By Monica Ewing, Sunset senior designer

It's better already, n’est-ce pas? This is what I did this week...

Step 3: Remove the dustcover
Using a flathead screwdriver and pliers, I removed the staples holding the dustcover on the bottom of the ottoman. With the dustcover off, you can get a pretty good idea of how a piece of furniture is put together. The dustcover was ripped beyond repair, so I’ll replace it later.

Step 4: Attach the feet
Using a drill and screwdriver bit, I attached four furniture-leg mounting plates and screwed the hanger bolts right into them. I was relieved that the feet were the perfect height. I’ll need to unscrew them to finish the job, but I left the feet attached for now. To visualize the final product, I also cut the skirt off. Then I stood back to take a look. Ooh la la!

Next week: That fabric has to go.  

Last week marked the second annual HauteGREEN exhibition  featuring “the best in sustainable design for the contemporary home, showcasing furniture, lighting, and accessories that are both aesthetically pleasing and eco-friendly [...] spotlighting design that is beautiful, functional, and sustainable.”

Call it the green academy awards conference of New York’s Design Week.

One of the 70 pieces in the curated HauteGREEN collection (selected from a pool of 241) was the Moso Lamp by Brian Schmitt. The stunning lamp is composed of bamboo plywood with shade panels highlighting the bamboo endgrain.

We spotlighted one of Schmitt’s mobile designs from his Adrift collection (featured in the 2006 HauteGREEN exhibition) in our September 2006 issue and thus were thrilled to see the local (San Francisco based) green company expanding.

Proving yet again: Green design is surpassing the conventional.

-- Jess Chamberlain, Sunset home writer

By Monica Ewing, Sunset senior designer

Lately, I’ve been coveting a coffee-table ottoman. You know: the kind of oversized ottoman that you can kick your feet on from nearly any seat in the room and use as a coffee table. I especially love Pottery Barn’s Alexandria Ottoman, but $700 is a bit out of my price range.

Then I found this ottoman on Craigslist, and bought it for $60. The only thing it has going for it is its size, so I’m giving it a makeover.

Step 1: Remove the casters
Because the ottoman is too low to the ground, the first thing I did was remove the casters. I wedged a screwdriver under each wheel and hammered the handle end until the wheel popped out.

Step 2: Find new feet
The casters are two inches tall, and I figured the ottoman needed to be about three inches taller, so I hunted for five-inch-tall wooden feet. I finally found the perfect feet at Bing’s. They sell stained bun feet with the hanger bolts already attached, which makes the job so much easier. I ordered four mahogany-stained feet for $7.53 each. The company says it takes 14 working days for them to be delivered—ugh.

Next week: Attaching the feet.  

It's exciting when an idea grows into something you can see and touch, and for me, the Sunset Summer Retreat did just that. The concept, which grew from a conversation Senior Editor Dan Gregory and I had back in January, was to find a way to capture the best of indoor/outdoor living and also rethink what a vacation cabin could be. We wanted to share this novel concept with visitors to our annual Celebration Weekend event and build it right in our own parking lot where we have constructed homes for the past four years. (See the Glidehouse, Sunset Breezehouse, and Celebration Weekend Idea House.) I drew a quick sketch (above) of what we talked about- a “cabin” that we conceptually pulled apart and built on a 2500-square-foot deck. At the center is a modest-sized core structure containing a kitchen and bathroom. Instead of attached bedrooms, we put them in separate tent cabins (made by a company called Sweetwater Bungalows) that were placed around the edge of the deck. One tent is the Master bedroom tent, another is the Bunkhouse where kids sleep, and a third is the Locker room, where all the extra stuff you haul on vacations can be stashed. The rest of the deck divides into outdoor living spaces where you would really live during the day. We included a shaded daybed, a firepit for night-time gatherings, an retractable awning in front of the kitchen doors, an outdoor dining room, a grand barbecue center, an outdoor shower, a shaded rear deck for quiet reading, and even an outdoor movie screen. (You can take a photo tour.) When we were done, I took a picture of the whole thing from a cherry picker in about the same place as my original conceptual sketch. As you can see, dream and reality merged! — Peter Whiteley, Sunset senior writer

Sometimes Ikea hits it just right.

When the interior designers for the show home currently erected in our parking lot found these galvanized planters and white pots (with various design textures) we pretty much bought out the East Palo Alto location. Don't worry: I'm sure they're restocking tonight.

With a palette so universal, a design so simple, and price tags so duh ($3.99-$49.99), the decision is effortless and the payoff is designer. The galvanized pots even have these great plant glides for those of us inclined towards inspirational midnight rearranging.

Galvanized + white + a little greenery. How can that go wrong? (Don't forget to water).

It's a sunny Friday afternoon and as I stare off into the incredible view of the gardens outside my office window all I can think of is how soon I can be home with an icy beverage in my hand and kicking up my feet on a San Francisco rooftop before the sun goes down. Yes, sometimes we have sun in the summer of the California city we call San Francisco.

I’m going through a mental list of rooftop bars contemplating which one I can get to before the sun sets completely....dreaming of the day I’ll have my own rooftop (or backyard) to create my own summertime oasis, complete with outdoor lights evocative of a resort Mecca—because there’s nothing quite like a little glow come sunset.

The daydream turns into a frivolous web search for lighting décor for the patio I don’t quite have.

For those of you who do, here are some faves:

blue café light string from Smith & Hawken (above)

perforated ball lantern + morocco lanterns from West Elm

luau portable lamp from DWR

napa lantern from Pottery Barn

-- Jess Chamberlain, Sunset home writer

Ever open a magazine and wonder what it takes to put a story together? In this, the first in a series of behind-the-scenes reports on the making of Sunset Home stories, we give you the inside scoop—from inspiration to execution all the way to (hopefully) editorial success.

Case study #1: Tropical tabletop. This is an idea we’re working on right now—in real time!—for our upcoming August in the West section. It all started with some painted outdoor tables (left) that Katie, our editor-in-chief, spotted at Buzz’s Original Steakhouse in Kailua, Oahu. She loved their breezy, offhand tropical charm and figured readers would too. So our intrepid pair of Home crafters, writer Jess Chamberlain and designer Monica Ewing, got to work on bringing our own version to life.

A small blue Crate & Barrel metal table that lived in the Sunset prop closet became the lucky Cinderella. Monica created a gorgeous pattern of hibiscus-inspired orange and white blooms on a bright blue background. “I love this color combination—it just felt like summer to me,” she says. She found the appropriate acrylic paints (we used Liquitex high-gloss acrylic enamel) at our local art supply shop.

Then came the actual painting process—which Monica bravely attempted in her own office area, attracting the attention of numerous nosy/procrastinating co-workers. The biggest stumbling block: a failed attempt at tracing the pattern onto the table with china marker, a waxy pencil used to mark up photo contact sheets and transparencies. To our consternation, the marks didn’t rub off the way we expected. Undeterred, Monica simply forged ahead and painted over them. “But I would tell readers to outline the pattern with a very small paintbrush instead,” she says. Another of Monica’s tips: Paint one petal at a time, starting at the center of the flower and working outward. “When the paint dries, the brushstrokes are clearly visible, so this technique gives each petal a nice natural texture,” she says. Stay tuned for more of her tips—as well as the final, gorgeous result—in our August issue. — Irene Edwards, Sunset executive editor, Home + Garden

I’ll admit it: Giving my kitchen counter a scrub-down is less about being a germophobe and more about my amazing if-zen-had-a-scent countertop spray by Caldrea, whose fragrance is only topped by its cool label design. Yes, sometimes I give the empty (and clean) sink a spray or two as pure aromatherapy. And its packaging is so pretty it resides in very visible spot near the sink, next to my equally heaven-worthy dish soap by Ecover. And if it weren't enough that these cleaning supplies double as a kind of kitchen décor, I especially don't mind paying a couple extra bucks (more than conventional cleaning goods) because of the feel-good bonus that they're all-natural. I figure in the long run I'm saving some cash on medical bills.

Back to the point of this: Check out the ecopod, a new (and chic) recycling system designed by BWM Designworks—who (news to me) has a foundation in design via sustainability. It’s like a glamorous trash can with removable storage compartments for cans, bottles, paper, and plastic bag recycling. There’s even an easy push-down-pedal compaction system for aluminum and plastic. And it’s too cute! Think feel-good-look-good kitchen accessory.

Be sure to check out the site's redemption calculator, where you can enter the number of aluminum cans you use on a weekly basis and the calculator tells you the energy equivalent you save in examples that are awe-inspiring. I.e. The energy saved by recycling 7 cans per week will run a blender for 1092 hours and is the energy equivalent of 7.28 gallons of gasoline. And if you recycle for cash, that’s $18.20.

The ecopod: changing the way the world recycles, one aesthetically-conscious consumer at a time. — Jess Chamberlain, Sunset home writer

We feel pretty good about the idea of remodeling a patio in only 2 weekends. But how about a new floor—albeit transient—for your outdoor space in about 5 minutes?

Yes please.

Step one: Purchase Flor’s Green Achre’s outdoor carpet tiles or West Elm’s Wood Deck Tiles.

Step two: Take them out of the box.

Step three: Lay them on the ground side by side in your desired configuration—making sloth-like movements and taking deep breaths between each piece placement to make you feel like you're actually working hard.

Finally, a solution for those of us who can’t quite get it together to demo the cracked concrete patio. — Jess Chamberlain, Sunset home writer