Ooh-la-PERGO-la!

Pergolas are all the rage.  It's easy to understand why — who wouldn't want to create a whole new area of outdoor living space, with the addition of what is effectively a piece of wooden sculpture?

Currently we are building this pergola for a new client in Dundas, Ontario who was looking to create a shady oasis in their backyard. It's custom-designed cedar and is shaping up beautifully.

The design website Apartment Therapy featured similar "Shady Style" in a recent post... check it out for some gorgeous landscape photography. 

   

Spring is Blooming!

We are currently setting up a second shop, in Hamilton, Ontario just a couple hundred kilometres straight south on Highway 6 :)

It'll be a great fit, enabling us to connect southern clients with our sources of exemplary materials on Manitoulin Island.  (This way we get to explore both ends of the stunning Niagara Escarpment, a world biosphere reserve.)  Stay tuned for details.

Rustic Furniture using salvaged lumber

Over the winter we were experimenting with furniture design, using some of the sweet lumber we've salvaged on Manitoulin Island.

We're pretty excited about the results, and so are our clients!  We built a queen-sized bed frame for one.   The daybed/shelving unit pictured here was designed for another client on Lake Manitou.  There are so many interesting possibilities for working with this kind of unique material — we can't wait to tackle more projects like this.

Bunking in style

This bunkie was designed with a 2nd-storey loft for extra sleeping space.  The use of Manitoulin cedar, along with refurbished doors and windows, gives the building a warm, unique character as though it's already experienced an interesting history.

Storage doesn't have to be boring

Our latest project was this charming storage building for a client on Honora Bay.

The design is a 12x8 foot garden shed with a gabled roof.  It is constructed of Manitoulin cedar, and features beveled siding, board-and-batten gables, and refurbished windows.

Cedar cabana

Check out the new design we're currently working on.  It's a cabin with a Holland Gable roof, board-and-batten siding, and refurbished windows and double doors.  If you look closely, the central ridge beam is one of the pieces we reclaimed recently from the Kagawong barn, dating back to the 1890s.  This style of building has endless possibilities: it would function great as a cabana, studio, or bunkie.

Reclaiming buildings

Recently an old livery barn was torn down on the historic waterfront of our town, Kagawong.  The gorgeous building dated to about 1890.  Its new owners were hoping to save the exterior structure for their new cottage.  It proved unsalvageable as a whole, but they were able to save some intact pieces to use in the new construction.  Luckily we happened to walk by after the demolition, and the owner let us take a bunch of dismantled timbers including posts, beams, and one bent.  We are already daydreaming about how to incorporate this historical wood (douglas fir, pine and eastern white cedar) into some new projects. 

Salvaging old building materials is something we're so excited about!  Sadly we don't have a picture of the Kagawong barn while it was still standing.  The photo above is typical of the intriguing, weathered buildings that dot the island.  We admired this one on a recent weekend drive near Tehkummah.