Mary Emmerling's Beach Cottages: At Home by the Sea

I live approximately 60 miles from the Oregon Coast and nearly 900 miles from Malibu and Santa Monica, California...three of my favorite places in the world! I simply can't enough of "beach" and coastal themes in my decor, my attire, my art, my music and my life... So what's a self-described "beach girl" like me to do when she's stuck inland and can't go to the beach whenever she wants? She decorates her home in that style, that's what! Well, today I went in search of books with ideas on how to decorate with my favorite style of design, and saw quite a few available. Yes, I saw the really nifty set of books by Rachel Ashwell on the "Shabby Chic" design style and even that lovely book by actress/artist Jane Seymour called "Making Yourself At Home" but the one that really captured my eye this time around? The one I took home? Mary Emmerling's Beach Cottages: At Home By The Sea. I really enjoyed the pictures of the various beach cottages in her book. There are some AWESOME, unique and very colorful pictures of home exteriors and interiors from various beach communities all over the USA. You can enjoy the view of the sea from Nantucket, MA to Miami, FL to Galveston, TX and of course, good ole Southern California! There's also some great pics of the "Shabby Chic" queen Rachel Ashwell's home in it. Now I must admit I was a bit miffed that Ms. Emmerling had overlooked the Pacific Northwest to feature in her book. There are some spectacular and beautiful beach homes on the Oregon and Washington Coast (including the San Juan Islands) that would've fit in very well in this book. However, when I saw that she listed some cool Northwest shops, then I decided all was forgiven lol. Maybe she can remember us in the PNW for her next edition? hee hee I really appreciate the fact that there's none of the uber-perfection obsessed Martha Stewart-y mess in this book. All of the ideas are so easy to do and not too overly expensive, either. Even if you're smack dab in the heartland someplace, this book has all sorts of cool and user friendly practical tips on how to make your place "beach cottage" worthy. This book is a welcome addition to my library, so I'm recommending this book to all of y'all to check out and enjoy, too.

As a longtime Mary Emmerling fan I can hardly wait for each book to come out; as a beach fan I was not disappointed; a lovely book. I enjoyed seeing her old beach cottages and how they have evolved. I think she missed some great old cottages in my northwest florida area; especially at Grayton Beach; but otherwise this is a very nice book representative of her great taste. I'm looking forward to her work with House Beautiful.

I'm a longtime fan of Mary Emmerling's work, and was thrilled to find BEACH COTTAGES. I've dog-eared favorite pages, and find myself returning to them over and over again for inspiration. I loved the diversity of design styles, and even when the homes shown are waaaay out of my own budget, I enjoyed seeing how the other half lives. This is a book for dreamers as well as doers.Of course, it doesn't hurt that she recommended one of my books, SAVANNAH BREEZE, in her list of great beach reads. I'll be buying more copies of BEACH COTTAGES for my beach dreamer buddies. Mary Kay Andrews

I have been waiting for this book as I am one of Mary's devoted fans. After reading the reviews from other customers, I was feeling let down before I even saw the book. I have to say that I was happily surprised and thought it was BETTER than her previous books. I love the size of the book - it has a cozy feeling - and the photographs are perfect. I, for one, enjoy seeing pictures of people's swimming pools (even if they are part of a beach house). I loved her choice of homes and don't really care if some are redundant (Rachel Ashwell) because a lot of these designers/homeowners move all the time and there is always something fresh to see. Count me in as a continuing huge fan of her taste and joie de vivre. So many books today (in the dying era of coffee-table tomes) are sterile and boring. You can tell she cares about her subjects - both the homes and the people who inhabit them. Go Mary!

as the previous reviews. I found the book to be full of wonderful pictures and very evocative of a wonderful stay by the seashore. The houses were not the usual beach cliches.... they were very elegant and had a lot of personality and individuality. I would recommend. A concise, nice little volume.