"There's only so many affordable waterfront properties."

Growing up spending summers at our family trailer, I came to love life by the lake.  The childhood memories that I have catching frogs, sitting around camp fires, swimming in the lake, tubing, getting up at the crack of dawn to go fishing, and catching minnows are so vivid.  

2 1/2 years ago, I found myself standing on my brother's boat access only lot on an island on Rice Lake, ON.  My husband and I were looking across the bay at a bushed property for sale, thoughts racing of a quest to build our own cabin!


"There's only so many affordable waterfront properties," my brother said.  At the time, purchasing a waterfront property was out of reach financially but buying on an island made it a possibility.  We couldn't pass it up.  We knew if we did, one day we would look back and regret it.  Like many people, we dreamed of one day owning a cabin.  Living in a 600 sq foot condo in downtown Toronto, we craved the balance of owning a piece of land away from the bussel of downtown.  A place to one day bring our family and teach our kids to appreciate and love the simple things in life.

Our "cottage" retreat!

And so we did it!  We purchased the property before we even owned a home!  We owned a boat access only property without even owning a boat!  But owning a lot on an island accessible only by boat raises a lot of challenges.  I had a lot of questions:  How did the other cottagers on the island get their building materials over here?  Where did the materials get dropped off?  How do we get running water?  While I didn't understand all the logistics, I knew with careful planning, we could make it happen..... and what a story it will be to tell!  I've always said I want to live everyday like a new adventure..... and I knew this project would keep us occupied!


Entering our 3rd year, I decided to start a blog to document our pre-construction planning, design ideas, and adventures with our newest little cottager, our 6 month old daughter.