THE LOVELY COTTAGE / FAQ

I hope you're all having a great week so far!  I so appreciate you giving me the space to disappear for a bit last week while I was in Mexico!  I was very present on instagram, but it was so nice to relax and take a break from staring at my laptop after months of working on the new site.  That said, I'm excited to be back at it!  For All Things Lovely had a 'The Lovely Cottage' page with answers to all of our most frequently asked questions.  Since the new site is going to have much more of a home focus, a lot of the content I share will fall under the new Living and Outdoor + Garden categories.  However, I wanted to post our FAQ's here so that it's easy to find information like what paint colors we used, the history of our home, our plants, etc.  If you ever need to refer back to this post, simply search 'FAQ' and it will find it for you!  Lastly, if you have any other questions about The Lovely Cottage that you would like for J and I to answer, simply comment them below and we'll add them to this post!Have a beautiful week, friends!- WHAT YEAR WAS YOUR HOME BUILT?

Our home was built in 1968 as a two bedroom, one bath.  When we purchased it in 2017, we added on an additional bedroom, bathroom, master closet, laundry room, hallway, and deck, adding about 1000 square feet to the property.  The Lovely Cottage sits on a .3 acre lot.

- HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR DECOR STYLE?

Since John and I got married so young (20 and 21), it took us a few years to really cultivate our own decor style.  A couple of years later and growing up a bit, we quickly realized that 'French Farmhouse' always spoke to our hearts.  J and I both love antiques, specifically french antiques, and started investing in 'forever' pieces for our home really early on.  We love to mix old + new and typically stay in the neutral realm when purchasing larger, staple pieces.  Since moving into the lovely cottage, the 'farmhouse' theme has really taken on a new meaning!  Our sweet chicks are part of our family and bring us so much joy each day.

- WHAT PAINT COLORS DID YOU USE THROUGHOUT THE COTTAGE?

Exterior Color: Sherwin Williams - High Reflective White (Satin)

Interior Wall Color: Behr - Polar Bear (Flat)

Interior Trim: Sherwin Williams - Extra White (Semi-Gloss)

Front Porch Floor + Front Door: Sherwin Williams - Charleston Green

Front Porch Ceiling: Sherwin Williams - St. Cecilia Charleston BlueBar Closet: Benjamin Moore - Black Forrest Green

- WHAT ARE YOUR STAPLE PLANTS FOR CREATING A COZY, INVITING YARD?

Yard work, planting, and pruning has always been something that J and I both take so much pride in.  When the weather is nice, we spend just as much time outside as we do in most days.  With that in mind, we were really intentional about creating an 'outdoor living' area that felt like an escape.  Every region is different, but here are a few of the plants we love + filled our yard with:

Teddy Magnolia TreeOak Leaf Hydrangea

Confederate Jasmine

Limelight HydrangeaEastern Snowball ViburnumChinese Snowball Viburnum

Creeping Fig Vine

Boxwood

YewLemon TreeGardenia

Ferns

Tuscan Blue RosemaryLenton RoseFrench Lavender

Eucalyptus

Climbing Rose Bush

Seafoam Camellia

Additionally, we have Fescue Grass in both our front and backyard.

- WHAT TYPE OF MARBLE DO YOU HAVE ON YOUR FIREPLACES?

On the existing fireplace in our living room, we completley renovated it and added a marble hearth.  For our bedroom fireplace, we did a complete marble surround (gas logs), as well as hearth.  Both marbles are Mont Blanc.

- TELL ME ABOUT THE MANTLE IN YOUR BEDROOM.

By far one of our most FAQ's!  While we were renovating, we unfortunately had to remove a really old, large oak from our backyard.  Our future plan/hope is to add a detached garage to that corner of our backyard, so it just made sense to go ahead and remove it while everything was a mess.  So it wouldn't be a complete loss, we saved a large branch of the tree and turned it into a mantle to go above our bedroom fireplace.  It brings such a natural, rustic element to our all-white space and serves as a sweet reminder of the tree that was original to our home.

- BEFORE AND AFTER OF YOUR LIVING ROOM FIREPLACE?

Probably my favorite thing in our entire home - here is the BEFORE and here is the AFTER.

Let us know below if there's anything else we can answer for you!  XX.