The Cottage Affair

"Leave everything behind. Go to the beach. It's time." The Cottage Affair how-to Guidebook is a story about planning the welcoming cottage. Award winning writer and international juried artist, Karen J Lee, combines an inviting approach to the arts and decor for the comfortable cottage lifestyle. Karen, an award-winning editor & publisher of magazines and online features, is partnered with PRNewswire.com for feature articles and stories. The features lead to contemporary trends, travel destinations, news in the arts, reviews of home decor, and top books. The features often include interviews with noted individuals and hosts of destinations. Karen is a graduate of University of Wisconsin - Green Bay, Bachelor's degree of creative writing and the arts. The palette of 'how to" introduces classic timeless ideas, with colors, textures and accents that motivate and inspire. Intertwined are travel destination art pieces, illustrated with more than 25 of Karen's paintings. Hunting for local treasures, choosing accessories to achieve a personal style, inspire the readers' creativity. For anyone who has longed to bring home a piece of vacation, or is looking for a favorite look for a bungalow, private retreat, cabin or renaissance abode, The Cottage Affair Guidebook points in the right direction. Readers, including home decorators, architectural planners, interior designers and design students, will embrace this handy classic keeper for reference. The book explores the love affair we have with cottages. Key areas include: design for fireplace gatherings, kitchens of joy, rustic details, seductive bedrooms, the ambiance of porches, mini garden of herbs, how to seek out weathered treasures, and more. Today, cottages are often small, cozy and have a welcoming presence. Historically, the originators of cottages were established on bodies of water: sea shores, rivers and lakes. While the roots of the distinctive style revert to early settlement days in New England, quaint styles have evolved over the years. From the English thatched cottage to stone cottages of Ireland, and terraced cottages built for mining workers or the agricultural farm workers. Other terms to describe the designs include: holiday cottages, cabins, chalets and vacation homes. What often entices so many to the cottage includes the ambiance of nostalgic distressed finishes, enchanting romance images, weathered leather, antique woods, worn plaids, tapestries and more. Beaten down paths, sensuous antiques of character, become an ongoing challenge, seeking all the right objects and art that reflect a personal style. The Cottage Affair Guidebook leads from room to room through the journey of refocusing home decorating to reflect the person(s) who you are - your history, your treasures. The author notes: I hope you enjoy your affair with the cottage lifestyle. Karen J Lee