There’s a publishing term called “shelter” that refers to publications and magazines with a design, decor or gardening focus. This week’s web picks may fit within the realm of “shelter blogs,” but the finesse and zeal with which they discuss their passions, whether that be gardening, French country design or ceramics certainly transcends the primitiveness that “shelter” implies.

1. French Country Cottage

French Country Cottage’s name is refreshingly simple, uniting the interior design descriptors French country and shabby/cottage style to describe the blog’s overall aesthetic. Blogger Courtney offers plenty of photographic inspiration on interior design and antiques, flea markets, parties and general everyday life. She recently created romantic ruffled slips to complete the look of carved French chairs for the dining room, so check her DIY project out!

2. Wicked Gardener

The Wicked Gardener may offer a “warts and all” look at a gardener in Florida, but its blogger is not all that wicked at all. A self-described “garden geek,” this gardener is “doing my best to create my own little tropical paradise in Ocala, FL, zone 8b. I garden on a shoestring budget propagating many of my plants and try to garden organically. I keep worms, much to the amusement of my young daughter and husband.”

3. Laura Brandenburg’s stoneware

Laura Brandenburg has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics in ceramics and ten years of experience under her belt, and you can definitely see it in her work, which she strives to make simple but elegant in form.

On the potter’s wheel, she forms stoneware clay into pieces whose surfaces are “altered with botanical-themed carving or stenciled designs blocked out with wax-resist.” Inspiration comes primarily from nature, which informs the muted tones, textures, and organic elements of her wares, and she tries to incorporate the bare clay body onto the finished surface of her work. The last ingredient is fire: “The work is mid-fired to cone 6 in my electric kiln and finished with earth-toned glazes.”

Her blog “stonewares” acts as her “soundboard, focus board and diving board… for [her] to realign and share [her] thoughts, ideas and inspirations; catalog the progress of [her] work and log [her] participation in events.”

-Kim