In 2021, in the thick of the pandemic, Todd and Kristen McMillan thought it might be nice to move to the country, just north of where they were living in Burlington, Ontario. The couple had sold their current house, which they designed and built as principals of their firm, Ben Homes, and were scanning the market for another property to build on for themselves, their two teenagers, and their dog.

Instead, they found the perfect listing where they least expected it: a 1969 house on the shore of Lake Ontario, just a five-minute drive from their old place, down a road they had never been on before. The home retained a lot of its original midcentury style, including a flat roof, exposed beams, a rear wall of windows overlooking the lake, and a modest brick and redwood facade; the decision to buy was an easy one. “All of the things that we love about architecture were already in this home,” says Todd. “It was like a meant-to-be thing. All we had to do now was restore it, instead of build new.”

It was important to the couple to keep much of the original home intact, since it’s one of the last remaining midcentury homes in the area. “In the nineties, people thought of them as just their parents’ homes and started taking them down, or putting a pitched roof on them, or altering them,” says Todd. This home had survived because it was being sold by the original owners, who had commissioned the house from a local architect after a stint in Massachusetts.

“After studying at Harvard University and visiting numerous modern homes in the vicinity, the original owners wanted to build something similar for themselves,” says Todd. “They came back here, bought this piece of land, and built this home very true to modernist style.” While the original architect’s name has been lost, a few of the drawings remain, which inspired Todd and Kristen’s renovation.

Before: Roof

To start, the couple took the home down to the studs to redo the plumbing, electricity, insulation, and HVAC (in the form of new heat pumps). They also rebuilt the flat roof so that it would drain properly. “There was a pond up there,” says Kristen, and the subsequent water damage was rotting the interior ceiling boards. Those boards, made of redwood, were removed, planed, and reused for exterior detailing around windows and doors.

Before: Entry

After: Entry

The layout was preserved, with the living spaces arranged along the back window wall to advantage a lake view, only now with the sills dropped to the floor. At the front of the 3,400-square-foot plan (which includes a basement level) are three bedrooms and two baths that feel private thanks to screened courtyards on either side of the front walk.

Since the fencing forming the courtyards were rotting, the designers opted to replace them with opaque ribbed glass “to have the light come through and create a play of shadows,” says Todd. Later upon receipt of the original plans, they discovered that that was actually what the original architect had intended.

Before: Living Room

After: Living Room

Before: Dining Room

After: Dining Room

After: Hallway

After: Bathroom

Regarding finishes, Kristen and Todd used the original brick and preserved beams as their starting point, as well as a closet door found in the basement. The door’s apple-green color was custom-matched and used for the wall paneling lining the center hall and stair well, the kitchen cabinets, and the front door.

The biggest challenge, say the couple, was reimagining how the kitchen functioned. Where once was a door to the exterior is now a pantry, and a new slider opens onto the deck, preserving outdoor access. The cabinets were adjusted to make spaces for a floating display shelf, which creates sight lines into the dining room. “We have to be a little bit more minimal with our dishes and that kind of stuff,” says Kristen. “But it totally works. It actually kind of keeps you from collecting stuff that you’re not using.”

Before: Kitchen

After: Kitchen

Before: Kitchen

After: Kitchen

Even if this isn’t the project the couple had initially envisioned, to them, this doesn’t feel like settling. “Although it’s not in the country, it gives you that feeling of having a view and a lot more land,” says Kristen. After waking up on the first morning here and going into the kitchen to make coffee, she and Todd realized the full extent of their bounty.

“When you’re out of your bedroom, you’re immersed in the lake,” says Todd, whether watching the weather change or the “bird highway,” as Kristen calls it, with birds flying over the house to land on the lake to catch fish. Last year they shored up a seawall and created steps down to the water so that come summer, they’ll have full access. “We’ve got our paddleboards ready to go,” says Kristen.

Before: Exterior Courtyard

After: Exterior Courtyard

After: Seawall

More Before & After stories:

An L.A. Music Producer’s Latest Collab? Turning a Midcentury Into His Family Home

They Raised the Roof to Unlock Their Midcentury’s Peak Potential

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Ben Homes / @_benhomes

Builder: Ben Homes

Landscape, Lighting, Cabinetry, and Interior Design: Ben Homes

Kitchen Cabinets: GLN

Also Appears In

Before & After: They Saved One of the Last Midcentury Homes in Their Lakefront Neighborhood