Cozy Cabin Roundup: 9 Winter Hideaways We Love

Put on your chunkiest turtleneck, get a pot of fondue going, and dream of a slopeside retreat.

1. A Modernist Retreat From Battersby Howat

When architects David Battersby and Heather Howat first saw the wedge-shaped, steeply sloping site their clients had bought, they immediately knew how to take advantage of the beautiful mountain site: a Y-shaped plan that both provides privacy and captures that view. See the rest of this gorgeous modernist cabin here.

2. Trevor Linden’s Whistler Cabin

Group hangouts and big dinners were the goal for Trevor Linden’s Whistler getaway, so designer David Nicolay lined the walls with a custom built-in sofa to maximize the room’s seating. On the same floor, that kitchen redo saw an E-15 dining table ringed with 10 happy Eames chairs whose wood dowel legs play off those white oak walls. See the rest of the beloved hockey star’s mountain-side home here.

3. Sophisticated Family Cabin

Though this European-style cabin was in need of an update when the homeowners first found it, the design had its moments. Several skylights bring in natural light throughout the day, the floor-to-ceiling glass in the main living space is fantastic, and the open-tread stairs were ahead of their time. Fresh finishes and some personal touches (like a custom oversized sofa in the basement movie room, perfect for snuggling) made the space feel like new. See the whole home here.

4. This Bright and Airy Falken Reynolds-Designed Space

Vancouver designers Kelly Reynolds and Chad Falkenberg (no strangers to Whistler chalet reboots) were enlisted to bring a dated, ’80s cabin into the 21st century for the family of adults. “They were looking for a lighter space,” explains Reynolds. “Both a lighter palette and a lighter feeling.” See the full makeover here.

5. Designer Carrie McCarthy’s Minimalist Holiday Home

Set atop the crest of a hill that overlooks a valley and forest ridge, the 890-square-foot cottage is almost gingerbread-like, with its cedar shakes, white-trimmed mullioned windows and frosted-white interior—as if out of some Scandinavian fairy tale. Everything inside is whitewashed: walls, stairs, the plank floor in the loft. This is the family’s sanctuary, a home away from condo life in Vancouver. See the full photo gallery from this Pender Island cabin here.

6. Hockey Legend Glen Sather’s Banff Getaway

Banff isn’t Manhattan, but that’s exactly why hockey legend Glen Sather is here. It’s been a decades-long love affair: he first fell for the mountain retreat while working summer jobs here as a teenager. Designing his bespoke cabin took five years, but for the Sathers, it’s a lifetime commitment in a house that reinterprets what’s always been there: majestic surroundings, and friends and family to share time, stories and a new mountain adventure. “My heart has always been and will always be in Banff,” says Sather.  See the rest of Sather’s mountain hideaway here.

7. Contemporary Ski Chalet

The warm modernism that dominates this lakeside retreat in Whistler feels comfortably familiar for its owners: they call London home when they’re not hitting the slopes on the West Coast, so they tapped Vancouver design team Heffel Balagno to create a chalet that would satisfy their active lifestyles and modern tastes. “They weren’t shy about going for a clean and contemporary look,” laughs designer Jennifer Heffel. “They wanted to incorporate new ideas, and urged us to push the envelope. It was a designer’s dream.” See the rest of this modern cabin here.

8. Rustic-Meets-Modern Dream Cabin

Homeowners Steven and Karen Bruk wanted a second home in Creekside, where Karen grew up (her family’s cabin is just down the street), and they liked architect Brad Lamoureux’s West Coast-contemporary designs. As a vacation retreat, the home needed the requisite bedrooms, bathrooms and utility space to accommodate the couple and their three school-age children. But it was also an opportunity to create something, says Steven, “where people would walk by and think ‘I want to get inside that house.’ ” See more of the Bruks’ dream home here. 

9. A Gorgeous, Wood-Lined Ski-In/Ski-Out Space

Wresting your gaze from the windows, there’s plenty to admire indoors. Assembled on a floor of distressed French oak (its knotty surface practically immune to scrapes) are a custom sofa in Knoll Luxe textiles, a coffee table built out of reclaimed beams from the Drake Hotel in Toronto and, atop the cabinet, a pair of glass-and-marble “Snoopy” lamps from Flos. It all makes for a fairly royal conversation zone, complete with a ceiling-high tower of stacked wood ready for the fireplace; the hearth was originally built of river rocks, but those were swapped out in favour of a softer Fond du Lac stone. See the rest of this Robert Bailey-designed ski chalet here.