Straight Out of a Storybook

When the leaves change and temperatures drop, a Virginia couple heads up country to a mountain cottage so idyllic, you'd half expect the birds to serenade you upon arrival

- SHAILA WUNDERLICH

STORYBOOK CHARM

Magical Forest

Surrounded by foliage, feeder creeks, and the peaks and foothills of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, this 1953 tin-roofed cottage belonging to Sean and Amy Whyte received a white clapboard addition sometime in the 1980s. Amy picked the vibrant, rich yellow (Golden Retriever by Benjamin Moore) for the front door to hint at what awaits inside. The hanging vintage gathering basket holds a rotating mix of seasonal blooms and foliage.

STORYBOOK CHARM

Enchanting Creatures

In the living room, the thick pine-paneled walls, even thicker ceiling beams, and petite four-pane windows all struck Amy's fancy, but her favorite element is the fireplace, with its unique cast-iron grate. "Its backplate has a fox on it," she. says. "It was like a little surprise tucked beyond the hearth." That little fox inspired woodland motifs throughout the house, including the oil canvas above the mantel by local artist Lauren Rose Jackson.

WHAT IS IT? WHAT IS IT WORTH?

Chesterfield Sofa

Named after the English lord who first commissioned its design in the mid-1700s, Chesterfield sofas are marked by their tufted leather upholstery and wide rolled arms that measure equal height to the sofa's back. Vintage Chesterfields can be found online starting at around $1,500.

From their first glimpse of it, Sean and Amy Whyte felt a magnetic pull to the little cottage in the mountains. Everything about the place-its forward-pitched tin roof, frame of forest foliage, petite brick-and-clapboard footprint-seemed to beckon from inside. "The roof even had a charming little sag, just like you'd see in a children's book," Amy says.