A Home Worth Coming Back To: Inside Our Lake Muskoka Project
There's a particular kind of client that I feel lucky to work with: they know how they want to live. They've thought about it carefully, maybe for years, maybe across many different homes in many different cities. They know the feeling they're after even when they can't quite articulate the design, and they trust you to bridge that gap. The family behind this Lake Muskoka project was exactly that.
They had lived all over the world. By the time they came to us, they had learned something that a lot of people take a long time to learn: that what makes a home worth coming back to has very little to do with how it photographs, and almost everything to do with how it holds people. They wanted a place that felt like Muskoka. Warm, unhurried, rooted. And they wanted it to actually function, because they love to cook and host and gather, and those things require a kitchen that works, rooms that flow, and spaces that don't make you feel like you're disturbing something precious just by walking through.
The property itself had real bones. A six-bedroom cottage right on the lake, with a flow that drew you in from the moment you walked through the door. What it needed was a full reimagining of how the spaces connected and served the family, while honouring the setting it sat within. We were brought on alongside architectural firm Spencer Douglas Planning & Design and custom home builder PattyMac to work through that transformation together, and we brought it to life exactly as the family had imagined it.
The original cottage was full of knotty pine, which can be lovely, but it had accumulated over time into something a little disjointed. Wood here, different wood there, the whole interior feeling slightly unsettled even when it was beautiful in parts. One of the most significant decisions we made early on was to streamline the materials. We introduced white tongue-and-groove panelling on the walls and a clear pine ceiling throughout, which pulled everything into a quieter, more cohesive conversation. The flooring came from Vintage Hardwood Flooring and carried through the whole home, which sounds simple but is the kind of choice that makes everything else feel resolved.
The First Feeling
One of the things I always think about before we touch anything is arrival. How does it feel to walk in? What does the house say in those first few seconds? This one had an original staircase that was beautiful in its bones but needed to be rebuilt to connect the upper and lower levels properly. We kept the wrought iron spindles, chose warm wood tones that would read as timeless rather than trendy, and made sure the entry felt welcoming without feeling fussy. The family hosts constantly. so that front door opens often. It needed to feel like a proper welcome every single time.
Where the Family Actually Lives
The great room is the heart of this house in the truest sense. Soaring timber trusses, floor-to-ceiling windows facing the lake, a stone fireplace with presence without being aggressive about it. The family described wanting a room where they could play board games in the afternoon, have a cocktail by the fire in the evening, and do both without the space asking anything of them in return. That's a high bar, and it was a genuine pleasure to meet it.
The warm palette we worked with throughout the home, seaside blues, ashy greens and creamy neutrals, gave the room a layered feeling that takes time to settle into. Both sofas are custom pieces made by Gresham House Furniture. The coffee table is from Classic Home. Nothing in that room was placed to impress. It was all placed to be used. The distinction matters more than people realize.
We also talked a lot about the windows. The family loves the view, obviously, that's part of why the property caught their attention in the first place. Working with Muskoka Window and Door Centre, we made sure the glazing was generous and thoughtfully oriented, so the lake is present without the room feeling like a showroom. You can read a book, have a conversation, watch the kids play games at the table, and the water is just there, in the background, doing what a Muskoka view does.
Photos: Zack Tosswill
A Kitchen Designed for Real Cooking
The kitchen is where the practical decisions get to shine. Our clients love to cook, love to entertain, and often have a full house. Dual islands were never a question, really. They make it possible for multiple people to be in the kitchen at the same time without getting in each other's way.
Cabinetry by Top Notch Cabinets
For the cabinets, Benjamin Moore's Newburyport Blue gave us the Cape Cod reference point we kept coming back to throughout the project. There's something about that shade of blue against the white walls and the light stone countertops sourced from Clot that felt fitting. Not coastal in a forced, nautical-themed way, but genuinely connected to water and shoreline and the kind of easy living that Muskoka invites. The pantry sits just behind the kitchen and provides the breathing room that hosts need: extra prep space and a little separation between the cooking chaos and the final product.
The appliances are from Wolf Gourmet and Thermador, which was the right choice for a family that actually uses them. Brass hardware runs throughout the cabinetry, which ages gracefully in a way that chrome often doesn't. These are the kinds of decisions that maybe aren’t obvious on their own but keep it feeling classic five years later the same way it did on day one.
Before → After: the original kitchen had charm, but it had outgrown itself. The knotty pine ceiling, butcher block counters, and overflowing pantry told us everything we needed to know.
The Functional Side of It
The laundry room is one of those spaces that rarely gets attention in a project reveal, but it's worth mentioning here because it captures something important about how we approached the whole house. It stayed exactly where it was, same footprint, same door to the outside, but it was completely reimagined. We transformed the knotty pine walls and dated tile into shiplap, soft cream cabinetry with brass hardware, and stone tile underfoot. It now connects directly to the pantry, which was one of those planning moves that makes daily life in a busy household easier, which is the whole purpose.
A Cottage That Grew Into Itself
The original plan had included a Muskoka room addition, and what evolved was something larger: a complete reinvention of the main floor. The addition became the year-round heart of the home, anchored by those warm timber trusses and the stone fireplace, with a long dining table that can shift from weeknight family dinners to afternoon board games without any fuss. A built-in bar, wet sink, hutch and wine fridge sit along one wall, which is the kind of detail that makes hosting feel effortless.
I often talk to clients about the difference between a home that looks good and a home that works. This project was a genuine study in how you pursue both at the same time. Every decision we made in this house came back to the same question: how does this family actually live? The answer shaped everything from the layout of the islands to the orientation of the dining table to the blue shelving units in the living room that hold books, objects, and the accumulated life of a family that finally has a place to stay put.
This project was featured in Our Homes magazine's Early Summer 2026 issue, photographed beautifully by Zack Tosswill. Seeing it in print was one of those moments that reminds you why this work matters.
If you're building, renovating, or ready to have a home that actually holds your life the way you want it to, we'd love to hear from you. Our full-service interior design process is built around getting to know exactly how you live before we touch a single finish.
Shayla
