Hello & goodbye dear readers!

You may have noticed that we haven't been posting much lately. It certainly isn't because we stopped loving you. No, instead it is because we are working on a new project that is almost ready to share. The new baby is called Westphoria and it will be a one-stop Sunset shop, combining posts from all different departments with a healthy dose of humor and delight. You are going to love it, we just know it. We're set to launch early in 2012, so check back!

Thank you all for reading, commenting and generally being wonderful on Home by Sunset. We have really loved blogging for you over the last five years and we look forward to seeing you on Westphoria shortly!

Love, Miranda & Jess (& Sara Gaffney too!)

Psst: We do plan to continue our Home by Sunset facebook page with home-focused content just for you, so if you haven't "liked" us there, please do!

by Miranda Jones, Sunset style editor

Since you read Sunset cover to cover the minute it arrives at your doorstep (ahem), you are probably currently harboring a crush on Heather & Alex and their LA bungalow, featured in the October issue.  (On the off chance you don't have a subscription, you can check out the story here!)

We were introduced to Heather via her blog, LAInBloom, which got even more fantastic recently with the addition of her lifestyle webisodes. With a focus on cooking and entertaining, each episode focuses on things we wish that we were doing but aren't (throwing a casual weeknight dinner party, drinking homemade date shakes for breakfast, canning) and makes them seem fun and totally doable. Why can't you make nopalito salsa? No reason, except that Heather hasn't shown you how effortless it can be!

Heather Taylor and her friend Bea, getting ready to show you how to cook nopalitos.

Beautifully shot, well edited and wonderfully styled, we have a feeling that these webisodes are going to become your go to source for inspiration!

by Jess Chamberlain, Sunset contributing editor

We interrupt far too many weeks of silence (forgive us—a whole new Sunset blog will be unveiled later this month!) to bring news for design enthusiasts in the northwest.

This morning I had my very own private tour of the new West Elm store opening in Seattle tomorrow (which was extra fun for me since this company is just my style—modern, warm, affordable—and I'm in dire need of some new furniture). Creative director Vanessa Holden (formerly of Martha Stewart and Donna Hay magazines) walked me through their new line of furnishings and accessories as the visuals team was busy putting final touches on all the cozy and beautiful vignettes for their big opening party tonight.

I felt like a superstar getting a peek of all the goods before the store opened to the public (like LA media at a film preview).

Here are some snaps, so you can feel like one too.

Living wall!

Hand-blocked pillows. I love West Elm's emphasis on handmade.

Kantha quilted throws (made from recycled saris!).

New lighting.

Design services area. I hadn't known this prior, but it turns out all West Elm staff have design backgrounds and will help anyone plan their interiors. Um, yes please.

Huge collection of new kitchenwares and holiday gifts (launching early here!).

If you're near Seattle, the new shop opens tomorrow at 2201 Westlake Avenue.

If you're elsewhere, here's a list of stores near you.

by Jess Chamberlain, Sunset market editor

I can't get enough of this new online shop, Deep Dark Africa, that we learned about from Victoria at Sfgirbybay last week.

The natural materials, the earthy tones with bright pops of pink and red hues, all the handmade goodness...all SO lovely.

Check out the full collection here.

by Miranda Jones, Sunset style editor

Finally, a website that connects the dots between farms, artisinal food proveyers, restaurants and farmers markets! I love this idea and not just a little bit.

RealTimeFarms.com

by Jess Chamberlain, Sunset market editor

We're taken with the concept of Fire Escape Farms: "For city folk with country fantasies...offering everything you need to turn even the smallest space into your own little farm."

Basically, urban farming for the rest of us—where small space doesn't necessarily mean a skinny side yard plot or a balcony, but where your only "outdoor" space might just be your fire escape. TEENY TINY.

The pop-up shop is residing in San Francisco's mission district through August (yes, sadly, only temporary!). But you can purchase small space farming goods on the company's website anytime. And if you live in the area, delivery is available by bio-diesel wagon!

From seeds and planters to books and letterpress cards, for gifts or for you, this little shop is an expertly curated urban gardner's dream.

Some snaps from our visit:

Fire Escape Farms
3041 24th Street @ Treat
San Francisco, CA 94110
415/323-3276

by Jess Chamberlain, Sunset market editor

Happy 4th of July weekend!

It's officially picnic season and I'm loving the summertime entertaining goods from Acme Party Box. How cute are those seagrass tublers? And the juice jars? Stripped straws? Love. Love. Love.

picnic basket, portable drink bar, placecard chalkboards

portable drink bar

dude ranch bunting

PSST: Don't miss Sunset's Fourth of July Party Guide here.

by Jess Chamberlain, Sunset market editor

If you're like me, every morning you have 12 new emails from no one you know: Daily Candy Deals, Groupon San Francisco, Groupon San Jose, Gilt Group, One Kings Lane, a today-only sale at West Elm, another one at CB2—you get the point. Rarely do I have time to click through to any one of these and weeding through offers of 85% off bungy jumping classes to get to a 55% off organic bedding sale just gets exhausting.

But Fab—the daily modern design flash sale site that launched earlier this month—is my new must-read. It has what the other sale sites don't: focus. It's an expertly curated collection (with up to 70% off retail!), where I like almost everything because it's of a common aethetic (you won't see cottage-style ceramics next to a mod blazer).

Plus: You get credits for inviting your friends to join*. (I sent email invites to a few of my fellow design enthusiasts and voila: I have a $50 credit.) Social media meets the flash sale. Well done Fab.

*Note: Your home will love you, your friends will love you, your credit card bill might not.

Piggy Bank, $55 (retail: $85). Watch, $65 (retail: $130).
Upside down planter (sale launches tomorrow). Cork chair (sale launches Wednesday).

by Miranda Jones, Sunset style editor

If I had a bike, I would get this basket.

$69 from abasketfull

by Miranda Jones, Sunset style editor

It is design week in San Francisco and that means tons of design events all around town! (If you haven't made it your beeswax to attend something, check out the schedule right HERE.  You still have a few days!) Even if it passes you by or you don't live in the bay area, you can check out Eye Spy by the design-centric folks at Office. All week they are posting things around SF that inspire them. Murals, buildings, store shelves, everything is fair game!

So check it out and if the feeling moves you, join in!

by Miranda Jones, Sunset style editor

This year your dad deserves something cooler than a new tie. Something like.....

Rotery phone iPhone case. Warning! This gift might induce spontanious nostalgic potifications about 'the good old days'. $50 from HERE

Hebridean sheep print. Warning! This print is likely to arouse dormant wanderlust/ inspire poetic waxing about long ago back packing trips through Scotland.  $32 from HERE

Pipe Corner Shelf. Warning! This gift will drive dad into the garage to pull out all the 'treasures'  he has been saving, along with all of this tools. This could have the side effect of multiple trips to the hardware store. Consider yourself warned. $89 from HERE

by Jess Chamberlain, Sunset market editor

Join us tomorrow and Sunday—rain or shine!—at our annual Celebration Weekend where you'll be able to tour the Sunset Cargotecture home (kitchen, bath, and sleeps four in 192 square feet!) and the incredible landscaping by Dig Gardens, all part of the Make It Your Own destination. The exhibit also includes some of our favorite urban homesteading ideas (like the green roof chicken coop by Kippen House pictured below), and some favorite Etsy artisans selling beautiful goods. Don't miss the speaker schedule here. 

We'll be open 10am-5pm Saturday and Sunday. With the event wine seminars, celebrity chef presentations, and food carts, you'll want to make a day of it!

by Miranda Jones, Sunset style editor

    Just in time for summer, Bauer Pottery has reissued the Grill Plate. Originally produced in the 1930's, the new verson comes in 5 delicious colors that will make even the most casual of gatherings feel like an event.

$28.60, available at Bauer Pottery

by Jess Chamberlain, Sunset market editor

We have shown much love to Ladies & Gentlemen Studio in the last year, and that's because there's a lot to love. Their Superior Servers and Chalk It To Me Piggy Banks were a couple of our favorite gift guide picks (December 2010 issue), and their work is featured again in next month's Inside Seattle section (a story about Join Design Seattle; page 38A).

Making serving utensils into design objects, lamp bases into side tables, and the vision of a doily into a floor rug, the work of Ladies and Gentlemen designers Jean Lee and Dylan Davis is nothing short of clever.

I might love most the piece they launched earlier this month at the American Design Club's USE ME show: Cane and Able. A simple whitened pine stool truncated by a vintage cane. Supportive, mobile, and hangable.

Ah, function enhancing design. Genius.

by Miranda Jones, Sunset style editor

Stop the plastic lint roller cycle with this wooden &  pig* bristle brush from The Laundress. Gentle enough for your sweater and tough enough for your couch. Lint & pet hair beware!

$60, from The Laundress

*weird right? but apparently it works like a charm