A modest, often cozy dwelling, typically in a rural area.
The cottage style engulfs and encompasses some of the designs found in the Country, French, and English Cottage style house plans. It is usually considered as a small, modest, cozy cabin type of plan often built in rural type areas. On the other hand, this is a regional definition, as in places such as Canada, there is no relation to the size of the house when referring to it as a cottage. Although there is no finite encompassing definition for a cottage style house plan, a common basic dictionary interpretation considers a cottage to be “a small, usually one-family house”, or as “a small house for vacation use.”
And thus, cottages are not required to be only small, as there are larger homes that have the look and feel of a cottage, yet might not be named as such. The exterior construction is typically made of brick, stone, and wood, although you might tend to find these building materials located on the inside as well for detail finishings on this type of dwelling. Normally a cottage will have a smaller, irregular footprint, consisting of unpretentious interiors. More times than not, you will find there to be a decorative exterior detailing with a steep pitch gabled roof.
It is also very common for a cottage style house plan to not have an attached garage or other form of external utility or mechanical access. This is mainly due to the fact that a cottage style home is designed to be compact and fit into a smaller more compressed footprint. Although the size of the lot can also be rather large, and the home owner feels that they enjoy a more quaint and modest style of living. Wooded areas are often considered some of the best places to put a cottage style home. But there are some cities that have smaller lots that allow new builds for these style of homes. Especially in more modern times as cost to build has increased, people are looking to smaller and more compact designs, and cottage homes can accomplish those goals.
Historically speaking however, the term cottage had originated from the dwelling of a cotter. And thus cottages were considered smaller peasant units for housing agricultural workers and their family and friends. But like mentioned earlier, the term has evolved over the years and varies greatly depending in what part of the world they are built.