The different types of cottage bedroom furniture include beach, country, romantic and modern looks. While all cottage furniture typically has a relaxed, comfortable feeling to it, each type of this style of bedroom furnishings adds a further expression of mood. Country cottage looks tend to be cheerful, while romantic styles feel feminine, beach ones airy and modern versions dramatic.
Beach-inspired cottage beds, dressers and night tables may feature painted details of starfish or other sea-inspired motifs. Light woods or cottage bedroom furniture painted white or even watery shades of blue may be found in beach-themed homes or summer cabins. Country furniture for cottage bedrooms are often distressed with peeling or light coats of paint. Dressers or other bedroom furniture pieces may also be painted in cheery colors with contrasting borders and knobs.
The most romantic type of cottage bed is the four-poster style, yet anything with a rounded headboard and beautiful details could also work for this kind of decor look. Elaborately carved headboards or floral decals or stencils on dressers may also be found on some romantic cottage bedroom furniture. Unlike the other three main cottage furniture styles, modern looks are usually straight-lined without a lot of detail.
A modern cottage bed may have four posts, but it tends to look very different from the romantic version. Modern cottage bedroom furniture tends to be in black or white and it may even have a glossy, laminate appearance. In contrast, romantic styles of four-poster beds are often in soft, rather than stark or dramatic, colors. Other types of modern cottage beds may feature a simple, plain rectangular headboard, while romantic headboards are seldom plainly styled unless they already have some texture, such as wicker bed frames.
Rustic knotted pine furniture could actually work in romantic, country and beach cottages, but not typically modern styled ones. The modern cottage bedroom look gets its airy look not from light colors and materials, but instead from large scale pieces and an overall minimalistic spaciousness. Cottage bedroom furniture accents such as a blanket chest placed at the foot of the bed could work with all four common styles, yet the overall appearance of the trunk would be quite different. The country chest may be brightly painted, while the beach version is likely to be in light wood or painted in a pastel color. A romantic blanket chest may be carved, be painted pink or feature a decoupaged floral finish, while a similar piece for a modern cottage bedroom may look more like a plain white or black box.