§ 01 — THE ARRIVAL
The Deck Before the Door
The Winchester Boathouse is on Lake Rosseau, and the entry experience starts on the rooftop before you’ve touched a door handle. Rockscape handled the landscaping — the transition from the bridge onto the deck is deliberately composed, natural tones of the dock working alongside the planting to bring you out over the water.
The railing up top deserved its own conversation during design. Our client came to us with what sounds like competing goals: they wanted to be able to rest a glass of wine or a beer on the railing, but they wanted the most minimal, sleek glass profile possible. Those things are actually compatible — it just takes the right spec. We landed on an extremely thin glass railing that reads as modern from twenty feet away and functions exactly as described.
We built a gangplank at the lake end of the deck for the swimmers in the family. On a lot of boathouses this is just an open gate. On this one we added a lock — so the clients can secure it when they want, and open it when they don’t.
§ 02 — THE EXTERIOR
Cedar, Reveal, and a Garage Door to the Lake
The exterior brief was traditional Muskoka boathouse form with modern details. The cedar soffit was the key move. The dock already has warmth from the wood decking — stacking cedar overhead picks that up and extends it vertically. You get the character of the material without overcomplicating anything.
The corners are trimless — we used a reveal so the siding from each face butts directly in, which makes the wall plane read as larger and more continuous. It’s a clean look that takes precision to execute, and the contrast with the cedar overhead gives the elevation exactly the tension we were after.
On the lakeside, a full-width garage door opens the lower level directly to Lake Rosseau. When it’s up, the interior and the water are in the same room. The two sliding doors on the main entertainment face work the same way — two panels slide to one, and the whole middle section opens.
§ 03 · THE TOUR
Watch the Full Walkthrough
We filmed the full project with Brian Strickland and the trades — rooftop through the lower level, every detail from the glass railing down to the platform lift.
§ 04 — THE INTERIOR
Bar, Boho, and White Oak
The lower level was designed for spending time on the water, not just arriving there. We have a bar, a dining table, a living area with a TV, and clear sight lines to the lake from all of them. The client likes to watch golf and sports on the water — so the TV placement and seating layout went in with that in mind. The furniture and the lake view coexist rather than compete.
We worked with Hilltop Interiors and kitchen company Shervin on the interior package. White oak cabinetry, a light dining table, deliberate warmth. The goal was a boho residential feel — a space that would be worth spending time in on its own. The setting makes it better.
Northshore Waterfront Solutions installed a platform lift in the boat slip. That keeps the dock sealed and the slip clean — the kind of practical detail that gets overlooked in design and causes maintenance headaches afterward. We try to specify it early.
§ 05 — THE THROUGH-LINE
A Boathouse That Earns Its Square Footage
The organizing idea was simple: every part of this boathouse should give people a better reason to be on the water. The rooftop deck for arriving. The gangplank for swimming. The sliding and garage doors for moving between inside and outside without thinking about it. The bar and TV area for staying.
Lake Rosseau is why people build boathouses. Everything else is just a series of decisions about how much you want to get out of it.
