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The West Shakes Up the Way We Travel

A few months ago, Airbnb approached me to put together a Wish List of my favorite homes in the West. I enthusiastically accepted (of course). Along the way, I discovered that some of my favorite homes featured in Sunset over the years are for rent on the site. Yes, that means you can actually spend the night in a house you've seen on the pages of Sunset.

Sunset

Remember this gorgeous Venice, CA home from Sunset’s June issue? It’s for rent!

Today, we’re celebrating a Western company that has, literally, opened up the doors for a new way to vacation: San Francisco-based Airbnb, the site that allows anyone to list their guest room, apartment, even an entire house—or airstream or igloo or private island—as a vacation rental.

A few months ago, the company approached me to put together a Wish List of my favorite homes in the West. I enthusiastically accepted (of course) and proceeded to get joyfully lost for hours as I virtually toured homes and dreamed up vacation plans. Along the way, I discovered that some of my favorite homes featured in Sunset over the years are for rent on the site.

Yes, that means you can actually spend the night in a house you’ve seen on the pages of Sunset.

Want to try on zero-waste living? Minimize your carbon footprint with a couple of nights at the streamlined Mill Valley house (From $275/night). A fan of Heath Ceramics? Spend a week at owners Cathy Bailey and Robin Petravic’s home in Sausalito for $490 a night (just don’t break anything). Or immerse yourself in the SoCal indoor-outdoor life at the One Window House in Venice Beach (from $250/night).*

There were so many to choose from, I curated two wish lists: “Featured in Sunset“, which lists all six Airbnb rentals that Sunset’s covered, and “Westphoria“, which calls out all the unusual homes in astounding settings, from a San Francisco treehouse and a Baja beach house to a Seattle house boat.

Here’s to dreaming up your next vacation.

*For future lazy Sunday reading, here are the Sunset stories behind those houses.The zero-waste home in the January 2011 issue. The Heath house in the April 2007 issue. The Venice home in the June 2012 issue.