- Cottage With a Red Door
- Thatched Cottage
- Stone Cottage With a Chimney
- Beach Cottage
- Cottage With Roses
- Swedish Red Cabin
- Tiny House on a Hill
- Farmhouse With a Porch
- Gabled House With Shutters
- Cottage With a Round Window
- Log Cabin
- Cottage With a Picket Fence
- Frequently Asked Questions
This cottage watercolor collection gives you twelve little houses, each built from a few big simple shapes so there is nothing tricky to draw. Every template comes as a finished painted example and a clean black line outline, ready to print and use today.
Print the outline at the size you want to paint, then transfer it to good watercolor paper by taping both sheets to a sunny window or a light pad, or by sliding a sheet of graphite transfer paper between them and tracing the lines. Once the lines are on your paper, keep the painted example beside you and work through the washes in the order described for each one.
Using these images: free for personal projects such as printing, coloring, cards, journals and gifts. Handmade items that include them may be sold up to 30 pieces per design. More than that is commercial use and is not permitted, and neither is selling or sharing the images themselves or passing them off as your own. Please ask before any other use.
Cottage With a Red Door
Paint the sky first with a pale blue wash, let it dry, then lay a warm cream wash across the whole cottage body in one pass. Mix a confident cadmium red for the door and apply it last with a small brush so the edges stay crisp against the dry cream. Add a thin grey-brown wash on the roof, keeping it flat, and leave the window panes white with just a thin outline. The red door against the pale walls is the one touch that makes the whole piece read as finished.
Palette: Cadmium Red,Naples Yellow,Payne’s Grey,Cerulean Blue
Thatched Cottage
Start with the thatch, mixing a warm golden ochre and dragging the brush in short upward strokes to suggest the roof’s texture while it is still just a flat wash underneath. Once dry, wash the walls in a soft off-white with a touch of grey in the shadowed side. Keep the background a loose pale green wash kept well away from the roof edge. Let the thatch color dry completely before adding the darker ochre strokes on top, so the layers stay separate and clean.
Palette: Yellow Ochre,Raw Sienna,Titanium White,Sap Green
Reference a real thatched roof photo if you want the thatch strokes to curve convincingly over the roofline instead of running straight across.
Stone Cottage With a Chimney
Wash the sky in a cool pale grey-blue first and let it dry fully. Paint the stone walls in a mid grey, then while still damp drop in small touches of a darker grey here and there so the stones blend softly into each other without hard lines. Paint the chimney in the same grey family but slightly darker, and lift a little paint with a damp brush for the smoke curl so it stays pale and soft against the sky. The soft smoke is what gives this one its warm, lived-in feeling.
Palette: Payne’s Grey,Neutral Tint,Titanium White,Cerulean Blue
Beach Cottage
Lay the sea first in a loose turquoise wash, letting it stay streaky and uneven for movement, then paint the sand in a warm pale tan beneath it. Once both are dry, wash the cottage walls in a soft powder blue and leave the porch rail and trim completely white. Add a thin line of deeper blue where the sea meets the horizon to anchor the scene. For more coastal subjects built the same simple way, the easy beach watercolor ideas make a good companion set.
Palette: Turquoise,Naples Yellow,Cerulean Blue,Titanium White
Cottage With Roses
Paint the wall in a pale blush pink and let it dry before touching the roses. Mask the roses first with a dab of masking fluid if you want crisp white edges, or simply paint around their shapes with a small brush. Build each rose with two or three rounded strokes of a deeper pink, then add the leaves in a fresh green once the wall wash is fully dry. Because the vine has several small overlapping petals, transfer the outline carefully and keep your pencil lines light so they do not show through the final wash.
You Will Need
- masking fluid (optional)
Palette: Quinacridone Pink,Opera Pink,Sap Green,Titanium White
Swedish Red Cabin
Mix a classic barn red (a touch of brown into cadmium red) and wash the whole cabin body in one even layer, saving the window frames and door trim by painting carefully around them. Once dry, add a second slightly darker red along one side to suggest shadow and give the cabin some form. Paint the gable triangle in soft white with the faintest grey line to mark its edge, and keep the grass below a simple flat green strip.
Palette: Falu Red,Titanium White,Sap Green,Payne’s Grey
Tiny House on a Hill
Paint the sky in a soft wash first, then the hill in a rounded sweep of green, darker toward the base and lighter near the top where the house sits. Let the hill dry before adding the house in a simple warm cream with a contrasting roof color. Paint the little tree as two or three loose round dabs of green on a thin brown trunk. Keep every shape rounded and soft so the whole scene feels gentle rather than busy.
Palette: Sap Green,Naples Yellow,Burnt Sienna,Cerulean Blue
If you enjoy painting small scenes on a hill like this, the easy watercolor landscapes collection has more in the same gentle style.
Farmhouse With a Porch
Wash the farmhouse body in a clean white-grey, letting the paper show through for the brightest parts of the wall. Paint the roof in a deep flat grey once the walls are dry, keeping the line where roof meets wall crisp and straight. Add a light wash of warm brown to the porch floor and posts to separate them from the white walls. Finish with a thin strip of green grass along the bottom edge to settle the house onto the ground.
Palette: Titanium White,Payne’s Grey,Burnt Umber,Sap Green
Gabled House With Shutters
Paint the walls in a pale pastel color of your choice and let the wash dry completely before adding any detail. Mix a cheerful contrasting color for the shutters, two small flat rectangles on either side of the window, and paint them with confident single strokes so the edges stay sharp. Wash the gabled roof in a muted grey-brown, angling your brush to follow the slant of each side. The colored shutters against the pale wall are what carry the whole picture.
Palette: Pastel Lavender,Sap Green,Payne’s Grey,Titanium White
Cottage With a Round Window
Wash the walls first in a warm pale tone and let the paper dry before adding the round window, since a wet edge here will bleed into an oval rather than a circle. Paint the window glass in a soft blue-grey with a thin dark circle to define its frame. Add the flower box beneath it with two or three small dabs of bright color once everything else is dry. A plate or coin traced lightly under your pencil line keeps the window perfectly round when you transfer the outline.
You Will Need
- a small circular object to trace, such as a coin or jar lid
Palette: Naples Yellow,Cerulean Blue,Quinacridone Pink,Payne’s Grey
Log Cabin
Paint each log as a thin horizontal band of warm brown, varying the tone slightly from log to log so the stack does not look flat. Work from the top down and let each band dry a little before adding the next so they stay separate and readable as individual logs. Paint the roof in a deeper brown-grey and leave the window a simple pale square with a thin dark outline. The varied brown tones along the stacked logs give this cabin its handmade warmth.
Palette: Burnt Sienna,Burnt Umber,Raw Sienna,Payne’s Grey
Cottage With a Picket Fence
Paint the sky and cottage walls first in soft flat washes and let them dry fully before starting the fence, since the picket shapes need to stay crisp white against the color behind them. Add a simple flower bed along the base with a few loose dabs of bright color, then paint the thin fence posts last in a light grey so they sit clearly in front of everything else. Keeping the fence painted last, after every other wash is dry, is what keeps its white pickets looking clean rather than muddy. For more flower ideas to borrow for the bed, see the easy watercolor flowers for beginners, or browse the watercolor cottagecore cottage paintings for more scenes like this one.
Palette: Naples Yellow,Titanium White,Quinacridone Pink,Sap Green
What to Do Next
Pick one cottage, print its outline, and transfer it to your watercolor paper this afternoon: the red door cottage or the tiny house on a hill make a relaxed place to start before you work through the rest of the set.
Frequently Asked Questions
What size should I print these cottage watercolor outlines?
Print at standard letter or A4 size for a comfortable first attempt, since the shapes are large and simple enough to transfer easily at that scale. Size up on a printer with poster settings if you want a bigger painting.
What paper works best for these templates?
Cold press watercolor paper around 140lb works well for every template here, since it handles flat washes and a little wet blending without buckling. Hot press paper suits them too if you prefer smoother, more controlled edges.
How do I transfer the outline onto watercolor paper?
Tape the printed outline and your watercolor paper together against a sunny window or light pad and trace the lines through with a pencil. Graphite transfer paper slipped between the two sheets works just as well without needing light behind it.
Can I use coloured pencils or markers instead of watercolor?
Yes, every outline works just as well with coloured pencils or markers, since the shapes stay large and closed either way. Pencils suit soft blended shading while markers give flatter, bolder color similar to the painted examples.
Do I need to be good at drawing to use these templates?
No, that is the whole point of a traceable outline, since the drawing work is already done for you. All you need to do is transfer the lines and focus on mixing and placing your washes.