By Sarah Gaffney, Sunset Idea House program manager

After a couple of almost all-nighters, the Menlo Park Idea House opened to great success last weekend. It's fantastic to see, what for so long have been ideas percolating in our heads, finally come to fruition after a lot of hard work and determination (not to mention umpteen trips to Ikea, Target and Bed, Bath & Beyond!).

Here's a sneak peek at some of my favorite ideas and spaces in the house.

The living room beautifully epitomizes our vision for the house: combining old and affordable pieces with the new and luxurious to create a fresh, unique and elegant look. Sofa is from InformSeattle, side chairs and vintage file cabinet from Cisco Home, coffee table and curtains from Ikea, all paint from Benjamin Moore's low-VOC Aura collection.

There's a chorus of "wows" every time visitors enter the boy's room and see this vintage album cover headboard. It's a great way to show off that collection of album art sitting in your garage. The Plexiglass front is easy to remove, so when you're tired of the album covers, you could easily replace them with fabric, photos, or paint out the framed squares in different colors!

Here is another room that elicits a visceral response from visitors. This yellow paint, Benjamin Moore's Soleil AF-330, is like sunshine in a can. It practically glows with cheer! It's impossible to be in a bad mood when you're in this room. Alas, a good choice for a tweener's bedroom. The vinyl graphics, Ilan Dei's Anise from BLIK Surface Graphics, add instant art to the happy walls.

In the master bedroom, we created a mantle headboard from foam architectural trim from Fypon. Great way to save some $$$ and no woodworking experience required! Wallpaper is Lace Stripe from the Velluto Collection produced by Printers Guild Series. We found it at California Paint Company in Palo Alto, 650/326-9285.

Visit the house for many more cool ideas.  It's open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday till August 31.

Download the program, floorplans, and more