The Great Indoors

With its log facade and eco-friendly grass roof, Cody Slater and Bernadette Geronazzo’s Ghost Lake cabin doesn’t impose itself on the natural surroundings. In fact, it seems to comfortably fit the landscape as if it has grown there all on its own.

The subtlety of the cottage allows the beauty of the setting — the spectacular scenery of mature trees, brilliant blue sky and a large pond with koi fish surrounded by large rocks and water plants — to take centre stage.

But this doesn’t mean every aspect of this second home was not carefully thought through.

Two years ago, Slater, a director and chairman of the Calgary tech company Blackline GPS, and Geronazzo decided they wanted a recreational property that would give them a getaway close to the city.

“Cody’s intent was to live far away from humanity in the peace of the woods and I said, ‘No, I think we need people around,’” laughs Geronazzo.

They compromised on this private village outside of Cochrane and decided to build from the ground up on an empty lot, with the help of close friend and architect Michael Shugarman of Templar Architecture and Design.

“I grew up spending summers at a cottage, south of Edmonton, at Pigeon Lake,” says Shugarman. “Cody’s grandfather owned the cottage beside us.”

Given the childhood connection and previous experience collaborating on a project for Slater’s business, Shugarman was an ideal architect for the couple. Slater and Geronazzo wanted to create a space that would allow them to live outside as much as possible. They also wanted to incorporate nostalgic similarities to Slater’s family cottage with features such as wood-burning fireplaces and an emphasis on natural building materials.

The 2,200-square-foot bungalow is a hybrid post and beam wood frame structure. It is essentially an L-shape, divided into two parts — an open public space that includes the living room, dining room, kitchen and library, and a private space with the bedrooms and bathrooms tucked away from view.

“From the roadside, the home is very private, modest and low to the ground,” says Shugarman. “On the lakeside, however, it explodes into view and light, and pulls the inside out and the outside in.”

This blending of exterior and interior elements can be seen in the open-concept living room, kitchen and dining room. Quartzite limestone covers the two-way fireplace in the centre of the house while outdoor shingles accent the upper wall in the kitchen and timber frame beams run across the ceiling. On the patio, there’s also a small hammock and a sunken hot tub, creating a relaxed living space.

One of the most striking features of the cabin is a floor-to-ceiling wall of windows at the back of the house. The view is already unobstructed but the panels are also on a tracking system that allows them to swing open, accordion-like, to reveal the whole vista of the foothills, the brilliant waters of the lake and open the whole space to the outdoors.

“It was important to maximize the view and create a volume of space inside that made it feel spacious,” says Geronazzo.

A dramatic roof overhang shelters the back portion of the house and patio, and helps to block the high summer sun and rain during stormy days. Shugarman designed the structural component as another feature that could link the outdoors and indoors — the underside of the roof is the same white drywall as the living room ceiling. Underfoot, the hardwood floors indoors run in the same direction with the patio’s wood planks outdoors to create visual continuity.  

While such an emphasis on stone and wood could make the space seem rustic, Slater and Geronazzo have a couple of mid-century furnishings and prints that give an urbane touch to the furnishings and decor. A retro 1950s print fabric that Geronazzo sourced from an antique fabric dealer covers two armchairs in the living room and matches the kitchen stools. To complete the look, Geronazzo also scoured the Internet for her collection of starburst pattern kitchenware. 

“The 1950s emphasized integrating really good industrial design with functional art,” she says. “We have a great love of that.”

Despite the focus on the ’50s, the cabin feels anything but dated. Smart colour and texture choices create a very contemporary vibe. This is especially true in the kitchen, where splashes of bright orange dominate the cabinets and island. “They’re definitely not afraid of colour,” says Shugarman of the couple.

Both love to cook and, although the kitchen isn’t huge by any means, well-selected features make full use of the small space. Their AGA stove with twisted chrome handles, modelled after early 20th century stoves, has three separate ovens and five burners, allowing them to cook up a storm. A wall of glossy orange pantry cupboards seamlessly blends with the large fridge, which is fronted in matching panels to conceal its bulky look.

“I’m not one who believes a kitchen should be a show home for appliances,” says Geronazzo.

Instead of the usual stainless steel, the couple’s kitchen sink is finished with black graphite, so nicks and scratches are less visible. “The wonderful thing about working with an architect is that you can design your home to be low maintenance,” Geronazzo says.

Working with Shugarman also led to incorporating a feature in the master bedroom that is both playful and practical. The room’s corner windows are oriented toward the view of the mountains and are placed higher up so the neighbour’s chain-link fence is not visible. To further enhance the view, Shugarman created an 18-foot-long cutout section of the opposite white wall that pivots in such a way that it gives the illusion of revolving out of its frame. A rustic-style four-post bed is placed at an angle against this wall and faces the corner window.

The master ensuite is behind this wall and at nine feet wide is fairly narrow. However, high ceilings make the room feel grand and spacious. Orange, blue and green Italian glass mosaic tiles provide punches of colour to the bathroom counters and full standing steam shower.

Space was also carved out for a walk-in closet and laundry room where the couple keeps an efficient European washer and dryer in-one appliance to minimize their water and energy use.

Down the hallway, back toward the living room, a guestroom doubles as a dance studio for Geronazzo. When the room’s Murphy bed is up, there’s a mirror on its underside. And this is not the only multi-tasking piece in the cottage.

Multi-functional furniture and features are commonplace, and nowhere is this more evident than in the two-way fireplace that divides the living room from the kitchen.

“I didn’t want people to see me make a mess in the kitchen, but I didn’t want to have it feel closed off, either,” says Geronazzo. On the side that faces the kitchen, an intimate sitting area is furnished with armchairs and shelving that stores the couple’s record player and vinyl collection.

Shugarman also custom-built a multi-purpose storage unit between the fireplace and a small spiral staircase that leads to a mezzanine office and library space above. The unit is no larger than three feet wide by seven feet long, but it is able to store a TV, stereo, mini bar and wine cooler.

“It’s a complicated piece of millwork,” says Shugarman. “It opens on three different faces and on three different sides in three different ways. From the entrance, it creates an entry focal point; from underneath the mezzanine level, it’s the den and bar area; and on the living room side, it’s the TV and sound system storage.”

At the top of the spiral staircase, there is a small office library on a catwalk that also connects to a private balcony overlooking the backyard. Slater and Geronazzo sometimes have dinner out here, sit and read books or simply stargaze at night.

Looking out from this elevated vantage point onto the lake, it’s easy to see why the couple didn’t fence their yard off from their neighbours. The grassy area leads right to the dock and the water’s edge to stretch the expansive view and extend the feeling of the surrounding natural setting. You might even catch sight of eagles flying above or hear the calls of kestrals, blue jays and hummingbirds if you listen closely.

Geronazzo and Slater visit this lake retreat year-round and host many weekend barbecues and Christmas parties here. Being less than an hour’s drive from the couple’s home in Calgary, the cabin is also a private place for Slater to work.

“The big serenity factor is that you don’t have traffic noise out here,” says Geronazzo. “There’s the sound of the water and there’s a great deal of peace.”

She says she’s delighted with the cabin and doesn’t picture any major changes in the near future. 

“If a person truly lives in and enjoys their home,” says Geronazzo, “ I think it’s an everlasting source of discovery.”