MA+HG Architects looked to dorm-style bedroom layouts and locker room details to max out the floor plan of this B.C. cabinJANIS NICOLAY/The Globe and Mail
Whether it’s a historic cottage handed down through generations, or a contemporary new build designed for a crowd – just like memories, the best summer spaces are shared.
These communal retreats across Canada are more than just places to eat and sleep, but also the sites of grandparents telling stories, cousins forming bonds and friends catching up around a campfire.
Idyllic visions aside, it’s not easy to create spaces that cater to the needs and preferences of family members, friends and neighbours of all ages. Multigenerational cottage design involves a delicate calculus of extra storage, durable materials and space planning to go along with all the personal treasures.
“It’s very different than designing a primary residence – these are legacy projects,” says Toronto designer Cynthia Ferguson of Cynthia Ferguson Designs. “It’s not just for the family living there during the summer, it’s about expanded and flex space for the number of heads you can put down at night.”
This summer, we tour three lively spaces built, renovated and decorated for maximum head count and maximum enjoyment.
On an island in Georgian Bay, Cynthia Ferguson Designs finds practical solutions for the ebb and flow of summer guests
Georgian Bay house designed by Cynthia Ferguson.Donna Griffith
Kitchen designed by Ms. Ferguson.Donna Griffith
The redesigned laundry room.Donna Griffith
“One of the great things about being on an island is staying on an island,” says Ferguson of the ready-for-anything approach to her client’s getaway on Georgian Bay. “A cottage is about arming the homeowner and reducing extra trips out for supplies because you never know who’ll stop by your dock.”
The owner, who lives in London, Ont., is an avid entertainer with two grown children who have been summering in the Pointe au Baril area since childhood. She purchased the island 20 years ago and built the three-bedroom, two-bathroom cottage for her immediate family of three. In 2020, she hired Ferguson to overhaul the spaces, both aesthetically and functionally, to accommodate 16 to 20 people.
“Her sister and father have cottages nearby, so there are flex numbers of people coming in and out all the time,” Ferguson says.
Ferguson started by overhauling the kitchen – adding new cabinets and hard-wearing quartzite counters – plus a dedicated beverage fridge and extra freezer in the laundry room as well as two washers and dryers.
Every bedroom but the primary has two beds (a total of nine, when you count the secondary cabin and bunkie also on the property), and every bed has two sets of sheets so that they can be always made up and ready, Ferguson says.
In the central living space, with water views on every side, there are activity zones for gathering in smaller groups: a dedicated games table with mismatched vintage chairs, a large coffee table (on a multihued rug prized for its ability to hide stains), a bar within the dining area, and of course, the kitchen island.
“This family loves to be together, and they even have an annual ‘Christmas in July party,’” Ferguson says. “We wanted to make life comfortable for every guest and easy for the host.”
MA+HG Architects looked to dorm-style bedroom layouts and locker-room details to max out the floor plan of this B.C. cabin
B.C. cabin by MA+HG Architects.JANIS NICOLAY
Bathroom designed by MA+HG Architects.JANIS NICOLAY
A dorm-style bedroom.JANIS NICOLAY
How do you create a shared cabin for three grown brothers, their partners and children, and their parents so that no one fights over the best room? Approach it as a summer camp, says architect Marianne Amodio, of the Vancouver firm MA+HG Architects. “The idea was to create dormitory-style bedrooms – all are the same square footage with a nook for bunk beds,” she says. “It’s a very democratic use of space.”
The cabin on Kawkawa Lake near Hope, B.C., was built in 2021 when the three brothers inherited the property from their maternal grandparents. The two younger brothers live in Vancouver and the eldest brother and parents live on the Sunshine Coast, so the family needed a gathering place for holidays and summer weekends.
Amodio’s approach to the 2,560-square-foot house was informed by an existing but inhabitable plywood kit cabin on the property. Taking cues from the linear mid-century-style building, she conceived two pods connected by an exterior breezeway. Inside, the spaces are durable – think concrete floors and quartz counters – yet well-appointed and stylish. One of the shared bathrooms has an intentional nod to a locker room, with a long sink and separate rooms for a shower and tub, to complete the sleepaway-camp vibe.
“The nice thing about this project is it’s really modest, with humble drywall inside and exterior cedar left to naturalize with the weather,” Amodio says. “Though it’s modern, it’s not snobby. You feel relaxed.”
One of the brothers says the cabin’s fluid design allows the different family members to occupy the four different bedrooms, depending on who’s there at any given holiday or weekend. “As my family grows and my younger brother’s family grows, the expectation is that we’ll still be able to accommodate everyone and keep using the property as we are now,” he says.
A Kawartha Lakes barn by Griffin & Houghton Design is topped with an expansive bunk room that looks like the chicest of sleepaway camps
A Kawartha Lakes barn by Griffin & Houghton Design.Virginia Macdonald
The barn has a bar area with a hidden mini-fridge and microwave.Virginia Macdonald
For Toronto designer Emily Griffin, “The Barn” – a 1,585-square-foot great room with sleeping loft for 16 – was a solution to a problem. Her family of five had outgrown the cramped 1970s Pan-Abode cottage she inherited from her parents on property that’s belonged to the extended family for more than 100 years. With 82 acres and six different family cottages overlooking Balsam Lake, the property is affectionately known as the “Griffin Compound.”
Griffin, co-principal at Griffin & Houghton Design, had an idea for a new outbuilding that could house her then-teens, along with their many friends and cousins. “On our Friday drives up to the Kawarthas, my husband and I would point out these beautiful Ontario barns,” she says. “And I thought, that’s it! We don’t need a bunkie or another cabin, we need a barn.”
The expansive bunk room.Virginia Macdonald
The resulting building, an open space with 20-foot ceilings and whitewashed pine walls, has become a place for the entire extended family (sometimes up to 60 people) to catch up, play music or challenge one another to pool at the refurbished vintage table. “There’s a lot of mess and a lot of wet bathing suits, so my rule is everything has to be tough,” she says. “I can’t worry about anything getting stained or broken.”
To that end, Griffin installed inexpensive pine floors that improve with wear, and created a sectional from two Ikea mattresses with ticking-fabric slipcovers. To layer in some colour and pattern, she tossed out a riot of kilim pillows that “can’t be destroyed.” Upstairs in the loft, she covered the rows of platform beds in a selection of quilts sourced through her own textile line, Imli. “It’s heavy Indian cotton so I can wash that bedding every third weekend and it never frays or fades,” she says.
Though the barn doesn’t have a kitchen, it does feature a bar area – with a mini-fridge and microwave hidden behind a charming toile skirt. There’s also a two-piece bathroom and outdoor shower.
“It’s really been a perfect addition,” Griffin says. “We have fun together in the barn, then Norm and I go to sleep in our quiet, tiny room far away from all the noise.”