This 240-square-foot bunkie has been our home on the lake during the cottage planning and building stages for the past three years. We are so lucky to have it because otherwise we would be tenting it — not so fun. It was a disaster when we got here but bit by bit we’ve been fixing it up. It has been very slow going, simply for logistics. Bringing things over or hauling them away is so much more complicated than in the city and requires a lot of meticulous planning. If we forget any tool — or anything — we have to wait until the next time we come up to finish the job, which can be aggravating but we are slowly making progress.
Our time here is about the bare necessities, there simply isn’t room for anything else. Everything is within arm’s reach and it’s actually remarkably efficient and refreshing to realize how little you really need. I am doing all of the small fix-ups like painting, putting up hooks, installing light fixtures, etc. Once the main cottage is complete this bunkie will make an ideal guest cabin and beachside change house right on the water.
This is how it looked before I got my hands on it. The dark rectangle on the left is a solar panel that connects to a car battery inside and gives us electricity. I love that it sits right over the lake. In the spring the waters are high and you can hear the waves lapping up against the support columns. There is a constant pulse of nature here that you become part of.
This is what we see out the window every morning when we wake up and each night before falling asleep. In the summer the water level gradually drops and we get a really wide sandy beach out front.
We use this tin boat, a Kijiji find, to get back and forth to the mainland. We keep a fire going on the beach most of the time to help burn the bits of dead wood (there is a ton) and to sit by at night.
This is the deck off the bunkie. The folding wooden chairs were one the few things we kept from the previous owners. Tricky to maintain, but they're really well-designed — low, comfortable and they fold. I think they are originally from Mexico. If anyone knows where I can get some more, please let me know!
This is our tiny propane fridge. At the end of every weekend we have to empty it, turn off the propane and leave the door open so it doesn't get mouldy.
And this is the little stretch of kitchen, with a propane stove. You can catch a glimpse of an old paddle boat outside the window, one of the many pieces of junk we had to haul away. There were also a few old stoves, an engine, empty cans and bottles, broken glass, stacks of asphalt shingles, old shoes and boots...so much junk had been dumped and buried on our property. It took over 10 boat loads to haul it away.
No sink or running water means washing dishes is quite a production. I use this tin bucket to bring water back and forth from the river to the bunkie.
After clearing out the garbage, the first thing I did inside the bunkie was take the furniture to a local secondhand shop.
I also replaced these light fixtures right away.
This wood burning stove heats the cabin.
To improve the outside of the bunkie, I applied a dark stain, Pratt & Lambert's African Night (32-18), so it would blend in with the woods and have a classic log cabin feel. I had to go with opaque stain to cover the bits of red underneath, which meant no sanding and a little less work. Eventually we will replace the fly-away shingles with a black tin roof but first I'm on the hunt for an old-school screen door to replace the bright white metal one (you can't see it in these shots). Once the main cottage is finished we will replace the lopsided columns with metal poles to match.
At the back of the bunkie you can see the propane tanks that the fridge and stove run on.
My inspiration for the dark colour was designer William Atkinson's lakeshore log cabin featured in an old issue of Metropolitan Home. It also reminds me of an L.L.Bean ad a few years ago. I would love to get it to look like William's cabin's living room but since it is currently construction headquarters it will be a couple of years before I can get anywhere close!
Check out Arriz's blog for more on the construction of the cottage from his point of view.
Photo credits:
1. Suzanne Dimma
2. Jenny Francis
3-4. Arriz Hassam
5-7. Suzanne Dimma
8. Arriz Hassam
9-11. Suzanne Dimma
12. Mike Carty
13. Arriz Hassam
14-15. William Atkinson log cabin, photography by Francois Robert, published in Metropolitan Home July/August 2003
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