Building A Custom Cottage Home On An Island, Part I

As you travel through cottage country in Ontario, you will see many examples of Normerica custom homes and cottage designs already being enjoyed by their owners. However, it’s not often that you see one of our buildings actually being constructed. This week, we are happy to share with you one of our cottage designs that we’re currently building. In the following weeks, we will show you how the cottage is progressing and ultimately, what the finished product looks like.

Cottage Designs That Are Built Of – Not Just In – Ontario

One of the things we like about building timber frame homes is that they are unique in their flexibility from the perspective of being able to customize the plan so that the building fits naturally on the specific piece of land on which it’s going to be built. You can see how this cottage will blend into the natural surroundings of the land that it sits on, including the gorgeous trees and shoreline. This cottage was designed & is being built with great care so as not to uproot any living tree.

Did You Notice? At the top of this timber frame you will see a pine bough. This is Normerica’s and our client’s way of paying homage to the forest for taking its wood. The wood will be replaced.

Customizing The Design To The View

Like 70% of all the homes we build, this custom cottage plan was created by the Normerica team in partnership with the client. It’s being built so the owners can get the full perspective of the lake from several points of view. For example, the view from the dining room (below) will have an entirely different view of the lake than the main cottage. Can you see yourself sipping a glass of wine, enjoying a great meal and perhaps catching the setting sun? Nice.

Custom View of the Sky Too

Timber frame construction also allows for custom home design features that are difficult to achieve in most other construction styles. This skylight feature will run the entire length of the great room and will afford some awesome sights of the moon at night while producing incredible natural light during the day.

Building A Great ‘Great Room’

Scissor trusses will provide a dramatic impact in the great room of this cottage. This in combination with the skylight option will create a unique “WOW” factor when entering this room.

Normerica’s unique custom home flexible design system allows for other truss options as well, as you can see below.

This Normerica timber frame home promises to be a beautiful creation when it’s finished but I think you will agree, it is interesting to view the project in its early stages of creation as well. We’ll keep you ‘posted’ as the build continues.

Normerica is a custom home builder creating authentic timber frame homes for local & export markets since 1979 from its home office in Ontario. Explore over 50 award-winning cottage & custom home plans online right now and sign-up for access to hundreds more. Learn how we construct our custom homes using energy-efficient post and beam construction techniques.