A new series dedicated to The Cottage: I show you around the empty cottage, the way it looked when we moved in. Scroll down for more photos.

From Dream To Reality

I recently moved from fast-paced city life to the slow-paced country life. London to Cotswolds. It’s been a dream of mine for so many years, I’ve lost count. You can read more about what inspired me to do so here.

A big part of moving is the excitement but also the fear of what the next chapter holds. For now, I remain in the excitement stage as my mom and I begin the interior design process. We’ve always had visions for our dream chocolate box cottage, even when we weren’t sure it would ever become a reality. Over the years we sat over tea and cake discussing that dream. A potential mother-daughter project: What would it look like? Where it would be? Would we have a view and/or garden? How many bedrooms would we need? Does a kitchen-diner suit us? Where would I create art? What would the light be like? How wonky would it be?

Japanese Influences, British Charm

Although my mom and I have very different taste in a lot of things, there is one thing we always agree on: Japanese aesthetics. It’s who we are and will always be woven into the fabric of whatever we do. Another thing we always knew, was that we wanted a typical English country cottage with charming features; wooden beams, stone, wonky features, a range cooker to name a few.

A Blank Canvas

So, the scene has been set, we found a near-perfect home in a beautiful fairy tale village, and now it awaits the Hikarui touch. I always told myself if I was lucky enough to have this opportunity to create the dream home, I would keep a visual diary. This is the beginning of that very diary. On moving day, I took some pictures to ensure we had the first memories of what made us fall in love in the first place.

Living room

Living room

Living room

Snug

Bedroom 1: Now my bedroom. I love how wonky the floor is, you can see the dip in the middle of the room.

Bedroom 3: My mom’s bedroom/guest bedroom

Bedroom 3: My mom’s bedroom/guest bedroom

Bedroom 3: My mom’s bedroom/guest bedroom

Bedroom 2: Now my art studio

Bedroom 2: Now my art studio

Related: Country Life

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