If it’s rare to find a family that can work together, it’s rarer still to find one that, at the end of a long workweek, can’t wait to get to the cottage to spend more time together. Ken and Renee Metrick and their sons, Andrew and Jamie, are the third and fourth generation of Metricks overseeing Elte, the wildly successful Toronto-based home decorating juggernaut, and have since opened affordable luxury shop Elte Mkt and kitchen and bath retailer Ginger’s.
The devout city dwellers needed a place to recharge, so they found a northwest-facing waterfront property on Muskoka’s Lake Joseph. Ken and Renee hired Kelly Buffey of Akb Architects to create a warm contemporary cottage with a spa-like ambience and the region’s unique landscape as its backdrop. Renee remembers friends saying, “You don’t want a cottage; it’s so much work,” but these urbanites have absolutely no regrets. “Honestly, it’s the best thing we’ve ever done.”