Morrison Lake is one of the quieter Muskoka lakes, small water, deep lots, mature pine. The owners wanted a four-season cottage that read more as a piece of furniture set into the granite than as a building stuck onto it. The design pulled the main living room a half-level below grade, the 'lake room', so the windows met the surface of the water at sitting height. That single move drove the rest of the construction.
The build is a timber-frame hybrid: poured concrete retaining walls for the sunken volume, Douglas fir post-and-beam above. The signature element is a cantilevered timber staircase that lands at the lake-room threshold; the engineering required a hidden steel moment frame inside the timber. We worked the detail with the timber framer and the structural engineer for six weeks before fabrication.
Material specifications were tight. Reclaimed hemlock for the floors, sourced from a deconstructed Ontario mill. Bamboo cabinetry through the kitchen and primary bath. FSC-certified Abaco siding outside. Every material on the project had to have a chain-of-custody answer; we tracked it on a spreadsheet from quote to install.
Mechanical is in-floor hydronic heat off a propane boiler with electric backup; the envelope is ICF basement, R-32 walls, triple-pane glazing. The cottage runs comfortably at -25C with no auxiliary heat in the lake room.
Build ran fourteen months. The cantilevered staircase was the last thing installed before the deficiency walk.
Spec.
- 01Douglas fir timber post-and-beam
- 02Reclaimed hemlock flooring
- 03Bamboo cabinetry
- 04FSC-certified Abaco siding
- 05Triple-pane glazing
- 06ICF basement
“// REPLACE, placeholder testimonial”
On site, on the lake.
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