Cottages
An A-Frame Cabin in Quebec Is the Ultimate Restorative Retreat
Updated on January 12, 2026
At a certain stage in life, most people aspire to relax and slow down, but not these Gatineau-based sisters. Catherine and Nancy Lemay, both with busy careers and families, have added Chalets Prunella, a seven-cabin rental company, to the mix plus the stewardship of a 30-hectare forest where the cabins are sited. “For years, Catherine and I have dreamt of starting a business,” says Nancy. “Over the past two decades, we’ve built and renovated our own homes, so it was natural to take on a project together with our interests in mind.”
The shared love of renovation is in their DNA — their late dad, a plumber, dabbled in architecture — but their careers went in different directions: Catherine is a chemist and lawyer, and Nancy is a geographer and librarian. During the pandemic, Nancy stumbled upon a plot of land in Ladysmith, Que. It was in the Pontiac area — the location of some of the last undammed rivers in southern Canada — and it was only an hour from her and her sister’s homes. With its towering pines, the sublime setting was another selling feature. The spring-fed Lac Johnson, trails, streams, and flora and fauna would be a perfect Shangri-la for rent in the wilderness.
Scroll down for a look inside this A-frame cabin with Scandinavian style!
The sisters sourced the cylindrical vent hood from France — it adds a certain quirk and punchy contrast against the white walls. “Finding a vent hood small enough to fit the space was quite a challenge,” says Catherine.
The 375-square-foot cabin has all the modern musts: on the main level is a sitting area with a sofa, dining table for two, the bathroom and a compact kitchen with an induction cooktop and sleek open shelves (the sisters installed the kitchen themselves over a weekend). Upstairs, by way of a ladder, is a charming sleeping loft. Outside is a firepit and a deck with a cedar hot tub — how glorious to soak outside under the stars. Canoes and kayaks are also available for guests to use, free of charge.
A faucet and hardware in antique brass adds visual interest in the simple kitchen, which features a quartz counter and curb backsplash, with open shelves above.
Chalets Prunella is named after the purple perennial that’s native to the region. “The Indigenous call it the heal-all flower because of its medicinal properties,” says Nancy, who studied herbalism for a year. “The name represents our ultimate goal: to give people a chance to recharge and to reconnect with the forest, and recover from stress and burnout.”
Nancy’s husband, Martin Chevrier, built the birch dining table. “We wanted a minimalist Scandinavian look,” says Nancy. The scene feels lifted out of the Swedish countryside, grounded by black lighting, dining chairs and accessories.
The cabin’s Scandinavian-inspired design also contributes to their guests’ inner serenity. “We wanted it to feel like a cabin, not a home — not too modern, luxurious or precious, but still elevated,” says Catherine. “In 2020, when we bought the property, there was very little in terms of rentals like these. There were more old, gritty hunting lodges with mismatched dishes and utensils.”
The sofa is a warm and cosy spot to read. “Because it’s a rental, we needed durability,” says Nancy.
Radiant in-floor heating on the main level ensures maximum toastiness, or guests can sidle up to the Danish Morsø wood-burning stove.
In the cosy loft, a triangle-shaped window offers a woodsy vista. The angled walls are clad in whitewashed red pine.
The build prioritized sustainability, from the locally sourced timber to the careful construction. “The cabin is on piers, and there wasn’t a lot of excavation or removal of trees, which was super important to us,” says Nancy. “And even though we own this huge forest, we replanted more trees around the cabin.
A concrete vessel sink is hard-wearing and design-forward, warmed up by antique brass accents.
For Nancy and Catherine, the build was such an immersive and exciting experience that they both earned their general contractor licences in Quebec. There are seven cabins in total, ranging from 375 to 750 square feet, all with hot tubs and firepits, and they managed the builds for the last three cabins themselves.
In addition to the cedar hot tub, the cabin also has a firepit. “They’re used quite a lot for roasting marshmallows,” says Catherine with a smile.”
Chalets Prunella is truly a family business: the sisters each have three teenagers and skilled-with-hammers husbands. The husbands built the cedar hot tubs and decks while the kids helped clean the site for construction. When the men aren’t DIYing in their garages, Martin Chevrier, Nancy’s other half, works as a project manager while Catherine’s, Robert Guay, is a retired intellectual property lawyer.
Catherine Lemay (left) and her sister, Nancy Lemay, in the cabin. “We could have done a massive camping site on the land, but we wanted to protect the forest as much as possible,” says Nancy.
For the company’s next chapter, they’re bringing the love. “Many people get engaged here,” says Catherine. “We’ve built a venue on our property to rent out for micro weddings. All seven cabins can be rented for guests and couples can be married on the property.” Further into the future, the sisters may even subdivide the land so people can purchase a plot, then build their own affordable starter homes, “Prunella style.”
Tiny but mighty, the cabin is built with local white cedar that will age to a gorgeous grey over time. Builder, Denis Paquette Construction et Rénovation.
For the build, Nancy and Catherine worked with architecture firm Habitations J. Berlinguette, who adapted Den Outdoors’ A-frame plans to accommodate Canadian construction code. With an exterior of local white cedar, the metal-roofed cabin took three and a half months to build. Its signature dramatic peak makes it a commanding, if petite, structure, and the A-frame’s windows look out to panoramic forest views. “There’s something magical about an A-frame because of the sloped ceilings,” says Nancy. “I find them majestic.” This cabin’s ceiling height tops out at 20 feet.
Brooke Stephenson
Nancy Lemay