Cottage Life

The go-to source for cottagers, the award-winning Cottage Life offers valuable advice as well as profiles, how-to articles, recipes, essays, issues pieces, and lifestyle stories that help readers look after their cottages, entertain guests and, of course, kick back and have fun.

S’more stuff • How you can read, watch, stream, share, and visit—Cottage Life is everywhere

Contributors

Cottage Life

Editor’s Note: Through a loving lens

Your Letters: What’s the scuttlebutt?

Waterfront • Birds of a feather flock together, so grab your crew and get to the cottage!

Party among the pines at Tall Pines Music & Arts Festival

Up-close photos from a bird feeder

Cottager group takes on over-salting

Visit Ucluelet, B.C.

Kayak culture returns to Labrador

Sick bats, price drops, and friendly fire

This history of floaties • It’s hard to imagine the cottage lake without some floaties. Check out these important moments in the history of flotation.

What’s a freshet? • Definition: flooding caused by heavy rain or snow melt.

CL superfan picks his favourite covers

Summer read recommendation

Alberta family gives up dream property

Workshop • Bringing you colourful advice, gritty stories, and more adventure on the water.

Spray paint secrets • A CAN OF spray paint is great for tagging your annoying building inspector’s office at midnight. Kidding! Don’t do that. What spray paint is good for is painting uneven, difficult surfaces, such as wicker, with a thin, even coat. Unlike brush-on paint, which is engineered to fill in and smooth out roughness, spray paint preserves the details. It also bonds to materials, including plastic and ceramic, that resist brushed paint. And spray paint comes in many finishes, including transparent glazes, mottled metallics, and pearlized surfaces.

Top tips for mastering sanding

Our ladder of choice: a combination ladder

Paint a railing with socks • Railings, sigh. So many fiddly bits, so many hours to paint with a brush. There’s a faster way.

Your roof can be cooler

A two-bit switchdriver

How to help your boat save gas

Propane barbecue gets new life

Cottage Q&A: Add a dormer to a loft; repainting wooden chairs; swimming squirrels; bats behind glass; what’s considered a recent survey?

Buying a boat this year? Read this first • Industry experts weigh in on new and used boat pricing, wait-lists, and whether 2023 is a good year to buy

A salute to Cottage Dads • For hardcore putterers like Joe V., maintaining a lakeside paradise isn’t a burden, it’s a purpose

Is it a vessel? Or is it a float home? • Call it what you will, this curious Georgian Bay structure is causing controversy in cottage country

A classic—but colourful—Georgian Bay cottage that's this artist's muse • Don’t let the classic silhouette fool you—Kara McIntosh’s bright, colourful Pointe au Baril cottage reflects her modern artist’s eye

This couple built the ultimate B.C. surf shack—and disturbed little of the land • This young couple’s multi-year journey to build the ultimate B.C. surf shack was driven by one goal: disturb as little of the land as possible

Learn what's causing your cottage allergies and how to make them better • Allergies can make you miserable—and thanks to climate change, they're only getting worse

Nothing says summer like a fish fry! Try our tasty recipe • Whether you reel in a fresh catch or pick up a few fillets in town, this quick and easy recipe will have everyone fishing for more

Scientist and lake-lover Katherine Hayhoe want to talk to us—and with us—about climate change • Katharine Hayhoe, scientist, takes the long view of climate...