S1 | Rewind Design | E14 Rebecca on Royal Muskoka Island
Rebecca on Royal Muskoka Island
The story of an Interior Designer, an entrepreneur, a mom, a mentor, a podcast host and a lifelong cottager!
Welcome to Rewind Design a Cottage History Podcast dedicated to discovering the stories of cottage country in Ontario! I am your host, and local Interior Designer, Katy McNabb.
On this week’s episode, we have Rebecca Hay from Rebecca Hay Designs (www.rebeccahaydesigns.com). Not only is Rebecca an Interior Designer like me, she is also an entrepreneur, a mom, a mentor, a podcast host and a lifelong cottager! In this week’s episode, we discuss Rebecca’s journey to becoming a designer, her life experiences that led her to design, and what she loves most about cottage country. We discuss the differences in designing for an urban environment like Toronto, and how we design cottages differently. Listen to our conversation below:
Rebecca Hay!
Enjoying cottage living with her daughter!
Rebecca answers my questions!
What is your name & what do you do!
I'm Rebecca Hay and I'm an interior designer. I live in Toronto and I have a residential design firm here in Toronto. We service the GTA and cottage country, of course, my favorite place to be. In the pandemic I launched an online business for designers. I also host a podcast, as I mentioned, it's called Resilient by Design that is real, tangible business advice for interior designers, designers, stagers, decorators, architects, creative entrepreneurs that are in the design space on helping them to understand how to run and grow a successful business. I'm really excited about that side of my business that started as a side hustle and has now become, really my main passion.
Where did you grow up?
So that's a really interesting question, with kind of a complicated answer. I grew up in lots of places, all in Ontario. I was born in a small town called Listowel, Ontario. My entire family was really entrenched in that town for generations. My grandfather had been the mayor of that town. And then my parents split when I was very young and we left and we lived in Caledon. I lived in Orangeville, I lived in North York and I lived in Toronto. So I kind of grew up in all those places. My longest stretch of time was in Toronto proper, and that's sort of right in the center of the city where Midtown Toronto is where I did all of my high school years.
Rebecca’s family cottage was located on Royal Muskoka Island
Where was your family cottage located?
So it's on an island called Royal Muskoka Island, and anyone who knows Lake Rosseau knows that that's not really an island, it is actually connected via a causeway. At one point in time, maybe it was an island, but it's so close to the mainland. Royal Muskoka Island is, I'm going to say famous, maybe it's not world famous, but there was one of the old Muskoka Resorts on it called the Royal Muskoka. It's central on the lake, Windemere’s a bit further south, but it burnt down in a big fire as they all did. There's very little remnants, there's some left of the stonewall, and then eventually it was turned into cottages.
There’s a little secret within the Royal Muskoka Island Association. Essentially the land that's in the middle of the island is owned by the Cottagers. So there's this communal land in the middle, which is amazing. You often see deer and animals because it used to be the Royal Muskoka Hotel's golf course. Back in the day, the golf courses were not like they are today. It's very beautiful to go for walks around the island and there's tennis courts and there's a basketball net and there's like a little playground that's maintained. There's Bocci ball area, horseshoes. So it’s kind of neat, they have a picnic every summer in the middle where all the cottages can go to the picnic. You pay money and there's hamburgers and hot dogs and there's three-legged races and all kinds of fun things, it is a really beautiful community. It's a very unique location, as far as cottage country goes. To get there, you drive by Cleveland House and the JW Marriott, all the way to the end. For me and for anyone that's ever had a cottage it's almost hard to describe what it feels like.
The “Secret Clearing” on Royal Muskoka Island
Can you describe your Royal Island Muskoka Cottage?
It's very sixties, seventies styled. It is located on Royal Muskoka Island which can have quite high elevation. You couldn't see the cottage from the road, so you would drive down this little driveway to the cottage. Because the cottage was built so long ago, it was before the bylaws were in place with setbacks from the water, the cottage was right at the water on a cliff, it's not really a cliff, but a steep hill. The landscaping had been done so beautifully that it was all granite stones going down. So you had to go down granite steps to get down to the front door of the cottage or back door. Then there was enough to pull your car down and unload your groceries to get into the cottage, but it really was very unassuming and everyone was always surprised because from the road you're like, oh yeah, there's a little gray bungalow. It didn't have a basement, it was just on stilts, you could go underneath. And then from there you could walk down a beautifully landscaped granite stairs with lovely lighting and there was a waterfall. The previous owners had installed a water pump, so it pumped the water from the lake up to the top. And then they created this little river trickling stream that goes along the side of the stairs. Then it would cascade all the way down into the water down at the dock.
There's such a feeling of relaxation when you look out across the southwesterly views down the lake and the views are epic. There are such stunning views because you are elevated a little bit, you can feel the breeze. And we had the Canada flag up on our flag pole and it was just such a relaxing moment to arrive and to leave the cars behind.
Did you ever do any renovations to the cottage?
We did do a renovation in 2012, the year before my wedding, we did a big renovation and we put in a new kitchen and we opened up the main space a little bit, but we tried to preserve this beautiful cherry wood panelling on the walls, that had been imported from South America. Back in the sixties, it was on all the walls and all the ceilings. And so we preserved that and we actually oiled it to bring it back to life. It was that really dark, rich wood tone. It's so funny because when we did the renovation I was like, oh, I kind of want to paint it, but we actually couldn't paint it because the wood was so porous.
Have you worked on projects in Cottage Country?
Yes, and that's because my family for many, many years had a cottage in Muskoka. We sold it during the pandemic. So Muskoka specifically holds a very special place in my heart, but I have worked in Haliburton, in those sort of areas as well. If I could just do cottage design every day, all day, there's something about a second property, a country home. With memories and having a cottage, it really holds a special place in my heart, and I see how valuable it can be for a family to have that escape, that retreat, that special place that you go, that's outside of the hustle and bustle of the every day. I actually worked one season with Income property with Scott McGilvery, so I did a stint in HGTV. I don’t know if you can still find, it might be in syndication. It was several years ago and since I think he's even done more cottage stuff, but we did a place in Collingwood, we did a place in Kawartha, we did a place in Prince Edward County. I loved that season because I got to just do cottages!
See below some photos of a cottage renovation Rebecca did in Muskoka called the “Muskoka Getaway”! www.rebeccahaydesigns.com/portfolio-muskoka-getaway
What are the differences designing for Toronto versus Cottage Country?
Well, I mean, there's lots of differences, but I would say the key differences would be #1 that you're designing a cottage property. Relaxation and the way you use it is different than how you use your home every day and how everybody is different. And in today's world, people want a space to work at the cottage and things like that, but it is different in the sense that it doesn't have to function like a primary home. In some ways in a primary home function tends to be paramount. Whereas in a cottage, yes, it's going to function, but there's a feeling that you're really trying to capture. What I love about it too, is it tends to be a little bit less precious. That would be the second one. And I think perfection doesn't need to be the goal. I mean, it should never be the goal, to be honest, because perfection doesn't exist. But in this city, I think sometimes people get caught up in, oh my goodness, there's a scratch or a dent here in the paint or this carpet. And you know, it's like this obsession of perfection that we have in North America. “I don't want my drapery to wrinkle.” But at a cottage there can be a little bit more grace, use a linen fabric, let it wrinkle, let it feel comfortable. Let your surroundings reflect how you want to feel your mood when you are in the space. So, those are the types of properties that I want to design. I want to design spaces that have vintage elements and that are a little bit more comfortable feeling and more natural and less perfect.
How do you design with the environment in mind?
I'm very passionate about sustainability. I mean, I know it probably says it on my website, but I'm a major environmentalist. So for me, I've always felt strongly about that. I can’t stand this whole fast fashion disposable design era that we've been in is just heart-wrenching, the targets, the Walmart’s, the home sense, the home goods. It's crazy. And yes, I'm guilty, I go to some of those places sometimes. But I hope that we can revert back to supporting local re purposing things with love, wherever possible as well.
Thank you so much Rebecca - You can find Rebecca below!
Design Website: https://www.rebeccahaydesigns.com/
Mentor Website: https://rebeccahay.com/
Podcast: https://rebeccahay.com/podcast/
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