When a pro builder remakes his own Georgian Bay cottage, it all

CONFESSIONS
When a pro builder remakes his
own Georgian Bay cottage, it
all proceeds according to plan.
Well, except for the part where
the floor goes up in smoke
OF A
DETAILED
MIND
52 cottagelife.com
Fall 2014
By Vanessa Farquharson
Photography Virginia Macdonald
Porch conversion
In restoring his cot­
tage, Ardshona, builder
David Ballentine had
an end goal to create
harmony between past
and present. When he
took down half of the
wraparound verandah
in order to make more
indoor space, he decided
to keep one of the old
exterior walls in place,
which is why there’s
now a window between
the dining and sitting
rooms (opposite). “It’s
a nice piece of the old
that still works,” he
says. Painted white, the
wall stands out without
being obtrusive.
Secrets of island life
David’s three sons,
Connor (left), Ben, and
James, spend most of
their summers in this
part of Georgian Bay
and they rarely get
bored—weekdays,
they attend day camp
at the Ojibway Club,
a local, historic land­
mark. (That building
was restored in 2006,
in part by Ardshona’s
lead architect, Scott
Weir.) Back at the cot­
tage, the boys easily
entertain themselves
by roaming around
the island or jumping
off the dock. “The
kids like to go off and
have adventures on
the island, making
treasure maps and
catching bugs,” mom
Nancy Ballentine says.
“We’ve found a lot of
great spots for picnics
too.” Most recently,
they’ve taken up fish­
ing and are now deter­
mined to catch “the
big one.”
IN THE WAY
an experienced chef can gather a fridge full of disparate leftovers and transform them into a great meal,
contractor David Ballentine is able to take old window sashes, discarded roof beams, and other architectural remnants to create living spaces so delectable, they make your mouth water. His most recent project,
a cottage and bunkie on Ardshona Island in Georgian Bay, at Pointe au Baril, which he purchased, restored,
and fell in love with, is a perfect example. It’s all so clever: The kitchen cupboards were crafted partly from
vintage blanket boxes; the bed frame in the guest room was built with old framing material salvaged from
a few of David’s previous jobs; and the lighting fixture in the bunkie features a flipped-over wicker basket
in place of a traditional lampshade.
In the wrong hands, such attempts at upcycling can lead to an aesthetic mess. Here at Ardshona, however,
the result is vibrant and eclectic without succumbing to DIY kitsch. A designer’s touch shines through all
the savvy, old-meets-new combinations—the antique chairs reinvigorated with colourful textiles; original
floorboards that pop with a coat of high-gloss, fire-engine-red paint; even the crisp white linens that balance
the heavier wood furniture in the bedrooms. So many strategic decisions have been made here, it’s hard to
believe one man was responsible for them all. In fact, he wasn’t—and that’s the key.
David, who is originally from Toronto but has been working as a builder in cottage country for more than
20 years (he launched his own firm, Ballentine Construction, in 2007), explains that to truly elevate a
pile of mismatched materials into awe-inspiring design, one must remain open-minded and be willing to
crowd-source. “I’m opinionated and I know when things look right, but when it comes to style, I’d rather
get input from people I trust, whether it’s an architect or my wife,” he says, { Text continued on page 60 }
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Crafted greenery
Recalling the land­
scaping demands of
the island, David
(below, with his sons
Connor and James)
cuts to the chase: “We
spent a lot of money.”
Skirting, weeding,
pruning—a substan­
tial amount of effort
was required to tackle
decades’ worth of
overgrowth and create
space through the
abundant foliage to
allow even a partial
view of the lake from
the cottage (opposite).
In the end, it was
worth the splurge;
they uncovered small
garden plots, patches
of hens and chicks,
blueberry bushes, and
other flora that now
flourish with very little
maintenance. “I grew
up going to a cottage
in Muskoka,” says
Nancy, “but I’ve spent
the past dozen years
up here. So I like how
the landscaping at
Ardshona combines a
feeling of both places
— the wooded area,
especially, provides
more greenery and
growth than a typical
Georgian Bay property
that’s on bare rocks.”
Shower time
David says he loved
the surrounding geo­
graphy so much, he
wanted to be able to
experience it even while
showering. “Okay, to
tell the truth, I’ve just
always wanted to build
a frosted-glass outdoor
shower,” he says. So
he did, by the bunkie,
using leftover wooden
railings from a previ­
ous contracting job.
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“
WE JUST MADE IT
MORE LIVABLE
”
5 TIPS FOR A FULL-GUT RENO From David Ballentine
1. Before you commit to a big reno, ask yourself: Do you really love the place? Any building can be saved with enough time and
money, but you have to decide if you really
want to invest in the process.
2. Create a solid plan. Draw up the space
and then redesign it exactly as you want it
to be. Make sure it looks good on the inside
and on the outside. Your builder can help
identify any potential issues that you may
not anticipate before building starts.
3. Stay organized. There should always be a
back-up job—or three—lined up in case it
Fall 2014
rains or if materials or labour are delayed.
That way, you’ll never lose time.
4. Renovating a remote cottage is different
than renovating a home in the city. Plan to
spend around 25 per cent more to get mat­
erials to the site.
5. Remember, working with a builder or a
contractor is a relationship. Half of the time
you’ll be right and half of the time he’ll be
right. You have to be able to work together
on the fly when things don’t go exactly
according to plan.
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Wood is good
Much debate revolved
around which walls
to paint, and which to
leave. Upstairs, where
there are two bed­
rooms, a bathroom,
and a seating area, the
couple chose exposed
wood, giving a rustic
balance to the con­
temporary skylights.
“Older cottages are
often made using firstgrowth pine from the
lumbering days,” says
architect Scott Weir.
“It has nice colour and
fewer knots,” he says.
“It’s hard to find, so
we tried to leave it.”
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“
ARDSHONA IS AN
EVOLVING VISION
More sleeping space
One of the major struc­
tural changes to the
ground floor involved
the guest bedroom
(opposite page). The
space was previously
divided into a bunch
of smaller nooks,
including a mud room,
but David felt that an
extra place for guests
was more valuable.
To open up the tiny,
100 sq. ft. room, they
kept the paint light
and bright.
Hearth of the cottage
The living room (left)
is a central gathering
space. The kids sit here
for hours focussing on a
board game or a puzzle
while the grown-­ups
concentrate on build­
ing a fire in the original
stone hearth. “When it
gets cold, that’s where
you want to be,” says
David. The rocking
chairs were left behind
by the previous owners
and even the new addi­
tions (a Georgian Bay
travel poster, a Persian
rug, and a wicker sofa)
are vintage.
Painstaking detail
The guest bathroom
was one of the most
challenging rooms
to complete; David
insisted that a tiny
window overlooking
the rocks and the lake
remain in place, at
all costs. “We just built
a shower around it,
basically,” he says.
A new-old kitchen
The shelves holding
Nancy’s collection of
Cornishware mugs
are from the original
kitchen, as are the
sink, the drawer pulls,
and the 1950s metal
countertop banding;
the faucet and dish­
washer are new.
”
lounging in a chair on the newly finished verandah with a glass of wine, surveying the passing boats and
ignoring his iPhone as it buzzes with a steady stream of calls. “When it came to Ardshona, I didn’t go in
with a vision at all. It was something that developed over time. It was an evolving process.”
Indeed, it was David’s wife, Nancy, who first spotted the original cottage for sale online and arranged a
viewing. It had been on the market for an entire summer, with potential buyers deterred by the overgrown
land around it and the ramshackle interior. David, who lives near Parry Sound, Ont., and regularly visits
his grandmother’s Georgian Bay cottage with Nancy and their three sons, “wasn’t looking and didn’t want
to look” for another property, but his wife insisted he visit the place. As soon as he got to the site, he bent
down on one knee and saw that the cottage’s foundation was solid, and his eyes lit up. “I was smitten,” he
says. They made an offer and, the moment it was accepted, David called his friend Scott Weir, a principal
at the Toronto firm ERA Architects. Both men have a strong love for the Bay, and together they’ve spent more
than a decade there, taking photos of cottages that inspire them, and dreaming up ideas.
“The wrong cottage can totally destroy a lake,” says Weir, “so if you care about a place, it feels like an
important task to try and do the right thing, to consider the surroundings of the cottage and, in this case,
the unique character of Pointe au Baril, before modernizing and upgrading. When I first went up to see
Ardshona, it was in rough condition: The site was overgrown, there were a lot of { Continued on page 107 }
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CONFESSIONS OF A DETAILED MIND
{ Continued from page 60 }
clashing elements and fixtures within
the cottage, and repairs were needed
throughout. But you could tell the bones
were spectacular,” as were the original
millwork, the impressive stone fireplace,
and the multi-paned wood windows.
“Really, we just had to edit.” It sounds
easy, but the so-called editing process
took six months, start to finish, mostly
because the project crew were all perfectionists. They relocated or readjusted
walls ever so slightly to ensure the space
had a balanced sense of proportion and
flow. They even built the main-floor
bathroom around a single tiny window
that David insisted on saving. Of course,
such strict attention to detail rarely
happens with clients who have looming
deadlines and tight budgets.
“Usually, in this line of work, we feel
badly about getting rid of really nice
things,” says David, “but this time it
was, ‘Look at this really nice thing—let’s
make everything else work around it!’ ”
He was able to indulge in the rescue of
tiny windows and other original features because the essentials—plumbing,
electrical, carpentry—were all being
handled by a team with whom he had
previously worked and whom he completely trusted. And David is happy to
delegate, even to his own family. Nancy,
a high school biology teacher, spent
countless hours online, bidding for old
carpets on eBay or sourcing antique
decor items, while the boys, Connor, Ben,
and James, helped toss out old mattresses
and other junk the previous owners had
left. (They were paid a small sum for this,
half of which they reportedly spent on
french fries.) It was also the kids’ job
to ring the brass fire bell at the foot of
the property if they spotted anything
amiss—which Connor did once, when
the kitchen started smoking.
David chuckles as he recalls the incident and what became the only real hurdle in restoring Ardshona. The kitchen
floor had been painted “a very wrong
shade of purple,” so he arranged for it to
be covered with a high-gloss red, but it
refused to dry. After weeks passed, he
decided to bring in some space heaters
to speed up the process, until one ran
out of fuel and spewed a plume of black
smoke into the room. Thanks to Connor,
his parents discovered it right away
and averted catastrophe. Months after,
The Paint That Wouldn’t Dry is just
an amusing anecdote; in fact, of all the
rooms in the cottage, David is most
proud of the kitchen.
Reflecting on the way Ardshona
came together, guided not by a singular
driving force but rather by a collective,
evolving artistic vision, David concludes
that it worked because everyone on his
team valued three important Rs: rescue,
restore, and repurpose. “It’s funny,” says
Nancy, “because, in a certain sense, it
doesn’t feel like we’ve done that much,
and yet in key areas we’ve brought out
the charm or made the old cottage feel
clean and refreshed, and that’s what
counts—we never disturbed the original
intent of this place, we just made it
more livable.” She pauses, then adds,
“and stylish.”a
Vanessa Farquharson is a Toronto-based
writer who is now obsessed with red floors.
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