You don’t have to live here to create some beach side cottage decor into your home; nor do you have to change all your decor to seashells & sand…just a few simple touches can take your home from spring into summer.

Take a look at this porch..

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It reminds me a great deal of our enclosed screened in porch except for the wall and trim colors…unlike the photo above, I chose a dark brown for the walls and window screens to cover the unsightly fly droppings that nevertheless occur when you live on a farm with livestock.  I didn’t want to be continually scrubbing the windowsills and walls daily so dark brown was a great choice for me.

Add some light-colored pillows…cheap painters cloth works great to recover pillows you already may own; or spice it up with some orange, key lime green, red & aqua.  Pick a color or colors that remind you of the beach or the water.

Growing up I didn’t get the chance to go to tropical beaches so when I think of waterside cottages I think of Pine Lake, Clear Lake, or Red Rock….even the waters at George Wyth near Waterloo, IA.

Whites don’t always have to be a key color…I think of the colors in tartan plaids, deer antlers, moss and even minnow buckets.  Love me some browns, silver, shades of  whites, greens and blues.  My summers were spent at cabins in the Midwest for our yearly summer vacations….usually Iowa, Wisconsin & Minnesota were the highlights of my summer.

Usually we spent the week in a tiny cramped cabin with my aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, brother, sister and of course my good ol’ mom & dad!  Sometimes it was a multi-room cottage and sometimes a very small cottage; but no matter what the size it was always FUN and full of such great MEMORIES.

I remember the year we got my great-grandmother Ann Penning into a tiny old silver fishing boat..she was quite elderly at the time and I remember we had to first get her down a HUGE flight of stairs that led to the dock and then into the boat…never a grumble she did make though…just happy to be going along with the family.  I am guessing at the time she was in her late 70′s early 80′s …not sure though?

I remember them looking something like this:

and I remember our cottages usually looked like a fishing shack/cottage similar to this:

although they were usually white or dark brown on the outside and the inside looked something like this:

and the views were AMAZING and usually like this:

Scatter in vignettes around your home some seashells from your vacations or if you don’t have any then make sure to pick some up at our barn sale next weekend!

We will have boat oars for you to make one of these:

and we will have a variety of straw hats for you too!

We will also have some white sand, wooden boxes & glass jars for you to recreate

a look similar to this:

Well that’s all for now…just a few ideas to get you started on your way to a beach cottage look…

hope you can join me next week for Little Prairie Girl’s June Barn Sale!

June 8 10-6

June 9 10-4

20428 160th Street

Holland, IA 50642

We are not in the town of Holland…we are north of Holland near the junction of Hwy 14 & Hwy 20.

When you drive north past The Mill Welcome Center on Hwy 14, you will want to take the first gravel road west which is 160th Street.  We are 2.5 miles down the gravel road…look for the signs and the big red barn with silo!

If you get lost call Kevin at 319-240-8541

Nicole at 515-450-0562

Natalie’s (last scenario) 319-240-5060

Can’t wait to see you soon and Happy Summer!

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Hugs,

Natalie