Author of “Nantucket Island Living” (Monicelli)

The word “cottage” brings to mind many positive feelings: small and cozy, country style furnishings, perhaps a vacation home you remember with nostalic fondness. Marine Home Center has captured those feelings by creating a cottage-like environment within their Home Furnishings Showroom. It overflows with ideas for a reimagined elegant version of that style for today’s modern family.  

As we move into fall our summer casual decorating scheme and entertaining style may need a bit of refurbishing. A visit to The Cottage is a good place for inspiration. Warm up your environment for cooler weather by setting a table with a “Fall On Nantucket” color scheme. Start in Housewares for new placemats and napkins and work your way through each department, using your imagination to set a table with the unexpected. This is a fun way to spread your creative wings. Consider a different placesetting for each guest, or make a centerpiece with mismatched objects that can hold small individual bouquets of fall flowers.  

Create a vignette on a side table with three things. If your room is blue and white, enliven it with a small yellow container to hold a green plant. Fill a bowl of fall colors with fresh lemons and limes or avocados or pears with sprigs of leafy greens.

With shorter days we put lights on earlier. Keep everything low; not just the wattage, but the height of the lamps as well. Low lighting softens the furnishings in a room and is a quick and easy way to refreshen a room. Pink light bulbs are an old trick for creating a glow in the bedroom, powder room or dining room.