A Home Away From Home
Right at Home

by Brandon Allin
(Newcastle, Ontario, Canada)

Home Decorators Collection . . .

I've always had a little master plan for a dream home tucked away in the back of my mind, and I figured what better time to share it than now, and what better place to share it than here. It might be a tad difficult to put it into words, but bear with me as I give it an honest shot:

In theory, the project is quite simple, but actually having it come to fruition is a whole other ballgame. I want to recreate a cottage, home away from home feel right in the middle of a suburban neighborhood.

Use your imagination with me for a second, and pretend you were the proud owner of a gorgeous log home, two stories high, complete with a gorgeous wooden deck overlooking your backyard. The house itself would act as the cottage.

From there, you step out onto the deck and find yourself overlooking a massive, in-ground pool, complete with rocks, sand, wildlife, and greenery all around it. The pool would act as the lake, and really the silver lining of the whole outdoorsy, cottage-type feel.

From there, I'd package the home and pool area with a gorgeous backyard BBQ set, a dock with a small boat house on one end of the pool (that should really put into perspective how big of a pool we're talking here), some oak furniture, and an authentic, brick, fireplace complete with a gorgeous mantle.

Did you get all that?

Tell me if that property and the end result isn't any cottage-lovers dream, and quite easily, the next best thing to being comfortably nestled beside the lake itself.

That's my plan.

It may be just a tad far-fetched, but if I can make it happen, rest assured, I will.