Project name: Lake Muskoka Project

Location: Muskoka, Ontario, Canada

Date completed: May 2019

Architect: Muskoka Lumber

Interior Design: West of Main Design

Developer: Muskoka Lumber

Construction Company: North Point Custom Homes

Lake Muskoka Project is a custom cottage that brings modern luxury to traditional lakeside living. Expansive windows merge the interior architecture with the stunning natural landscape. Layered textures, natural linen sofas, pottery, reclaimed woods and wool rugs bring authenticity and travelled inspiration into the typical cottage setting. Working with the architectural designers from Muskoka Lumber, master finishers and custom furniture fabricators, allowed West of Main to produce a timeless design.

West of Main’s interior design paired with Muskoka Lumber’s architectural design and Northpoint Custom Homes build came together to create a custom cottage that delivers a contemporary cottage feel that maximizes the views from front to back. Lakeside living is all about the view, and this project by West of Main and Muskoka Lumber pairs this with modern luxury. The structure is positioned to maximize the view to both the lake as well as the forest. A-frame windows highlight the surrounding nature surrounding and accentuate the expansive ceiling height. Designed for cottage-life or lakeside-living seekers, this collaboration harnessed the knowledge and talent of local Muskoka builders and suppliers and West of Main’s travelled style to create the perfect home-away-from-home.  

The design materials complement one another rather than compete as scale and proportion are balanced by layering furnishings and finishes. The Brick backsplash that is carried across all of the kitchen’s vertical surfaces allows the space to feel warm and grounding rather than cold and vacuous. The Muskoka room captures the warmth of the woods with its cedar finish curtained in modern glass walls, and the vaulted ceilings layered with both wood beams and white painted shiplap create a high contrast that allows the wood beams to shine. West of Main and Muskoka Lumber’s aim was to fuse old with the new, and create a cottage that would utilise traditional materials while delivering a modern design with clean, contemporary lines. For the interior design, West of Main wanted to play with negative space to allow each design element to shine, and challenge the traditional dark and heavy palette for cottages.