When telecommunications executive Mike Pascoe decided to build a retirement home, he didn't fool around.
Sparing no whim or expense, he erected a 13,000-square-foot log "cabin," perfectly sited at Cedar Point on Georgian Bay.
When he left his job as chief executive officer of PairGain Technologies Inc. in 2000, after engineering the sale of the California-based company, he envisioned a life of leisure.
But that was short-lived. Last year, his idyll was interrupted by a call from Ottawa-based Meriton Networks Inc., bringing him back into the telecom game as CEO there.
The Pascoes designed their retirement home with the emphasis on big to accommodate a large extended family.
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Now, Mr. Pascoe and his wife, Carol, are able to use the place only on weekends, and his travel schedule makes even that difficult. So they've decided to sell. Asking price: $4.75-million.
The six bedrooms have meant the couple has seldom been alone. With their three kids and extended family, there have often been 30 for dinner.
"We did everything industrial scale: multiple stoves, multiple dishwashers. But it is the size of the great hall that makes entertaining possible," Mr. Pascoe says.
That, and the fact that the couple built their own private wing, which allows them to take a break from the festivities.
"Our bedroom is some 20 by 40. It has a private bathroom, a walk-in, and its own balcony, where no one can see in."
The home also has a large media room and, for good measure, Mr. Pascoe built a complete Irish pub in the basement, where he himself serves as barman. "It's a lifelong dream, to be your own publican. And here, I just have to walk downstairs."
Outside, there are barbecue pits, hot tubs, as well as a pond and stream fed by a natural spring. As for the beach, "it's like the Bahamas," Mr. Pascoe boasts, "with 200 feet of sand that sparkles light blue then drops deep."
The whole enterprise is pretty indulgent, starting with the construction. The Pascoes wanted big, but they also wanted cozy. So they hired a local builder to construct the cabin at his place of business, then reassemble it on site.
"It's Swedish style: rounded logs, not squared; no chinking; all the logs are some two feet in diameter."
The seating inside is also all log. And the ceiling is tongue-in-groove pine with log rafters. "We went for a light stain on the logs, to keep things bright. We also have oversized windows. And very dramatic lighting set into the ceiling. The floors are a darker brown, for contrast."
The furniture from their previous home in the United States — "all quite traditional" — worked fine, and some stuff they picked up on a business assignment helped add lightness.
As for embellishments, the Pascoes went all out again, hiring local carvers to adorn the space. The front doors are carved with wolves. "There's also a voyageur canoe. We wanted to pay homage to all the traditions that came before us."
Let's hope some day someone carves a frieze of a big family laughing around an Irish barkeep.
