Houzz Tour: Lakeside Cottage Relaxes Into Country Style
Paneling, wallpaper, area rugs, comfy furniture and vintage touches give this Ontario home a lake-house vibe
Kitchen
Before, the kitchen was dark, jammed in a corner and had an awkward angled bar that cut it off from the other rooms. It was adjacent to a more formal dining area. Griffin decided to make it the true heart of the house, expanding it into an L-shape (the range is out of frame to the right on the other end of the L), brightening it with a big new window over the sink and incorporating the dining area by making this harvest table the central spot for meals. The kitchen is open to the living room off this side of the table and to the sunporch off the right end of the table.
Farmhouse chairs and barn-style lights add to the country vibe. The cabinetry has an antique glaze and antiqued bronze hardware. Bin pulls and footed base cabinets complement the look, while the blue backsplash and jute rug bring in some beachy style. Panel-front appliances fit in seamlessly. That’s the fridge on the right, and two dishwashers flank the sink.
Breakfast-cocktail bar. Wood from the original fishing shack repurposed as open shelving marks a special breakfast bar where everyone can grab their own coffee and toast, out of the way of the rest of the kitchen. The cabinets underneath conceal a wine fridge and microwave, and the bar can be used in the evenings for cocktails.
Table: RH; chairs: Crate & Barrel; rug: Ikea; pendant lights: vintage, via The Door Store; browse large rectangular wood dining tables
Before, the kitchen was dark, jammed in a corner and had an awkward angled bar that cut it off from the other rooms. It was adjacent to a more formal dining area. Griffin decided to make it the true heart of the house, expanding it into an L-shape (the range is out of frame to the right on the other end of the L), brightening it with a big new window over the sink and incorporating the dining area by making this harvest table the central spot for meals. The kitchen is open to the living room off this side of the table and to the sunporch off the right end of the table.
Farmhouse chairs and barn-style lights add to the country vibe. The cabinetry has an antique glaze and antiqued bronze hardware. Bin pulls and footed base cabinets complement the look, while the blue backsplash and jute rug bring in some beachy style. Panel-front appliances fit in seamlessly. That’s the fridge on the right, and two dishwashers flank the sink.
Breakfast-cocktail bar. Wood from the original fishing shack repurposed as open shelving marks a special breakfast bar where everyone can grab their own coffee and toast, out of the way of the rest of the kitchen. The cabinets underneath conceal a wine fridge and microwave, and the bar can be used in the evenings for cocktails.
Table: RH; chairs: Crate & Barrel; rug: Ikea; pendant lights: vintage, via The Door Store; browse large rectangular wood dining tables
The new window over the sink lets in loads of light. The shade is a relaxed linen. Below is a large apron-front divided farmhouse sink. The countertops are a Caesarstone that looks like marble, and the backsplash is a crackled elongated subway tile in soothing blues.
Tip: Casement windows are a good choice over a kitchen sink because it’s easy to reach over and crank them open.
Cabinets: Walden’s Kitchen Centre; cabinet hardware: Upper Canada Hardware; sink: Franke; faucet: Perrin & Rowe; window blinds: H Sewing, made with Kravet fabric
Tip: Casement windows are a good choice over a kitchen sink because it’s easy to reach over and crank them open.
Cabinets: Walden’s Kitchen Centre; cabinet hardware: Upper Canada Hardware; sink: Franke; faucet: Perrin & Rowe; window blinds: H Sewing, made with Kravet fabric
Sunroom
Just past the breakfast bar is this sunroom with windows on three sides. A beaded chandelier suits the scale of the high vaulted ceiling. The homeowners love to come in here with the paper in the morning and enjoy the sunlight and water views.
“This room is all about the views outside, so I kept things low-slung to keep the views open to the lake,” Griffin says. “And the door to the right is the entrance everyone uses after they’ve been in the lake, so I used a really durable fabric on the sectional that can stand up to wet bathing suits.”
Chandelier: Regina Andrews; coffee table: West Elm; rug: Pottery Barn; sectional, Shelter Furniture; find more midcentury modern-inspired sectionals
Just past the breakfast bar is this sunroom with windows on three sides. A beaded chandelier suits the scale of the high vaulted ceiling. The homeowners love to come in here with the paper in the morning and enjoy the sunlight and water views.
“This room is all about the views outside, so I kept things low-slung to keep the views open to the lake,” Griffin says. “And the door to the right is the entrance everyone uses after they’ve been in the lake, so I used a really durable fabric on the sectional that can stand up to wet bathing suits.”
Chandelier: Regina Andrews; coffee table: West Elm; rug: Pottery Barn; sectional, Shelter Furniture; find more midcentury modern-inspired sectionals
Living Room
The living room is open to the kitchen. Griffin started with the bones — wide beadboard instead of drywall and a new Ontario stone facing for the fireplace, which used to be covered in drywall and have a traditional mantel that was too formal. “The new stone makes it look country,” she says.
Next she tackled the furnishings — a striped cotton dhurrie for the floor, casual slipcovered furniture, wicker and wood accents and playful touches like the elephant garden stool and juju hat.
Sofa and chairs: Pottery Barn; coffee table: Crate & Barrel; elephant stool: L’Atelier Home
The living room is open to the kitchen. Griffin started with the bones — wide beadboard instead of drywall and a new Ontario stone facing for the fireplace, which used to be covered in drywall and have a traditional mantel that was too formal. “The new stone makes it look country,” she says.
Next she tackled the furnishings — a striped cotton dhurrie for the floor, casual slipcovered furniture, wicker and wood accents and playful touches like the elephant garden stool and juju hat.
Sofa and chairs: Pottery Barn; coffee table: Crate & Barrel; elephant stool: L’Atelier Home
Twin Bedroom
A knotty pine accent wall adds a camp-style touch, but there are enough white and modern accents, such as the chest of drawers and task lamps, to keep things from skewing too rustic. Griffin had to get this room together in two weeks because guests were coming, so she went for lots of readily available, inexpensive pieces. The mirrors and task lamps are from Ikea, the bedding is from HomeSense and the rug is from Urban Outfitters. She plucked the orange and green for the accents out of the rug’s colorful pattern.
A knotty pine accent wall adds a camp-style touch, but there are enough white and modern accents, such as the chest of drawers and task lamps, to keep things from skewing too rustic. Griffin had to get this room together in two weeks because guests were coming, so she went for lots of readily available, inexpensive pieces. The mirrors and task lamps are from Ikea, the bedding is from HomeSense and the rug is from Urban Outfitters. She plucked the orange and green for the accents out of the rug’s colorful pattern.
In the corner there’s a Danish modern-style chair underneath four framed vintage covers of Chatelaine magazine. The Canadian publication has been in circulation since 1928.
Chair: West Elm
Chair: West Elm
Master Bedroom
The master bedroom’s look is a departure from the rest of the house. “Not all of the rooms have to have the same style in a lake house,” Griffin says. “They wanted their room to feel really peaceful and calm.” In here the look is more elegant and traditional, inspired by the homeowners’ existing bed, which they wanted to keep.
“The homeowners like to visit Jamaica and like the British Colonial style there a lot, so I thought it would be a great idea for their bedroom. It was inspired by their colonial-style bed,” Griffin says. Wood pedestal tables, upholstered benches at the foot of the bed, a more formal wool rug and special window treatments enhance the look. Griffin designed the linen draperies and Roman shades, adding a lovely fabric tape detail to the former and pompom trim to the latter.
The master bedroom’s look is a departure from the rest of the house. “Not all of the rooms have to have the same style in a lake house,” Griffin says. “They wanted their room to feel really peaceful and calm.” In here the look is more elegant and traditional, inspired by the homeowners’ existing bed, which they wanted to keep.
“The homeowners like to visit Jamaica and like the British Colonial style there a lot, so I thought it would be a great idea for their bedroom. It was inspired by their colonial-style bed,” Griffin says. Wood pedestal tables, upholstered benches at the foot of the bed, a more formal wool rug and special window treatments enhance the look. Griffin designed the linen draperies and Roman shades, adding a lovely fabric tape detail to the former and pompom trim to the latter.
The lotus leaf wallpaper was a more formal choice than the paneling used in the rest of the cottage. More of Griffin’s signature touches, such as the vintage boxes, glass plates and pitcher, give the room personality.
Wallpaper: Farrow & Ball
Wallpaper: Farrow & Ball
Master Bathroom
The existing master bathtub had massive tile decking around it that hogged half the room, leaving no space for a shower or double vanity. Griffin got rid of the decking so she could fit both of those items in. She also replaced the brown porcelain floor tile with a more earthy cement brick tile. Its herringbone pattern continues the British Colonial feel. The vanity is from RH, but Griffin had a custom top made in Riverrock granite. The shower floor is river rock pebble tile. The mirror frame is metal.
Accents like the African basket hamper, Turkish towels and Cambodian bowls add more texture and color to the room.
Flooring: Creekside Tile; vanity: RH, with counter from Olympia Slab; basket: Serena & Lily
The existing master bathtub had massive tile decking around it that hogged half the room, leaving no space for a shower or double vanity. Griffin got rid of the decking so she could fit both of those items in. She also replaced the brown porcelain floor tile with a more earthy cement brick tile. Its herringbone pattern continues the British Colonial feel. The vanity is from RH, but Griffin had a custom top made in Riverrock granite. The shower floor is river rock pebble tile. The mirror frame is metal.
Accents like the African basket hamper, Turkish towels and Cambodian bowls add more texture and color to the room.
Flooring: Creekside Tile; vanity: RH, with counter from Olympia Slab; basket: Serena & Lily
Griffin moved the tub and added this large window looking out to the lake over it. An antique glass cabinet provides a place for toiletries and display items. Unable to find a caddy to fit the tub, Griffin repurposed a wooden cheese board from Crate & Barrel.
Guest Room
This lovely vignette shows off a distressed antique dresser and a vintage wicker starburst mirror Griffin scored at a favorite Toronto thrift store. The botanical wallpaper elevates the look.
Takeaways
Contractor: Cory Golden of Lakefront Construction
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This lovely vignette shows off a distressed antique dresser and a vintage wicker starburst mirror Griffin scored at a favorite Toronto thrift store. The botanical wallpaper elevates the look.
Takeaways
- Alternatives to drywall such as beadboard, shiplap, tongue-and-groove paneling and knotty pine help create a relaxed lake-cabin look.
- A large kitchen table provides a wonderful central gathering spot.
- If you need to tear down and rebuild, try to repurpose some of the materials from the old house. This can mean wood for open shelves, a vintage sink or tub, a window frame turned into a mirror frame or an exterior door used on the interior.
- Forgo the formal in a vacation home — slipcovered furniture, cotton rugs and playful accents are inviting and practical.
- You can customize a ready-made vanity with a different top (and often score a bargain from the scrap pile at the stone yard).
- Nothing has to serve the expected purpose — if you can’t find the right bathtub shelf, consider an unusual option, such as a wooden cheese board.
Contractor: Cory Golden of Lakefront Construction
More home tours: Apartments | Small Homes | Colorful Homes | Contemporary Homes | Eclectic Homes | Farmhouses | Midcentury Homes | Modern Homes | Ranch Homes | Traditional Homes | Transitional Homes | All
House at a Glance
Who lives here: Two lawyers who have three kids between them and who love to gather at this vacation home with friends and family
Location: Marmora and Lake, Ontario, about a two-hour drive from Toronto
Size: 2,200 square feet (204 square meters); five bedrooms, 3½ bathrooms
Designer: Emily Griffin Design
One of these homeowners has been enjoying this special spot on quiet Crowe Lake in Ontario his whole life. His father bought the property in 1953, and a haphazardly built fishing shack had been there since. But after inheriting the house, he and his Toronto-based family found themselves wanting to be able to accommodate more friends and family there, so they tore down the shack and built a new winterized cottage to replace it. “They built a nice house but there had been little thought given to the interior — it was lacking soul,” interior designer Emily Griffin says.
Scope of work. “The house was all drywall, which is just too city for me,” Griffin says. “The first thing I did was go in and clad those walls to give it a lake cottage feeling.” She used a combination of wide beadboard, horizontal shiplap, knotty pine and wallpaper. She also got rid of wall-to-wall carpeting upstairs and found casual area rugs to anchor the rooms. She completely decorated and furnished all of the rooms. And the kitchen and master bathroom underwent full renovations that included adding new windows. Griffin was able to keep the existing hardwood flooring.
Style. The clients wanted a relaxed Hamptons-inspired country style. Working on a tight timeline, Griffin scored a lot of the larger pieces of furniture at big retailers such as Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn, West Elm and Crate & Barrel, but she didn’t want the home to wind up looking like a catalog or a showroom, so she added paneling and wallpaper, shopped at local antiques and thrift shops and repurposed special pieces of the homeowners’. And while a five-bedroom house sounds expansive, the house had cozy proportions like the original did; its footprint isn’t that big because the bedrooms are modestly sized and two of them are on the lower level.
Entry. A welcoming entry sets the tone with its beadboard walls, antique bench and mirror and hanging hats. The mirror is gold and came from the clients’ home in Toronto; Griffin had it finished in an antique white to give it a country patina. She also had the bench antiqued to suit the country style. If you look in the mirror’s reflection, you can see the new coat closet doors, which have chicken wire inserts backed in a seagull-print fabric.
Wall paint (used throughout): Oxford White, Benjamin Moore