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Country stores

Maria and Richard Churchill's shops draw on their shared tastes and separate talents.

The idea of opening The Cottage, a Concord home furnishings store that focuses on comfort and whimsy, came to Maria Churchill at a time when she was not at all comfortable.

"I was going through a midlife crisis," she says. "I did not want to go back to what I had done or work for someone else." What she did want was work that she and her husband, Richard, could do together, but thinking of how to merge his finance background with her skills, which included advertising sales, was a challenge.

"Then I thought: One of our vices was moving and decorating," she says. So they put their heads together and created The Cottage. Once they made up their minds, they moved fast, opening in November 1996 so they could do a big Christmas push.

"I knew I wanted this [cottage] style from the beginning," says Maria Churchill. "It defined what was inside us. We wanted to have people find comfortable furniture that's not so serious," she explains. Today, the Monument Square shop - housed in what was once the Thoreau family's general store - stocks hand-painted iron beds, accent pieces, rugs, table linens, bedding, and decorative pillows. And, in keeping with tradition, they still sell penny candy - some customers come specifically for that.

The Churchills opened their second store in Concord, just a few blocks away, a year and a half ago. That Cottage, says Maria, is the more serious decorating store, with big sofas, lots of lighting, room vignettes to inspire, and a team of designers to help customers realize their cottage look.

So what is the cottage style? It's a soft palette with floral patterns in multiple designs on many pieces: Some couches use eight different fabrics. Cottage-style side tables might be fashioned after a bird cage, dining tables may be hand painted and distressed, armoires and coffee tables might be finished to look a century old. It's eclectic, sometimes colorful, always easy to live with.

So if you'd rather be sitting in a down-filled sofa than your stiff Queen Anne couch, read on. "Life's just too short to be uncomfortable," Maria Churchill says. Here are her tips for moving into cottage mode:

• Experiment with decorative pillows, florals, textures, and the unexpected. For example, you can have a sofa with reversible pillows to quickly change the look.
• Introduce less formal woods like crackled or painted furniture, and mix woods. Add a wicker chair in your living room - no matching required.
• Put away Oriental rugs and go for lighter floor coverings that complement more casual fabrics. Or consider a custom rug with an updated palette. Use needlepoint or hooked rugs as a refreshing change.
• In general, don't be too serious: Let go of the rules about what should match what, and have fun. It's your house, and you should love it.