North Thormanby Island, a tiny island just off B.C.’s Sunshine Coast, is a place apart. Whisper-quiet and free of shops, hotels and restaurants, there’s a small community of summer cottagers who get around on foot or by golf cart. Sarah and Mike Chiu, along with their two tween-aged children, long admired the island from across the water when they owned a cottage on the mainland. “We love to boat,” says Mike. “We visited Thormanby often and fell in love with it.” In 2017, they bought a little A-frame cottage on the island, but when a piece of beachfront came up for sale, they jumped at the opportunity. “We decided to build our forever place,” says Mike.

The Chius now spend long stretches on the island during the summer, which requires planning as well. Mike fishes and the family grows produce including kale and raspberries in the garden. With no grocery store, they stock up in advance and rely on a deep freezer. “When we’re here, we try not to make trips to the mainland,” says Sarah. “We like our days to just be. It’s such a special place.”

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Bunkies aren’t meant to be the stars of the show — they’re overflow sleeping quarters for when main cottages need to accommodate extra guests. Parris McKenna’s bunkie, however, doesn’t play second fiddle to her family’s four-season, 4,000-square-foot cottage on Lake Muskoka. The elevated yet comfortable mini cottage stands a short distance away, separated by a little stream, and it’s become a special spot for visitors who’ve travelled from afar to experience Ontario’s cottage country.

Parris and her husband, Fraser, bought the nearly one-and-a-half-hectare property outside of Gravenhurst in 2021. In December 2023, they enlisted Cottage Country Builders to construct a four-season bunkie, which took seven months to complete. “We love to host family from out of town,” says Parris. “Our goal was to give guests their own space where they could feel completely comfortable.”

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Are we there yet? Every parent knows that refrain, especially when you also throw in a boat ride before reaching the actual cottage. But Angela Wheeler and Josh Malcolm — and their four kids, Aiden, Jessie, Stella Jane and Will — adore adventurous passages like this. (Stopping at a chip truck on the hour-long drive helps enormously.) The family had already spent 15 lazy summers at an island cottage without hydro owned by Angela’s in-laws located in the Kawarthas, in south central Ontario.

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Designer Angela Wheeler takes us inside her family’s rustic, wood-clad island cottage in the Kawarthas. “Before we started the project, we travelled to the Alps, and were really inspired by the wood buildings there,” she says. “We wanted to capture that look here.” The sprawling space has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a mudroom, a utility room and more. Its simple, pared back design highlights earthy hues and jewel tones. The cottage is the ultimate retreat for Angela and her family: “I love the feeling of this space,” she says. “It feels unique, cosy and natural.”

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Every summer, the pull of Muskoka draws lake lovers from not just Canada, but around the world. The area’s natural beauty and laid-back vibe has attracted stars including Cindy Crawford, Simu Liu, David and Victoria Beckham, Austin Butler and more. Those lucky enough to have a cottage in the region often choose classic decorating elements (think Muskoka chairs) that are almost as famous as the celebs that dot its shores. Below, see 11 Muskoka cottage design ideas – from stone fireplaces to screened porches – that regularly appear in the cottages we’ve featured over the years.

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“How do you have spaces that are great for hosting yet feel intimate?” That was the central question Lisa Worth, principal of Worth Interior Design, asked when she set out to design this custom Muskoka lakehouse. To marry the two elements, the designer chose textural materials and finishes such as warm wood, honed granite and durable flagstone. For the floor plan, Lisa strategically connected the kitchen to the four-season room, mudroom and servery — the layout makes entertaining a breeze. Standout design moments include the spacious pantry with checkerboard floors and vintage pocket doors, and the floor-to-ceiling chimney breast in Canadian granite. Presented by Thermador

Cover image by Stephani Buchman

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It can be a tense moment for longtime Muskoka cottagers when they hear that a new home is being built nearby. Will the natural terrain be destroyed? Will the cottage dominate the shoreline or, worst of all, look like a city house oblivious to the area’s heritage? Thankfully, there were none of these worries when the owners of this cottage decided to build anew on the land they’d already lived on for 30 years.

The owners have another home in Florida but spend as much time at the cottage as they can. “We’re a nature-loving, close-knit family that wanted to retain the spirit of our private getaway when we built a new place,” says one owner. “We envisioned a traditional exterior, the kind of cottage we’d known from childhood summers spent here, but a contemporary interior that would be comfortable for our grown family and all of our friends.”

The owners toured projects by architectural designer Steve Jarrett of Silent Impact Designs, who’s a seasoned designer of traditional and contemporary cottages. With his love of classic Muskoka materials such as granite, pine and cedar shingles, they knew he’d be perfect for the project.

The owners feel that building a new cottage when they retired was “an opportunity for a refresh.” Their new cottage is an embodiment of this idea, as it renews Muskoka traditions and takes them respectfully into the future.

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It’s 6 p.m. on a balmy summer evening in Muskoka, and the dock is already rocking. Twenty or so friends and neighbors have arrived at Marissa and Moez Kassam’s Lake Joseph cottage near Port Sandfield, Ont., drawn by the aromas of the family’s weekly Friday night dinner, the sounds of a live ’80s cover band and the laughter of kids whizzing by in a blur of wet bathing suits as they hurl themselves off the dock and into the lake. It’s happy chaos.

Like first love and summer camp, the Muskoka region is idyllic for many people, enveloped in a haze of happy, hot-weather memories. For them, cottage life is the comforting flap of a screen door, the redolent scent of cedar and pine needles beneath bare feet, and the slow-motion joy of lazy summer days spent doing absolutely nothing.

The end of summer is celebrated with a huge birthday bash for Moez attended by dozens of friends and neighbors. “We usually bring up a chef or two to help out,” says Marissa. “It’s always a full house, which is lovely.” It’s a good life. When the day comes to close up the cottage, the Kassams are ready to head back to the city. “But only because we know that, next summer, we’ll return to this,” says Moez. “It’s the greatest place on earth.”

For help, they turned to friend and designer Montana Burnett, who they had worked with on their Toronto homes. “Montana creates an energy and a vibe,” says Marissa. “Her aesthetic is laid-back, casual and warm. That was important to us, as our kids are little and we wanted it to feel homey.”

Scroll down for a tour of this stunning Muskoka cottage designed by Montana Burnett!

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If you’ve been following the career of Sarah Richardson over the years, you know that Georgian Bay is an important place for the designer and her family. Sarah’s previous renovations in that area were documented on HGTV Canada’s Sarah’s Cottage in 2009 and Sarah’s Rental Cottage in 2015, and the designer’s latest labour of love is another spot on Georgian Bay, a 4,000-square-foot cottage in Pointe au Baril, Ont.

Though Sarah admits they didn’t need another cottage, she and husband Alexander Younger wanted to move closer to friends and provide more summer job options for their teenage daughters. Sarah shares why Georgian Bay is so special, how she transformed the cottage’s parrot-green interiors with her signature decorating moves, and gives us a glimpse of the easy-breezy summer lifestyle her family holds so dear. Below, take a look inside Sarah Richardson’s Georgian Bay cottage!

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After falling in love with her Muskoka cottage, designer Parris McKenna sold her property in the city and permanently moved to the beautiful country property on Lake Muskoka. “I wanted this space to have a European aesthetic,” says Parris, who focussed on using natural materials that create a seamless connection between indoors and out. See how she totally transformed her country house and find out her 3 favorite design moments.

Thumbnail Photography By Lauren Miller

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