Off Duty
Designer Isabelle Dahlin and chef Brandon Boudet unwind in Ojai
Designer Isabelle Dahlin and chef Brandon Boudet unwind in Ojai
Written by Jennifer Blaise Kramer | Photographs by Erin Kunkel
Swedish-born Isabelle Dahlin has mastered the art of a casual, boho lifestyle, as seen through her brand, deKor. Her Los Angeles and Ojai design stores are brimming with carefree pieces—think swinging rattan chairs, cool textiles, and transporting candles—and her New York City outpost, which debuted last fall, is home to three floors of inviting style channeling the best of Sweden, France, and California. Her signature global approach and warm, friendly, irreverent way of living inspired the authors of Hygge & West Home: Design for a Cozy Life (2018, Chronicle Books) to include her and husband Brandon Boudet’s Ojai home in their pages. The couple’s 680-square-foot weekend getaway is reminiscent of a small Swedish farmhouse—down to the blue front door and backyard sauna (a Swedish staple that Dahlin feels life isn’t worth living without). Boudet—a chef at multiple restaurants, including MiniBar in L.A. and soon-to-be Little Dom’s Seafood in Carpinteria—continues to cook while off duty, he just does it outside. “He loves the outdoor kitchen because everyone can be in the same area, and when it’s hot, the pool is just a few feet away,” she says.
While their inside kitchen is charming with restaurant-salvaged appliances and cool graphic tile, most of the dinner action happens out back on either the custom Santa Maria grill or the beehive pizza oven. That’s where Boudet whips up anything from whole grilled Vermillion snapper with garden-grown citrus and rosemary to a Spanish tortilla with fresh eggs from their chickens. A wooden outdoor bar and dining room is cozied up to a fireplace and one of Dahlin’s must-have hanging chairs for swinging into the pink moment with friends.
Impulse entertaining suits the couple, as friends frequently pop by for whatever theme the hosts have chosen. Recent evenings have featured steak frites, salad, and chocolate mousse during a screening of Midnight in Paris to pizza and karaoke to grilled Greek food eaten from the pool where there’s a floating bar of champagne bottles in buckets. “Our parties are usually last-minute decisions based mainly on the reason that we don’t feel like leaving the house,” Dahlin says. “Ojai is such a respite for us.” •