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    French Country Cottage
    French Country Cottage
    French Country Cottage
    Ebook280 pages1 hour

    French Country Cottage

    By Courtney Allison

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Discover design inspiration as a photographer and blogger details the story of her renovation of a 1940s cottage in the California countryside. 

    A little, abandoned vacation house that could, set in the center of rolling fields and trees becomes the cottage home of her dreams. A French country–style cottage filled with original elements and an exquisite mix of rustic and refined. The years of renovation allowed Courtney to create a lifestyle that is fueled by inspiration and beauty, a touch of whimsy, and an abundance of everyday elegance. The journey has been shared on her popular blog French Country Cottage, and now, through the publication of her first book, her readers will experience a reveal of more of her home and property and the inspirations behind her beloved style.

    Courtney's inspiring photography reveals every nuance of her style and home including a muted color palette, old brassy door knobs, chippy paint, antiques, her greenhouse and garden, and an abundance of entertaining and holiday decorating style. Blurring the lines between indoor and outdoor and embracing well-worn as well loved, French Country Cottage is a style that celebrates simplicity, indulges in romance, cherishes pieces with history and believes a chandelier and fresh flowers belong in every room.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateAug 14, 2018
    ISBN9781423648932
    French Country Cottage
    Author

    Courtney Allison

    A freelance photographer and author of the blog French Country Cottage, Courtney also works as an editor, brand ambassador and designer.  She has a floral collection with Balsam Hill and with several licensed collections launching in 2018 and 2019,  Courtney's product lines will join her long list of creative accomplishments.  Her photography and home has been featured in magazines in the US and Europe including several cover shots. Courtney is a mother of three and lives in her vintage cottage in the California countryside with her husband and adopted dog Sweet Pea; you can often find her with camera in hand capturing a whimsical moment.  

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      Book preview

      French Country Cottage - Courtney Allison

      Introduction

      A girl behind a curtain

      Photo of Cortney holding flowers.

      Ionce wrote a blog post about the girl behind the curtain.

      Like the powerful Wizard of Oz—who was full of confidence and made magic happen but behind that curtain facade was merely an ordinary man afraid to share his realness with the world—I share rooms, vignettes, simple DIY projects, and an occasional personal post on my blog French Country Cottage, though I haven’t always felt ready to share more about what was behind that curtain: a sometimes complicated, always dream-filled girl with her head in the clouds, who found inspiration everywhere and who saw things a little differently a lot of the time.

      I believe my love for all things sprinkled with a bit of whimsy and romance, and embracing that romantic style, started as far back as when I was a young girl in my childhood neighborhood. I grew up on a tree-lined street in Northern California that had houses set on spacious pieces of land filled with walnut orchards, overgrown shrubs, and an abundance of crickets chirping in the pond up the road. It was a slice of the countryside, though it was just a short walk to a busy East Bay downtown.

      In that neighborhood I first discovered my love of flowers, of home, and of the romance and fascination that a house and other things with history held. Down the road from our home was a historic mansion set in the middle of a large lawn behind tall iron gates. It made an impression upon me from a young age, and I remember wondering what was inside and what kind of stories it could tell. It wasn’t regal or perfect; it was crumbling a bit, but it inspired a love for original above new, and I fell in love with things that had history or a story.

      Always a creative type growing up, I was a daydreamer who longed for adventure, and after high school, I loaded my car with a couple of boxes and decided to explore a bit in search of a place where I belonged.

      I found myself pausing for work as I drove through a small town in Montana, and that first trip on the icy roads to my new job also led me to the man who would become my husband. The sweetest boy I had ever met, he took me bareback horse riding, and while watching those Montana sunsets, we fell in love. We bought a home and started a family, and after our first son was born, our travels took us to a farmhouse on 120 acres in the Midwest, where our second son and daughter were born. I loved the farm life there, with a big red barn and animals—a horse, chickens, and turkeys. It was idyllic, but I found myself missing family more than ever. We moved back to California, where not long after, we found this old cottage on acreage. And it was in this cottage that I would also find much of that fairytale life I had imagined.

      I have always been passionate about decorating and making a house a home, and I feel fortunate that I grew up in a house where imagination and reinvention played a huge part in our lives. My parents are both creative types in different ways, and I might be a literal mishmash of them. I remember watching my dad, a contractor and real estate agent, sketch floor plans and jot notes with his chunky yellow construction pencil while he dreamed up ways to change our home. He was always renovating something, always seeing a space for what it might become rather than what it was.

      My mother was creative with design in her own way, bringing home a zebra-print sofa with hot pink pillows, and regularly moving the furniture and redecorating. I honestly never knew what the house would look like when I got home from school each day—which, I have to admit, was kind of exciting. I was always eager to see how those pieces and the room would feel with everything shifted into a different light.

      Photo of pink settee with peonies.

      My grandparents were much the same. They moved to a small historic town when I was five years old and together designed and built a home, with my grandfather doing much of the work himself. It was another example for me of how listening to and curating that creative vision can bring what you imagine to life.

      Looking back now, I can see that some memories of my childhood home and growing up might have been the spark for my grown-up style. Some of the reimagining of spaces. The constant change in decor. The visions for what something could look like with a little bit of love rather than what was right in front of me. I think each of those things play a part in my style and how I look at rooms and homes today and are why I knew that this house was something that could be much more than it seemed at first glance.

      Where French Country Cottage Began

      It began in a 1940s cottage in California. It wasn’t the pretty storybook house that you might imagine a country cottage to be. It wasn’t charming—it wasn’t even livable when we first saw it. To be honest, the real estate agent told us to bulldoze it and build new on the acreage—that was where the value was. But in spite of it having been vandalized and forgotten for over sixty years, there was something about the house itself that we were strangely drawn to the very first time we pulled into the driveway. There was a feeling that this was perfect for our family and had the potential to be that charming cottage we longed for. From first glance, I envisioned my kids running through the yard, evenings by the fireplace, and a place where countless dreams and memories could be made.

      I saw Home.

      Of course, I also saw the work—and it was not for the faint of heart. It was a bit overwhelming, to be honest. There were broken windows in every room, ceilings that were nothing but open rafters looking into the attic, and a bathroom lacking even the basics for usability. There was much to do to even be able to move in, and then to renovate it to make it inviting. And our budget wasn’t mighty, which gave us a bit of pause. But in my heart, the energy of this house and property felt right. And so we took a chance.

      We replaced windows and siding, refinished hardwoods, and took out light bulbs hanging by wires and put crystal chandeliers in their place. Bit by bit, we

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