Skip to content

Top Navigation

Southern Living Southern Living
  • Food and Recipes
  • Culture and Lifestyle
  • Style
  • Holidays & Occasions
  • Home
  • Gardening Ideas
  • News
  • Video

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Logout

More

  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living Books this link opens in a new tab
Login
Subscribe
Pin FB

Explore Southern Living

Southern Living Southern Living
  • Explore

    Explore

    • The Best New Haircuts to Try in 2022

      The Best New Haircuts to Try in 2022

      Here are the haircuts you'll be seeing everywhere this year. Read More
    • How To Season A Cast-Iron Skillet

      How To Season A Cast-Iron Skillet

      Learn how to season this Southern kitchen staple in five easy steps. Read More
    • 50 Thoughtful Messages for a Meaningful Thank You Note

      50 Thoughtful Messages for a Meaningful Thank You Note

      Not sure what to write in a thank you card? Here's how to show your gratitude with a handwritten note. Read More
  • Food and Recipes

    Food and Recipes

    See All Food and Recipes
    4 Easy Ways to Tell if an Egg Has Gone Bad

    4 Easy Ways to Tell if an Egg Has Gone Bad

    It’s not all in the senses, but they sure can help.
    • Recipes
    • Quick and Easy Dinner
    • Kitchen Assistant
    • Casserole
    • Holiday and Occasion Food
    • Slow Cooker Recipes
    • Desserts
    • Healthy and Light
    • Side Dishes
    • Party Food and Drink
    • Appetizers
    • Meat
    • Breakfast
    • BBQ
    • Drinks
    • What's Cooking
  • Culture and Lifestyle

    Culture and Lifestyle

    See All Culture and Lifestyle
    70 Cute and Funny Nicknames For Your Best Friends

    70 Cute and Funny Nicknames For Your Best Friends

    Let your besties know how much they mean to you with these unique nicknames.
    • Quotes and Sayings
    • Biscuits and Jam Podcast
    • Travel
    • Pets
    • Healthy Living
    • Coastal Living
  • Style

    Style

    See All Style
    The Coziest Winter Nail Colors for January 2022

    The Coziest Winter Nail Colors for January 2022

    The beginning of a new year often has us all feeling like starting off fresh by taking on better habits, getting rid of old ones, and—most commonly—changing up our look. While others are hitting the squats and going into the salon for a pixie cut, why not start slow and steady with a cozy winter manicure in a color that feels new to you? It takes only a little courage to step outside your usual OPI Lincoln Park After Dark or Essie Bordeaux, which is all you need to kick 2022 off on a fanciful foot.  From new wintry takes on classic dark nail colors to unique pops of color that'll have you feeling the opposite of boring, these are the best nail colors to try this January and tick off all the way into spring. 
    • Beauty
    • Hair
    • Fashion
    • Short Hairstyles
    • Nails
    • Medium Hairstyles
    • Skincare
    • Long Hairstyles
  • Holidays & Occasions

    Holidays & Occasions

    See All Holidays & Occasions
    • Thanksgiving
    • Gifts
    • Christmas
    • Mother's Day
    • Hanukkah
    • New Year's
    • Easter
    • Mardi Gras
    • 4th of July
    • Weddings
  • Home

    Home

    See All Home
    16 Kitchen Design Trends Southern Designers Predict Will Be Everywhere in 2022

    16 Kitchen Design Trends Southern Designers Predict Will Be Everywhere in 2022

    There's no denying how the pandemic fundamentally changed the world—including how we live (and work) inside our homes. An overall trend toward celebrating the history and originality of our homes is displacing ultramodern aesthetics and sharp lines as we all look to create cozier, colorful, more personalized spaces that better suit our lifestyles. We're turning away from big-box stores and toward vintage items—first, out of necessity due to supply-chain issues, and now, for design reasons—to add charm and character to every room in the house, including the kitchen. Here, interior designers from around the South share their predictions for what's trending in kitchen design for 2022 and beyond.
    • Home Decor Ideas
    • Idea Houses
    • Kitchen Design
    • Before & After Photos
    • Bathroom Design
    • Curb Appeal
    • Bedroom Design
    • DIY Home Decor
    • Color Palettes & Paint
    • House Plans & Builders
    • Inspired Communities
  • Gardening Ideas

    Gardening Ideas

    See All Gardening Ideas
    If You Keep Finding Ladybugs in Your House, Here's What You Need to Know

    If You Keep Finding Ladybugs in Your House, Here's What You Need to Know

    Plus a few strategies for keeping them out-of-doors
    • Container Gardening
    • Gardening Flowers
    • Fruit, Vegetable & Herb Gardens
    • Garden Pests
    • Plant Guides A-Z
    • Indoor Plants
    • Fall Plants
    • Landscaping Ideas
    • The Grumpy Gardener
  • News

    News

    See All News
    • Celebrities
    • Local News
  • Video

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Logout

More

  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living Books this link opens in a new tab
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Southern Living
  2. Home
  3. Home Decor Ideas
  4. See How One Designer Moved Back Home to Build Her Dream Cottage

See How One Designer Moved Back Home to Build Her Dream Cottage

Valerie Rains
By Valerie Rains
Each product we feature has been independently selected and reviewed by our editorial team. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission.
Skip gallery slides
FB
Anna Braund White Cottage Exterior
Credit: Laurey W. Glenn

Anna Braund never intended to build a home from scratch in Roswell, a charming time capsule of a town with a wealth of antebellum buildings dating to its founding as a cotton-mill village in the late 1830s. After all, she'd bought a ranch-style house on an oak-lined property in the historic district that had everything she wanted in a home: namely, a floor plan conducive to entertaining and a location within walking distance of shops and restaurants. After Braund hired local architect Lew Oliver to draft the renovation plans, the team discovered some unforeseen issues that would call for a ground-up rebuild. "When you're building in a place like Roswell that has so much history and character, you want to create something with soul that's in keeping with the area," says Braund, an interior designer who hails from the town originally.

Start Slideshow

1 of 13

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message Print

Curb Appeal

Anna Braund White Cottage Exterior
Credit: Laurey W. Glenn

Oliver switched tracks, embarking on a new design to incorporate the best elements of the local architectural traditions—a modest footprint, high ceilings and doorways, large porches with paired columns, and a symmetrical composition with a trio of French doors in front—but with a modern twist. He traded the closed-off, narrow rooms of the past for an open-plan kitchen and dining room (for more fluid entertaining) and chose wider windows than those in Roswell's older homes to bring in more natural light. (In the age of air-conditioning, abundant sunshine is no longer such a negative.)

The inspiration for architect Lew Oliver's 2,500-square-foot design? The property's classic white barn (shown in the background above), which is now used as a potting shed. See a similar house plan (with a fourth bedroom!) by Oliver here.

1 of 13

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 13

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message Print

Gather Outdoors

Anna Braund White Cottage Back Porch
Credit: Laurey W. Glenn

Braund sees porches as extensions of indoor spaces. In light of that, architect Lew Oliver designed her front and back porches with generous dimensions—both are 10 feet deep. "This size creates a whole other space—not a pass-through area but a sit-and-linger room," Braund says.

2 of 13

3 of 13

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message Print

Light and Open

Anna Braund Cottage Open Kitchen and Dining Room
Credit: Laurey W. Glenn

An open floor plan that bridges the kitchen, dining area, and living room has become a must-have for modern life. "We wanted to create harmonious movement throughout the space so the whole home can be used, not just parts of it," Braund says. A vaulted, beamed ceiling defines the dining area. Rather than sourcing reclaimed beams, she used new cedar beams to achieve the same look more easily and less expensively.

3 of 13

Advertisement

4 of 13

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message Print

Keep Things Simple

Anna Braund White Cottage Kitchen
Credit: Laurey W. Glenn

"When you work with a palette of beautiful raw materials, they speak for themselves—you don't need a lot of color," says Oliver, who used wood floors and soapstone countertops.

4 of 13

5 of 13

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message Print

The Echo Effect

Anna Braund White Cottage Living Room
Credit: Laurey W. Glenn

An open-plan home calls for a holistic decor approach. "Just like you would repeat a certain color in a room to bring continuity, I repeated certain design elements throughout the house to make it cohesive," Braund explains. Most notably, she carried over the kitchen's walnut shelving into the living room, while the fuss-free plaster treatment above the kitchen vent hood mimics the style and texture of the fireplace surround. Benjamin Moore's Swiss Coffee (OC-45) covers almost every one of Braund's interior walls.

5 of 13

6 of 13

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message Print

Play Up the Personal

Anna Braund White Cottage Dining Room
Credit: Laurey W. Glenn

The decor centers around personal touches and down-to-earth materials. "I'm drawn to things that feel real and straightforward and honest; I don't like a lot of fuss," Braund says. "All the attributes I admire in people, I seek out in objects as well. We should surround ourselves with things that reflect our values." Fittingly, every piece of art featured in her home was made by a close friend, and sentimental collections of family heirlooms figure prominently. The rattan dining chairs around her table are the same ones she grew up sitting on as a kid in her parents' home.

6 of 13

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 13

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message Print

Sneaky Storage

Anna Braund White Cottage Bookshelf
Credit: Laurey W. Glenn

In a house with a narrow floor plan and no basement, maximizing storage space is key. "I read a lot, so we put built-in shelving anywhere we could—in just about any niche and corner we could find," says Braund. One particularly novel application of the idea? The "secret" door to the crawl space beneath the stairs doubles as a movable bookcase.

7 of 13

8 of 13

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message Print

Downsize Bedrooms

Anna Braund White Cottage Master Bedroom
Credit: Laurey W. Glenn

"I love a small bedroom. I see it as a cocoon," Braund explains. High ceilings, tall windows, and white walls achieve an effect that's comforting, not claustrophobic. She also hews to the rule that in a smaller space, less decor is more.

Calculated Measures

Even designers don't get to have everything they want in their own homes. The question becomes how to get something with character on a budget. Here's where Braund went big—and where she scrimped.

8 of 13

9 of 13

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message Print

#1

Anna Braund White Cottage Bar Cart
Credit: Laurey W. Glenn

In lieu of a custom built-in, she put her great-grandfather's old chest to work as a butler's pantry in the hallway.

9 of 13

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

10 of 13

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message Print

#2

Anna Braund White Cottage Master Bathroom
Credit: Laurey W. Glenn

Though enamored of pricey unlacquered brass, she opted for more affordable alternatives from The Home Depot, like Delta's Champagne Bronze-finish faucets and Martha Stewart Living's Bedford Brass Awning Cup Pulls ($4.49 each).

10 of 13

11 of 13

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message Print

#3

Anna Braund White Cottage Bedroom
Credit: Laurey W. Glenn

Simple white linen Roman shades provide privacy without as much fabric (or as hefty a price tag) as curtains.

11 of 13

12 of 13

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message Print

#4

Anna Braund White Cottage Powder Room
Credit: Laurey W. Glenn

To ensure her powder room makes a big impression on guests, Braund selected an antique mirror and sconces. "You can always take special lighting with you if you move," she says.

12 of 13

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

13 of 13

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message Print

#5

Anna Braund White Cottage Kitchen Open Shelves
Credit: Laurey W. Glenn

"We wanted walnut shelving in the kitchen, but solid walnut shelves are very expensive," she says. "Instead, we did a veneer, which brought in warmth but saved a lot on the price."

13 of 13

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Valerie Rains

    Share the Gallery

    Pinterest Facebook
    Trending Videos
    Advertisement
    Skip slide summaries

    Everything in This Slideshow

    Advertisement

    View All

    1 of 13 Curb Appeal
    2 of 13 Gather Outdoors
    3 of 13 Light and Open
    4 of 13 Keep Things Simple
    5 of 13 The Echo Effect
    6 of 13 Play Up the Personal
    7 of 13 Sneaky Storage
    8 of 13 Downsize Bedrooms
    9 of 13 #1
    10 of 13 #2
    11 of 13 #3
    12 of 13 #4
    13 of 13 #5

    Share & More

    Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message Print
    Southern Living

    Magazines & More

    Learn More

    • About Us
    • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
    • Books from Southern Living
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
    • Accolades this link opens in a new tab

    Connect

    Follow Us
    Subscribe to Our Newsletter
    MeredithSouthern Living is part of the Meredith Home Group. © Copyright 2022 Meredith Corporation. Southern Living is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporationthis link opens in a new tab All Rights Reserved. Southern Living may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
    © Copyright Southern Living. All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.southernliving.com

    Sign in

    View image

    See How One Designer Moved Back Home to Build Her Dream Cottage
    this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.