When San Francisco interior designer Noz Nozawa and her husband first set eyes on their cabin on the edge of Tahoe National Forest, she knew she’d be in for some serious work. “It was obvious that the space had just been a rental property and not particularly well kept up,” she says. “But being neglected, as it seemed to have been for almost 50 years, made the renovation basically guilt-free.”
Nozawa let the house’s surroundings guide her design-wise. “Nature informed so many of our choices because of the creek outside and the forest in our backyard,” she says. The other imperative? Comfort. “I love when my friends and family come over and they just plop down,” Nozawa adds. “That’s when you know you’ve nailed it—people just plop, no one’s standing around waiting.”
While Nozawa is known for her adventurous design choices, here, she hewed closer to the lodge traditions the house seemed to call for, while still adding her own personal spin: The trophy buck over the fireplace is made from foam and covered in Pendleton fabric, while the guest bathroom walls evoke buffalo plaid with their red-and-black tile. Welcoming sofas and chairs, plenty of blankets and throws, and enveloping “blue spruce–charcoal” walls enhance the cozy atmosphere. “In this house, you can never have too much wood, too many bears—especially silly bears—or too many blankets,” Nozawa laughs.
Nozawa retained the cabin’s wood ceilings and trim and fieldstone hearth, but put her own twist on certain lodge clichés, like the Pendleton-fabric-wrapped “trophy buck” over the fireplace.
Perhaps her most personal and inviting addition to the space was a circular dining table and bench she designed in the spirit of a Japanese kotatsu table, which is a low, heated table “that goes all the way back to feudal, Samurai-era Japan. This one is nine feet in diameter. I call it a ‘convotatsu’—a combination conversation pit and kotatsu … a ‘fall-asleep-after-you-eat-dinner’ concept table!”
In the end, the house turned out just as Nozawa planned: incredibly comfortable, perfect for big get-togethers and casual entertaining, and full of personality.
The 1970s-era cabin sits on the edge of the Tahoe National Forest.
