Inspiration to Help Make Your Home Dreams Come True

Achieving the home of one's dreams might be easier than previously thought. Just peek inside a recent issue of Northern Home & Cottage. This inspirational magazine reveals stories and style advice with topics on 'moving', 'growing luxurious lilacs' and 'kicking up your home's curb appeal'.

Traverse City, MI (PRWEB) -- Achieving the home of one's dreams might be easier than previously thought--peeking inside the pages of the May/June 2007 issue of Northern Home & Cottage, a supplement to Traverse, Northern Michigan's Magazine, reveals stories and style advice tailored to the Northern Michigan lifestyle. Just visit the free online edition at NorthernHomeandCottage.com to read the full issue.

In the features this month, editors find inspiration in a century-old Harbor Springs, Michigan farmhouse, a vivid Betsie River lily farm and a sweet Northport cottage that, though new, already passes for a family heirloom. Plus, learn how to grow a fun and kid-friendly potted pizza garden, grow truly luxurious lilacs, kick up your home's curb appeal, and more.

"We shared copies of this issue with attendees at the 2007 West Michigan Cottage & Lake Front Living Show, and people fell for the refreshing mix of ideas and insight," says Northern Home & Cottage managing editor Elizabeth Edwards. "We hope this issue really excites people for the summer months--a time of year when our Northern homes and cottages can really shine."

This issue features:

Moving Experience
Ever dreamt of finding a cool old house for a song, then moving it to a different piece of property? Debbie Crane dreamed it, then she did it. Take a tour of Crane's beautifully restored Harbor Springs, Michigan farmhouse, which she moved some 18 miles from its previous perch to a prime locale just off M-119's Tunnel of Trees near Cross Village. Our story shares Crane's secrets to success and offers insight into making your home dreams come true.

Lilies of Her Field
Consumers should clear a space in their own garden and clean out the car's trunk--one can't leave Di Rau's centennial Betsie River lily farm without lilies. Read on for Rau's tips for lovely lilies and where to buy the best gardening supplies.

Fit for a White Picket Fence
The Chapman family looked to their Northport, Michigan neighborhood to hone the classic cottage style they wanted for their new home. Discover where they found inspiration, then check out "Up North Favorites" for the Chapmans's tips on the best local dining, hiking and Northport events.

In every issue:

Editor's Note: Marie Antoinette & Me
Managing editor Elizabeth Edwards was just 6 years old when she first saw the pastoral landscape of Marie Antoinette's thatched Versailles village in France. This month, Edwards shares how the experience forever influenced her love of farmhouses and cottages in Northern Michigan.

Northern Style: Get in a garden state of mind.
Northern Style shows off accessories that connect the natural world with an everyday kitchen, bath, dining room and even the rooms outside, plus the how-to for a kid-friendly project: a fresh potted pizza garden! Plus, read "Home and Garden Tour Roundup" for a list of home and garden tours where readers can see cottage style and decor in action.

Northern Gardener: Love your lilacs.
New life for lilacs; three steps help gardeners cultivate the sweet scent of lilacs in a Northern garden.

Pulling It Together: Curb Appeal
The best new paint color combinations, white picket garden gates, native shurbs hardy enough for a Northern landscape, sources for a vintage copper mailbox and other details to inspire envy from the street.

Reflections on Home: "Keen Eyed Girl"
Some kids gather morels. Others hunt for golf balls. In this smart essay, writer Ali Sullivan remembers how she became the queen of seeing the unseen.

Northern Home & Cottage Resources
Love what you see in our homes? Here's how to find the goods.

A Place in the North
A vintage 1900 photo from the Upper Peninsula captures a sweet moment in an Iron Mountain home.

Northern Home & Cottage, produced by the same award-winning editorial team as Traverse, Northern Michigan's Magazine, is your bimonthly guide for the way you live Up North. Each issue offers ideas, insight and inspiration for Northern living at your home or cottage--from dreaming to designing to decorating, with smart tips on gardening and entertaining, green ideas for eco-conscious living, resource guides and more. Our free online edition links you to the places, products and resources that make living in Northern Michigan so special.