Custom cushions for Ontario cottages, Toronto bay windows and decks

Bay-and-gables, semis and the condo balcony

Toronto's bay-and-gable house appeared in the 1860s and was built until about the 1890s: a big bay window covering more than half the front, a gable on top. In the 1880s building boom, nearly half of the 3,000 homes built in Cabbagetown were bay-and-gables, and the semi-detached versions put a ground-floor bay on the front room. Every one of those bays is a seat waiting for a cushion.

A canted bay is a trapezoid, sometimes with short straight returns at the ends. Five numbers describe it: - Long edge, straight across the room side of the seat, wall to wall. - Short edge, along the center window. - Depth, square from the short edge to the long edge, at the center. - Each angled side, on its own. They aren't always equal. - Returns, any short straight ends, plus handles and sash stops in the way.

Angles are just lengths in disguise; you don't need a protractor. The bay window calculator checks your numbers, and the bay window cushions hub covers the rest. Up in the towers, a condo balcony wants small chair pads with ties and somewhere to go when the wind picks up.

Humid summers, snowbelts and Canada's highest UV

Toronto has a hot-summer humid continental climate. July averages 72.5 °F (22.5 °C), January 25.7 °F (−3.5 °C), and downtown gets 32.7 in (831 mm) of precipitation and 47.8 in (121.5 cm) of snow a year. On the northwest shore of Lake Ontario, the city misses the worst lake-effect squalls.

Cottage country doesn't. The snowbelt runs along the eastern and southern shores of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, from Parry Sound to London. Muskoka, about two hours north of Toronto, has some 1,600 lakes and roughly 100,000 seasonal property owners on top of 60,000 year-round residents; the Kawarthas to the southeast are cottage country too. Those cottages sit shut through a snowy winter, so storage matters more than sun.

Sun still counts. Environment and Climate Change Canada says Canada's highest UV Index numbers are found in southern Ontario, strongest from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Great Lakes cottage page covers the U.S. shore, Michigan and New York sit across the water, and the Canada overview covers the other provinces.

Brick outside the bay, water outside the cottage

I'm an engineer, so I use a rule instead of a mood board: look at the biggest surface you see from the seat. In a bay-and-gable that's often the brick of the houses across the street, framed by three windows. Match its depth, not its hue. A mid-tone cushion sits quietly against red or buff brick; a pale one glares on a gray February afternoon.

At the cottage, the biggest surface is water. Navy, deep teal or a clean white stripe on outdoor acrylic holds up beside it. What's the biggest thing you see from your seat?