Park the Rolls Curbside

• A garage becomes a guesthouse with all the fine appointments of a country estate when the art of collecting informs the decorating. French doors replace an automatic garage door and open to a planted terrace. Artificial beams disguise the low ceiling, giving the place the look from the English countryside. Walls are stuccoed and faux painted in earthy tones and a decorative mantel anchors the main room. But the furnishings make the place. Porcelain garden stools serve as end tables for 18th century carved chairs upholstered in flame velvet. A gilded 19th century carved mirror dominates the mantel wall. A painted antique sofa is upholstered in crewel work and studded with fluffy pillows. There's not an oil stain or a spare tire anywhere in the place.
  
  

Worn But Welcoming

• Hand-me-downs and flea market finds are made-to-order for guest cottages. An iron bedstead with a piecework quilt emphasizes the character of an older country place and gives it personal warmth. Painted wood floors add a splash of unifying color and don't require labor-intensive, expensive refinishing. Keeping bead board walls white allows the antiques to shine. An old wooden chair with slightly worn and chipped paint in a complementary color provides a place to tie shoe laces or dump a pile of clothes during a quick change between activities.
  
  

Mix and Match

• Scavenge country stores for old pieces to make a new statement. The bland guesthouse becomes an eclectic style emporium with some imaginative re-purposing. Swap a square or rectangular table for the fluid curve of a round one and cover it in distressed, faded paint, like washed-out denim. Then add mismatched chairs with new cushions. Paint the chairs the same color or leave them varied and use the same fabric on all the cushions. A glass-fronted wall cabinet holds random plates, cups and serving bowls and a collapsible tray table can move indoors or out to hold help-yourself casseroles or an ice bucket and drinks.
  
  

Keep It Light

• When the vacation house is also the guest house, remodel a dated place into an airy, bright crash pad with liberal use of white paint. Keep it casual. Paint floors ebony or glossy white, protected with several coats of clear finish and then mandate the barefoot rule. Set a slab of butcher block, reclaimed from a restaurant, on two white-painted sawhorses, and surround the refectory table with a collection of old library chairs, painted white. Leave windows uncurtained for maxim light and spell out something fun on the wall in wooden letters -- beach, dream, relax. Paint the letters the same white as the walls and ceiling. Set a few jelly jars on the dining table to hold flowers, and fire up the hibachi on the oceanfront porch.