Blog Posts by Sunset Magazine

Check out these innovative home designs, from small-home style to custom-built architecture.


Best custom-built home
What we love: The playfulness, the great use of color, and even the bold in-your-face-ness of this eye-catching Santa Monica residence. In a world of boxes, it's a house with real personality.

 As the architects explain, the space is meant to say, "Come visit―we want to know our neighbors." This openness to the street and to the community offers a new model for the single-family home.


> See more of this home


Best small home design
What we love: We were wowed by this striking glass house built of components shipped from all over the country directly to the picturesque site in the Sierra Foothills.

 It's small in size (1,200 square feet), but makes an eye-popping impact.
> See more of this home


Best green home
What we love: The optimism and vision of Taliesin students are visible everywhere in this smart prefab in Scottsdale, AZ. 

The result of a design/build

Inspired by this year's nominees for Best Picture, here are our picks for blockbuster party hits.


True Grit: Marmalade Sour
In the Coen Brothers' remake of a classic Western, a teenage girl seeks the help of a tough (yet frequently drunk) U.S. Marshal to avenge her father's murder.



Raise a glass to Jeff Bridges' portrayal of the tippling marshal with our sweeter (yet not too sweet) remake of the classic whiskey sour.

Recipe
Yield: Makes 6 cocktails

Ingredients
• 6 tablespoons orange marmalade
• 1 cup plus 2 tbsp. bourbon or rye whiskey
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• Ice

Preparation
In a pitcher or 2-pint measuring cup, dissolve orange marmalade in 3/4 cup hot water. Stir in bourbon and lemon juice. Fill six 8- to 12-oz. glasses with ice and pour 1/3 to 1/2 cup cocktail mixture into each glass, making sure each serving gets some of the orange peel that settles at the bottom of the mixture. Serve marmalade sours immediately.


The Social Network: Quick Cheese Fondue
In

Get ready for spring with these garden design ideas and solutions you can use at home.


Backyard bistro
Airy plants, a free-form floor, a circular firepit, and other details make this garden the ideal place for entertaining.
> More: Tour the garden


Country cool gravel patio design
In this garden, permeable paving, a rustic seat wall, and other details complement and celebrate the shady patio.
> More: Tour the garden


Farmers' market garden
Raised beds, strategically placed shrubs and flowers, and generous paths give this garden its unique style.
> More: Tour the garden


Garden escape
Meandering paths, dry creek beds, and shared materials connect low-water planting areas, a shady patio, and grass-filled "traffic" circle, making this backyard a vacation in and of itself.
> More: Tour the garden


Stress-busting garden
This garden was designed for tranquility with no-fuss plantings, cooling shade, and optical illusions.
> More: Tour the garden

SEE ALL 12 GARDEN DESIGNS

Related:
Great

Dig in to these delicious recipes, from flavorful roasts to seasonal salads.


Mexican Tropical Chile Roast Chicken
We took the flavors of a Western classic, Mexican rotisserie chicken, and put them in a brine to produce a succulent texture and meat infused with complex seasonings in addition to salt. 



Recipe
Cook Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes

Brine: 8 hours

Yield: Serves 4 to 6
Make ahead: Up to 1 day, brine chicken as directed, then drain and chill.

Ingredients
• Mexican Tropical Chile Brine
• 1 chicken, 3* to 4 1/2 lbs., lumps of fat and tail removed, rinsed
• About 1 tbsp. peanut or vegetable oil
• Accompaniments

Preparation
1. Prepare brine. Pour 1 qt. water into a deep pot. Add 2/3 cup kosher salt and warm over high heat, stirring, until salt dissolves. Remove from heat and stir in 2 qts. cold water; 10 large garlic cloves, crushed; 1/4 cup ground ancho chiles; and 2 tbsp. dried Mexican oregano. Nest pan in ice water until cool. Stir in zest of 5 large limes, 1/2 cup

Transform castoffs into stylish accessories you'll really use with these easy home projects.


Before: outdated clothing
Nostalgic clothing took up space in boxes banished to the attic. (But how we once adored that Mexican embroidered shirt!)


After: throw pillows
How we did it: We dropped off a bunch of old clothes and our desired pillow dimensions with a local seamstress (many dry cleaners offer this service). A couple of days later, we picked up our one-of-a-kind, boutique-style pillows.

 Time: 2 days (wait time)

. Cost: $20 each (Eames molded plastic side chair in lime yellow, $249; dwr.com).


From sewer pipes to plant containers
The inch-thick pipes help insulate plants from desert heat. Their soothingly retro color, faded over time, adds a paradoxically modern vibe to the Las Vegas yard of designer Amy Zeldenrust (702/435-7224). 

Cost: Free-salvaged (with permission) from a construction site.


Before: bedside tables
We wanted to place the tables side by side and visually

Escape with your sweetie to one of these dreamy retreats.


A clifftop perch above the Pacific
The most dramatically situated and architecturally ambitious of the Big Sur inns, Post Ranch Inn has rooms set along the bluffs and others tucked away in the forest. And what do we think of the clifftop rooms? Wow. As in: Wow, check out those end-of-the-earth ocean views and get a load of those James Bond-worthy bells and whistles.
> More: Post Ranch Inn, Big Sur, CA


Luxe huts in a winter wonderland
Skip the snow cave, and check into a stylish winter perch. Tucked into the tranquil upper end of northern Washington's Methow Valley-where the loudest noise is the swish of cross-country skis-are the Rolling Huts, tricked out with platform beds, wood-burning fireplaces, and sleek kitchenettes.
> More: Rolling Huts, Methow Valley, WA


A boutique hideaway near the beach
Relax on the stylish rooftop lounge at Petit Hotel Hafa, a tiny boutique hotel two blocks from the beach, where the

Disneyland bills itself as the happiest place on Earth, and that may well be true for some people (particularly those under 12). For the rest of us, however, the happiest place is where we can find the things that matter to us most, where we can live the way we want to live. Depending on what makes you smile, here are the 10 best places to live (and find happiness) in the wondrous amusement park of the American West.


Salt Spring Island, B.C.: Grow your own everything
A is for apples-more than 350 kinds grow within Salt Spring's 74 square miles, including such rarities as Duchess of Oldenburg. B is for bananas-the tropical fruit grows here too. This rugged isle, off Vancouver Island's eastern shore, also has the rest of the alphabet covered (like C for carrots), thanks to a Mediterranean climate that serves as the perfect greenhouse.

"We can eat out of the garden 12 months a year," says Dan Jason, whose company, Salt Spring Seeds, markets some 600 varieties of seeds.


> Take a trial

No matter where your team loyalties lie, these recipes are sure to get your fellow football fans cheering.


Greek Spinach Dip
This savory spinach dip takes its flavor cues from spanakopita. Serve it with warm pita bread or crisp crudités.

Recipe:

Ingredients
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup roughly chopped shallots
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 12 ounces spinach leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup finely crumbled feta cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
• Freshly ground black pepper

Preparation
1. Heat oil in a large frying pan over high heat. Add shallots, onions, and garlic and cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add spinach and cook, stirring often, until wilted, about 2 minutes.
2. Using a slotted spoon, scoop spinach into a food processor; pulse until roughly puréed, about 5 pulses. Add remaining ingredients except pepper,