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THE NEW YORK TIMES
May 27, 2004

...and Counting it Off in Weeks
David Colman

Nowhere in the the United States is the grass always greener than here, on the toothy lower jaw of crocodile-shaped Long Island.  And as property values (and egos) have swollen to leviathan proportions, the little fish -- the seasonal renter -- is increasingly likely to feel like another species altogether.

Many former renters have decamped to the fresh water of Columbia County and the Catskills.  But some who like the salt are are hanging in, finding that there is not only reason to rent, but that there are practical ways to redo a dreary place so you don't feel as if you're staying in the maid's quarters.

Such makeshift interiors may not end up in the pages of Architectural Digest, but they offer a minor wealth of design ideas for the summer.  They also suggest that there might be more fun to be had in the freedoms that go along with renting than in the burdens inherent in owning.

There are two worthy approaches toward decorating a temporary home.  Plan A, find a one-summer rental and redo it in a weekend blitz worth of "Trading Spaces." Plan B, find a rental you like enough to take several years in a row, and every year attack an additional problem.

Two Manhattan decorators know the virtues and pitfalls of the systems.  Scott Sanders, 41, had never rented a summer house before and wanted to see what it was like.  Finding one in Wainscott, he got a green light from the landlord to redecorate--including painting bedroom walls.  Todd Black, 38, has rented the same little house in North Sea for eight years, and has made minor changes every summer-- a slipcover for the sofa one year, giant paper lanterns for the deck another.

The blitz approach is, if nothing else, a fun challenge that gets the summer revved up fast, like decoration for a party.  Mr. Sanders exhibited his flair for color last year at the Hampton Designer Showhouse with a pool area filled with red-upholstered outdoor furniture and big red pool toys.  This year he decided to rent a dull 1970's three-bedroom house in Wainscott for 10 weeks for $16,000.

The place had many drawbacks.  The bedrooms were painted a parchment color that could be called Tenement White.  The upholstery on the two love seats had seen better days, and who likes love seats anyway?  The kitchen--contemporary blah.  The art --no thanks. The outdoor furniture--ouch. Even nestled in the Wainscott woods, the house was not a cheery sight for tired city eyes.

Then last weekend, Mr. Sanders, with $2,500 and two friends (who no doubt earned may return invitations), transformed the place into a groovy pad with enough clashes of color to send Calvin Klein to the emergency room.

Serenity central it's not --indeed, it knocks the stuffing out of all-white Zen simplicity.  To offset the house's focal point--an ugly modern brick fireplace --Mr. Sanders bought doweling from a hardware store, rubbed it with stain to match the house's redwood paneling and mounted the dowels on the living-room wall.  The he furnished the place with those instant signifiers of a Love Shack good time: his own oldwave LP records from the early 1980's.  (Appropriate, since the house came with a turntable dating from the same period.)

He put much of the house's furniture in the basement, preferring the open space.  "My whole apartment would fit int he bedroom here, " he said.  "So having it be underfurnished is a luxury."  Meanwhile, he took his decorating cues from the one product already there that summed up the house: the Duraflame log.  The cheery artificial glow of its wrapper became a kin of leitmotiv (or perhaps lite motif).

"The minute I narrowed it down to orange, I saw things everywhere that were perfect," said Mr. Sanders, who divebombed Ikea and Crate & Barrel for the job.  So orange, read and yellow are everywhere: on the Ikea throws he tossed over the facing white-on-white sofas, on plastic beach balls.  On $89 china, $159 ceramic laps, $354 Marimekko bedding and a beach towel hung as tapestry (all from Crate & Barrel, which delivered everything to the Hamptons last Saturday.) There is orange/pink/blue/green on a giant pool toy used as an chap outdoor sculpture on the deck. An orange on a giant jar of cheese puffs from the local King Kullen (for decorative use only). Combined with green accents, teh color, though aggressive, lends a cheek and cheer, which if nothing else makes you laugh.  Clearly, this was not done with adult supervision.

It's not all aerosol cheese, however.  Mr. Sanders also repainted two of the bedrooms.  This might seem extreme for a summer rental, bit its effect should not be underrated.  One bedroom was painted Benjamin Moore's White, the other was left in original Blech; the difference between the two is noteworthy.  Mr. Sanders painted his own bedroom with Pratt & Lambert's Fennel, a sage green that, while tres 70's isrich and leafy enough for a nice summery nap.

And Mr. Sanders went the extra step of buying inexpensive rugs, which go a long way toward making the floor look like part of the house.  He also bought dust ruffles for the twin beds to match the sheets, averting two rental-look terrors--the bare box spring and the cheap bedding.  He also realized that his own kitchen appliances--the Cuisinart blender--would get far more use in the country than at home, and brought them out.  You want a party kitchen to be fully stocked.

At the end of the summer, Mr. Sanders will put the sheets, the towels, lamps and plates in storage--for whatever he does next year.  The rest is disposable--in some cases, even deflatable.