Woohoo we have big news! And if you’re signed up for the email newsletter, or follow me on Instagram – you may have gotten the hints already. But this is the first time I’m sharing photos and details about our newest home purchase. Aka the official introduction to our new camp :)
To answer the main question right off the bat. No, we are not moving. This “camp” is an additional vacation home that we purchased with the intent of renting it out like an Airbnb. Similar to our Rocky Retreat Cottage, it’s just in a different-ish area and wasn’t a new build. We’ll be staying there a few weekends over the winter while we refresh it a bit, and it’s less of a drive than the cottage (but in the opposite direction).
Let me share some exterior photos before we get to the layout and interior!
The camp is a simple one-storey bungalow built on a slab. There’s also an attached double garage (spoiled!) that has been really handy to store our construction/renovation stuff.
I think the lot is around one acre, with a main grass area and edging of trees. There are neighbours on either side (the dirt road has a mix of full-time and part-time residents).
I think the photo above shows everyone’s favourite view. The lake! As compared to the cottage, the lake at this camp is much closer.
There’s also a really great dock that’s good for swimming and boats. (Currently not in for winter though).
Camp Layout
I don’t know about you, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE a floorplan. So, I made one for the camp. Although, fun fact: we actually bought this property from the Husband’s parents AND had spent some time here years ago (before we bought our rental renovation house). So, I already had some dimensions/house layouts from like 2018, ha.
I also went through and tried to colour match all the current wall colours with my Behr paint swatch book. The two big circles are the exterior colours (siding and shutters/doors) and all the small circles are interior colours. Again, as close as I could get to the Behr swatches.
There are two front entrances to the camp. The first is the main door that’s under the covered porch. And there’s a door from the garage. Both doors go into their own little mudroom/foyers – that are beside each other, but not attached.
Walking in, if you head left you’ll get the the living room, which is the biggest space in the camp. It’s directly behind the garage on the back corner of the home with windows to the left and back/lake.
Fun fact: pretty sure I painted the ceilings white and the walls green in here!
Standing at the TV and looking towards the rest of the home, there is an entry into the dining room (left doorway) and then towards the long hallway/entry/bedrooms (right doorway).
Let’s go all the way down the hallway, straight to that first open door.
Where we have the biggest bedroom! Right now, there’s a king bed, TV and open bathroom/vanity situation with a separate toilet and tub/shower room. There are also two large closets (the closets in this house are plentiful!). I’m hoping I can get two queen beds in here instead of the king, so TBD if that works.
After you go down the long hallway, there’s another hallway that ends at this bedroom. We’ve already rejigged this room a bit, but as you can see there was a queen bed that was on a wall against a custom cabinet. (Now there is no storage cabinet and there are two XL twin beds that flank the window).
The final bedroom is a few steps away and is another good size. Currently set up with a queen bed and two dressers (one not in the photo above). My plan is to move the king bed in this room.
Finally, we have a full bathroom with a long vanity, tub/shower combo and toilet.
Standing at the biggest bedroom and looking down the long hallway, you can go straight to the living room, or turn right into the kitchen.
There are French doors off the kitchen that lead to the back deck. This house was built in 1989, and I’m certain most things are original to that timeframe (definitely that dishwasher – that still works fine haha).
The kitchen has decent oak-front cabinets that I was hoping to give a bit of a makeover to. Essentially, taking out some upper cabinets in favour of open shelving (much better for rentals!), and adding a microhood that vents outdoors instead of the recirculating hood with a microwave nearby. And maybe let’s paint them a fun colour?
Butttttt the plans have changed slightly. Mostly because I couldn’t nicely put the upper cabinets back in to fill the microwave hole, and I have a lot of frustrations with the lower cabinets.
Standing in the u-shaped kitchen and looking back, you get the dining room. There is a doorway on the right and a pass-through window next to that. And this is the first project we are tackling! As in, instead of a window, it’s going to be a full doorway. The wall will still be framed in and will come out a bit from the side, because as you can see in the photo above, there is a lot of electrical things (outlets, switches) that I don’t want to have to completely relocate.
Other Plans & Timeline
The house is also currently heated by baseboard heaters, and there’s no air conditioning. Ideally, I’d like to add a proper furnace with ducting and A/C unit – but that may be costly and project prohibitive. (As in, where would the furnace go when there is no basement?). I lied. The house is mostly heated by the propane fireplace in the living room, but considering that’s wayyyy at one end of the house, it’s not always warm at the other end (ie: the bedrooms).
Okay, so we are making the opening to the dining room bigger. We may also add a window/pass-through on the other dining room wall (that goes to the hallway) but we have to double-check what is load-bearing.
The heating/cooling systems may get updated (waiting on the professionals to come in for that one).
I mentioned the bedroom setups may get rejigged a bit.
Oh, there’s going to be a new built-in dining room bench! To address a weird slope on the floor in the dining room, and to add additional seating at the table.
Outdoors, I want to add those deck bench seats like we did at our first house. Again, would add some great seating – and help to contain the deck (it’s not very high, but still – people could fall off). There are also a lot of random outbuildings that we may eventually need to clean up? I don’t know, that’s way on the backburner.
Annnnnd a complete kitchen makeover. Ha :)
(Plus random painting, paint-touch-ups and general tidying/organizing/Airbnb prepping.)
If you have any thoughts or ideas for this new camp… let me know! Our biggest challenge right now is coming up with a fun name! We are definitely calling it a “camp” if only because that’s what the in-laws called it; and that’s a Northern Ontario thing too. (Referring to second homes as “camps”). And to hopefully differentiate it from our cottage. Aka the Rocky Retreat.
Sometimes we do get confused between the two, ha.
Or maybe a chalet? Bungalow? Something else? Let me know!
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