A vacation home you can get to quickly for relaxed weekends or summers sounds like fun, but unless you design and decorate it properly, that home can become a money pit and a whole lot of work.

Whether you’re in a lakefront home or a beach house, you first have to consider the toll from sun and salt. If you’re not there full-time, think about the weight of outdoor furniture so it won’t fly off a second-floor balcony in a stiff breeze or become difficult to haul inside every time you leave.

Indoors, how much time do you want to spend cleaning floors? What about damage from wet swimsuits on upholstered chairs and sofas?

Houston interior designer Courtnay Elias of Creative Tonic Design, a fifth-generation Texan with a longtime connection to Galveston, says that how you finish and fill a vacation home depends on the location as well as the lifestyle you want to have in it.

“I love a beach house in Galveston. If you live in Houston, it’s such a treat to drive an hour and be on a beach,” she says. “You have to think about the wear and tear on a house there. You might live there a little more casually. All of those things need to be considered when picking all kinds of materials.”

She and her brother used to co-own a beach house, and they have friends who’ve owned houses in Galveston, too. She likes to use easy-care flooring such as engineered wood floors or vinyl tile that looks like wood, and she avoids stone and tile, as they’re prone to cracking in homes on stilts.

“I do think you should keep things light with breezy sheers and cotton and performance fabrics. Happy prints, big-scale prints are fun at a beach house,” Elias says. “Lots of smaller prints will make it feel like a cozy cottage. I tend to embrace the environment and let it dictate the interior, but always with a twist. Instead of super nautical, channel an LA-Malibu vibe or make it preppy Palm Beach. If you’re drawn to the West Indies, make it a high-contrast neutral vibe with wonderful drapes and rattan chairs.”

She adds that window sheers are great for casual decor, and recommends against using grass shades because the sun will “eat them up,” urging performance fabric or synthetic materials for window shades and blackout draperies for bedrooms.

Decor can feel beachy without turning to nautical details such as anchors and seashells—unless that’s what you want. To add fun to the vacation vibe, Elias favors bright and bold colors in paint, wallpaper, and upholstery. She aims for big pops of blue, green, and the pink and orange you might see in a sunset.

Ginger Barber, of Ginger Barber Interior Design, used to own a home in Laffite’s Cove on Galveston’s west end, where she kept everything casual and easy to use. She grew up in Florida and her mother was an interior designer, so she’s drawn to light neutral color palettes, linen fabric, seagrass rugs, and other natural materials.

“That’s where my mind goes—natural elements like raw wood, birdcages, wicker, and painted furniture,” Barber says. “I can use the same things in a house in Houston, but it’s how you put it together. In my Galveston house, I used director’s chairs around a farm table. My Houston house was dressier, but down there, I want to be relaxed and calm.”

There, she went more minimalist with fewer accessories and simply brought furniture cushions indoors when she left. Art can be beach-focused, using photos of the beach and wildlife or tapping into the local art scene for original pieces, Barber says.

Designer Rainey Richardson, of Rainey Richardson Interiors, is currently working on a Galveston project for a client whose primary home is in rural Brazoria County and has more rustic decor. Richardson and her team pushed the client in a completely different direction using Fusion granite with gray and tan veining, and then plum-colored stain for the cabinets. In the primary bathroom, a green-gray palette will have dark plum accents.

She’s had clients in Rockport and Port O’Connor who were serious about fishing and entertaining friends. Richardson was charged with creating homes that could sleep plenty of people, where parties were a regular occurrence and where tackle rooms could handle more fishing rods and reels than you can imagine.

She leans into deep, rich colors, using navy blue on an accent wall with fretwork, bright red for a row of beds in a bunk room, and multicolor print fabrics for decorative pillows in a living room.

Around a pool she opts for furniture that’s bigger, deeper and more lounge-y, plus plenty of room for towel storage and easy access to cold drinks. Everyone wants two dryers, of course—think of all the towels. Plus, remember that outdoor TVs will be replaced every two years and outdoor lighting should be attached to the house or a post. (Swinging ceiling fans are a “rookie mistake,” she says.)

“The biggest thing we think about is how saltwater will interact with materials. You’re not putting wallpaper on exterior walls, and you’re using really forgiving flooring that won’t trap debris or sand,” Richardson says. “You need to be able to sit down with a wet hiney from the beach or pool or boat ride.”