SEE A CEDAR COTTAGE DREAM COME TO LIFE IN A SPECTACULAR LAKESIDE RETREAT

When most cottagers embark on a custom build, they start with a rough idea of what they want, and they search for a builder who can bring it to life. But for Tom Rypma, who lives with his wife and three children in California but spends his summers in Ontario’s cottage country, he’d known since childhood that he wanted to build a Pan-Abode cottage.

“I’ve been going to the same lake that my grandfather built a cottage on my whole life, and there was one cottage near us that was a Pan-Abode,” he explains. “Everything else on our lake was an original 600 or 700 sq. ft. humble cabin. And whenever we’d go over there, I was always amazed at how different it felt in that cottage, because every time we opened the door in the spring, I could smell that cedar. To me, it represented the pinnacle of the cottage experience. I didn’t know cottaging could feel that way until I walked into a Pan-Abode.”

Beyond that memorable aroma, Tom also saw first-hand that the Pan-Abode cottage from his childhood summers would stand the test of time, thanks to the Canadian Western red cedar used in its construction. “The standard cottages needed a ton of work every 20 years, whereas the Pan-Abode was built in the 1960s, and it looked and smelled just as good as it did when it was originally built,” he says. “That’s one of the reasons I wanted a Pan-Abode—so that when I’m gone, my kids and their kids would have it. I wanted something that was multi-generational.”

When that same cottage went on the market years ago, Tom jumped at the chance to buy it, but life had other plans. “It broke my heart when the deal fell through, so I vowed that if I ever had the chance to build my own cottage, I’d go with Pan-Abode,” he says.

As fate would have it, another cottage two doors down from his childhood retreat went up for sale, and Tom jumped on it. He also eventually purchased the lots on either side of it. “I ended up with three lots on the lake, and my ultimate vision was to amalgamate those lots and build a family getaway for my three kids,” he says. “It was an amazing opportunity to have my children grow up spending time at a cottage that was two doors down from their grandparents’.”

Since he already knew he wanted to build with Pan-Abode, the next step was to decide whether to go with a pre-existing Pan-Abode kit or to build custom from the ground up. “We looked at the kits that Pan-Abode offers, and some would have worked, but ultimately, for my wife and I to be true to our vision and fulfill our family’s and our guests’ needs, we knew we’d need to customize it,” he says. “It was a process that spanned a couple of years. And we found it really rewarding and easy.”

With the help of CedarCoast Timber Homes, a Pan-Abode distributor in Gravenhurst, Ont., Tom and his wife began piecing their vision together, focusing on a blend of rustic cottage vibes with modern decor elements. “I’ve always loved the combination of metal, wood, and stone,” he says. “The Pan-Abode cedar captures that wood element perfectly, and we worked with a designer who fabricated some incredible wrought-iron metalwork for lighting.”

Natural materials like local granite and salvaged wood took centre stage in the design. “We used a local mason who hand-chiseled a fireplace out of granite for stone elements that really pop. And for the kitchen, we used century-old hemlock barn board for the cupboards and gorgeous soapstone for countertops,” he says. “It’s all feeding into a theme of rustic and modern but without feeling ostentatious.” The cottage’s other standout features include a screened-in porch with heated floors made from local granite—perfect for playing cards on a chilly evening—and the great room with a gorgeous granite fireplace and large windows overlooking the lake.

The design process went so smoothly that Tom was comfortable letting a relatively inexperienced designer handle the actual build. “The builder, MRT Construction, was my 21-year-old nephew. He’d built custom docks and decks and bunkies, but he’d never built a cottage or a home before,” he says. And luckily, he found Pan-Abode’s patented “lock joint” building system simple to assemble. “It was his first Pan-Abode project, and he absolutely crushed it. The detail he and his team brought to the build is exceptional—it’s built like a piano.”

When the build was finished, Tom forgot all about the dashed deal on his parents’ friends’ Pan-Abode years ago. “It’s so fulfilling for us not just to have this property, but to be able to share it with friends and family. I never dreamed that we’d have something like this,” he says. “We walk in the doors, and we not only have the visual of how good it looks and the sense of all the hard work we’ve done, but when the smell of that cedar hits our noses, we know we made the right decision.”

Thinking of building your own dream cottage at the lake? Learn more about Pan-Abode’s custom log-cabin kits at panabode.com.

2024-03-05T18:32:59Z dg43tfdfdgfd