There is a sweet brown salt box building just off of Queen Street in Lakefield, Ontario. Past the good eats of Nuttshell Next Door and almost across from The Little Market, a gourmands paradise, you will find The Stony Lake Furniture Company. You are plum in the middle of cottage country – Kawartha style.
The lovely Lisa Besseling, designer, owner and buyer extraordinaire of this cottagers haven is sharing bits of her cottage wisdom with us on what is current in cottage design and what the seasons must haves are.
The cottage design trend is as it has always been – eclectic and undone, suggests Besseling. She describes her favorite lakeside retreats as ‘undecorated’ and I get it. Design can get contrived when it is too controlled and cottage design is most successful when it is anything but. Resist the need to match.
Go Light
“I’m currently loving light wood – people have leaned dark for so long that I think we have forgotten how lovely light woods can be,” says Besseling.
Here, here! Lighter woods have a bit of a bad rap many thanks to the ambered pine that defined cottage design for eons, leading us so far to the dark side. But on the other side of pine is lighter still – blond, that is. Consider poplar, oak (if the grain throws you, look at quarter-sawn) or maple. Lovely.
The Spindle-back Chair
Leave it to the Scandinavians to re-invent the iconic spindle-back – a cottage main-stay. Besseling loves the scale and finish of this offering courtesy of Lina Nordqvist. I can see them partnered with dining benches for maximum bums per square foot around a table. These are definitely heirlooms to be.
Happy Hour
Who isn’t looking for new ways to carry and serve drinks at the cottage? It is part of the culture after all. “I love the look of an eclectic table-scape for a part or wedding,” says Besseling. I’ll have what she’s having. But will do so responsibly.
Seriously Red
Red is like an exclamation mark in design when it is used as a bright, unexpected pop. And it is always welcome at the cottage. But consider it less with its compliment and more with browns and blues. “A splash of red always works,” says Besseling.
Eco-Chic
There is something organic and rootsy about these cottage table linens. How green to have linen napkins dockside. “Love these ‘EAT’ linens,” gushes Besseling. “And I think I would love them even more after they are used, washed and a little wrinkled. Who has the time to iron at the lake?” Or anywhere for that matter.