§ 01 — THE TIMBER
One Building, Tied Together
The garage at Lake Vernon sits a few steps from the cottage — a second building, separate from the main house but part of the same project. The first thing you notice on the front face is the fascia detail: Douglas fir timbers running across the elevation, held top and bottom in metal brackets, with a flat soffit sitting above them.
It’s a functional detail as much as a visual one. We’re in northern Muskoka, and the two things you’re always managing around a garage up here are water and snow. The flat roof extension throws water clear of the door openings. It also breaks the snowfall — so the area directly in front of the doors gets some shelter before you have to touch it. We ran the same timber detail around to the side entry so it reads as part of the same building on both faces, not something that was added separately.
We worked on this detail with DKG and Tamarack North. It’s a straightforward move that gives the building most of its character.
§ 02 — THE STUDIO
A Second Dwelling, Not Just a Garage
The brief for the upper level wasn’t storage. It was a secondary living space — specifically a place for one of the clients to paint. She wanted a room separate from the main cottage where she could work without interruption, and the garage loft was the right place for it.
So the upper floor has a studio, a small living area, a bedroom, and a bathroom. Everything you need to be self-contained. When guests arrive, the whole level functions as a small apartment — its own program, its own bathroom, a separate entrance from the side of the building. It’s not an overflow room off a hallway. It’s a separate space that happens to be on the same property.
The garage sits set back a bit further from the lake than the cottage, so the windows on the upper level give you a side view of Lake Vernon and a look over the cottage roofline. It’s a different angle than what you get from the main building. A different experience, not just a smaller version of the same one.
§ 03 · THE TOUR
Watch the Garage Walkthrough
We filmed this with Tamarack North — exterior detail and upper living level both visible, a good read of what the second building adds to this property.
§ 04 — THE THROUGH-LINE
The Solar Closes the Loop
One of the clients told us after their first summer that they’d spent about $20 on electricity for the entire season. That’s for a building with significant glazing, a full living suite above, and the garage below. We’ll get into the performance package on the cottage in another video — but the solar system lives on the garage roof, and it powers the whole property from there.
The timber detail, the art studio, the solar panels — they all serve the same idea: a second building that earns its place on the lot. Not storage, not just overflow. A place with its own program, its own view, and its own reason to be here on Lake Vernon.
