So, you know how we sometimes talk about how we would love to live in a “storybook” house…a cottage so wonderful you would think it came right out of a fairytale? Well, now you can! Someone has built a real, live storybook home and we’re going inside today to see it in all its adorable whimsy.
A view of the outside and you already know this house is special. Look at that roofline! I’m pretty sure if you look up “whimsical” in the dictionary, you’ll find a picture of this precious cottage.
Check out the chimney…straight out of a fairytale, isn’t it? Love that window beside it! It reminds me of an eye! I’ve seen eyebrow arched windows on historic homes but this one really has the shape of an eye.
Not sure if this is the front door or a side/back door but if we knock, I’m pretty sure Snow White will answer. Look at the design of the rock all around the door! Oh my gosh…sooo cute!
Okay, let’s go inside! Do you think elves live here? You go first…I insist. 😉
The inside is just as whimsical as the exterior. This home is thirty+ years old and the article I found said the home was recently rebuilt from the ground up. They invited the original stone mason back to do the work so the home would retain its original character and authenticity.
Beautiful fireplace! Wow, I could spend all day in this spot.
Did you notice this window in the larger view of the living room? A whimsical window for a whimsical house.
The kitchen is beautiful with cherry wood cabinets.
Great view for dining!
The home has two bedrooms, I’m guessing this may be the master bedroom. The cottage is 1,435 square feet and there’s also a guest house that’s 910 square feet in size. The floors are wide-plank hardwood flooring…pine, cherry and ash.
Such a sweet bedroom…love those windows!
Even the bathroom has a whimsical feel with its fairytale stone and brick work.
A view of this storybook cottage at night.
Such a sweet home! This home is located in Rhinebeck, Hudson River Valley, just 1 1/2 hours from New York City. Would make a great weekend getaway, wouldn’t it?
There’s a website with information about this storybook house. You’ll find it here: Storybook Cottage
Love a storybook cottage? Me, too! Another one of my faves is Fig Tree Cottage pictured below. Take a tour of Fig Tree Cottage in the Tamborine Mountains here: A Storybook Cottage Reminiscent of Rosehill Cottage in the Movie, The Holiday
What an adorable and amazing cottage! I would love to see that in person.
I know…I would love that, too! You just know the person who built it has big heart…to build such a whimsical, sweet home.
Love the windows……how sweet!!
This looks like a fun B&B week, but for living I am still caught up in that Victorian of yesterday.
I loved that Victorian, too! Loved the porch!
What a precious house. I love the view from the dining room!
Can you imagine the conversation between the owners and the stone masons ? “Well, I’d like some tiny stones scattered here, and a row of uneven brick stacked over there.”
Judy, imagine the look on the stone masons face! Maybe the easiest thing to do would be to pull out a fairytale book and just point and say, “Build that!” 🙂
Whimsical is the perfect word! It really does look like it sprang from the pages of a fairy tale. 🙂 Susan, did you notice the ‘wave’ to the exterior wall next to Snow White’s door? Wow.
I’m amazed that the original stone mason was still around, 30 years later and worked on it a second time. What skill. Of course, some people may have accused him of being drunk the first time around, lol, but I guess that just demonstrates his artistry and craftsmanship. Great find. Thanks.
I did! It’s wonderful they were able to have the same mason refurbish it all these years later.
Beautiful !
The house had me at “roofline”
Don’t get too many hopes up. I used to own a beautiful Cape Cod and thought it would be wonderful to have a steam bent wood roof. $35,000 to do the job — and this was in 1991!!!!!!!! Needless to say……..
Wow! Had no idea! So that’s how they make the roof? It’s looks like it would be pretty complicated to do.
🙂
Hi,Susan to be honest this view of
the outside is a little scaring
to me….on the other hand
the amazing nature…saves
the situation,as for the eyeshadow
reminds me a big fish.Thank you
anyway for giving us the opportunity
to exchange our views.Also thank you
for the yours.Good evening Susan
Anastasia, that’s too cute about the fish. 🙂
This is indeed a sweet home Susan, but if I lived there I’m sure I could never enjoy a dinner “al fresco” or a sunbathing… because of that eye shaped window I’d always feel like somebody or… something is watching me… It looks so “real”! Yikes! lol
~Hugs to you~
Cecilia
Awww, I like it. It’s as if it has a cute face. 🙂
The outside of the house reminds me of “The Hobbit”–one of my favorite series of movies. Such an adorable home, thanks for sharing, Susan.
No, Susan, “after you”!! I imagine Hansel and Gretel will be along soon.
Cute concept, but I fell this would only appeal to a minority of house purchasers.
Not my cup of tea, thank you anyway!
I could go visit this sweet place, it is less than an hours drive from my home. Thanks for sharing it with us!
Adorable, thanks for sharing. I would love to see someone really decorate it. It looks like just a few items were installed for staging. Also think the kitchen could have been given more character.
I know, can you imagine how much fun it would be to decorate it! I was thinking it might need some of the fairytale furniture from this post: https://betweennapsontheporch.net/fairytale-furniture/
🙂
The exterior reminds me of the spectacular Gaudi architecture I saw in Barcelona last spring.
Helen, so neat that you mentioned that because the website about the house said it was “Gaudi inspired.” Good eye!
You always find the neatest things. Thank you for sharing with the less creative and resourceful – namely me. I loved this little place – although the furniture is wrong. Need overstuffed English chintz ala Miss Marple so that you could settle in with a good book by the fire. Sigh.
Thanks, Lynn! That would be so cute…English chintz!
Check this site out. These houses are really fun to see. Earl Young’s Charlevoix Michigan “mushroom” houses
– See more at: http://www.house-crazy.com/earl-youngs-charlevoix-michigan-mushroom-houses/#sthash.Y5yCGZ5I.dpuf
Ann, those are amazing! I loved that quote by Earl Young: “I always build the roof first, and then shove the house under it.” lol I loved the dripping chimneys…so cool! So glad we don’t all march to the same beat, would be a boring world, wouldn’t it?
Wow!!! I may be speechless. Rhinebeck, NY, is among my favorite places. Charming with a capital C, no, make that all caps. Thank you, Susan!
I think one could “live happily ever after.” franki
Ha…well said, Franki!
I just want to move right in. I could be Snow White 🙂
Oh my that is some place! Someone was an artist that put that one together! I like the last shot with the snow on it!
Now, that is a fairytale house! There is a well-known builder who built an entire estate compound with house, huge stone barn, and dependency buildings to look like a storybook village about 10 minutes west of me. He even built a beautiful stone prayer chapel on the property. It is utterly amazing with gorgeous views! I first saw it in a Chester County, PA. tabletop book I have, and wanted to see it in real life but the book didn’t disclose the address, only that it was in the southern part of the county. Well, I’m one to hunt down houses, so I searched and searched the back roads for years, only to be disappointed that I could not locate it, finally thinking it must be far off the road and invisible to anyone passing by, as so many homes are here. Then, one day, as my realtor and I were out searching for homes, she took a wrong turn down this narrow gravel road with nothing but rolling countryside and, there, smack in the middle and right near the roads edge stood this compound in all it’s glory! Luckily, my realtor is also a friend and knows I’m weird about stalking houses so she wasn’t too mortified when I screamed out, “OMG, THERE IT IS… I CAN’T BELIEVE IT! I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR THIS PLACE FOR YEARS!” I was so excited to actually come across this place. They have a big hedge that follows their property line, so we could only walk along and get glimpses, but what a fun experience to finally see it. I’m sure that, although the property is sizable, they figured they could build close to the road because that road is a real deterrent to most vehicles with all the gravely dust. I wonder where they got the idea for all the various architectural details… or, maybe, it was the architects vision.
Bobbi, what a great story! You are I would be dangerous together…probably get shot stalking houses. lol Because that totally sounds like something I would have done. I’m so glad you finally found it! Does it have a name? I’d love to google to see if there are some pics of it online.
This house is adorable but I agree with Lynn that it needs English chintz to really set off the interior. Then it would be perfect. I did look at the link for the mushroom houses in one comment. Those were amazing, too. Such fun!
That is a truly amazing house on a beautiful lot. I wondered if the guest house on the property is constructed in the same fairytale style? The indoor areas were decorated, or not, in kind of a strange way. I would have loved to see it if a home decorator or styling decorator got their hands on this property. After studying the exterior brick/stone work, I was grateful that no one I knew was the city/county building inspector, who had to certify that building as safe, sturdy, and up to code!! Thanks for sharing.
Oh, Susan, you are so right…we WOULD be dangerous together.LOL. Michael doesn’t know what to expect when we’re out driving around. He always says “A NO TRESPASSING SIGN DOES NOT TRANSLATE TO MEAN THAT THIS PERTAINS TO EVERYONE BUT BOBBI!” I can not tell you the number of times people have chastised me for sneaking on their property…like when the caretakers rushed me off one of the major DuPont properties, and away from Martha Stewart’s local residence before her fencing went up, or looking into what I thought were vacant homes when we were house hunting only to have someone stare back at me horrified. I’ve gotten better in the last few years, although when I say that to Michael he just says “You mean better at not getting caught?” I just went through every book on Chester Co. to locate that article, but the picture I wanted to send wasn’t in any of them, only a write up in another book about the chapel being made from a specific stone found locally. A lot of my books are still packed due to work being done on the house, but when I find it I’ll send the information. I do know that the article did not mention the name of the property because I, too, was curious about that… probably for the sake of the owner’s privacy and/or because it wasn’t about the compound, but about old stone houses in Chester Co. and their transformations through time. I’ll try to find the article, but can’t do anymore tonight as it’s 3AM and I’m a sleepy girl.