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STORY WALTER FRANCZYKPHOTOGRAPHY HAROLD CLARK

TThey call it their cottage, but it’s really their home.

David Petrangelo and Kent Deics are professionals who work in Toronto but make their home in a new log chalet on Pigeon Lake, a two-hour drive northwest of the city.

Their city apartment, like a college dorm, is simply a bare-bones place to stay while working weekdays. Their lakeside country home embodies their personalities and skills. Charismatic and inviting hosts, they’ve made many Kawartha Lakes friends who like to stop in, visit and often marvel at their ingenuity. “The beer fridge is always full, but we never drink beer,” laughs David. “It’s for everybody else.” He and Kent finished and furnished their two-bedroom cottage with imagination and sweat equity. “They’re very handy people,” says Shawn Hunter, director of design at Discovery Dream Homes, the company that manufactured the cottage with eastern white pine.

David and Kent designed their lake house with lots of wood, high ceilings and tall windows to capture the lake view. They made the entire second-floor loft, overlooking the great room and lake, the master bedroom. On one side, it has an en suite, on the other, a walk-in closet and laundry room. Sliding barn doors to these amenities flank a large bed they built of leftover timbers. At the room’s centre, they had builders create more headroom with a timbered peak punctuating the pine ceiling.

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This Discovery Dream Homes cottage offers a variety of comfort zones on a glass-walled deck overlooking Pigeon Lake. Canvas sails shade the outdoor dinner table.

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COTTAGEcountry

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On the ground floor, the owners tiled the bathroom and kitchen with Italian porcelain. They installed pine flooring in the great room and guest bedroom. Using scrap building materials, they crafted a sturdy kitchen island with illuminated liquor shelves and a wine cooler. They transformed a dried piece of driftwood into a unique light fixture over the island and built an industrial-strength coffee table that mimics an old factory cart. “They’re very resourceful,” says Shawn.

Kent credits David for much of the handiwork. “He’s the builder. I’m more the designer,” says Kent, who sourced the home’s lighting, scouring stores and the Internet for inspiration. “We help each other with ideas, but he’s got the knack to build and I’m the helper.” David credits his skills to his Italian heritage. “I was holding drywall at four years old. That’s how I learned,” he says. “You complain and complain when you’re a kid that dad made me do this and dad made me do that. Then, when you get to this age you say, ‘Wow, I’m glad dad made me do that.’ Because I can pretty much do anything now.”

They owned a cottage in the same Pigeon Lake neighbourhood, a couple of streets away, when this property with a small older house became available. “We’ve always wanted a waterfront property,” David says. “The price was right and we bought it the way it was. They recognized the potential and fixed up the little house as a second cottage.

A visit with their neighbour, Discovery Dream Homes sales design consultant Peter Henderson, at a Toronto home show, set plans for a new cottage in motion. “It was a very quick kind of decision,” says Kent. “We just decided to pull the trigger.” Discovery Dream Homes was very accommodating, says David. They were able to discuss ideas with the company, develop different designs and view them in three-dimensional renderings. “Their service, in my opinion, is bar none.” Once the house plan was finalized, Kent and David watched logs for their cottage assembled on the factory floor. “That was exciting stuff to actually see it piecing together,” says David.

They had the old house on the property lifted and sold it on Kijiji for $4,000 to a fellow who hauled it away, renovated and made it a home again. “It was recycled,” says David.

LEFT: Kent and David used scrap timbers and building materials to build their one-of-a-kind kitchen island. BELOW: A custom-made, solid mahogany door by Madawaska Doors lends a medieval look to the main entrance. OPPOSITE, TOP: Kent Deics and David Petrangelo at home in their log cottage. BOTTOM: Unfinished pine covers floors in the main living area. The owners plan to finish the wood once it gets distressed with wear.

A slab of driftwood, wired with lights, il luminates the kitchen island.

Kent prowled stores on Toronto’s Queen Street West for inspiration when designing the lighting.



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C4 Construction prepared the building site and assembled the six-by-12-inch squared logs and timbers to create a 2,080 sq. ft. structure with a full basement. Rock unearthed for the foundation by C4 Excavation’s Ryan McImoyle was used to landscape the upland yard. Amour stone from a local quarry was used to build a seawall to protect the property shoreline. “The stonework is absolutely phenomenal,” says David. He describes the work of C4 owner Cory Chandler and his team as amazing. “We’ve got nothing but praise for him and his crew.”

Kent’s favourite space in the cottage is the kitchen. “I like to cook

and to look at different recipes,” he says. “When I have friends or guests over, I always look at different ways to make stuff. That’s my thing.” He augments his culinary adventures with fresh produce from a thriving vegetable garden in the front yard. Guests and visitors tend to gravitate to the kitchen island, the focal point for gatherings. “Having the bar there helps.”

David says they have at least eight favourite spots. “It just depends on our mood,” he says. “We’ve created all these little comfort zones.” They include a front deck where chaise lounges are covered in brightly striped cushions made by David’s mother, Connie Petrangelo, who

ABOVE: Morning light fills the great room when the sun rises over Pigeon Lake. TOP RIGHT: The entire loft was designed as the master bedroom with an en suite and laundry. Kent and David built the industrial-strength coffee table from leftover building materials. RIGHT: Two solid stringers support the open-tread pine staircase. FAR RIGHT: The main floor guest bedroom has a sliding glass door that opens to the front deck.

Builders raised the loft ceiling with a peak to create more headroom.



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worked at Sklar Peppler for 30 years. She taught David and Kent how to use a sewing machine and they made their own pillows for the deck lounges. “The outdoor space is an absolute extension of the inside,” says David. A hot tub and outdoor shower, a barbecue and kitchenette furnish a side deck, while canvas sails shade a dining table and chairs on the main deck, shielded with glass railings. Nearer the lake is a fire pit, just steps away from a screened and curtained gazebo containing

a sheltered sitting area. Mature willows at the edge of the lake shade a sandy beach and stone stairs that descend into the water. Moored boats gently bob at the dock.

Mornings, when the sun rises over the lake and beams into the cottage through its angular windows, are one of their favourite times of the day. “I also like the night time,” Kent laughs. “I get to turn on all the lights.” OH

SOURCE GUIDEC 4 C o n s t r u c t i o n • C 4

Excava t ing • Coo lF lame

Heating & Cooling • Discovery

Dream Homes • Kitchen Well

Drilling • SCF Countertops

ABOVE: Leftover pine timbers are fashioned into a bed for the master bedroom. RIGHT: Homemade towel racks, lighting by Morba, and a re-enamelled clawfoot tub furnish the en suite bathroom.

You’l l f ind a walk-in closet and laundry room behind this sliding barn door.

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