Welcome to the Dollhouse.

Can you imagine? A real life dollhouse! It's every eight year old girl's dream. Seriously.

(found here via ...all the mountains...)

Reus.

London.

Nonsense.

I'm coveting this Nonsensical Infographic No. 2 print by Chad Hagen from 20x200.

Terrain.

As someone who may never get to visit the brick and mortar I am beyond thrilled that Terrain has launched their online shop. They have such beautiful things, and I love that they sell bulbs as well. Hopefully they will be able to fill a small piece of the gap that Smith and Hawken left behind.

I ordered some Fritillaria Meleagris right away. It was one of my favorites in my mom's garden growing up and I can't believe they have it. I'm wracking my brain to figure out who I can give the Shitake Mushroom Log to. Seriously, how cool is that?!

(found via Oh Joy)

Aire de Bardenas.

The first obvious place to start when sharing our Spanish trip would be in the middle, at the amazing Aire de Bardenas hotel in the desert outside of Zaragoza. It's a pretty out there, true, but it happens to be exactly between Barcelona, San Sebastian and Madrid. Thus, it seemed an obvious stop along the way.

The landscape is dramatic; an arid desert in the middle of Spain. However, being from the southwest I found it to be very similar to the land around Moab, Utah. The hotel is a lesson in reserved modernism. The blonde pine and stark white walls have a scandinavian simplicity to them, and the restaurant and amenities were exceptional. We found the whole place especially refreshing after a week spent in the hustle and bustle of Barcelona.

To anyone considering a stop at this hotel I would strongly suggest a room with a soaking tub. As an American conditioned to think hot tubs should have neck rests and massaging jets aimed at every muscle I was skeptical, but after a night soak under the stars in the quiet of the desert I am convinced.

(all photos via Aire de Bardenas)

Home again.

We just returned from a two week trip to Spain! I'm sorry I was gone for so long, but I have plenty of fun inspiration to share in the upcoming weeks.

(found via pink shirts and car wrecks)

Change of seasons.

It's beginning to feel a lot like fall already. Hopefully someday our deck will look like this, and we will spend chilly fall evenings with a bottle of red and some good friends around the fire*.

*Might have to abandon the dream of an outdoor fireplace. After last years fires around the lake the fear of open flames is very real. I would rather not be the fool to start another round of fires. It's a nice dream though.

Viola Park

Finally.

I can't believe it how long it has taken for somebody to take the IKEA kitchen idea to the next level; modular, design-it-yourself and without all of the trim and border nonesense. These kitchen units by Viola Park are so beautiful. I love the accent of lime green against the dark grey.

(found via here)

Bathroom.

By November, we will have a brand new bathroom in the cabin. I am so excited. I'm having trouble narrowing down the options though. Here's a collection of my favorites:

Um...I don't think we will end up quite this rustic (it's Tahoe and insulation is kind of a necessity), but it's a great reminder that minimal is beautiful.

The bathroom above is a bit too traditional, but has a lot of elements that I like.

I love the painted wainscot in these two images below.

And this one. I know it's stark, but I love the clean simplicity of it.

(All via remodelista)

Drew

Just posted this image on Beautiful/Wild and thought how congruent it would be to add this lovely picture of Drew Barrymore's kitchen here at the Nest. Love the dark cabinets and green walls...

(from the late Domino Magazine. RIP)

Same elements, all mixed up.

Love this interior on Design Sponge, too. The palette looks pretty much the same, just mixed around a bit. The floors are dark like this post and the ceilings are paneled like Thom Filicia's. I love the rustic feel of the kitchen.

The wall color in the bedroom is so beautiful with the dark wood floors and industrial fixtures!

(found here)

A living room.

Wow. This is the living room that haunts my dreams. Isn't it perfect? Huge windows, vintage stove, dark ceiling and texture everywhere...If you ask me it doesn't get any better.

(found via here)

Simple Perfection

I need to constantly remind myself that I fell in love with the cabin because of it's rustic charm and imperfections. I didn't want a cookie-cutter condo, I wanted authenticity. I'm in the middle of planning a small reno (gotta get the squirrels out of the walls, you know, the basics) and I find myself tempted to fix this and that thing and I forget the beauty in simplicity.

(found here)

Eyes Wide Open

They say the windows are the eyes of a home. In that case, why not have the biggest expanse of window possible? Especially if you are surrounded by beautiful green foliage. I want to live in this home, don't you?

Therapy

Spent the weekend at the cabin...Every time we go up there we reset ourselves and come back more settled, more calm. We beat ourselves up playing in the mountains and the lake, yet feel like we just got back from the best spa ever, slightly sunburned and totally exhausted.

(photo by Margaret Durow from here)

Tree Houses for Grownups

I want to know who decided that at a certain age Tree Houses are no longer a respected place to spend your time. Did you have a tree house? Do you remember how it felt to be perched up in the branches, how it changed your whole perspective of your backyard and made you feel big and powerful and very sneaky at the same time?

Baumraum and La Cabane Perchee are two companies currently designing beautiful tree houses for grown ups. Sadly, they are not in the U.S. (of course), but they can still provide us with great inspiration.

(Found via frolic!)

i like...

...Anthropologie's new Maritime Collection. Wish it wasn't so damn expensive, though.

Kind of reminds me of Thom Filicia's lake house in the late Domino Magazine. Oh, how I miss you Domino...

(images from katie elliot)

Cabin of My Dreams...

Oh, the Swedes. They always manage to create the perfect combination of modern and rustic in their spaces. I want to devour this house, every bit of it; the blue trim, random kitchen, punching bag and staircase in the middle of the room, is so unpredictable and effortlessly cool.

And the lake...




(images by Martin Lof, via here)

Cabin

If you look really closely, through the blizzard and the trees, you can see our little cabin in the woods. This photo was taken the first day we saw it in the worst storm of the season. We tried to stop in the road to take a closer look and ended up sliding backwards and doing a complete doughnut before heading right back down the hill again, so all we had was a really brief view of it, while spinning out of control.