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Cottagecore

Cottagecore Books: Classic Reads

January 7, 2021 Leave a Comment

The best of the best cottagecore books out there to give you all the cozy, pastoral vibes you could wish for.

If you’re familiar with the term cottagecore, chances are you’re on the youngish side – maybe in your teens, twenties, or thirties. (But if not, welcome!) You dream of a sweet little cottage in the countryside where you’ll tend chickens and bees and a bountiful vegetable garden. You’ll wear sustainably sourced linen dresses and grow cheery flowers and make your own cheese. The world will take on a rosy tinge.

But unfortunately, you’re on the youngish-side, which means that owning that kind of property may currently seem impossible in this dystopian, capitalist hellscape created by exploitative baby boomers *ahem* stage of life.

Well, I’m here to help. If you want to dive right into the cottagecore lifestyle, housing circumstances be damned, you’re in just the right place. Each week I share guidance on apartment gardening, homestyle cooking, and old-fashioned living. You don’t need a cottage to live a cottagecore life.

But dreaming is lovely too. No matter where you are in life, these cottagecore books will transport you to that old-fashioned life you imagine.

And before we begin, just a note that enjoying these books means leaving some of their old-fashioned values behind. I want you to make an informed reading choice. So whenever there are racist or otherwise problematic parts I try to mention them. It’s been a while since I’ve read some of these books, so please remind me in the comments of any issues I’ve failed to mention. And beyond that, as a collection of classics, this is a very white reading list. If you have any diverse suggestions, I’d love to add them too. I’ll be covering more recent cottagecore books next week.

And with that, I hope you enjoy these cottagecore classics.

Classic Children’s Cottagecore Books

THE SECRET GARDEN

Cottagecore Books The Secret Garden

After the death of her parents, Mary Lennox moves into her uncle’s enormous house in England. Neglected and lonely, Mary seeks refuge outdoors. Inside the walls of a hidden garden, she finds friendship and meaning. It’s the cottagecore philosophy come to life.

The book unfortunately includes several horribly racist passages, particularly in describing India and Indian

Black Beauty

Black Beauty

Since most cottagecore fans started out as horse girls, chances are good that you read this as a child, along with The Black Stallion and everything Marguerite Henry had to offer. It’s the “autobiographical” story of a horse, beginning with his idyllic early years on a farm, through years of abuse in London, and back once more to the English countryside. Like many 19th century bestsellers, this book helped inspire social and political change, in this case supporting animal welfare.

The Wind in the Willows

Cottagecore Books The Wind in the Willows

This children’s novel, first published in 1908, tells the story of friends Mole, Mr. Toad, Rat, and Badger. The animals have adventures rowing boats on the River Thames, exploring the Wild Wood, and driving motorcars in the English countryside. It’s an idyllic, pastoral, anthropomorphized version of England, and it’s utterly charming.

* There’s no outright racism in these stories, but there is some arguably racist coded language. 

Heidi

Cottagecore Books Heidi

Published by Swiss author Johanna Spyri in 1881, Heidi tells the story of a young girl who lives with her kindly but reclusive grandfather in the Swiss Alps. It was one of my earliest introductions to cottagecore books. It also convinced me as a child that goat’s milk must be the most delicious drink imaginable. 

The Little House Series

Cottagecore Books Little House

I read several of the Little House books at random as a child, and my most vivid memories of them are the descriptions of traditional work – boiling lye soap over a fire, making molasses candy in the snow, and putting every part of a butchered animal to use. I’ve been rereading them this year, and those descriptions are still the most fascinating part.

* The Little House has received scrutiny in recent years for its overtly racist language. Many characters, especially Ma, express racism, both casual and violent, toward Native Americans. And Little House on the Prairie even includes the line “The only good Indian is a dead Indian.”

It’s worth noting too that later in the series with Alonzo and Laura start courting, he’s 25 and she’s 15, which weirds me out even in a historical context.

Classic Young Adult Cottagecore Books

Anne of Green Gables

Cottagecore Books Anne of Green Gables

An absolute classic that I’m sure appears on every list of cottagecore books. The Cuthbert siblings, stern Marilla and shy Matthew, accidentally adopt 12-year-old orphan Anne Shirley. Anne’s vivid imagination and her passionate love for nature’s beauties quickly win over the Cuthberts. And they’ll win you over too. There are eight lovely books in this series, so don’t stop after number 3!

I’ve been rereading the entire series this year, and it’s been such a refuge from the darkness of 2020.

An Old-Fashioned Girl

An Old-Fashioned Girl

Little Women gets a lot of love, as it should – it’s my favorite book, after all! But I’ve made it my personal mission to introduce more people to this lesser-known Alcott classic. Polly Milton visits her wealthy friends in the city, who tease her for her old-fashioned country ways. Polly stands her ground, though, making cottagecore cool long before anyone had heard of it. 

Better yet, this book as the perfect love story for anyone who thinks Jo should have married Laurie.

A Girl of the Limberlost

A Girl of the Limberlost

It’s the early 1900s, and Elnora Comstock is about to start her freshman year of high school. Her wealthy classmates tease her; her coldhearted mother rejects her; but Elnora keeps working, learning, and collecting rare insects in the Limberlost wilds around her home. Gene Stratton-Porter wrote the series partly in protest of the logging, oil extraction, and swamp draining that were permanently altering Indiana’s natural landscape at the time. Her descriptions of nature are wonderful.

Though I don’t find the writing in this series as strong as the Green Gables series, anyone who loves Anne is likely to enjoy The Girl of the Limberlost, along with its companions, Freckles and Laddie.

I Capture the Castle

I Capture the Castle

Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain, lives with her family in a crumbling English castle in the 1930s. Her father is a formerly acclaimed novelist dealing with his twelfth year of writer’s block, while Cassandra dreams of writing a novel of her own. She fills notebooks with funny and insightful journal entries, which are a delight to read.

Little Women

Little Women

Little Women has been my favorite book since I first read it at age 12. It’s funny in some ways that this feels like a cottagecore novel, since it’s set in the city of Concord Massachusetts, just 20 miles from Boston. But Little Women preaches cottagecore values of hard work, feminism, simple living, kindness, and always having kittens around. And the 2020 film adaptation perfectly captures cottagecore aesthetics. The knitwear! The flower crowns! The candlesticks!

Adult Classic Cottagecore Books

Far from the Madding Crowd

Far from the Madding Crowd

Life is looking up for Gabriel Oak, who has just leased a farm when beautiful neighbor Bathsheba Everdene moves in. But Bathsheba’s lack of enthusiasm for Gabriel, coupled with a dog’s excessive enthusiasm for herding sheep, bring Gabriel’s hopes crashing down. Bathsheba, meanwhile, inherits an extensive farm of her own and runs it with a proficiency that shock her Victorian neighbors. There’s love, lust, broken hearts, abusive relationships, worthless men, and tragedy along the way (it’s a Thomas Hardy novel, after all), and the only thing outshining Bathsheba and Gabriel as characters is the English countryside.

Wives and Daughters

Wives and Daughters

Molly Gibson is the only daughter of a widowed small town doctor in 1830s England. This is a long, but lovely book. However, you need to go into it knowing Elizabeth Gaskell died shortly before finishing it. So you’ll end up deeply unsatisfied until you watch the BBC miniseries.

The Blue Castle

Cottagecore Classic Books The Blue Castle

Anne of Green Gables fans, if you haven’t read The Blue Castle yet, it’s probably the first cottagecore book on this list you should read. 29-nine year-old Valancy Stirling, an “old maid,” endures lifes with her cruel extended family. After a shocking medical diagnosis, she decides she’s had enough with being respectable. It’s sweet and romantic in that endearing Lucy Maud Montgomery style.

Best Cottagecore Books Pinterest

Next week I’ll be back with more great cottagecore books, focusing on more recent reads. And be on the lookout for an upcoming list on the best cottage witch novels!

Tagged With: Books, Cottagecore, Old-fashioned Living

Cottagecore Apartment Style

October 5, 2020 Leave a Comment

Want to add cozy, old-fashioned charm to your rented living space, but not sure how to do it? Use the following tips to create the cottagecore apartment of your dreams.

Cottagecore Apartment Style: How to Add Cozy, Old-Fashioned Charm to your living space.

More than ever before, the year has left us longing for a simpler time. Modern life brings so much anxiety and uncertainty into our lives. Moreover, bustling cities can feel downright scary in the middle of a global pandemic.

As a result, gen z and millennials are longing for a cozy life in the countryside. Now, this has been my dream for more than a decade now, but, like many of you, I’m still living in an apartment, unable to afford the land and cottage I dream of.

But the best part of simple living is that it’s available to everyone. While you may not be able to live just where and how you want, today’s the day to start your cottagecore life. If you’d like to learn more about homestyle cooking, apartment gardening, and old-fashioned living, please join me in the apartment homesteading project.

For today, though, let’s talk about cottagecore style. Though apartments and dorms can feel pretty cookie cutter, yours doesn’t have to! Incoporate the following tips to create the cozy, cottagecore apartment you’ve been dreaming of.

Cottagecore Aesthetic Essentials

Antiques and vintage items

Antiques add old-fashioned charm to your cottagecore apartment style.

Cottagecore has alternately been dubbed “grandmacore” for good reason. Visit estate sales, antique stores, and thrift stores for unique, homey, and gorgeous finds. Not only will you find items that add the perfect ambience to your space, but you’ll be embracing sustainability, a key cottagecore tenant.

Plants

Plants are a cottagecore aesthetic essential in apartments and homes.

You may not have a full orchard and gardens yet, but that doesn’t mean you can’t start developing your green thumb now. Grow a few herbs in a sunny windowsill, love on those houseplants, arrange a bouquet of flowers, and hang some drying flowers or herbs from a curtain rod or wall hooks, using a bit of twine or string.

If your cottagecore style leans farmhouse, you might like this herb planter. If you prefer a boho look, hanging planters are a great option. And if you like something a little more traditional, this trio of ceramic planters might be for you.

Mood lighting

Lamps, fairy lights, and candles all create pockets of coziness throughout your apartment, an essential for cottagecore apartment style.

If you were living in a cottage in the nineteenth century, you would have relied on candles or kerosene lamps to light your way in the darkness. Admittedly, you wouldn’t have had electricity either, but you don’t need that level of commitment to recreate a cozy, old-fashioned lighting effect in your modern home. 

Though, if you’re like me, you might find beeswax candles on an old-fashioned candlestick holder appealing

Lamps, fairy lights, and candles can all create pockets of coziness throughout your apartment. So consider where you like spending time, and see if you can add a little visual warmth with accent lighting. Then turn off those bright overhead lights and enjoy the calming, sleepiness-inducing effect of reading by a single light in a dark room.

Visible kitchenware

If you're going for a cottagecore apartmnet look, bring some cooking equipment and ingredients out into the open on shelves or the countertop. Pretty jars and a cohesive color things keep things looking tidy.

Built in, wall-to-wall cabinets weren’t a standard home feature until well into the 20th century. Kitchens were designed for utility, and, while an uncluttered space might look nice, it’s pretty tedious to have to dig through overstuffed cupboards every time you need a spatula or flour.

As a result, I’d encourage you to bring your most-used kitchen supplies out into the open. Keep a jar or crock near the stove top full of the large utensils you need with most recipes – things like spatulas, mixing spoons, ladles, and tongs. Buy pretty jars for pantry staples like flour, sugar, oatmeal, and brown sugar, and then keep those jars on your countertop. It looks beautiful. Even better, I promise the ease of access will make you more likely to cook.

I’ve already started buying the anchor hocking jars linked in the last paragraph, and I love them, but if I were starting over, I’d consider these gorgeous, airtight containers instead:

Soft, cozy textures

Focus on comfort, not just cottagecore aesthetics. A variety of cozy textures, including blankets, furniture, towels, and bedding, will make your apartment more welcoming.

While cottagecore is heavily visual aesthetics driven, it’s also known as “cozycore” for a reason. Make your apartment comfortable, not just cute.

While you may not have a lot of control over the furniture in your apartment as a renter, a few added details can make all the difference. Cozy things up with a downy comforter, soft pillows, plush throws, and fluffy towels.

Cottagecore Apartment Design

Farm and woodland animal motifs

Bring the woodlands indoors with forest and farm animal motifs in your cottagecore apartment.

Along with plants, animal motifs can add a little woodland charm to any cottagecore apartment. The cottagecore aesthetic is heavily influenced by French Country and especially English Country style. As a result the animals most seen in cottagecore decor include western European forest and farm animals like foxes, owls, rabbits, sheep, horses, and honeybees (my personal favorite). Feel free to experiment with animals that feel familiar to you, though!

Here are a few favorites:

I have these adorable honeybee magnets on my fridge, and they make me smile every time I grab a snack.

Natural, muted colors

Now, if you love bold colors, go for it, but many cottagecore apartments and houses feature softer hues – chambray blues, sage greens, dusty rose pinks, and faded yellows. These colors are both commonly found in nature and easily created from natural dyes. As a result, people of all income levels have decorated their homes in these shades throughout history, so they’re a natural fit for a timeless interior.

Timeless patterns

Use timeless patterns like strips, gingham, eyelet, toile, and florals in your cottagecore apartment.

Since you’re going for a timeless, cozy style in your cottagecore apartment, consider the types of patterns and prints you’d see in a wide variety of time periods. Stripes, gingham (though I think we’re all a little over the black and white buffalo check variant), eyelet, toile, and especially calico prints all come to mind. Incorporate them in bedding, decorative pillows and throws, curtains, and knickknacks throughout your apartment.

Cottagecore Apartment Accessories

Vintage (or vintage style) books

Vintage books add a friendly lived-in appeal to your cottagecore apartment style

For me, books are one of the very best decorative items. They add warmth and a lived in charm to any apartment or home. I’m a sucker for leatherbound books, like those from Easton press or even Barnes and Noble.

But you don’t need to spend a fortune here. I have an ever-growing collection of leatherbound classics, but I’ve never paid more than $15 for any of them. As is the case for so many items on this list, thrift stores are a cottagecore lover’s best friend.

And be sure to hit up any used book stores in your area too.

Handcrafted items

Developing your cottagecore apartment style means its time to get crafting! Or at least purchasing handmade items from local artisans. Look online or to local craft fairs to find beautiful, one-of-a-kind old-fashioned items.

Framed embroidery, hand-knitted blankets, homemade quilts, and original paintings or prints all have a place in the cottagecore apartment. To find these items, check facebook for local art and craft fairs in your area. In Utah County, where I live, I make sure to visit the Beehive Bazaar each time it happens, and I always come home with a much-loved item or two. My most recent finds include a birdfeeder made from a mason jar and vintage china, and a gorgeous painting from Lovetta Reyes Cairo. Doesn’t it remind you of Renaissance art, especially something DaVinci would create?

If you don’t have frequent art fairs in your area, Etsy is a great alternative. Though handmade items tend to cost a little more than the mass-produced alternatives you’d find in a big box store, you’ll love the handmade items more. And it feels great to know that your money goes directly to an artist’s livelihood, rather than to a faceless and potentially exploitative corporation.

Quality over quantity should be our goal.

Artwork and photograph gallery walls

As a young adult living in an apartment, art, especially original art, can prove WAY too expensive. And the same goes for custom frames. One way I’ve found around this is in creating gallery walls. Instead of shelling out hundreds of dollars for a big piece of art and a frame to go with it, invest in a variety of smaller items that you really love. In particular, look for these items at thrift stores, and you’ll find it’s easy to build up a collection inexpensively.

Better yet, you’ll come away with something far more unique and personal than those mass-produced Hobby Lobby items (though I’ve got a few of those items in my home too – no judgement here!).

Vintage prints and original artwork add class and interest to your cottagecore apartment style. A collage-style gallery wall adds vintage flair.

Currently, I have an art and photo gallery wall in the works in my bedroom, and I’m excited to share the results. Ultimately, It will feature paintings and prints, a few antiques, and photographs of my ancestors. The items and their frames don’t necessarily match perfectly, but that’s the fun of a gallery wall! As long as you incorporate a few repeating colors and materials, a wide variety of items can go together

In the end, cottagecore is country style for a new generation, and inclusiveness is a major part of its appeal. If any of these tips don’t speak to you, throw them out! Making a space you love is the number one rule of cottagecore design.

Remember, vintage style, not vintage values!

Enjoy that cozy, cottagecore life!

Cottagecore Apartment Style: How to add cozy, old-fashioned charm to your rental or condo.

Tagged With: Cottagecore, Cottagecore Apartment, Cottagecore Decor, Old-fashioned Living

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About The Apartment Homestead

Hello, friends! I'm Shaina, a container-gardening, small batch-canning, apartment-dwelling homesteader. I'm here to help you achieve your homesteading dreams, whether you've got the homestead or not!
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