Leon Hildebrandt’s beach bar didn’t come together overnight—but having one at the cottage was always part of the plan.
Back in 2015, Leon designed and built a large, circular stone firepit next to his cottage in Sauble Beach, Ont. He left space for a path that he imagined would one day lead to something more. Over the next eight years, he designed a garage but decided to hire a contractor to build it in 2019.
Finally, in 2023, he brought the beach bar to life. “I’d been thinking about it for a long time,” says Leon. “It started as a mental exercise. Then I put pencil to paper, and soon I got building.”
He planned the space himself, keeping the build straightforward enough that he could do it alone. Leon sourced solid pine beams from a nearby sawmill and used long construction screws for framing—a more DIY-friendly approach than traditional timber joinery.
“Oh yeah, that would have been way too complicated,” he says with a laugh. “I wouldn’t trust myself to pull it off.”
This awesome DIY floating sauna is something you’d only see at the cottage
A metal roof from a nearby supplier tops off the bar, while board and batten siding keeps it weathertight.
Construction took about six weeks in the summer of 2023. “It was a one-man show,” says Leon, except for one crucial assist from his son, Matthew, who helped lift the 14-foot roof beams into place. Leon added a wraparound deck the following spring to make the bar more functional.
He gave the bar personality too. “It’s kind of a kitschy, funky area,” he says. He furnished it with high-top tables and bar stools, and installed games, including axe-throwing and darts, nearby. When friends visit, “It’s a real gathering place.”
Planning the build carefully and matching the plans to his skills have resulted in a successful DIY project. As Leon says, “If you’ve got a hammer and saw, you can make it happen.”
This article was originally published in the August 2025 issue of Cottage Life.
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