§ 01 — THE ORIGIN
Born in Muskoka. Never Left.
I was born and raised in Muskoka, Ontario. My parents, Lena and Randy, were flipping cottages while maintaining jobs in Toronto during the week — and one day my dad said let’s just do it. Moving to Muskoka full time left one obvious problem: what would we do for a living? His answer, in typical Randy fashion: let’s make flipping cottages the job.
That decision shaped everything. I grew up watching buildings get taken apart and put back together. Demolition, renovation, the smell of old lumber, the transformation from one thing to another — it was my normal. It was also the foundation of everything I do now.
§ 02 — HILLTOP
A Family Business, a 1923 Building, and a Sludge Hammer
In 2000, we bought the former Rocky Top Building across from the Rosseau General Store — corner of Rice Street and Highway 141. Built in 1923. It had that distinctive old-building smell when you walked in. Every morning during that winter renovation, I woke up excited to help my dad work on it.
Once we got off the school bus, my dad would hand my brother Jordan and me a sledgehammer and we’d go to work. Hilltop Interiors opened in May of 2000. My mom’s background in fine art from the University of Guelph made interior decorating natural. The client-focused approach — Your Home, Your Life, Your Style — has been at the core of what my parents built from day one.
§ 03 — THE PROPERTY
Three Cabins on Lake Rosseau
At roughly the same time, we bought our dream property on Lake Rosseau. The catch: we were downsizing from 4,000 square feet into three old 800-square-foot cabins. Most people would find that terrifying. My parents found it motivating.
My dad did a modest renovation to the main floor of one cabin — the kitchen, the bathroom, converting the space to make it livable. That project, watching it transform from what it was into something that actually worked, reinforced what I already suspected: there is nothing more satisfying than a building done right.
§ 04 — THE EDUCATION
Architecture, on Purpose
With a dad in construction and a mom running an interior decorating business, the path wasn’t hard to read. I first attended the University of Toronto, taking architecture courses, before transitioning to a more technical program. Seeing the homes and cottages in the area through Hilltop, and being part of our own property’s transformation, made me want to pursue it properly.
I started CPD to bring that same care — the care my parents put into every room at Hilltop, every renovation my dad took on — into the design and planning stage of a project, before the first nail goes in.
§ 05 — THE THROUGH-LINE
Why This Matters
Everything I do at CPD is rooted in this: I grew up watching good buildings change lives. A well-designed cottage isn’t a luxury. It’s a place where a family actually connects. When we get the building right, the client gets something they’ll use for generations.
That’s what I’m working toward. Every project. Every decision.
