When your vacation home sits in a European-style ski village populated by fairy tale-worthy cottages, it is only fitting that its interiors enchant as much as any beloved storybook. Such is the case in San Francisco-based interior designer Lauren Weiss’s house at Sugar Bowl, a Tahoe-area mountain village modeled after its Austrian founder’s homeland ski retreats.
After renting at Sugar Bowl for a time, Lauren and her husband, Eli, alongside daughters Robin (12) and Holly (10), purchased their own place in April 2020. The 1999-built A-frame “had been really well loved,” says Lauren, but it needed a full makeover. She looked to the 85-year-old resort’s old-world charm for inspiration. “A lot of the houses here, especially the older ones, feel like these little Austrian mountain cabins with shutters and window boxes and wood cutout details,” says Lauren. “We wanted to inject a lot of that in our house.”
While she left the home’s floor plan as is, the designer revamped every surface, including walls, floors, and ceilings. Inspired not only by Sugar Bowl’s Austrian roots, but also by her own zeal for Scandinavian design, Lauren introduced color at every opportunity. “In a home you’re not in all the time, it’s easier to be a little bolder and a little more playful,” she says.
A Josef Frank-designed fabric, which covers a living room sofa (below), served as the starting point for the home’s palette, which bursts with blues, reds, greens, and yellows. “It’s very happy,” Lauren says. The same could be said of the entire home. “It feels like this magical place where we disconnect from the frenetic pace of our everyday life.”
Take a tour below:
Scandi Spirit
“It feels like a hug,” Lauren says of the spacious but cozy living room. She wrapped the two-story space in floor-to-ceiling white oak, expanded a stone hearth for sitting by the fireplace, and livened up things with peppy fabrics on the sofas and vintage Danish chairs designed by Henning Kjaernulf. Her most transformative move, however, was adding the upper window that mimics the one below, providing a magnificent mountain view in every season. “You kind of feel like you’re outside,” says Lauren. Gus the goldendoodle, sitting on one of the chairs, loves joining the family on hikes along Sugar Bowl’s many cross-country ski trails.
Get the Look:
Sofa: by Nickey Kehoe
Armchairs: by Cisco Home
Side table: by Hollywood at Home
Rug: by Woven
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A hand-painted circa-1700s Hungarian wedding bench that was shipped from Europe greets guests at the front door and often holds a mix of vintage ceramics filled with wildflowers. The vintage ceramic vases and pitchers are pieces the designer picked up at estate sales and on Etsy, and the pressed and framed botanicals are vintage Swedish finds.
Seeing Green
There’s no takeout or food delivery in roadless Sugar Bowl Village, which means the Weisses spend a lot of time cooking around the kitchen’s green island. Diamond cutouts give character to the neutral cabinetry, while a sink skirt adds softness. “You see details like that in European homes,” she says. “They’re whimsical with their woodwork, so I wanted to add something like that to the cabinet.”
On the open shelving, vintage midcentury ceramics mingle with new hand-thrown dinnerware to bring color and texture to the kitchen. The woven lamp is a vintage French find.
Get the Look:
Island paint color: Palmer Green by Benjamin Moore
Perimeter cabinet paint color: York Gray by Benjamin Moore
Sconce: by Urban Electric
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Diamonds in the Rough
A blue diamond-patterned hemp rug complements the striped seats of the Danish dining chairs and stakes out enough space for a generously sized 12-person trestle table. Despite its stature, Lauren keeps the vibe intimate with candlelight. “We have Norwegian roots, and Scandinavian people love candles,” she says. “So I cannot have a dinner at that table without the whole table having candles.”
A vintage pine mirror hangs above a 1950s Swedish pine fluted sideboard designed by Göran Malmvall for Svensk Fur. The Danish chairs are also vintage, as is the Gordon Martz ceramic lamp from the 1960s.
Get the Look:
Trestle table: by Nickey Kehoe
Chandelier: by The Urban Electric Co.
Rug: by inResidence NYC
Creative Corners
Lauren’s office, which sits just off the kitchen, features floral wallpaper by Josef Frank. Cutout details on the desk mimic those on the kitchen cabinets. She handles work tasks whenever technology allows. “The internet is really spotty up there, which is annoying but also kind of great,” she says.
Get the Look:
Wallpaper: by Svenskt Tenn
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Color abounds in the media room, where a large painting by British artist Rosie Harbottle provides the backdrop for a vintage chair and a modern red floor lamp by Swedish interior designer Beata Heuman.
Playful Pattern
The green wall paneling in the powder bath complements the wallpaper. A striped seersucker skirt conceals storage beneath the custom vanity. The unexpected red sconce is by Hector Finch.
Get the Look:
Sink skirt fabric: by Schumacher
Wallpaper: “Chintamani” by Ottoline
Wall paneling paint color: Colonial Verdigris by Benjamin Moore
A Thread of Red
Lauren dressed up the primary bedroom’s simple four-poster canopy bed with an upholstered headboard and a back curtain made from a gingham-print sheet and edged in red, a color thread throughout the house. “I had my dry cleaner make the panel,” she says. “It feels a little like a canopy but not so fussy.”
Get the Look:
Canopy bed: by Serena & Lily
Curtains made from sheets: by Piglet in Bed
Bedside tables: by Bunny Williams Home
RELATED: Best Bedroom Ideas for Every Decorating Style
Lauren and her daughter, Robin, painted the bedroom’s midcentury Hungarian chest with dots and squiggles. “Why not?” she says. “It’s whimsical and fun.” A vintage suzani textile hangs above, while a chaise covered in a delicate floral print invites lingering.
Get the Look:
Chaise: by Cisco Home
Chaise fabric: by Michael Smith Inc.
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In the main bath, English oak leaves adorn the wallcovering in the main bathroom, where Lauren paired a light wood vanity with black accents and nickel-finished fixtures.
Get the Look:
Wallpaper: “Old Oak” by CommonRoom
Vanity: by Rejuvenation
Fixtures: by Waterworks
Floor tile: by Daltile
Sconces: by Urban Electric
Curvy Edges
In Holly’s bedroom, Lauren opted for botanical wallpaper paired with a complementary paint hue. The curvy headboard is upholstered in a vintage fabric.
She mimicked the wallpaper/paint combo in green for Robin’s room, where she designed a scalloped built-in cabinet and, for soft contrast, added a petite-print fabric.
Get the Look:
Wallpaper: “Clover” by St. Jude’s
Blue wainscoting paint color: Bewilder by C2 Paint
Green built-in and wall paint color: Ming by C2 Paint
Cabinet fabric: from Michael Smith
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Scallop details can be found throughout the house, including a cheery upholstered headboard in one of the guest rooms.
Get the Look:
Pillow fabric: by Pindler
A different colorway of the same wallpaper that’s in the powder room wraps the Jack-and-Jill bath that the Weiss daughters share.
Get the Look: Wainscoting paint color: Setting Plaster by Farrow & Ball Wallpaper: “Chintamani” by Ottoline Floor tile: by American Restoration Tile
Fanciful Flourishes
Every wall in the Weisses’ house that isn’t clad in white oak is covered in fabric or wallpaper, like the bunk room’s scenic forest wallcovering. “There was only one area of the house that was still painted Sheetrock, and I wallpapered it this summer,” says Lauren. “I realized all of the surfaces should have something textured or something with pattern. It just feels warmer.” A custom yellow rickrack-style safety rail on the top bunk reinforces the home’s whimsy, as does the Alvar Aalto stool.
Get the Look:
Wallcovering: by Morris & Co.
Bedding: by TOAST
Bunk beds: by Room & Board
This story originally appeared in the August-September 2024 issue of Country Living. Photographs by Paul Costello.
Rhonda Reinhart is a Dallas-based writer and editor with 20 years of experience covering home design across the country. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of Modern Luxury Interiors Texas and the managing editor of D Home. Her work has appeared in Country Living, Mountain Living, D Magazine, Cowboys & Indians, and other publications.
