Cynthia's Comfortable and Beautiful Cottage

I love the photo tours of homes that I see posted on Apartment Therapy and Decor8. But so far, the tours I've seen are of tiny apartments designed for couples. Gorgeous. But hard for me to take specific ideas from because they're not always family friendly.

It seems like every parent I talk to has the same desires and dilemmas concerning their home. They want the lovely and picturesque or sleek and stylish, but run up against so many challenges — the two biggest being: 1) that it's hard to own nice things with kids in the house, and 2) that a family space generally involves more square footage — and that's more walls, floors and surfaces to design and decorate and make decisions about. More rooms = more overwhelming.

My multi-talented friend Cynthia, a mother of 2, is a master at making a beautiful home for her family. She's done it in a tiny apartment, a big apartment, a big home and a small cottage. She has the wonderful and envious ability to move into a home and have it looking like she's settled in and been there for years after about two weeks. And she doesn't spend like crazy on furniture either. Many of her pieces are found and refurbished by her own hands.

I begged her to give us photo tour of her new home and — lucky us — she graciously agreed. I'll showcase a few highlight photos here, but to see the full effect, you'll definitely want to see the Flickr slideshow of the whole house. Find it here. I hope Cynthia's talents will inspire your own decorating ideas or prompt you to finish that almost-done design project you've set aside. Thank you, Cynthia!!

One more thing: if you have a friend with a photo-tour-worthy home, I'd love to feature it. Just send me an email.