Tour This Creative Couple's Custom, Modern Cabin and Houseplant Shop in Alaska

Abstract artist Tanya Val and her handy husband Carson Baldiviez combined creative ideas into one unified dream: to build a custom cabin in Anchorage, Alaska. The catch? Tanya had no desire to build a home from scratch. Thankfully, Carson grew up with a hammer in his hand and knew at an early age that he would build his very own cabin in the woods one day. Years later, the two set off to design their blueprint one cedar plank at a time. Peek inside this gorgeous, modern cabin filled with hundreds of houseplants, nature-inspired colors and dozens of DIYs. Then fall in love with That Feeling Co.

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February 09, 2022

By: Rachael Jones

Show: HGTV Handmade

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Photo By: Tanya Val

The New Frontier

Tanya Val and Carson Baldiviez's (plus pup Jossie's) custom cabin all started with Carson popping two big questions: an engagement and a handmade house pitch. "As soon as Carson told me that he was planning to build a house in the future," the abstract artist, forager and florist recalls, "I was like, 'What do you mean build a house?' People just buy a house and they live there."

Watch the Video: Building a Home From the Ground Up in Alaska

Real-life Lincoln Logs

But Tanya didn't need much persuasion — Carson's cabin-building confidence started at an early age. "I was born and raised in Anchorage," Carson says. "My family built three homes, and I was always around them helping to build their houses. I knew probably in junior high or high school that I wanted to build myself a small cabin one day."

Watch the Video: Building a Home From the Ground Up in Alaska

Outside Looking In

"When you pull up to the house you’ll notice right away that the exterior is very unique," Carson says. "We have really cool siding on our front wall that’s made with cedar two-by-twos, and you can just see the height of that wall with the roof that extends over [it]." At night, the front facade is illuminated with can lighting, allowing the warm cedar planks to shine.

Watch the Video: Building a Home From the Ground Up in Alaska

Living (Plant) Room

The first thing to note in Tanya and Carson's living room is the sheer number of houseplants clustered from corner to corner. "This is definitely our favorite place to hang out for many awesome reasons," Tanya says. "We are right next to big, beautiful windows that look to the outside, which is just the beautiful, lush forest."

Watch the Video: Building a Home From the Ground Up in Alaska

Nature Nook

The couple's comfy, gray sectional is positioned perfectly in front of a big monstera and styled with some of Tanya's recent paintings. "This is my perfect little nook to hang out in pretty much every day," she says. "It's a little hard to leave." Pun fully intended.

Watch the Video: Building a Home From the Ground Up in Alaska

Healing Houseplants

"Plants just create such a beautiful environment for our space," Tanya explains. "We just started having these really meaningful rituals together every week when we would just sort of settle in and enjoy our plants and enjoy our time together — and we noticed such a difference in our mental health."

Watch the Video: Building a Home From the Ground Up in Alaska

Growing Intentions

A wooden shelf offers more space for thriving plants to absorb the warm, natural light shining in from flanking windows. "We have beautiful little clusters of plants, which I think works really well instead of just having plants in every single spot we could," Tanya says. "I like having more intentional moments for plants, especially based on their lighting needs and how they work with the space."

Watch the Video: Building a Home From the Ground Up in Alaska

Disguising DIY

All the houseplants create a calming, minimal approach to their interior aesthetic, but Carson was left with a deep-seated disgust that others love to display. "I really wanted to find a way to hide our television," he says. "I just hate TVs on the wall, and it's just something that really bugs me — cords and TVs and stuff everywhere."

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Engage When Needed

"So this is one of my favorite DIY projects," Carson says. "We have a TV lift cabinet where the TV comes out of the cabinet and it spins around to the kitchen and to the dining room and back around to the couch. Then it hides back in the cabinet."

Watch the Video: Building a Home From the Ground Up in Alaska

Secluded Secrets

"One of the first things people notice when they come into our home is how it feels like we’re deep in the woods," Carson says. "But we’re still right here in the city. They can walk in and look out our big windows and see all of these trees and nature around us, but we still feel so secluded."

Watch the Video: Building a Home From the Ground Up in Alaska

The Couple That Cooks Together

"We wanted our kitchen to feel really minimal and intentional," Tanya says. "We do a lot of cooking together and we’re really, really into cooking. So, we ended up organizing and styling the kitchen to keep it as clean as we can." The neutral, modern vibe is paired with darker cabinets and touches of white accents from the countertops to the high-end fridge.

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Retro Refrigerator

Coolest Item

Speaking of favorites, "The SMEG fridge is the highlight of the kitchen, let’s be real," Tanya says with a laugh. "I mean, the fridge and the tile is just a match made in heaven."

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Retro Refrigerator

You Guessed It: More Houseplants

Lush plants in bright white pots find their way into the couple's kitchen, too. "We really like to bring in nature, especially during winter months, because it’s just so gloomy and dark," Tanya says.

Watch the Video: Building a Home From the Ground Up in Alaska

Moody Modern Bath

Inside their modern, double vanity bathroom, sleek, black tiles are installed vertically to give the small space extra height. Two white sinks are paired with half mirrors just beneath a horizontal window that floods the room with lots of natural light.

Watch the Video: Building a Home From the Ground Up in Alaska

Jossie's Favorite Spot

Fluffy dog Jossie lounges happily in the couple's contemporary bedroom. "As you can see, pretty much just the bed fits in this space because it's a smaller room," Tanya says. "But I think we definitely made it work."

Watch the Video: Building a Home From the Ground Up in Alaska

Bare Minimum

In line with the rest of the home, neutral textures and colors blend together in the couple's relaxing, minimalist bedroom retreat. A dark color accent wall allows the centerpiece artwork to stand out, for good reason. "This particular piece is actually at Hatcher Pass, which is a beautiful mountain range here in Alaska," Tanya explains. "It is a plein air painting that I started there on location, and it's kind of the scene where we actually got married a few years later."

Watch the Video: Building a Home From the Ground Up in Alaska

Plein Air Painting

Plein air painting, or en plein air, is the art of drawing inspiration from the landscape while painting outdoors. And much of Tanya's art explores themes of individuality, freedom and sustainability with the use of warm tones, expressive brush strokes and layered textures.

Watch the Video: Building a Home From the Ground Up in Alaska

Indoor Nature Studio

Step inside Tanya's home studio and find the usual suspects: an easel, freshly painted artwork and multiple work tables. "I'm a fine artist," Tanya says. "And my studio space is pretty small, but I really like it because I don’t have a lot of room, and I have to make every bit of it work."

Watch the Video: Building a Home From the Ground Up in Alaska

Procured Pigments

Tanya's artwork relies on her handmade, nature-inspired color palette. "In the last three years, I've transitioned my painting practice to using only natural ingredients for painting," Tanya shares. "I'm an abstract painter, so it gives me a lot of room to create textures and colors just based on color itself."

Watch the Video: Building a Home From the Ground Up in Alaska

All Mixed Up

"A lot of my pigments are just loose rocks into which I add a solution, a type of binder, and then I mix everything here on this table," Tanya continues. "I was inspired to research and find out if there was a more natural way for me to create my paintings by specifically avoiding plastics and anything like that."

Watch the Video: Building a Home From the Ground Up in Alaska

Other People's Art

And there's always room for more art. "This [table] is my inspirational space where I really like to collect beautiful handmade ceramics by smaller makers," Tanya says.

Watch the Video: Building a Home From the Ground Up in Alaska

That Feeling Co Inspo

"The design of our house and the whole process of building our house is what inspired us to build our shop," Carson says. When envisioning their dream work day, the couple just imagined being at home with their plants.

Watch the Video: Building a Home From the Ground Up in Alaska

Mechanics to Ceramics

So Carson and Tanya set out to convert an old car shop into a coffee, home goods and houseplant store. "We opened up That Feeling Co in January of 2020," Carson says.

Watch the Video: Building a Home From the Ground Up in Alaska

Coffee + Nature

Best described on That Feeling Co's website, the shop is a way to invite all of nature’s wild beauty into your space. Through the couple's exploration of biophilic design, Carson and Tanya curate a collection of plants for all skill levels, home goods and gifts by local Alaskan creators.

Watch the Video: Building a Home From the Ground Up in Alaska

Crafting Comfort

"We pair botanical expertise with the comfort of a crafted coffee beverage to encompass the warmth we all crave in Alaska," Tanya adds. "We strive to make you feel as at home in our space as you do in yours."

Watch the Video: Building a Home From the Ground Up in Alaska

Never-Ending Story

Between custom home building, creating art and serving up coffee and botanicals, this creative couple says if given the chance, they'd do it all again. "When you’ve taken the time to individually choose every single aspect of the house, it is so rewarding to live in that home knowing that you made every single microdecision," Carson says, reflecting on the duo's big decision. Tanya adds, "I never ever dreamed of building my own house, but now there’s just no other way I would imagine it for us." Follow more of Carson and Tanya's DIY cabin home adventure on My Alaskan Home.

Watch the Video: Building a Home From the Ground Up in Alaska

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