Real Estate 3 love shacks to the space rescue By Braden Alexander Published: July 9, 2019 Updated: March 26, 2024 share Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pinterest Copy Link Cancel View in Fullscreen 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Lucas Finley Hot stuff Solar panels on the slanted roof power this off-grid cabin. An on-demand water heater preps water for the tub, built right into the deck. View in Fullscreen 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Lucas Finlay Step up Josh had this custom- made ladder, with stainless steel rungs, built by a metal shop and then fastened to the wall. View in Fullscreen 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Lucas Finlay If you build it A small kitchen runs along the west wall, with a waist-high fridge and maple countertops. On the east wall, Battersby designed built-in 13' plywood banquette seating with storage underneath. “Building a couch isn’t cheaper than buying,” he says. “But the quality is better, and you get what you want.” View in Fullscreen 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Lucas Finlay Love shack no. 2 The team designed sliding interior wood panels, stained black, to cover the smaller windows instead of curtains. “We’re going for rustic minimalism.” View in Fullscreen 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Lucas Finlay Small wonder The exterior is coated in black stain to help the cabin blend into its forest setting. View in Fullscreen 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Lucas Finlay The kitchen In the kitchen, custom pine shelves, 8" deep, house the essentials. The sink is custom-made from one standard- size piece of stain- less steel bent to fit the 2'-by-4'4" kitchen. View in Fullscreen 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Lucas Finlay Love shack no. 3 Bill built a pine room around the composting toilet for privacy. “We add probiotics to break things down,” says Alysia. “There’s no smell at all.” View in Fullscreen 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Lucas Finlay Yurts have layers Under hardwood lies an insulated sub- floor: two 6" layers of foam between two pieces of plywood, on top of the deck. The walls are made from polycanvas, two layers of foil- backed insulation, and waterproof exterior tarping. A retractable glass dome lets in light and lets out heat. View in Fullscreen Related galleries Buy the Way: Parents and children pool their resources together to co-own a cottage Buy the Way: This family from Toronto lucked out and bought the cottage they were renting on Stoney Lake Buy the Way: These sisters bought their dream cottage on Minnicock Lake beside their old childhood cottage 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 3 love shacks to the space rescue “The little deck balcony off the front of the cabin has just enough space for two people to sit, dangle their feet over the edge, and watch the ocean,” says David Battersby, the architect who designed this 360 sq. ft. cabin on Valdes Island, B.C., for his client and friend, Josh Dunford. “Just enough space” was their ethos. “Josh had a modest budget, and we went for quality over quantity,” says Battersby. The design is simple: a tilted box, slanting away from the water, which allows the roof to collect rainwater for the outdoor shower and, after eight levels of filtration, for the sink inside. The tall end of the cabin allows for a sleeping loft facing the ocean. “You can look across the water to Vancouver,” says Josh, “but you feel transported much farther away.” The white house Fir plywood made for an affordable option for the interior siding, painted white to keep the space open and airy. “Just one coat,” says Battersby. “You can still see the wood grain, but you don’t get the orangey quality.” Josh had the edges trimmed with a saw-cut reveal, which adds an attractive outline and allows the plywood to shift over time. Instead of hardwood floors, Josh finished the fir subfloor with urethane. He installed an inexpensive, high-efficiency Regency woodstove on top of a metal plate, routered into the floor to sit flush. All the materials were barged in to a nearby bay, then flown to the site by helicopter. “That was a very exciting two hours,” says Josh. Room with a view Getaway, a cabin rental company with 78 micro guest cabins tucked away in the woods, has a signature move: a 10″ memory-foam mattress that sits up against ething about that—being close to nature but also cozy and safe—it just works,” says designer Emma Picardi. Each time they build a new cabin, Picardi and her team improve upon the last design, perfecting the combo of affordability, durability, and beauty in each 176 sq. ft. space. “Using standard sizes and Ikea products, such as the stovetop, keeps costs down,” she says. “We use 3/4″ birch ply on all our built-ins, and pine for everything else, both of which are cheap and beautiful.” The team designed sliding interior wood panels, stained black, to cover the smaller windows instead of curtains. “We’re going for rustic minimalism.” Winners’ circle When Alysia McMenomy and her partner, Bill, went to build a bunkie on their 20-acre property, near Madoc, Ont., they found that strict zoning laws limited their options. The workaround? A yurt. “The only permit you need is for a deck platform,” says Alysia. “Suddenly we were yurt people.” They bought a used one for $15,000—including sliding doors, a woodstove, and a composting toilet— and drove it back, in pieces, from Quebec. That meant cutting up the bamboo hard- wood floor into eight 500 lb sections and carting them into place. “Moving that floor was harder than giving birth,” says Alysia. The rest was easy. “After a certain point, it pops into place from the tension,” she says. “It feels very sturdy, even during a storm. Sometimes we go out there just to listen to the rain.” Related Story Cottage Q&A: How to sleep better at the lake