we had plans for this one.

not so much for the cottage, although we had plenty of those too.

what we really fell in love with was the land.

an off-grid cottage perched above the river in the Alberta badlands, surrounded by coulees, exposed rock, prairie and an almost unreasonable amount of sky.

it was never going to be home.

it was going to be guest house × dade.

a place to disappear to for a weekend. bring friends. cook. make things. walk until dinner. stay up too late. do very little.

but there was one particular part of the property that made us want it.

a narrow footpath followed the edge of the coulee and led out to a dry, isolated plateau. almost an island in the landscape, with the river and badlands unfolding below.

that was it.

we were sold.

we immediately imagined one impossibly long table running across the plateau. dinner for twenty or thirty. no building. no tent. nothing competing with the landscape.

just a table, food, friends and dozens of lanterns glowing as the sun disappeared behind the coulees.

on another night, the table would disappear and it would become a place for music. a handful of musicians. a small audience. a concert overlooking the river with the badlands as the backdrop.

no stage required.

we believe sometimes the room is already there.

elsewhere on the property, tucked into the landscape, was a tiny hike-in cottage. a single room heated by a wood-burning fire.

no spa bathroom. no television. no minibar.

just a room, a fire and a very good reason to stay the night.

the main cottage itself was modest, rustic and wonderfully imperfect. we imagined introducing a different layer inside. contemporary furniture, art, deep green cabinetry, sculptural objects and beautiful materials.

not turning it into something it wasn't.

just making it dade.

but the project we were really designing wasn't an interior.

it was a way of using the landscape.

long-table dinners on the plateau. concerts above the river. walks through the coulees. fires at the cabin. friends arriving for a weekend and leaving with a story.

and then someone else bought it.

so guest house × dade never happened here.

we still think about that narrow path, though.

and where it led.

the one that got away.