A Twin Cities Jewelry Designer Drapes Her Renovated 1980s Home in Colorful Paper Crafts for the Holidays

Larissa Loden sees the world through a lens of potential. That's how the former middle school art teacher taught her students, how she viewed the oddball materials that worked their way into some of her earliest jewelry designs, and how—five years ago she recognized this house would fit her future family.

"There was carpet in the bathroom, but we knew it was the one," she says. The location on Lake Owasso offered a way for Larissa and her husband, Aaron, to fulfill their #cabinlife dreams while staying close to her young business. (It's just 15 minutes from her St. Paul studio and new brick-and-mortar store.)

The couple also fell for the distinctive architecture of the 1980s-modern, with its sharply slanted rooflines and vertical siding. Since moving in, they've swapped a dowdy brown exterior for crisp charcoal-gray fiber-cement, opened up the main floor, added windows to light every corner, removed a redundant back staircase to create a mudroom and laundry, and infused every room with midcentury style.

And all that while growing a family and a company. About 30 percent of Larissa's jewelry sales happen in the six weeks before Christmas, but she's diligent about carving out time for sledding on their just-thrilling-enough hill, watching neighbors ice-skate or talking about the colors in the winter sunrise. Last year, they cut their own tree, reviving a tradition from Larissa's childhood. She likes quirky, "sassy" ones—more Charlie Brown than Norman Rockwell—with lots of potential, given the right set of eyes.

Bring Larissa's style into your own home with these colorful and affordable Christmas paper crafts, shown here.