"Design Happens"

I’ve loved Austin ever since I attended SXSW in 2008. Maybe it was the opportunity to chill with a bunch of my far-away friends, or maybe it was the addictive breakfast tacos, but I’m still smitten with the city. The fact that there’s a definite modern home aesthetic there is just icing on the cake for me. (Or salt on the margarita rim at Guero’s, if you will.) So, seeing photographer Ryann Ford’s Austin digs on Houzz made me kinda jealous.

The space has so much natural sunlight, which is the perfect complement to Ford’s desert-mod-vintage style. And the details are darling! Tilting the cafe sign in the living room vertically, painting the office wall with chalkboard paint — it all works for me. I’ll be heading to SXSW again this year, and if you happen to spot me with a dreamy, far-away look on my face, I’m daydreaming about settling down in Austin in a place just like this.

Briana is a writer and senior editor for HGTV.com. Her self-described design style is "mid-century modern magpie." She lives in a Brooklyn apartment with her fiancé, their spoiled dachshund, Chauncey, and approximately one million old shelter magazines. She cannot wait until she is a home owner, and can wallpaper and/or tile just about every available surface.