§ 01 · THE FEATURE
The Magic of Lake Joseph
Black Fir Cottage is featured across ten pages of the Our Homes Muskoka Mid-Summer 2026 issue. CPD led the full renovation of this Lake Joseph cottage, after first working with the owners on their boathouse. Matt Conklin of Conklin’s Construction Inc. handled the build.
Story by Lori Davis. Photography by Taylor Nullmeyer, Navigator Visuals.
§ 02 · THE PROJECT
Black Fir Cottage
The owners bought a five-bedroom cottage on Lake Joseph in 2016 and moved up full-time. Eight years later, the plan was a large screened Muskoka room. It quickly became a full gut renovation: the goal was to take the house from a cottage to a forever home.
“The layout was not geared to the water, and the main floor was very chopped up,” says Corbin. We reconfigured the plan so sightlines run from the foyer through the great room to the lake. We moved the main entrance from the side of the house to the front, which meant excavating the driveway and some blasting, but it freed up room for a true screened Muskoka room and a proper mudroom. The vaulted ceiling that did little for the great room moved upstairs to the primary suite, which now has a panoramic view of the lake. A pantry and walk-in closets were added along the way.
Outside, we removed a second-floor patio, adjusted the roofline and wrapped the house in black siding with Douglas fir accents. “Black siding allows the building to disappear and merge into the landscape while timber accents add warmth and interest.”
§ 03 · THE COVER
Our Homes Muskoka, Mid-Summer 2026
The Mid-Summer 2026 issue of Our Homes Muskoka carries two CPD projects. Windy Point Cottage leads the cover as the “Modern Treehouse Retreat,” and Black Fir Cottage on Lake Joseph runs alongside it as “A Magical Cottage Makeover.” One is a new build, the other a full renovation. Both started from the same question: what does this site already give you?
The issue hit newsstands across Parry Sound, Muskoka, Huntsville and Haliburton in late July 2026.
§ 04 · THE SPREAD
The Cover and Ten Pages
The complete Our Homes Muskoka Mid-Summer 2026 feature, as published.
§ 05 · THE THROUGH-LINE
Disappear, Then Warm Up
A renovation means working with the bones you have. Here the work was to turn an inward-facing cottage toward the lake, let the exterior recede into the trees, and bring the warmth back in through timber, texture and a screened room that is simple on purpose.
