Steph Designs TWIN Sister KATH’s DREAM COTTAGE
In the height of the pandemic, I found myself cottage shopping with my twin sister Kath. Probably not the best time to buy in a peak market, but there we were dreaming and scheming. Kath was the buyer, but of course I wanted in on the action. What designer doesn't want a chance to get their hands on a cottage, let alone design one from scratch with someone who shares the same DNA?
My sister wanted to buy in Haliburton, and she had seen some great cottages, but nothing quite fit the bill. Looking back, I think she was holding out for her beloved Kennisis Lake. Then, one Saturday morning, an unexpected listing popped up. Almost five acres of land on Kennisis – a chance to build exactly what she wanted on her favourite lake. As Kath would say, “thank you, Spirit Guides”.
If you know Kennisis Lake, this kind of listing is rare, but after 20+ years, the owner was ready to let it go. So, off we went to walk the land and Kath put in her offer right away. She got it! The first step towards building what would soon be called “Soapbox Cottage”.
Ah, the allure of building your own cottage just the way you want it - a dream come true. Cue the ominous music…careful what you wish for as it’s not for the faint of heart.
The early design process was smooth because I knew what Kath wanted and how it all could flow: one-level living with bedrooms that have their own bathrooms, an open concept living and dining room, a Haliburton Room, tons of character and soul in the finishes, and nothing too big (“cottage quaint” as Kath would say). A country home to be enjoyed year-round. Here are some inspiration photos gathered along the way to give you the vibe of what we're going for.
We started with the main floor plan and landed on this as the final layout (see below), but of course that’s the short story. My brother Chris (who turned my manual sketches into CAD drawings) is still recovering from the longer version of how this all went down…
As anyone who has built a home from scratch knows, the land plays a huge role. So our easy-to-come-by designs got modified, and modified, and modified again. There were unexpected slopes everywhere that had us scrambling to address the challenges they were giving to our best-laid plans. We ended up flipping the whole main floor layout and finding a way to carve out a hidden staircase down to the basement. Kath got the basement that she never wanted!
Her cottage became a side-split home design that gives Kath a walk-out basement with 8-foot ceilings. Not too shabby for someone who didn't want a basement. This meant more space = more money to build it = bye-bye 'Haliburton Room' and hello 'Haliburton Bump' to reduce the footprint. We're officially paused on landscaping plans, but at least the bonus is plenty of room for extra sleeping, a fourth bathroom, a cute laundry set-up, and even a sauna. And I was always rooting for bunk beds, so now we've found the perfect place for them - check out our inspiration below.
For the exterior design - roof lines, style of windows, scale and proportions, peak angles, exterior finishes, lighting, etc. - we kept it simple, clean and classic. We considered three approaches for the finishes shown in the renderings below: 1) Painted board & batten 2) Painted tongue & groove and 3) Natural cedar tongue & groove that will age over time.
After interviewing several builders, we honed in on Integrity Home & Cottage – owned and lead by Gerald Hood who is not only a fantastic guy, but whose work ethic, honesty and commitment to having his team onsite daily, really impressed us. We did our homework, signed the contract, and up it went quickly!
As you can see, we chose the natural cedar - it's less maintenance, and we love the look of how it will age over time. We splurged on hung windows from Ridley, but we didn’t get too fussed about not being able to afford cedar shingles on the main roof. Kath cared more about the windows, and being able to spend on the inside finishes.
There are many more finishing touches that will bring Soapbox Cottage to life, and add in the charm and character we like - painted flower boxes, trim around the windows, colourful exterior light fixtures, finish carpentry work on the porch, and of course filling in the land so the house can sit down on it (versus its current perching situation).
Below is an actual photo of the cottage that I took a few days ago but with a rendering placed over top of it to show what the finishing touches will look like.
When building (or even renovating) a home, you have to be a leaf in the stream to survive, and stay open to what the universe sends you. Luckily, we’re both pretty good at that.
We can’t wait to share more of this project with you when we get further along. In the meantime, if you have a cottage you're dreaming of, give us a ring-a-ling. We do love our cottage projects over here at Griffin Houghton.
Contact us for all your design needs at studio@griffinhoughton.com
We would love to help.
