Designer Jessica Waks gives this family’s second cottage its own unique flair
Designer Jessica Waks gives this family’s second cottage its own unique flair, creating a spot to accommodate not only guests but also generations to come.
Nudged awake by the sweet smell of fresh cinnamon buns wafting from the kitchen, sleepy family members lumber downstairs, along the way catching sweeping views of serene Lake Simcoe – calm and quiet before the afternoon action takes hold. It’s a common Sunday scene at this Innisfil, Ont., cottage, which is peaceful in the morning until everyone gets up and silence gives way to animated chit-chat and laughter. Often, it’s not just the occupants of this abode in attendance, but the next-door neighbours as well – after all, they’re family, too.
The homeowners, a Toronto couple with four adult daughters and two toddler grandchildren, weren’t planning on purchasing a new place – they bought a cottage only five years ago (featured in Style at Home’s July 2013 issue) – but when this 7,000-squarefoot three-storey structure directly next door to the first became available, the owners decided to take advantage of the unique opportunity to keep their rapidly expanding family together on these adjacent vacation properties.
To make the cottages look cohesive, they rehired designer Jessica Waks – Style at Home’s former design editor – of Jessica Claire Interiors, who had perfectly appointed their first place. “The homeowners wanted the spaces to have their own identities but to also look unified,” says Jessica, discussing how she took the nautical tone of the first property and layered a more country feel into the second. “I used a refined rustic aesthetic to temper its
grand architecture, which boasts a spacious foyer and formal principal rooms,” she says.
Jessica was thinking Nantucket rather than classic Canadiana (“it’s more in keeping with the beach locale,” she says) when she rescued the dark and dated interior from its 1980s time warp. The most notable offences? Upholstered doors, inexplicable wall cut outs, tacky floral wallpaper (even on the ceiling in some rooms), mismatched flooring (including fruit-patterned tiles and pink-stained oak), heavily swathed valances, forest green toilets and sinks and a bizarre balcony that jutted into the living room from the second floor. In other words, the cottage called for a complete overhaul.
So Jessica started fresh in almost every room, smoothing out the architectural oddities and replacing the flooring with dark-stained oak hardwood, which contrasts the newly white walls throughout – a timeless and cohesive envelope for the elegant nautical look.
Key steps in the transformation included trading out the main floor’s heavy drapery for soft sheers (this was especially impactful in the great room, with its 24-foot-tall windows); repainting the great room’s pink-tinted coffered ceiling a crisp white; adding decorative details like patterned wallpapers in the dining room, powder room and bedrooms; and replacing the kitschy kitchen
with one that has a chic Hamptonsinspired vibe.
As for the finishing touches, storebought and custom furnishings (most designed by Jessica herself) blend well with vintage and coastal accessories throughout – accents that are also present in the first cottage. This space’s refined indigo, linen, ivory and black palette is slightly more sophisticated than the brighter blue and white one on display in its counterpart, so each building feels like a natural extension of the other rather than a carbon copy.
The unity of these complementary cottages is underscored by the stone paths that lead from each back door to a shared beach and dock. Here, the family congregates on summer afternoons. Adults sip wine and take in the sun while toddlers swim and build sandcastles – the group, with guests, can swell to 30 or 40 people at any given time. But no matter where they stay (there are no assigned bedrooms), they’ll gather to enjoy meals together. After all, that’s the mandate of most Canadian cottages… and these homeowners are really, really great cooks. FOR SOURCES, SEE OUR WORKBOOK