INTO THE WOODS

High up in California’s San Bernardino Mountains, a pair of creatives recast a cabin in the trees with cosmopolitan edge. Forest bathing never looked so good.

- JENNIFER FERNANDEZ

Ben Anderson and Alexis Borges love a project. On the very first night in their weekend home, a three-level cabin built in 1984, Alexis knocked out a wall to improve the view of the San Bernardino Mountains below. A few weeks later, Ben had the doors of the kitchen cabinets scattered across the floor for a midnight paint session. And when the former partners-turned-friends found a set of Brutalist chairs on the side of the road, there was no question that Ben would recane the backs and seats himself. Still, they knew when to leave well enough alone.

A high-low mix that incorporates thrifted objects, vintage pieces, and well-loved items from their previous homes hints at the creative lives of owners Alexis Borges and Ben Anderson. Murano glass pendants hang over the honed marble dining table. Bold trim, left, pops against the verdant backdrop.

“We saw at least 30 houses, and there wasn’t another one like this in terms of look and feel and the position of the windows,” says Ben, a ceramics artist based in Northern California who also manages an arts nonprofit. “It’s a totally custom home, so we approached it with the idea of what we could add to complement the house versus taking away.”