Photograph: Courtesy of Brian Hoar

We’ve made it! Moving-in day has arrived.
We have touched on several important and interesting aspects in this final entry of our 9-part saga, including interior design, flooring, painting and finishing, lighting, custom milled flooring, home theatres, stairs and much more.
Mary Lee Zimmer and Brian Hoar

Interior Design “in the beginning”
Some elements of the interior design and decorating will have been put in place while developing the architectural drawings. Many more are planned as kitchens and lighting are tackled. Not much is apparent in the early stages and begin to show only after coverings are applied to walls and ceilings.
“We go through the conceptual drawings with the homeowner, builder and architect,” states Marcia Gammon of Interiors by Marcia.
“We look at the building from the outside in, and the inside out, because sometimes what looks great on the outside is not functional on the inside. An example would be placement of windows.”
Cory Defrancisco of Muskoka Living Interiors adds, “We discuss ideas about furniture placement and lighting arrangements, typical walkways, where the furniture will be placed in terms of sitting, conversational and entertaining areas – all at the blueprint stage.”
Wood planking, drywall, painted MDF are all personal tastes. Room finishes may be inspired by soaring cathedral ceilings, cozy dens or quiet bedrooms.
The building will gradually be formed as rooms get closed in. The preparations made back at the framing stage are now utilized. Those horizontal wall girths will be used as the wainscoting or vertical MDF board is applied; the blocking in the ceiling can now be used to anchor those decorative beams as intended. Pot light patterns will become more obvious as ceiling finishes are applied. It’s all about prior planning.
“Often we take our clients for a walk-thru to see the main platform, before the walls are added, so that they get a feel of the external dimensions,” states Dave Marshall of DMC Construction. “We show them the layout according to the blueprint. A lot of people have a hard time working off blueprints so it’s a good time to walk through to see how the plans have translated from paper to the actual space.”
A client might say, ‘Oh, the bathroom is not near as big as I thought it would be,’ or ‘Can we extend the kitchen six feet?’ Changes can be made at this point, before the walls, with no added expense.
“It’s a ‘personal touch’ thing,” adds Marshall. “This is their getaway and they want it to be theirs. I have never worked on two cottages that are the same.”
“Once we get into room finishes, a room finish schedule is developed, continues Gammon. “Questions include which walls are to be drywall or bead board? What is the flooring for the various spaces? Ceiling finishes? Trim details? Painted or stained? etc.”

Custom kitchens are designed to suit each homeowner’s unique personality and living style. Photograph: Courtesy of Brian Hoar

Lighting
 Good lighting makes everything else look great. “If you have bad lighting, people notice it right away,” suggests James Solecki of Integra Custom Lighting Solutions, “but when you go into a home that has great lighting generally people notice everything else – the views, furnishings, architecture, trim, and cabinetry.
“An hour later they say, ‘Oh the lighting is great in here!’ And it’s only because the lighting is doing its job. It’s showing off everything else!
“We focus on lighting the home from a systems-based approach,” states Solecki. “We interface with the client, look at your home, your needs, landscaping, geography and use of the property and from that we develop a lighting system – interior and exterior.
“We focus on making the property safe, secure and beautiful, minimizing the amount of light pollution and environmental impact.”
No longer relying on a ceiling mounted fixture in the middle of the room to provide 100 per cent of the light, there might be three, or more, zones in a room – task lighting over a work station, ambient lighting to fill the room and effect lighting to show off a fireplace or centre piece etc.
“Soft ambient lighting can be accomplished with rope lighting behind a valance around the top of the ceiling,” adds Marshall.
Windows and doors
Those windows and doors that were installed so long ago now have to be trimmed with casings, sills, and aprons. Types of casings include colonial, Victorian, bevel, antique, and contemporary. 
“Standard sills and aprons are available to suit,” explains Jeff Hodges of Muskoka Window and Door. “All of these products come in a variety of woods including pine, oak and poplar.”
Will they be painted or stained? Normally this will have already been determined when the windows were ordered in clear wood or pre-painted.
“The number and size of windows has increased,” states Gammon. “The natural light coming into the great room makes the home feel like the outside is right there. That’s a big part of a growing trend.”
 All the interior doors can be custom made, much taller and thicker for homes with high ceilings. Casings should be made wider to maintain proportions so much higher baseboards are a given.
“Raised panel doors are the most popular,” continues Hodges. “Also available is a more traditional shaker style and French glass doors. Available in solid wood, pine, oak, cedar, maple, cherry, mahogany and walnut, they are also being made today with reclaimed materials and marketed as distressed doors. All doors are available in 1 3/8'' or 1 3/4'' thickness and range in height from 78'' to 120.''
Literally dozens of intricate finishing details still have to be worked out – chair rails for the wainscoting, hardwood ordered, paint or stain colours selected. Faux finishes are showing up everywhere. Distressed cabinet finishes are popular.
Kitchens

Colour can give a room character. Bright red makes quite a statement. Photograph: Courtesy of Forth Decorating

Granite shows up in a lot of kitchens and wet bars. It looks classy and practical with under-mount fixtures.
“Entry level, for countertops, is a laminate surface; next is solid wood, like a maple butcher top, or a pine top, with a furniture look,” explains Don MacLean of Woodsmiths of Muskoka.
“Then you are into granite and silestone which means you can go to an under-mount type sink as opposed to a drop-in sink. What is really hot is a ‘magic corner,’ – as you open the door the shelving automatically moves forward for easy reach. Accessorizing is the big thing in cabinetry. It’s not just drawers and adjustable shelves anymore, it’s all the accessories that are custom fit to go inside the cabinets – different types of inserts for cutlery, utensils, spices – available in white or maple since the interiors of cabinets have gone to a wood grain interior.
“Garbage recycling systems are big,” he continues. “Recycling is important and separation will soon be mandatory, so multiple bins are being considered in most kitchens. Open the door and two to four separate bins are inside.
“We’re doing a lot of lift-up drawers for small appliances, hiding away the toaster, coffee maker etc. We’re bringing cabinets down to the countertop. Slide out the toaster, use it and push it back to put it away.
“The drawer closing system now has a soft-close feature,” explains MacLean. “We have added this to our upper cabinets as well. It’s a braking system so you physically can’t slam the door.”
“The trend in kitchens is toward individual pieces of furniture of different colours with toe kicks,” suggests Mike Smith of All About Kitchens. “The alignment at the top of the cabinets is broken. Instead of being the same all the way around, they step up and down.
“Glazes – a colour wiped on and off leaving residue, or wearing-through to a darker colour underneath to make it look worn, is popular,” he continues. “Light creamy and buttery tones are being requested.
“Moving from wood finishes to painted finishes, you’ll often find a combination where the cabinetry is painted and the island is stained. The main kitchen (sink and stove wall) would be painted, and may or may not have ‘distressing’ with nail holes and wear-through, and the island would be the real focal point, stained dark like an old general store counter. The same door style as the main kitchen ties it all together.”
Reno ReCoutt of Northern Buildall says: “Kitchen design, in terms of colours, style and theme, are consistent and flow gracefully with the rest of the home, especially important with the open concept.
“Side chairs and couches in areas that adjoin the kitchen blend and match the cabinetry.
“The early 80s saw cathedral top doors, oak in honey stain, with orange or brown counter tops, the wall filled with cupboards top to bottom, left to right. Cabinets matched the trim of the house,” he recalls.
“Now the kitchen reflects distinct design and individual taste with furniture-like components. A combination of two or three colours of cabinetry create an ‘unfitted’ look with a hutch and sideboard, an island in the centre – a totally different colour, with an old thick heavy butcher’s block top.
“A combination of countertop materials in your kitchen – formica, heavy butcher block and granite can look really attractive.”
ReCoutt adds, “Ceramic tile makes a nice statement in the back splash. It’s easier to clean but also has a design element tying things together with colour and pattern. The trend is going to a smaller tile, six inch square mosaic, using different angles and two or more colours in the same series. It can be very striking.”

Soft pastel colours for bathrooms evoke a calming aspect. Larger windows are popular offering a view. Photograph: Courtesy of Forth Decorating

Bathrooms
Marble and ceramic continue to be used in bathrooms, as custom showers become larger. Clear glass frameless doors and enclosures show it at its best.
“People are really making an effort to accessorize and pretty up their bathrooms,” says Lena Patten of Hilltop Interiors. “They want chandeliers, prints, candle holders, decanters, antique apothecary jars... there is a huge influx of items to decorate the bathroom, making it warm and inviting.
“Earthy tones, tumbled marble are coordinated with stained warm wood vanities. For a couple of years now, clients have not wanted the built-in vanity,” she explains.
“They are modifying an old dresser, a sideboard or sofa table and dropping a sink into it. They no longer want their bathroom vanity to be a kitchen cupboard in the bathroom.
“I often will come across an old piece of furniture that can’t be turned into a vanity because of its size, so we will design another (piece) similar to it but with the right height and depth.”

Custom milled
Recycled barnboard makes beautiful floors, particularly hemlock and pine woods. The wide boards and rich pattern of refurbished 125-year wood cannot be duplicated. Muskoka is home to many fine crafts persons from the people who craft beautiful old wood into floors and stairs, to painters like specialty trim carpenters and ceramic specialists.
“We do custom work for those who want a signature product in their home – something that gives the home its character,” states Tom Spivak of Rose Lake Sawmill.
“Our customers want their home to be different. We bring in tractor-trailer loads of hardwood beams from old barns, factories and textile mills in the states.
“We mill logs, or timber, into lumber specifically for each job. We talk with the customer; find out their needs and their location. If the home is on the water, there are certain things we need to take into consideration.
“Humidity differs in summer and winter; a seasonal home may be well heated or just minimally heated through the winter. We dry the wood specific to the customer’s needs.”
Requests include knots or cracks, light or dark colour, and specific widths. The combination of different sized boards (wide and narrow) is very popular and has the look of an old floor.
“I have two customers sharing timbers from an original automobile factory in Buffalo, NY which operated back when they still built bicycles and bird cages alongside automobiles,” he says with a smile. An offer that comes up only once.

Custom milled flooring, with choice of wood species and widths adds character. Photograph: Courtesy of Rose Lake Sawmill

Flooring
“We are pretty well the last people in the custom home process,” states Diane Kennedy of Kennedy Carpets, “and you want us to be the last. If you are putting down hardwood flooring, you don’t want it scratched by people working and delivering appliances.
People are requesting hard surface floors – ceramic, laminates and hardwood.
“With the surface pre-finished, hardwood is now easy to maintain. “One company just added a new coating called evershine which gives a longer lasting shine, a stronger finish and a 35-year warranty.
“You can put wood flooring over in-floor heating but you have to glue it rather than nail it. An engineered hardwood goes down as a floating floor. You can do laminate and cork – pretty much any flooring over radiant heat floors.”
Norm Taylor of Taylor Floor Coverings says, “I ask customers what they expect from the product – how many live in the home, type and number of pets, length of time they plan to be in the home and so on. Then I direct them to the product that suits their budget and does what they want it to do.
“Designers are not making the carpet the focal point often choosing neutral colours in carpets and accent colours in furniture, window and wall coverings.”
Many people add accents to hardwood with area rugs.
“If you’re shopping for a patterned area rug, you won’t find as many as you would like to choose from,” cautions Taylor. “We could have 100 in stock and not have the colour, size and shape you are wanting.
“We take the same carpet that we sell for wall-to-wall, in your choice of colours, customize it to your size and shape and cut it for an area rug. Fireplace hearth rugs are made this way, as well.”

Stairs are often a focal point of the home. Custom designed with a choice wood and intricate design make these stairs top of the line. Photograph: Courtesy of Gilbert Ludlow Woodworking

Stairs
The materials for custom-made stairs and railings are endless: pine, oak, cherry, maple, reclaimed wood from old barns.
“If you don’t have a lot of room, we do three-step winders,” explains Gilbert Ludlow of Gilbert Ludlow Woodworking. “Three of the treads will turn 90 degrees and you have a straight run from those. Spiral stairs are based on a curve and consistently curve around a circle.
“In Muskoka, big and chunky including square pickets and chamfered edges are popular.”
Don’t call Ludlow at the last minute! Call your stair builder early and avoid problems later. Clearances and headroom need to be checked.
Stairs are often the focal point in house. “Don’t be shy,” says Ludlow. “Dress them up. Make them fancy with big main posts and a decorative design in the railings.”
Colour
“Once the home is drywalled and primed, painting can proceed,” states Gary Muir of Gravenhurst Paint and Wallpaper. “To assist in colour selection we look at the flooring, counters, furnishing and so on.
“Colour has moved from the dark rich colours in the 90s to less dramatic and more neutral tones,” adds Muir. “Vibrant colours are coming back; however, in greens and yellows.”
David Batten of Muskoka Paint and Decorating says, “A decision on the actual shade of colour can’t be made until the house is built. You need to see the colours in the actual room once walls are up and windows are in place.
“There might be trees outside, a lake, the blue from the sky might filter in and this all affects the lighting, which in turn affects the colour.
“A particular shade of yellow can look soft in one room. Take it to another room and it could look like a bright yellow highlighter and much too strong.”
Colours are more muted these days – beiges, pale greens, yellows and blues are very big, where eight years ago burgundy, hunter green and royal blue, all the jeweled strong tones, were popular.
“Some cottages are all one colour,” adds Forth, “while others have two to three colours and a nice even flow from one room to the other.
“Many worry about too much colour and it can be confusing and stressful. When it comes to choosing colours, trust the person you hire. Too often, people second-guess themselves. They don’t go with their first instinct and they forget – it’s only paint, it can be redone.”

Layering of stains gives the discerning homeowner a unique look. Photograph: Courtesy of McCoys Decorating

Kim McCoy of McCoys Decorating says: “Making the inside of a new cottage look like a 100 year-old lodge – the rustic look, is popular. We do a lot of staining – stains applied on top of other stains and different layering of urethanes. Sometimes we beat the wood, mar it and sand it.
“Dark stains, early American, golden pecan mixtures – whatever was around in the early 1900s, is ‘in.’
“Recently, we completed projects with the old ‘Bigwin Inn’ look – a lot of detail, large banisters, reclaimed flooring, 95 per cent wood for walls, ceilings, trim, doors – even going back to louvers over the bedroom doors, like shutters, for air flow which were used before they had air conditioning.”
Off-site painting and finishing shops provide year round productivity for pre-finishing items such as siding, windows, doors and kitchen cabinets, which are later shipped to the job site.
“The advantage of painting or staining before the product goes on is that we stain the entire area not just the exposed surface,” says Forth. “We paint or stain the front, back and side, which is important when it comes to sealing wood, siding and trim. Wood for walls and ceilings can be pre-stained as well, depending on the time schedule.”
Furnishing Your Home
Local interior designers and consultants offer a full range of services all the way to supplying custom furniture to pictures on the wall and books for the coffee table.
“There are so many different elements to furnishing a home,” states DeFrancisco. “We can break it up into three main categories: case goods (wood products), upholstery and window coverings. In each of these categories, we use a funnel approach starting with a wide selection and narrowing it down.
“Decisions in one category shape the options for the next.
“Proceeding on a room-by-room basis, we often start with the area rug. The colours in it will dictate much of the flow of the room.
“If you really love the colours within the rug, you have automatically eliminated a lot of colours that simply won’t work. Once we choose the rug, we pull co-ordinating fabrics for sofas, chairs, ottomans, window coverings – a variety of things.
“Coordinating paint chips is step eight or nine” continues DeFrancisco “With a planned and deliberate process, many of the answers in the decision-making process come quite naturally.”
Patten adds, “I ask questions like ‘Do you have a favourite painting or a particular carpet, something that makes you happy when you look at it?’
“I might walk with my clients around our store to find the types of things they like. Sometimes people will say, ‘I love this pillow’ or ‘I love this fabric’ and we might be able to build a theme around it.”
Patten often visits her clients in their current home or cottage. They may be tired of their fabric but love the colours. In this case, she may change it but retain the tone.
“The key,” Patten asserts, “is to ask lots of questions and to try to connect to our clients’ vision and then to surround them with the colours that make them feel good.”
Gammon adds, “Furniture pieces and fabric choices should reflect the client’s expectations and personality not mine. The room must fit with the people who will live in the space. We select furniture from a great number of sources, in counsel with the homeowner.”

Time to accessorize
Once the sofa, coffee table, lamp tables, chairs, dining table, bar stools, bedroom suite, all the main items are in place… it’s time to accessorize!
“The window coverings coordinate with the sofa and the sofa coordinates with the rug – now we want to make sure the lamps coordinate and the scaling and choice of accessories is correct,” states DeFrancisco.
Patten agrees: “The right sized basket, candlesticks and memorabilia finish the picture and must be left till the end remembering this doesn’t have to be done all at once.
“I encourage my clients to pick up a special piece on their travels,” states Patten. “A wall of photos is popular. Pick a spot on the wall and build, so that five years down the road there is still room for a special photo.  Frames don’t have to be all the same.”
Andy Donald of Rustic and Refined builds unique lighting using reclaimed material, new and antique wood, metal and found objects. He creates lamps with character to use as accent pieces and to spur conversation. Some pieces have been built from old wine crates with various lettering on the lamps.
Cathy Foreman of The Smithy says: “We custom make wrought iron lamps, chandeliers, fireplace accessories and just about anything you might want for your home.”
Made from scratch, welded not bolted, these one-of-a-kind products can be made to match your décor and will last generations.
“Wait to do your lighting until you are almost ready to move the furniture in,” suggests Smith. “It’s difficult to picture what your room will actually look like and you need to know the lighting is appropriate.” 
The Smithy offers no shortage of custom-made accessories: galvanized flag poles, interior and exterior lights, wall sconces, coach lighting, bed frames, bathroom accessories, kitchen handles and knobs, dinner gongs and fireplace glass doors, screens, grates and tools to name just a few.

Home theatre systems deliver the ultimate in premium surround sound performance for music and movies. Photograph: Courtesy of Associated Integrated Systems

Audio visual systems
There has been a move to distributed audio and video throughout the home due to the emergence of the flat screen TV.
“With so many decisions building a new home, sometimes a crucial component is forgotten – music,” suggests David Johann of David’s Audiotronics.
“A common comment after moving day is, ‘I just love the sound system. It’s the icing on the cake; the thing I almost forgot to do.’
“We use to have one stereo system in the corner of the living room and if you wanted to hear it in the kitchen you had to turn up the volume and blast everyone out. Now, we put in an ambient sound system, discreet speakers in ceilings, flush to walls and painted the same colour.”
The kitchen, living room, dining room, barbecue deck, master bedroom and perhaps a rock speaker near the firepit has a volume control and source selector. Each is independent of the other so they can be all on the same setting or on different settings.
“Perhaps you have an elegant living room but want to be able to sit and watch TV. A screen can drop from the ceiling with a small projector mounted on the ceiling, not noticed until you want it,” adds Johann. “Speakers could be in the wall or ceiling, providing surround sound.”
Associated Integrated Systems’ Brad Trew says: “We meet with the client and do a needs analysis to find out what they want their audio/visual system to do at the end of the day. From that we do a preliminary design and after a number of approval steps we end up with the end product.
“When you get into the custom market you’re purchasing from a custom installer their design and knowledge. We carry a full choice of brands including custom lines.
“With the equipment centralized in a communication closet the control pads can be touch-button, or LCD, which talk back to the central control panel. Select the source and tell it what room you want it to be in.
“Popular are multi media rooms which are often used as a rec room and convert to a theatre in the evening or for certain occasions.
“Also available,” continues Trew “is an automated system which controls lighting, HVAC, window coverings, audio/video and anything else that needs to be monitored or switched. The system can be accessed through control pads or LCD screens in any room.”
This allows the homeowner to manage the home environment from one, or all, control points. In addition the system can be accessed through a local PC or remotely via the Internet or telephone.

Entrances
There is increasing use of slate and stone for entrances and seasonal porches. It is practical and timeless.
“An entranceway is a gathering place that also shields your guests from the elements,” states Scott Clark of Edenlane Homes.
“A combination of stonework, columns, decorative doors, porches, windows, and lighting blend together to create a welcoming, safe, and approachable atmosphere. Landscaping is used to further compliment the entranceway design.”
Dan Boothby of Boothby Landscaping says: “Stone heated flooring is common in entranceways. Choices are many including electrical or geo-thermal.”
Synonymous with Muskoka are sweeping granite outcrops. “Gray, pink, brown, and orange hues of the rock mingle with the green of native trees and plants,” adds Clark. “Many choose to build on the natural character of the landscape by incorporating stonework into their homes. Stone foundations can visually anchor a home to the ground.
“Stonework can function as decorative detailing for both the interior and exterior of a home. Soaring stone fireplaces, flagstone steps, and exterior stonewalls add drama and a sense of timeless stability.”
Landscaping
Landscaping for a custom home, created and designed to the homeowner’s personal taste and needs, can range from simple to elaborate.
“Designs for lakeshore homes must blend what the owner has in mind with what is allowed under the by-laws for that area,” states Boothby.
“My work is done mostly in granite – for gardens, boulders and quarried stone, to stone slab steps, flagstone patios and walkways. Picked from the field, natural granite boulders will have moss on them and are naturally aged by the sun.”
Requests from homeowners come in a wide range. “On one particular job,” explains Boothby, “we were asked to cut steps into the bedrock of a 120 foot vertical cliff to access the waters edge.”

Beautiful exterior lighting adds elegance while minimizing light pollution. Photograph: Courtesy of Integra Custom Lighting Solutions

Outside lighting
The outdoor trend is to non-invasive, indirect soft lighting. You see the effect not the source.
“In the last 10 years, the outdoor materials have become extremely high-end with life time warranties,” states Solecki.
“Dark skies lighting minimizes glare and over illumination creating an environment pleasing, comfortable and effective. It’s accomplished with good design and a system level approach.
“Plan for the required power early in the process,” he suggests “but implement outdoor lighting last. No matter what is planned on paper, the implementation of a site plan will change slightly over the course of the project and if you install an outdoor lighting system too soon you will end up changing things.”
He adds, “Have the electrical contractor provide wiring for outdoor lighting while the home is being roughed in.”
Joy DenHartogh of Muskoka Rocks agrees, “After landscaping, and before planting, is the best time to install outdoor, low voltage lighting and speakers.” Granite outdoor lights and speakers endure the elements and are meant to be installed and left, hiding the very small wires between flagstone and the edges of cracks.
They are a natural way to add subtle lighting and high fidelity sound to your garden, yard and walkways.

Weatherproof outdoor lighting offers safety and ambiance. Photograph: Courtesy of Muskoka Rocks

Ready to move in!
Amanda Drenth of Design Interventions offers a moving-in service. She helps you to set up in your new space.
“Once all the basic pieces – the lighting and main pieces of furniture are in place so that it’s a functional room, it’s time to consider accessories. Get only a couple out at a time,” she asserts.
“Choose the things you love; the things you missed while they were packed.  If they still work, use them. If they don’t, let them go.
“Don’t assume you can take everything you had in your previous home with you, just use what you love and what works best.
“Keep it all balanced without over filling the space,” she continues, “allowing the focus to be the view or the fireplace or however your home has been designed.
“Let the architectural points take their dominance. You don’t want to overpower what can be beautiful on its own with a bunch of ‘stuff.’”

We made it!
It’s all here – your custom home – the sky is the limit!
Muskoka builders are proud of all the professionals who work together as a team to build incredible homes.
It’s exciting; it’s creative; it’s a positive experience for everyone involved in a well-planned, well-executed build of a custom home.
Well it’s been an amazing year! We want to thank all the readers and advertisers who helped to make this series a success. A special nod to those of you who took the time to contact us with your feedback.
We have exciting plans for 2007 – Phase II of the building process: accessory buildings, boathouses, bunkies, garages plus plus plus!
Those who would like to participate in the 2007 series are invited to contact us at marylee@northcountrymedia.com.

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