Celebrating beach cottages big and small

Lifelong beach lover and best-selling author Mary Emmerling has come out with a new book that features four local homes, “Beach Cottages: At Home by the Sea.”

The former East Ender who called the Hamptons home for 30 years—until 1998—has authored more than 20 books. In a recent interview, she said that she came up with the idea for “Beach Cottages” because of her love of the beach and the simplicity of true seaside cottages.

“I love the yin and yang of the ocean, the smells, sounds, storms, the social aspect and the feel of summer,” Ms. Emmerling said from her primary residence in Scottsdale, Arizona. “And I love beach cottages, where you can see and smell the beach ... not decorator showcases that could be anywhere,”

The author, who said she wanted to include some simple Hamptons homes, said she proposed the book to her publisher and then went in search of the rustic beach house, which she feared had all but disappeared from the Hamptons landscape. “The ones I like best are where you sweep out the sand on Sunday night and close the door ‘til next weekend,” she said. “Unfortunately I didn’t think there were too many of those left.”

Ms. Emmerling’s Random House editor, Aliza Fogelson, said that publishing this book was a simple choice.

“As a self-proclaimed beach girl herself, and the author of our phenomenally popular ‘American Country Cottages,’ Mary Emmerling struck us as the perfect author to capture the joys of a simpler seaside existence,” she said.

True to Ms. Emmerling’s vision, the coffee-table book features 17 simple cottages, including the four East End homes, one of which is on the cover. She said she chose the homes specifically because they weren’t decorator showcases, but rather reflected the owners’ personalities.

Those Hamptons homes that made the cut include Marsia and Leonard Holzer’s Water Mill beachfront house, Bob and Pam Melet’s Montauk getaway, a Sagaponack home once owned by Ms. Emmerling and the Wainscott cottage of Fiona Duff and Robert Kahn.

“Beach Cottages” is sprinkled with lists of some of the author’s favorite beach things, like music, boardwalks, sports and beach reads, in addition to telling the stories of each of those featured homes and the people that live in them.

The book’s cover home is a simple, shingle-style beach house on a multimillion-dollar property in Water Mill owned by the Holzers. Though the home boasts incredible views, lush gardens and a pool, the owners chose to keep the interior simple and comfortable.

Ms. Holzer said in a recent interview that it was always her intent to keep her summer house simple.

“It’s not about being overdone, we live on the beach and I didn’t want to lose that,” she said.

The part-time Water Mill resident said she was thrilled to be included in the book and that Ms. Emmerling and photographer Carter Berg really captured the laid-back feel of her home.

“They got the feeling of the house,” she said. “And it was a fun experience ... a real easy day with no drama,” she said of the photo shoot.

Simplicity, sun and surfing are key for Mr. and Ms. Melet and their daughter Sunny, whose Montauk cottage “Lovage” is also featured in the book. Beach life and family time are very important for the couple who met out in Montauk and now split their time between the beach and the city.

“We feel blessed, it is a very special place,” Mr. Melet said of their Montauk home.

As for her East End past, Ms. Emmerling said that she bought her first Hamptons house back in 1973 for $35,000, fixed it up, then sold it two years later at a $20,000 profit. She noted that the Hamptons of the 1970s are vastly different from the see and be seen, lap of luxury feel now associated with the area.

“Back then it was truly about getting out there to go to the beach,” she said. “There weren’t decorator houses and wall-to-wall carpeting, just lots of white slipcovers and rattan ... simple stuff you could buy at the little stores there.”

Much to her surprise, more than 30 years later than Hamptons early days, Ms. Emmerling said that she was able to find more of the simple beach houses than she expected. After viewing approximately 50 homes, she said she could easily write “Beach Cottages Part II.”

According to Ms. Emmerling, no matter where a beach cottage is, there are some things that are musts.

“There are some elements you see in about every good beach house,” she said. “Chaises, sisal rugs, slipcovers, beach chairs, shells, open doors and windows, throws, sarongs and bathing suits are absolute musts.”

Other waterside areas featured in the book include Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, Malibu, Lido Isle and Venice, California; Key West, Florida; Galveston, Texas; and Wellfleet and Nantucket in Massachusetts.