DECORATING : Simple Flexibility Suits Cottage Retreats

With summer around the corner, thoughts turn to cottages at the beach or in the mountains. Whether it’s for a summer stay or year-round retreat, cottage decor should be simple and flexible.

“Unlike a larger house, a cottage doesn’t offer the luxury of assigning a single function to each room or of turning over part of a room to mere decoration,” Mary Emmerling says. “The kitchen is where everybody gathers for meals, as well as to chat, and there is no separate family room and living room.”

The editor of Mary Emmerling’s Country magazine and author of “Mary Emmerling’s American Country Cottages” (Clarkson Potter, $25) has used her expertise to decorate cottages for herself in Florida and on New York’s Long Island. She says simple solutions are usually best.

Plain white walls and trim are clean and provide a good backdrop for a mix of unpretentious furnishings. Blend just enough tint to the paint to give walls a slight blush. If there are hardwood floors, let them be, refinishing if necessary.

When faced with what she calls “linoleum from outer space,” Emmerling usually paints the kitchen floor a solid color, adds a stenciled pattern such as a checkerboard and tops it with a polyurethane coating.

Slipcovers help unify unmatched sofas and chairs. For summer, washable fabrics such as cotton duck, pillow ticking and white denim work best. A good choice for winter is classic tartan or paisley.

When choosing a decorating theme, go for the familiar because it’s comfortable. It may not be original, but it always works. To make it personal, make a major statement with quantity or concentrate on details. Emmerling does both. Instead of one starfish, she might gather 10 or more in a mix of mediums. She fills the glass bases of kerosene lamps with shells rather than oil. She hangs straw hats on the wall, with a string of shells as a hat band.

As a decorating editor, Emmerling has visited quite a few cottages around the country: cottages on stilts in Florida wetlands, rustic cabins in Maine and the Adirondacks, bungalows in California. Once inside, a few themes prevail without regard for geography.

* The English Cotswold cottage is one popular look. Some decorating choices include floral slipcovers, stripped pine furniture, botanical prints and paisley throws.

* The French provincial cottage feeling is conveyed with chairs with rush seats, a medium blue and mustard yellow color scheme, printed fabrics from the south of France and French faience china.

* A cabin atmosphere might come from twig furniture, checked fabrics, Native American motif on textiles, fish decoys and old National Geographic magazines.

Besides the usual sources for furniture and accessories, Emmerling advocates flea markets and yard sales. She picked up tips from the cottage dwellers featured in her book. One cottager chose to disguise a threadbare sofa first with a mover’s quilt, a fairly standard practice, then tucking a few small patchwork quilts into place on top.

Emmerling’s personal favorite is the beach cottage. Several years ago, she bought and began renovating four modest beach cottages in Sagaponack, N.Y. The remodeling gave her a chance to re-create the summer rentals of her childhood at the beach in Delaware.

“The tiny one-floor buildings perched on concrete blocks were like wading birds in a sea of grass,” Emmerling says. “With their chimneys, shingle siding and makeshift porches, they looked like old friends gathered for a reunion.”

The buildings are linked by a picket fence, and the garden that surrounds them. Otherwise each stands on its own. The largest contains the kitchen, living room and a guest bedroom. The three smaller cottages have been converted into bedrooms. Emmerling has one, and the other two are for her children, ages 17 and 20. When the kids aren’t around, the cottages become guest houses, a nice arrangement. Separate quarters also come in handy when the family is in residence.

“It works great,” Emmerling says. “My son likes to play Aerosmith a lot.”