Home Tour: Inside a Bold, On-Budget Cabin on Wabamun Lake

Overlooking Alberta’s Wabamun Lake, this contemporary cabin is proof that good design doesn’t need to compromise quality for the sake of budget. “It was this idea of trying to take these simple materials and finding ways to elevate them,” says Edmonton-based architect Josh Kjenner, who designed the home for his in-laws, Elaine and Mike Ringrose.

The Ringroses, an academic and an entrepreneur, grew up spending summers at Alberta lake cabins and wanted to recreate seasonal traditions of kayaking, skating and tobogganing for their young family. “There was definitely a nostalgic part to it,” says Kjenner. “Mike said very explicitly to me at the beginning of the project that the memories he had as a child [were experiences that] he wanted to provide for his children.”

Located in Moonlight Bay, about an hour west of Edmonton, the property called to the couple as a place to escape the city and be closer to family. Back in 2020 as the pandemic unfolded and life became more uncertain, their longing for a nature retreat only grew stronger. They purchased the 0.29-acre lot that summer and completed the A-frame-inspired cabin in 2025.

But building during a pandemic also meant navigating unpredictable construction prices. “That time period was when construction prices started going absolutely crazy,” says Kjenner, who recalls lumber costs soaring, then dropping 25 to 30 per cent within a few months. “It was really a roller coaster on the pricing side.”

Rather than feeling constrained, Kjenner took the challenge head-on, finding ways to breathe new life into simple materials. Working together with contractor EtchBuilt, the design team clad the exterior in fibre-cement siding, acrylic stucco and corrugated metal—cost-effective yet hardy materials that could withstand Alberta’s extreme climate while still creating visual impact. “These are not fancy materials,” says Kjenner. “But we tried to deploy them in a thoughtful and carefully considered way.” The result is a facade that feels intentionally layered, not piecemeal.

Choosing the right colours for the cladding became its own exercise. “I think I did 25 different colour versions,” laughs Kjenner. “We were trying to balance aesthetics but also availability of the colours that we wanted. Some of them, we could only buy in [minimum] quantities, so we were trying to optimize quantity, colour, availability and timeline.”

That same resourceful thinking also guided how the 1,500-square-foot cabin is laid out. Rather than enlarging everything, Kjenner and the homeowners chose to “spend” their square footage where it mattered most—spaces where they could entertain and gather with friends and extended family. Spread over two floors, the plan features three modestly sized bedrooms upstairs, giving more area and attention to the communal spaces below. The ground floor layout moves from a sunken entry to the tall storey-and-a-half main room under a sloped roof. “The kitchen is fairly deep in the floor plate,” says Kjenner. “So that’s why we wanted it to be in that open area and within sight of that big, south-facing window.”

As you move into the adjacent living room, the ceiling drops to just eight feet beneath the upper floor. Though it’s technically one open space, the mood becomes something quieter. “All of a sudden, the feeling really shifts,” he says. “We always try to modulate our spaces somehow, whether by changing the floor levels, using millwork or half walls or changing ceiling levels”—simple gestures that make each area feel distinct yet cohesive.

The entire main floor is wrapped in a sunrise palette of pink and mustard yellow, with a deep plum (Benjamin Moore’s Sequoia) tying the spaces together. Kjenner had originally picked a sage green as the accent colour, but Elaine gravitated toward the purple shade.

“[Mike and Elaine] had recently painted their daughter’s bedroom in a lighter shade of that burgundy colour,” explains Kjenner. “They had one of those Benjamin Moore [swatches] that has all the shade variations.” Trusting his sister-in-law’s strong aesthetic sense, the team landed on a shade three “notches” down on that same paint chip. The plum shade now appears throughout the home on custom lacquered MDF kitchen cabinetry, painted living room millwork and bathroom Daltile floor tiles.

Against all that plum, the rest of the interior stays humble. Most of the cabin is built from honest, cost-conscious materials, allowing a few key design moves to do the heavy lifting. In the main living area, that means lightly polished sealed concrete flooring and knotty fir ceiling paired with a sleek Stuv fireplace. Throughout the home, a handful of curated Muuto pendants and Vistosi sconces add focus without feeling excessive. To explain his approach, Kjenner uses a fashion analogy, treating the cabin like a plain T-shirt dressed up with a few really good accessories.

But for Kjenner, it’s one of the home’s smallest rooms that comes closest to summing up the project. In the powder room, cream wall tiles are framed with maroon grout and a one-inch painted trim to add just a touch of drama. Above them sits a large mirror finished with fir trim and a sculptural sconce on top. “It’s a bunch of basic ingredients that come together to form something that has some presence and originality,” he says.

And for the Ringroses, those basic ingredients now show up in weekends with friends gathered around a fire pit, kids tobogganing down the slope and family potlucks spilling easily from the kitchen to the deck. It’s a reminder that you don’t need sprawling square footage or high-end finishes to feel at home.

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