A little home that Beautiful inside and out

This cabin near Twisp, Wash., is packed with ideas for small-home living, from its open rooms, multiple levels, creative details, and outdoor living rooms.

Ray and Mary Johnston of Johnston Architects (206-523-6150) designed the 1,200-square-foot cabin for their family of 4.

Every part of it is oriented toward the floor-to-ceiling windows that frame the mountain view of Washington's Methow Valley and the Cascade Sawtooth Mountains.

See how the Johnstons got the most from their square footage.

designing children's rooms

: : while I'm on the topic of kid's rooms, here is more inspiration from .bolaget.

designing places around the house

: : if you are reading this, THANK YOU, I know I have been missing lately. I'm happy to see you back here. I wanted to share some photos from our home, these photos from our bedroom are from warmer and sunnier days. the wedding tree was a wedding gift, handpainted by my bestfriend .tina. and her husband. it's the best and most beautiful wedding gift, it reminds us of our day and all our friends and family who shared it with us.

there's in fact a funny story about the tree. I had had the same idea as .tina. and had printed a tree and brought to Sweden, when .tina. saw it she said "anna, why do you always have to be doing everything yourself?". But of course, her handdrawn tree was much more beautiful than my printed one, and it fits so perfectly with the colors in our bedroom.

the oil painting is by my grandpa and the gold flower by me. the framed photos are from my favorite places, rockport beach and our summer house.

pendant lights-from Scandinavia

: : we're searching for new lights for our dining room. somehow I'm on a gold kick. these work lamps from design house stockholm are actually goldplated with 24 karat gold!! and then there is my favorite, lilla my's hair, from the mumin troll books.  both lamps are available in the US through A+R.
Any other suggestions for cool, pendant lights?

designing a house

we did some work over the holiday weekend, we're making progress on our dining room. the wallpaper and antlers are up! the wallpaper looks tres chic! We are still working on a shelf for the opposite wall, and are waiting for our gold lamp to be rewired and hung above the table. oh and white curtains, maybe laser cut felt with kurbits patterns.

I would feel so at home in any of these homes, the light, the wood, the color pop, the simplicity, purposefulness, balance and of course the pop colors feels perfectly aligned with the things I try to create in my own home. turns out the homes are all Swedish, designed by Swedish interior firm Alvhem....no wonder I was drawn to the images.