How To Enhance Cottage Features

We were blessed when we purchased Blackbird Cottage. Over the 150 years since the house was built the majority of the original features remained intact. But our cottage was definitely built on a budget and many cute cottage features were not part of the original building. I want to change that. I want to up the charm factor and enhance the cottage features in our home. And this is where we get to be really creative!

Stripping the Doors

One of the first ways I chose to enhance the cottage features in Blackbird Cottage was to strip the Huon Pine doors back to the original. The doors looked bland and plain before. Now they’re the hero of the hallway. Especially after we cleaned the original ceramic knobs and metal locks.

Stripping a door is a time-consuming and rather boring task. Our doors had five layers of paint and a dark stain on the bottom that was not easy to remove. But it is worth the effort to see them shine in the cottage.

Sanding the floorboards

Our floors are so old they are slabs of wood nailed to the floor joists. One way we decided to enhance this cottage feature was to have them sanded. It was such hard work we ended up hiring the job out to a professional. Sanding the floors has given them back their original charm and made the cottage feel cosier. To enhance the features of your cottage you could sand, whitewash or paint your floors.

Adding Skirting, Architraves and Trims

Because the house was built on a shoestring, it’s fairly devoid of pretty cottage details. To enhance the cottage charm, we are increasing the depth of the skirting boards from 18cm to 22cm. This will give the rooms a more elegant feel. You can do this without buying new skirting. Add a trim piece to the top and paint it all one colour. We opted for new skirting, however. It matches the architraves.

As you can see in the hall image above, the doors did not have trim. We added cedar trim to the doors and windows, to enhance the cottage features. To make this step easier, I purchased a set of square rosettes and added them to the corners. Not only did this allow me to have straight cuts but they enhance to the cottage feel.

We’re also planning to add chair rails and trim to the spaces that are not wallpapered. This will up the charm factor.

Exposing the chimneys

Many older homes have the chimneys covered over. I guess this was done to stop drafts and create a modern look. All the chimneys in our cottage had plasterboard over them. So another way we brought back the charm was to uncover, repair and then paint the exposed chimney breasts. This gives them a rustic cottage vibe. You could leave the brick exposed as well. We chose to paint ours.

Introducing cottage light fittings

One of the easiest ways to enhance the cottage features of the house was to add new light fittings. I’ve chosen varying different ones, all in pendant style. There was no such thing as a downlight in 1867. I also tried to pick lights with either a vintage or cosy feel.

Choosing traditional style wallpaper

This was a contentious choice. But when your partner walks into a room and utters ‘Wow’, and ‘that looks amazing,’ you know you’ve made the right one. Wrapping the walls in traditional style wallpaper of the time might not be what everyone wants to do. It’s certainly not a trend. But the walls were papered when we took possession. There were many many layers of paper. It seemed only right that we continue that tradition in an updated way.

Keeping the Original Ceilings

You have no idea how many people asked us if we were going to plasterboard over the biggest feature of this cottage. And the answer was always NO. Why would we? What we chose to do instead was to clean them, fill the gaps and apply a few coats of creamy paint to accentuate their beauty. If you have a feature like this you don’t hide it! You give it life.