Link here while it lasts.

P.S. Blog friend Tricia Rose of Rough Linen is a finalist in the Martha Stewart American Made Awards. Her beautiful, handmade linen sheets and duvets are one little luxury everyone should have in their life. You can vote for her here. What does this have to do with the cute Woodend cottage? Nothing ... except I would want to re-zhush the bedrooms if they were mine and Tricia's Rough Linen would be perfect.

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A metallic country house

My brother-in-law Dave sent me a link to this house the other day and I was really taken by this house and had to share it. It's not every day you come across a metallic home built in the middle of the woods. The homeowners wanted an escape from their city apartment here in Millerton, New York that would eventually become their primary residence. They were pretty open about the design but wanted a detached cottage or guest house that could accommodate their visiting elderly parents and be available to rent out on a nightly basis at their discretion to help with costs. Architects Grzywinski + Pons paid special attention to sightlines, exposures, seasonal variations in the quality and direction of light and the flow and integration of interior and exterior spaces and focused on making the home very sustainable and energy efficient. The exterior is clad in high albedo mill finish aluminum which was chosen to "amplify the progression of hues both throughout the day and throughout the seasons". So basically the house reflects its surroundings. That is REALLY cool. 

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A trip...and a cottage

When this post publishes, I will be on a plane to Las Vegas. An odd destination this time of year considering it's obscenely hot in Nevada, but I was given the opportunity to spend a few days there thanks to Traditional Home magazine. I'll be  taking part in some festivities at the Las Vegas Market show (#LVMkt) with a handful of other bloggers - including a "treasure hunt" (which you can likely follow via our Facebook page #LVMTHTH). FUN!!! Anyhoo, I'll have a few posts set up in my absence, and in the meantime here is a cottage in the UK that's mostly shabby chic, kinda Scandinavian, and just a whole lotta cuteness! Via Heart Home mag. 

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Sunset cabin

Toronto based Taylor Smyth Architects create poetry or so they say. Buildings relate intimately to their surroundings, embracing the site, celebrating the vista. The Sunset Cabin at Lake Simco, Ontario is a simple building and simply beautiful. A one bedroom cabin, a private retreat in the woods, a bunkie, a getaway that looks to the setting sun for inspiration.

A little bit of country on a Sunday

I was poking around homelife, one of my favourite Australian websites that combines content from Inside Out and Country Style magazines, and came across two homes that really caught my attention. This first one is the home of stylist Jane Frosh and her family. It is a little bit of country with a very cool vintage industrial vibe that I always love. And holy smokes it's got a caravan for guests (called Carrie) and a treehouse. (All photos by Sharyn Cairns)

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