Inside a Newly Built Cottage Designed to Feel Like a European Farmhouse

Hi, House and Home, Karen Bennett here from Karen Bennett Designs. We are in the beautiful Kawartha's. Welcome to our Sparrow Lodge project. Our clients, Mark and Zoe, had been looking for a property to purchase. They wanted a lot of acreage, and they found this parcel of land on the eve of Zoe's 40th birthday. This is a six bedroom cottage. We have the primary suite upstairs with the main living areas, and then we have five additional bedrooms downstairs. This was a small cottage, about a thousand square feet. So we built on to that cottage. Originally, they wanted to just renovate the smaller dwelling. But after a while, they decided that it really was better to build out. They wanted this cottage to stay in their family for generations. So that's what they brought us on. Huge amount of forest and beautiful lake views. They have 150 feet of waterfront, which is incredible. Zoe really wanted this to feel like a European farmhouse. We're surrounded by thousands of trees, so she wanted to feel like it was integrated into the woods, but have like a little bit of a European feel. So something that feels like it maybe wasn't built in the last five years and still feels like it's part of the setting. The kitchen, dining and great room area. It is one large space. We have 10 foot ceilings here and a lot of glazing. Beautiful windows, which look stunning and you're looking out onto the vista. We started with a beautiful stove. We have a 48 inch gas La Cornue, which is incredible. Beautiful wood cabinetry. You know, those warmer, darker wood hues are coming back. So we incorporated that into the kitchen. We have reeded detailing in the island. And then the pièce de résistance is the counter and the integrated backsplash. It's a porcelain stone and it has like this beautiful warm veining throughout. We wanted to have a coffee wine bar for our clients. It services our sideboard as well, which is great because we have the adjacency to the dining room. We have a coffee machine. We have wine storage here. We have an ice machine, refrigerated drawers, a sink. So everything you might need when you're entertaining guests. And then it keeps everything out of the kitchen. This great room was all about intentional space planning. So we have a very large sectional anchor towards the fireplace and the built-ins. But then we had a little bit too much space as a hallway behind the sofa. So we came up with this idea in the space planning to do this integrated built-in bench. I love a built-in bench because you can sit a whole bunch of people here. We added these smaller round tables. It's a great space that you can play games with a friend. You can sit and read a book and you even have storage underneath our clients. Zoe had a vision for this fireplace. She wanted to feel like it was an indoor outdoor stone. She loved this over-mortared look. So we actually picked this together. I love that it has like a lot of blended neutrals in the cool and warm tones. And then we have this concrete mantle from Anthony Concrete that just really draws your eye. Mark and Zoe really wanted a three season room. The positioning was towards the lake. So it's all about the views. We have a lot of windows in here. These screens come down in the buggy season and you can get the wind and the breeze coming through. We have a beautiful pitch ceiling with the wood ceiling integrated through into the soffit outside, which to me is like an elevated look. We really wanted this wood burning fireplace in the three season room to feel different than the gas fireplace in the great room. There's actual real adjacency here. They're only about 10 feet away, but we wanted them to be different. So while the great room has a stone, the wood burning fireplace in the three season room is a concrete and just feels a little bit more industrial and a little bit interior exterior. We have concrete heated floors. So really, this is a space that is great in the summer, but equally amazing in the fall and the spring. We ended up with exterior furnishings, so they're super durable. You can come in here with a wet bathing suit and you can sit. The table is actually custom to look like an outdoor table, but we needed something really long and not super wide to accommodate the space. So that was custom. But everything in here is very durable and you can just enjoy and lay out. And nothing's precious. Coming off the three season room is a beautiful deck. We have glass railings. We were able to integrate an outdoor kitchen. So we have a fridge out there, some storage. We have a pizza oven, a barbecue. So you have everything you need out there when you're entertaining in those beautiful summer months. And then our clients have a swim spa out there. So a swim spa is like a hot tub and a pool in one. You can heat it like a hot tub and you can cool it like a pool. So you've got the best of both worlds out there. And then, of course, the view is to the lake and it's spectacular. What I really like about this primary suite that is off our living space is we were able to incorporate a little bit of a vestibule before you walk into the space. So it feels really good. You're in this little hallway and you can go right and go into the primary or you can go left and come through the walk in closet. And then behind both those spaces is an en suite. It is large. It has beautiful windows looking out into the forest from the planning phase. Our clients had this idea that we would do a bump out tub area. So you feel like you are in the forest when you're bathing. We have black framed windows and then like black framed opening along the bathtub. And it just feels so beautiful framing out that beautiful forested view. The shower is probably my favorite one we've designed to date. It has this beautiful arch detail in the back. We have porcelain tiles in like a long rectangular shape stacked vertically on top of each other. Black on the bottom one third and then like a glazed creamy white on the top. And then the floor tile is like a beautiful pattern tile, which our client was so happy about. Upon entry, we have a beautiful concrete hex tile. It's great because it hides all the dirt. They are going to host a lot of people. So it's really important to pick things that don't have to feel perfect. You have this like arched entry, which is really nice. We have the hardwood floor on the ceiling and then that vault continues into the powder room. We have that concrete tile going into the powder room. And then we have like a floating vanity with channel detailing, really stunning, a concrete terracotta basin and then like beautiful wallpaper that draws your eye up into that vault. Walking downstairs is a beautiful moment. We designed an integrated handrail. I'm really happy with how this turned out. It's integrated into the drywall and just has like a great architectural feeling. On the lower level, we have five bedrooms. The first room is the bunk room. We wanted this custom bunky room to be able to sleep as many people as possible. So we sort of reinvented the traditional bunk room. We have our single beds up top against the wall and then we have the double beds coming out perpendicular from that. We have a lot of space, an end table in the middle, a ladder and even integrated drawers, which is great. Next up is the forest room. It is fully paneled the walls and the ceiling in this dark green gray color. We also were able to incorporate a desk underneath the window. So you have the best light coming in there. But it has this moody experience. I love the twin room. We have beautiful scalloped details in the headboards, paneling on the lower end of the walls in this like topey rose color. This is a space that feels like it's youthful and on the feminine side, but it's elevated. Our smallest bedroom is the cloud room. It has cloud wallpaper in a blue and cream coloring. Instead of just a single bed, we have a daybed, which just feels really loungy and I really like that. We stuffed it full of pillows. We have some acrylic shelves, a beautiful dresser. And it's just like a really sweet room. At the end of the hall is the garden room. This is probably my favorite because it has the best light in here. Again, we did a different type of wall paneling on the bottom and then we have wallpaper on the top. It's just like a beautiful room. And the light is truly spectacular in there. In the middle of the basement is this really cool playroom. We worked with Movement Rooms. They are an incredible company that do indoor gyms and like play structures for children. And I'm so happy with how that turned out. Considering this laundry room is in a basement, it still gets a lot of light, which is really nice. We have a fair amount of linear cabinetry incorporated into here. We have pattern tile on the floor, which just feels a little bit whimsical, especially in a basement. And then we have a custom walnut hanging rod to hang clothes. Which is from Etsy. And I really like how that looks. This mudroom is really great. It has exterior access to the backyard and then it's like a great dumping ground. You can put your towels in here. We have this really nice integrated pull in the drawers with venting, which is great, and then a bench and hooks. So it's just really easy and functional. We've been working on this space for two and a half years. It started as a renovation. It moved to an extensive build. But our clients are so happy with how this turned out. They plan on keeping this cottage in their family for generations for their girls to grow up, host their family. And already they've been enjoying it so much. And we're just so happy to be a part of it.