“WHEN WE BOUGHT THE PLACE, there was more than a foot of water in the basement. The property had just been neglected,” Pauline Landriault tells me, of how she and her husband, Robbie Cohen, turned an unlivable cottage in southwestern Nova Scotia into their beloved summer home.
Now the place is anything but. It blends modern and traditional design for an effect that feels relaxed and stylish—a bit like you’ve walked into a Roots catalogue. And since Pauline has been working with Roots Canada for 30 years, now as the senior director of store design and development—and she is one of the company’s trailblazers—that should come as no surprise.
The couple’s love of the East Coast hasn’t been a lifelong affliction. Robbie had never even been to Nova Scotia until he and Pauline were invited to Sandy Cove, N.S., in 2010 to stay with writer friends from back home in Ontario. They instantly fell in love with the village and its community. They decided to find their own cottage so they could spend summers with those same friends who had already settled there.
The rugged forest is circled by coastline with sandy beaches, snug harbours, and clinking boats
The cottage that became their labour of love was first built in 1952, and is now known as “Treetops.” It sits on three acres on St. Mary’s Bay, a branch of the Bay of Fundy. “We originally wanted to buy land
