Parade of Homes Review

Fantasy Tree Houses Part 3

Decorating the Outside

by Teresa Firelight

The last two articles talked about interiors, and I still want to talk about the Fairybrooke interior. But I would like to postpone that one article and talk about decorating the exteriors.

I flew around several regions on the Fantasy continent and saw a lot of tree houses. Most of them had empty yards. I guess people were still working on the inside of their homes and had not yet gotten around to decorating their yards. That is why I thought it might be a good idea to share a few ideas on decorating the outside of our tree house properties.

THE HOUSE:

Let's start with the building itself, and the deck. I have to say that while I was very impressed with the tree house interiors, the exteriors left me wanting. I tried several different exterior colors and could not tell much difference between them. For that reason, I strongly recommend that you consider buying an exterior shell. Most of them will only take about 2 LI, and I feel they are well worth it.

Some people love the fairy dust that glows at night and do not want to cover it, so they haven’t even considered getting an exterior shell. But my friend, MissBehavin Nevah, discovered that if you change the shell transparency (on build window’s texture tab) from zero to 8, you can still see the fairy dust when it glows at night. (This is pictured above).

There are many talented shell makers in the Bellisseria community, and I suspect that all of them will come out with excellent exterior tree house shells. But the first to hit the market, which I and several of my friends used, is from Paradise Homes (Spyder Haifisch). I particularly like this shell because he has included some outstanding shingle and vine wall textures that just seem perfect for this style home. (He has included quite a few other textures as well; I am just particle to the shingles and to the vine coated wall textures.)

One of those textures is pictured above, at my own home. I did make one small alteration to this... I changed the Horizontal Scale (on texture tab) from 0.3 to 0.2 because I thought the vines were a bit too bunched together. (Note: I only changed the scale the bottom portion of the shell (by selecting the face). I did not change the scale on the roof.)

I included a few potted plants on the upper porch, and some Kazza outdoor chairs on the lower part of the deck, up against the rails. I put a small table between them and put a wine dispenser on the table.

But you don't have to stick the textures that come with the shell. For example, MissBehavin found a lovely vine coated stone wall texture (pictured above) and put it on her Paradise Homes shell. She also added a lot of detail including a few mesh vines, some hanging plants and even an outdoor candle in an iron holder. Then she decorated the deck with outdoor wicker furniture and potted plants.

The idea of using vine coated walls originally came from LadyFi Marques. She created her own shell out of prims before any of the creators had shells on the marketplace. She used a vine coated wall texture on her shell and all of her friends said, “Wow, what a great idea. I want to do that too.” One of them told Spyder about her idea, and he included some of those textures in his shell. LadyFi swapped out her prim shell for the nice 2 LI mesh one when they came out.

She did not stop at just putting a nice texture on the exterior wall. She also used a bunch of lovely mesh vines against the building and included some lovely strings of lights along the deck rails and along the front of her house. The effect is stunning.

THE YARD:

There are a LOT of options on how a person can decorate their yard. I am only going to cover two of them in this article. (My goal is to give you some ideas, not to cover all possibilities.) I will touch on two areas: Fantasy and Classical Wildflowers.

FANTASY

Fantasy tends to have things like sparkling grass, colorful and/or florescent plants, mushrooms, trees with twinkling lights, fairy dust, fairies, glowing rocks, crystals, fantasy statues, etc. If this is done tastefully and carefully, it can be quite beautiful. If not, it can get gaudy and hard on the eyes.

The yard (pictured above) is from LadyFi, and she has most of the above elements in it. But she spread them out tastefully so that the effect is not overwhelming. She uses several heights and colors of mushrooms, which gives a delightful variety to the scene. She includes an animesh dancing fairy, which can captivate the passer by... you can watch that fairy dance for several minutes… in fact it is hard NOT to watch the fairy.

The overall effect is very scenic, pleasant and inviting.

Here is another lovey fantasy yard by Tal Ram. It uses the same glowing grass, but an entirely different type of fantasy mushroom. The focal point of the yard is a captivating statue of Princess Azura, standing in a small pond surrounded by boulders. You cannot see it in this picture, but Tal’s yard also has some tall colorful fantasy grass and some blue crystals.

This yard easily could have become cluttered and overwhelming. But Tal tactfully used a large sprinkling of the twinkling grass and placed the taller colored grass along an edge and the crystals in corners. So, instead of overwhelming the scene, they contribute to it.

CLASSICAL WILDFLOWERS

Your yard doesn’t have to be explicitly 'fantasy' to look fantastic. You can go with more traditional plants and create a lavish and lovely effect. This is one of my favorite looks and with the right plants, you can coat a 32x32 ground area without a high land impact cost. The secret is to use some very large pieces and then scatter in some varying heights, including some taller pieces and some very low to make it seem realistic. Then I like to throw in a few shrubs and small trees.

So, what do I use to achieve this garden wildflower look? I mix it up a bit, but my favorite tools include HPMD Sweet Garden Grass08 for low laying paths, and HPMD Sweet Garden Grass09 for covering large areas for extremely low LI. The 09 is what gives the Monet-like effect. It is a bit pricey, but I strongly recommend you get the fatpack for the HPMD Sweet Garden Grass09, so that you can create a lovely mix of grass and flower colors. Just a word of warning... if you are going to link them, manually delete the scripts before you do. Otherwise, when you link them, all the child prims will change color to match the root, destroying the multiple color effect you worked so hard to create.

I like to use the Love Mixed wildflowers to give some height and sprinkles of color in the midst of one of the large HPDM 09s. And I like to use the Love Bella Flower Patch to create of the scenic shorter flowers. I also mix in Love’s Birch trees (the smaller ones and groupings) and some of the Skye Temperate shrubs.

Those are not the only plants I use when I create one of my wildflower gardens, but they are the main ones. I also like to throw in a few other from my collection to make my properties look different. I don't bother with any paths for the Tree Houses, but I do use paths and sometimes little fountains when create the same effect for a ranch.

Also, I create a small hill using linked together small land mound pieces. I resize them to a few different sizes and arrange them overlapping until it resembles the terrain I want. My favorite shell to use for this is “Skye Zen Garden Mound 1” from the Skye Zen Garden collection. It looks stunning when you coat your hill in the flowers and grasses.

To finish off, use a bench or two to have places to sit or throw in some very low LI stationary animals. These can be animated like a dear raising and lowering its head as it eats.

Finally, I added a door to the tree trunk which teleports the person to the deck and a small cellar door on the porch that teleports a person back to the ground. I do this using a simple script so that when the person touches the door, they “sit” on the object and are almost immediate “unsit” at the target destination. I am enclosing a copy of it in case you want to use it… the only part you have to change to adjust position is the gUnsitOffset array. The values here will usually work on the door to the Fiaryspell and Fairybrooke tree houses, but you can experiment by adjusting them if they don't work for you. The door I used is just a prim box, shaped and textured to look like a door. But you can use a mesh door if you prefer.

Here is the script:

/* destination in x, y and z distance from door in meters */

vector gUnsitOffset = <03.0, -9.50, 18.0>;

/* do not change below here */

default

{

    on_rez(integer sp)

    {

        llResetScript();

    }

    state_entry()

    {

        llSetClickAction(CLICK_ACTION_SIT);

        llLinkSitTarget(LINK_THIS, gUnsitOffset, ZERO_ROTATION);    

        llSetMemoryLimit(llGetUsedMemory() + 2048);

    }

    changed(integer change)

    {

        if (change & CHANGED_LINK)

       {

            key avatar = llAvatarOnSitTarget();

            if (avatar)

            {

                llSleep(0.25);

                llUnSit(avatar);

            }

        }

    }

}

Fantasy Treehouses Part 2

by Teresa Firelight

This is my second blog about the fantasy tree houses. I will explore some ideas on how to furnish the open Fairyspell model. (This is the “no walls” model with the tree growing through the living room, which serves as a base for the spiral staircase.)

A friend of mine, Missbehavin Neva (a.k.a. MissB), did a lovely job on her Fairyspell home. Let’s look at how she laid her place out and at what she did to make it comfortable and homey. (Hopefully this will help inspire you about how to furnish your own place.)

THE LIVINGROOM AREA

Many of us would be tempted to put the sofa against the windows, facing the spiral staircase. But that creates a small problem; the sofa faces a large open area making the room seem overly large.

MissB got around that by putting the sofa perpendicular to the room. This created a dedicated space for the living room area, which also created the effect of a small entry hallway. She chose to use a large rug and a large, overstuffed sofa and coffee table, which filled most of that area.

She put a cute little old fashioned wood burning stove and a television in the living room area as well. Then she used sheer curtains over the windows and hanging plants to decorate the wall.

The kitchen area cuts slightly into this space, but the big square rug helped to delineate the area and keep the effect of a living room.

THE KITCHEN

MissB put the kitchen across the back wall of the little nook area, and she tiled that entire wall with kitchen tile. She created a small, simple kitchen that had all of the basics but not much else. The area includes a sink, a stove/oven, a refrigerator and some cabinets. She placed a kitchen bar and some chairs at the front of the nook area. This helped to delineate that nook as a kitchen.

MissB created a light airy effect by using shelves over the top, instead of using heavy cabinets. MissB was generous with hanging plants and various kitchen décor, such as a bowl of fruit, a rack with drying dishes, and a bottle of wine. This gave the kitchen a comfortable “lived in” effect.

THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE

She spiffed up the spiral staircase a bit by adding decorative lights around the tree trunk, adding a potted plant just under the base and a floor candle halfway up the stairs.

THE BEDROOM

The loft area is a long narrow rectangle. MissB made this her bedroom, placing the bed and nightstands against the window. It would have looked a bit empty in the front, except she put a large, rumpled rug in front of the bed to fill in the area. (Apologies the rug is not shown in the picture, but it was tricky getting a good camera angle for it.)

MissB used a decorator’s trick here to make the room seem fuller. She chose a wrinkled bedspread where the sheets and edges of the bedspread flow onto the floor. It makes the room seem more inviting and it is a great way to fill space so that the room doesn’t look too empty. She also used hanging lamps over the two nightstands, which is a good way to fill vertical space when you have a high roof.

THE BACK ROOM

MissB divided the back part of the lower level into two areas – a dining area and an office area.

Dining Area

The left side of this back room became the dining area. She has a chest with some china displayed on it. Next to that is a small dining table and two elegant chairs. She uses a decorative throw rug to help delineate the dining area. She filled in the empty spaces with wall art, a hanging plant and a large corner plant. Finally, she made the room seem more comfortable and homier by adding an overstuffed dog bed with her favorite dog sitting on it.

Office Area

MissB converted the other side of this room into an office area with a work desk and bookcase, a couple of computers, an overstuffed computer chair. Once again, she used a small rug to help delineate this area. And she added some wall art to make the area seem more inviting.

SUMMARY

MissB did a lovely job furnishing her Fairyspell Tree House. She divided it into small cozy living areas, using furniture and rugs to help define each area. She did not leave much empty walls or empty floor space. Her home seems fully furnished and lived in, but in a warm and inviting way.

I hope her design will help inspire you with ideas on how to furnish your own fantasy tree house.

Fantasy Treehouses Part 1

by Teresa Firelight

We have Fantasy Tree Houses now! That is right. Linden Lab (LL) surprised us with them to us on Thursday Oct 26. Previously, people had complained that while they loved the beautiful fantasy landscaping, they found the individual houses to be too large and the usable yard space to be too small. LL introduced the tree houses to address both concerns.

There are two styles of tree house, each with two versions. One style is the Pixie, which has three normal shaped/sized rooms, and is relatively easy to furnish. The other style is the Fairy, which is more fantasy-like and has a tree trunk running through the center, with a spiral staircase wrapping the tree trunk and leading to an upper loft. The Pixie has only a front door, but the Fairy also has a back door, which leads to a small balcony.

Both styles come with a walled version (the “brooke” suffix) and a no-walls version (the “spell” suffix). The styles are identical except that one has interior walls and doors. Also, the Fairyspell version has a bookcase built into one wall.

For this article, I decided to use the Pixiebrooke walled home. I wanted something cozy and comfortable, and I was not concerned about whether or not it looked particularly “fantasy.” I followed some basic principles to decorate it, and those same principles will work for you regardless of what effect you want to achieve.

The first step is to figure out how you want to spend your resources. I decided I was willing to put a little more than half of my 351 LI allowance into furnishing the interior and the rest into landscaping the yard. Half of 351 is 175, so I want to shoot for somewhere around 175 to 200 LI for the interior.

The next step is to figure out a basic floor plan blueprint – or roughly what you want each room to be. The “walled” Pixiebrooke model has three rooms and a front porch/deck. One room is the large main room, one is a smaller back room, and there is a tiny room off to the right side. This could get laid out a lot of ways – for example, you might use the large room as a living-room/office, use the back room as a kitchen/dining room and the tiny room as a bedroom nook.

I chose to make the large room a combination living room and kitchen, the back room as a spacious bedroom and the tiny room as a bathroom.

The third step is to select pieces of furniture to fill put in each room. Don't worry about the finishing details (curtains, wall hangings, plants, knickknacks, etc.) just yet.

In my case, I wanted to start with the kitchen, and I did not want to use the same furnishings I usually use. So I went through my inventory, rezzing out various kitchens until I found the one that I liked. It took a lot of “inventory searching” before I decided on the Brocante Corner Kitchen. The kitchen (pictured above) looks a bit stark without the decor, but it will look much better when you put in the finishing touches in step 4.

That left roughly ¾ of the main room to decorate. Again, I pulled out a bunch of furniture from my inventory. There were two different living rooms from the same creator that gave the effect I wanted. So, I ended up using pieces from Kazza’a “Little Dwelling” and Kaza’s “Tiny House” Collections. They were not an exact match, so I tinted some of the wood to make it look like a cohesive collection. I also tinted some of the blankets and pillows to get a unified green color scheme.

I must have spent 2 hours just rezzing lamps so I could find the “perfect lamps” for my look. I settled on “Trompe Loeil - Green Glass Buffet Lamp.” The living room (pictured above) is bare bones but will look amazing when the plants and curtains are added. The finishing decor makes a huge difference in appearance. (I will include a picture of it further down in the blog).

I really wanted to use furniture I don’t normally use in the house, but when it came to the bathroom, I was stuck. I did have some very lovely bathroom sets, but they were all relatively high LI and would have driven me over my 175-200 LI range. So, I used my tried-and-true Heima bathroom furniture. The Heima pieces are very detailed and relatively low LI, so the only decor I had to add was a towel rack and bathmat. The bathroom is picture above – it also includes a tub and shower-curtains, but I couldn't get a camera angle to include those in the shot.

Next, I did the bedroom. I am not going to show you the basic layout without decor on this one, but the basic layout was quite simple. Included a bed, bench, and two nightstands from “Kei's Vintage Quilt Bed” set, which happened to be on sale the weekend I decorated. It also includes a hanging bench and a hanging chair from Tarte, and the Trompe Loeil “Bamboo Ring Lamp.”

This collection of furniture did not match at all, and I wanted a cohesive look. I decided to make everything white wood to match the treehouse woodwork. I used a seamless white wood grain texture on the headboard, nightstands and Kei bench, and the Tarte hanging chair. I also recolored the throw blankets and pillows so that they matched the overall color scheme, and I tinted the lampshades green.

The Fourth step is to add the decor. I started with the bedroom. I added plant-filled wall hangings from Mithral, TMS and Ariskeal, and standing plants from Dust Bunny and Mithral. The woods and metals of this plant decor were all different shades of wood and metal, so I re-textured most of them with that same seamless white wood grain texture. That way they all looked like they were part of the same set.

I finished the look with Heima Curtains, which I also tinted green.

Now it was time to go back to the main room and add decor there. I started with the kitchen section, adding things to make the kitchen look used. This included things like a cutting board of vegetables, a coffee pot, kitchen knives, jars and utensils, a bag of ground coffee, etc. There were all 1 or two LI items that I already had in my inventory, and they came from a bunch of different places. I linked them all together and they cost me 7 LI. (The finished kitchen is pictured above.)

Finally, it was time to put the finishing details in the living room. This included the same Heima curtains I used in the bedroom, several wall-hanging plant shelves from Mithral and some potted plants. Again, these shelves came in several different shades of wood and metal, and I re-textured them all to my seamless white wood grain texture. This made the decor look like it was all part of the same set, and to match the white wood trim of the house.

I am enclosing 3 pictures of the living room from different angles. (The "gallery" chops off part of the pictures, so you may want to click on them to see them better.)

Living Room with Decor

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• 
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As it turns out, the LI for furnishing the interior came to 180. This was in my range of 175-200, and it leaves about 170 LI for landscaping the ground. I will discuss landscaping the ground in an upcoming blog.

Navigating the New Linden Homes Page

By Teresa Firelight

You will find this at https://secondlife.com/land/lindenhomes. Or you can get to it from your dashboard by selecting “Land Manager” and then selecting “Linden Homes.” (If you click the yellow “Get Your Home Now” button from the dashboard, it will bring you to a different page [the original one], which is https://land.secondlife.com/en-US/lindenhomes/land-selection.php)

The new page appears to be “in addition” to the existing Land Page, rather than a replacement for it – but who knows… that could change soon. Anyhow, we are looking at the new page for this blog.

If you already have a Linden Home, it will show that at the beginning, with a “Welcome home!” header, the name of your home AND a link so you can go visit it, as pictured below:

If you don't already have a Linden Home, the top of the page will be an ad inviting you to “Find your place to be together” and provide addition info about the benefits of owning a Linden Home. This is pictured below:

If you scroll down from either page a little, you will see a section showing “Linden Homes.” It will show 8 at a time. It will have a menu bar at the bottom of the page that allows you to see any of the next sets of 8.

At the moment (and hopefully this will increase soon), there are 38 choices. This includes 15 Bellisseria Homes and 23 of the original Linden Homes. The homes are organized as follows: First the available Bellisseria Home themes (which are on page 1 and the start of page 2). Next is the Available Original Linden Homes (which start on page 2 and to through the beginning of page 5) and last the unavailable home themes (which are currently all on page 5). At the time of this writing, the unavailable Linden Homes are all Bellisseria Homes, and include Ranch, Stilt Over Water, Stilt on Pier and Victorian. Please note that the unavailable themes each have a big red “Not Available” tag in the upper left corner. (This is pictured below.)

If you click on any of the pictures of available homes, you will get the “Select This Home” frame at the top of your browser page. It will give you multiple pictures of the home styles available for this theme, and some basic information. This includes things like the number of currently available in this theme, the size of the parcel, the LI allowance, etc. If it is a Bellisseria Home, it will have a “Visit homes like this” link. If you click that link, it will take your in-world avatar to the home model in the BelliDemo region. You can rez each house style that theme supports and go inside and look around. This lets you get a feel for the home and decide if you like it. (Also, there are often mentors there who are happy to answer any questions you may have.) Please note that the link does NOT take you to an actual Bellisseria neighborhood, just to a home demo model. (The Non-Bellisseria homes do NOT have this link.)

The most important button on this page is the “Choose This Home” button. If you don't want this theme, then just scroll down a bit and you will see all the themes listed. You can select another theme. Or if you prefer, you can use your browser’s back button.

If you decide you want this theme, then push the “Choose This Home” button. It will bring you to a new page (pictured below) that asks you to enter some data and to confirm your choice. This page gives you a single picture of the house and a brief summary of its size and land capacity. It will ask you to choose a name for your parcel and to tick two check boxes. One asks you to agree to the Terms and Conditions, and the other asks you to agree to abide by the Linden Homes covenant. You probably should take a look at the covenant because some people find it a bit restrictive. (Others love it because the rules here keep the neighborhoods looking nice for all residents to enjoy.)

The Confirm Your Choice page is pictured here:

If things go right (e.g., you own a Premium ore Premium Plus account and dont already have a Linden home or are using the land tier for something else), it will give you a home. It will bring you to a page with a link to your home so you can TP there and start enjoying it.

However, there are things that can go wrong:

• You already have a Linden Home. Any given account can only own a single Linden Home. The only way you can get around this is to abandon your existing Linden Home before you select a new one.

• You don't have a Linden Home but are already using your 1024 tier (Premium) or 2048 tier (Premium Plus). You can get around this by increasing your tier allowance (e.g., paying for more tier). The error page will give you a link explaining how to do this.

• You are not a Premium or Premium Plus account. The only way around this is to upgrade your account to one of these levels.

It is also worth mentioning that one theme, the Traditional Homes theme, only has a few homes available, so it is “almost” a rare home. Four other themes are rare at this point: Ranch, Stilt on Pier, Stilt Over Water and Victorian. You will see them on the land page from time to time as someone abandons one, but they are not always available.

So what do you do if you want a theme that is not available at the moment? You keep checking back on the new land page to see when one becomes available. Also, for those of you wanting Ranch or Victorian, I am told that the moles are working on releasing more of them. I cant give you a date when they will be available, but I can say that they are “in the works.”

Unraveling the Senra Blake (male) Avatar

by Teresa Firelight

I already wrote an article on the female avatar (Jamie). Much of it is the same for the male one. Blake is also a kit to create your own custom Male look. It gives you a choice of two primary races (black and white) and several variants (body shape, eye color, hair, skin tone, clothing). If you want to create an ethnicity that is not one of the above, you can also use SL’s Edit Shape sliders to modify body parts, such as altering the eyes for a more Asian, look etc. The goal of Senra is to make it easy for you to create a look for your avatar that you like and are comfortable with.

If you are creating a brand-new SL account, it gives you a tool to construct your avatar during registration. But if you are already in SL, you can still take full advantage of the Blake avatar. This article will explain how to do that.

(I should also mention that during setup, your avatar will be briefly nude, so it is best to find a nice private place to set up your Blake avatar.)

Setup

Step 1 – Copy the Library Folder to Inventory.

The first step is a one time setup by copying some files from the library to your active Inventory. This is very simple. Open the inventory tab and select the Library folder. Find the subfolder named Senra (which is probably at the very bottom). Right Click and select “Copy.”

Now open your regular inventory folder and find the subfolder named clothing. Right click that and select “Paste.” If you open that Clothing folder, you will find the Senra subfolder in it. Open the Senra folder and you will see two folders: Blake and Jamie. You have just copied the entire libaray for Senra to your main inventory and put it in a place where you can find it for getting dressed later.

The Senra folder contains both body parts and clothing. But after you create your initial look, you will be likely to want several different outfits for it. That is why I suggested putting it in the “Clothing” folder. But you could put it in the “Body Parts” folder or make it a top level folder if you prefer. Any of those three locations is perfectly valid. Just remember where you copied it to, so you can find it again.

You only ever have to do this copy step once.

Step 2 – Remove All You can From Your Avatar

The easiest way to do that is to save the outfit you are currently wearing (if you have not already done so). You can do this by opening the Appearance Window (the T-shirt Icon), and selecting the outfits tab. Use the “Save As” button at the bottom of the tab to save the outfit.

To remove it, find the outfit you are wearing in the Outfits Tab of the Appearance window. Right click that outfit, and select “Take Off – remove from current outfit.

This will leave your avatar wearing ONLY a shape, a skin, a hair base and eyes.

The Body

Open your Inventory Window (the suitcase Icon), and find the Senra → Jake folder.

Step 1 - put on the basic pieces at the top level of the “Senra Jake – Body” folder. Those four pieces are:

Senra Blake – animation controller

Senra Blake – body

Senra Blake – eyebrow shape

Senra Blake – head

Wear each of these.

Just a note: I find it easier to leave the animation controller turned off (click it once and the avatar image turns orange for off) until you are done setting up the avatar. If the avatar image on the controller is green, the animations are turned on.

Step 2 – Select a Shape

Open the “Senra Blake – Shapes” folder.

There are 6 shapes in the folder but only two unique head shapes. One head style (shapes 1-3) is a bit thicker, with a longer nose and narrower lips. The other (shapes 4-6) is a bit flatter with a wider nose and wider lips.

The body type is the same for shapes 1 and 4 – it is thin and non-muscular. Shapes 2 and 5 are sort of a body builder shape. They have a triangular upper part (e.g., wider shoulders and narrower waist), a partial six-pack abs, and muscular arms and legs. Shapes 3 and 6 have a thick base with muscular arms and legs.

Wear the shape of your choice. Note that these are “starter” shapes, and the shape can be edited with the shape editor.

Step 3 – Select a Skin and (optionally) Underwear

Open the “Senra Blake – Skins” folder. There are 6 skins in the folder. The first three are white skins, where 1 is the most pale and 3 is the most tan. Skins 4 to 6 are black skins, where 4 is the lightest and 6 is the darkest.

Wear the skin of your choice. You can also wear the underwear (e.g., briefs) if you so desire – it should not interfere with any of the clothing choices.

Step 4 – Choose Your Eye Color

Open the “Senra Blake – Eyes” folder. There are 10 eye colors to choose from and each option is clearly named. Wear the eyes of your choice.

Step 5 – Chose your nails

Open the “Senra Blake – Nails” folder. There are 6 nails shades and they are intended to match the skin tone you selected. E.g., if you selected skin tone 2, the recommended nail choice is “Senra Blake – nails – natural 2.”

Add (not wear) the nail color of your choice. Nails are a tattoo. When using tattoos, it is better to “add” to put on and use “take off” to remove. That way you wont accidentally knock off other tattoos.

Your Hair and Eyebrows

I recommend choosing your hair/eyebrows next, before you add select any clothes.

Step 1 – The Hair.

Close the “Body” folder and open the “Senra Blake – Hair” folder. There are 9 hair styles to choose from and each style comes in multiple colors. (the Blake and Jamie hairstyles are essentially the same styles, but they are not interchangeable, because the male and female mesh heads are shaped slightly different. So the female hairs don't all fit correctly on the male head and vica versa.

The hairstyles may get confusing because some are just hairbase tattoos, some are hair objects and some are a combination of both. The hairs come with a full selection of 7 natural shades and 3 fantasy colors. The natural shades are black, dark and light blond, dark and light brown, red (auburn), and gray. Fantasy color shades include blue, lilac and teal.

There are 9 different styles, and “mixing/matching between styles doesn't work well with most of them. I recommend that you choose just one style from the set for any given look, unless otherwise noted below. (Of course, you can create different outfits that wear different hairstyles.)

• “Style 1” is a basic hairbase (sort of like a very short, almost shaved head). It is a tattoo you add.

• “Style 2” is a closely shaved hairbase. It is an object you wear (or add). If you also have style 1 on, it will conceal the style2 hairbase.

• “Style 3” is a short hairbase with closely shaved sides. It is an object you wear (or add).

• “Style 4” is an updo (a bun on top of your head). It is a combination of a hairbase tattoo and a hair object.

• “Style 5” is a short brushed back hairstyle with shaved sides.

• “Style 6” is a long ponytail. It comes with both a hairbase tattoo and a hair object to wear. I recommend you use the same color for both.

• “Style 7” is an almost shoulder-length straight hair parted in the middle. It comes with a tattoo hairbase and a hair object, but the object completely covers the base, so there is no need to wear the hairbase.

• “Style 8” is similar to style 5. It is another style with short-ish hair on top and shaved sides.

• “Style 9” is a long straight hair object, parted in the middle and brushed to one side, coming over the shoulder. It also comes with a hairbase tattoo, which gives a parted bang effect.

Step 2 – The eyebrows

Once you have chosen your hair color, add the “Senra Blake – Eyebrows” of the same color. They are a tattoo so be sure to “add” and not “wear.”

Your Clothing

Now you are ready to add clothing. This is more of what people are used to doing so it will take less explanation.

This may get a bit confusing because Blake and Jamie offer the same identical outfits (including dresses and skirts), but they are made for different shaped bodies and you cannot use outfits from Blake on Jamie or vica versa.

(Traditional male clothing does not usually include dresses or skirts, but LL recognizes that people come from all different orientations, and provide the option for any who would like to take advantage of it. If you are uncomfortable with male dresses and/or skirts, you can simply delete the folders “Senra Blake – Dresses” and “Senra Blake Pencil Skirt” from your inventory.)

Dresses: You have a choice between two mini-dresses Dresses (strapless or with thin shoulder straps) in a variety of patterns and colors. Both types of dress come with an alpha layer (add it if any body parts stick through the clothes).

Tops And Bottoms: You have a huge potential to mix/match here. There are pants, shorts, sweats and even a suit – all in multiple colors. And for tops there are crop tops, polo shirts, a hoodies, Tshirt, tank top, vest, jacket and a suit top. There are a lot of possible combinations here. Alphas are also provided for each item, in case body parts poke through.

Shoes: There are six style options (all for flat feet) in a variety of colors. I recommend you choose the shoes last so you can find ones that best match your outfit.

Finishing Up and Closing Remarks

First, don't forget to turn your AO on if you had turned it off to set up your avatar.

Second, please be aware that these avatars and outfits are “Starter” avatars. They are substantially nicer for new residents than what was offered before. But if you already have a high quality mesh body/head/hair/skin – chances are that your Senra avatar won’t be as nice as the one you have purchased.

Third, please be aware that there is currently new development underway for the Senra avatars. Creators are being invited to get dev kits and start creating – and it wont be long until you see a lot more options for this avatar.

Fourth, if you go to the WelcomeHub region, you will find that there is a free store with additional Blake and Jamie outfits. At the moment they are different colors of the same styles found in the library. But later on there will be new styles from various creators.

Unraveling the Senra Jamie (female) Avatar

By Teresa Firelight

I realize this is technically "off topic" for an interior design and landscaping blog, but the Senra bodies have just come out and there is a lot of confusion over them. I do not have an avatar blog, so I decided to put this here.  I hope to follow it in the very near future with a blog about the Senra Blake Male avatar.  After that, I promise to get back on topic.

This is a “kit” to build your own female mesh avatar. It basically allows you to build either of two races: white or black. First you start with the most basic component: the base avatar (or head and body). Then you add hair, and finally clothing.

Dressing should ideally be done in private, as your avatar will be “nakie” until you add clothing. (If you like, you can add undies (bra and panties) when you add the skin so you don't have to be fully nakie too long.)

Just a note, set up the folder before you start to use it. To do this, go to the library and find the “Senra” folder and copy it. Then go to your clothing folder and Paste it there. You do not want to wear clothes or body parts form the library, or copies of them will end up in your objects folder.

So, let’s decode the pieces.

The Body

Step 1 – Take everything off and then put on the basic pieces at the top level of the “Senra Jamie – Body” folder. Those four pieces are:

1. Senra Jamie – animation controller
2. Senra Jamie – body
3. Senra Jamie – eyebrow shape
4. Senra Jamie – head

Wear each of these.

Just a note: I find it easier to leave the animation controller turned off (click it once and the avatar image turns orange for "off") until you are done setting up the avatar. If the avatar image on the controller is green, the animations are turned on. If it is orange, they are off.)

Step 2 – Select a Shape

There are 6 shapes in the folder but only two unique head shapes. Shapes 1 to 3 are intended for the more traditionally white head shape. Shape 1 is the thinnest and Shape 3 the most plump. Shapes 4 to 6 are for the more traditionally black head shape. Shape 4 is the thinnest and Shape 6 is the most plump. You can use any shape with any skin.

Wear the shape of your choice.

Note that these are “starter” shapes, and the shape can be edited with the shape editor.

Step 3 – Select a Skin and (optionally) Undies

There are 6 skins in the folder. The first three are white skins, where 1 is the most pale and 3 is the most tan. Skins 4 to 6 are black skins, where 4 is the lightest and 6 is the darkest.

Wear the skin of your choice. You can also wear the underwear top/bottom if you so desire – they will not interfere with any of the clothing choices.

Step 4 – Choose Your Eye Color

There are 10 eye colors to choose from and each option is clearly named. Wear the eyes of your choice.

Step 5 – Chose your nails

There are 6 nails shades and they are intended to match the skin tone you selected. E.g., if you selected skin tone 2, the recommended nail choice is “Senra Jamie – nails – natural 2.” However, you re free to choose a different nail color if you so desire. (Personally, I liked wearing a darker nail that the skin I choose so they looked like I had applied a polish.)

Add (not wear) the nail color of your choice. Nails are a tattoo. When using tattoos, it is better to “add” to put on and use “take off” to remove. That way you wont accidentally knock off other tattoos.

Your Hair and Eyebrows

I recommend choosing your hair/eyebrows next, before you add select any clothes.

Step 1 – The Hair.

There are 9 hair styles to choose from and each style comes in multiple colors.

The hairstyles may get confusing because some are just hairbase tattoos, some are hair objects and some are a combination of both. The hairs come with a full selection of 7 natural shades and 3 fantasy colors. The natural shades are black, dark and light blond, dark and light brown, red (auburn), and gray. Fantasy color shades include blue, lilac and teal.

There are 9 different styles, and “mixing/matching between styles doesn't work well with most of them. I recommend that you choose just one style from the set for any given look, unless otherwise noted below. (Of course, you can create different outfits that wear different hairstyles.)

• “Style 1” is a basic hairbase (sort of like a very short, almost shaved head). It is a tattoo you add.

• “Style 2” is a closely shaved hairbase. It is an object you wear (or add). If you also have style 1 on, it will conceal the style2 hairbase.

• “Style 3” is a short top hair with closely shaved sides. It is an object you wear (or add).

• “Style 4” is an updo (a bun on top of your head). It is a combination of a hairbase tattoo and a hair object.

• “Style 5” is a short brushed back hairstyle with shaved sides.

• “Style 6” is a long ponytail. It comes with both a hairbase tattoo and a hair object to wear. I recommend you use the same color for both.

• “Style 7” is an almost shoulder-length straight hair parted in the middle. It comes with a tattoo hairbase and a hair object, but the object completely covers the base, so there is no need to wear the hairbase.

• “Style 8” is similar to style 3. It is another style with short-ish hair on top and shaved sides.

• “Style 9” is a long hair object, parted in the middle and brushed to one side, coming over the shoulder. It also comes with a hairbase tattoo, which gives a parted bang effect.

Step 2 – The eyebrows

Once you have chosen your hair color, add the “Senra Jamie – Eyebrows” of the same color. They are a tattoo so be sure to “add” and not “wear.”

Your Clothing

Now you are ready to add clothing. This is more of what people are used to doing so it will take less explanation.

Dresses: You have a choice between two mini-dresses Dresses (strapless or thin straps) in a variety of patterns and colors. Both types of dress come with an alpha layer (add it if any body parts stick through the clothes).

Tops And Bottoms: You have a huge potential to mix/match here. There are skirts, pants, shorts, sweats and even a suit – all in multiple colors. And for tops there are crop tops, polo shirts, a hoodies, T-shirt, tank top, vest, jacket and a suit top. There are a lot of possible combinations here. Alphas are also provided for each item, in case body parts poke through.

Shoes: There are six style options (all for flat feet) in a variety of colors. I recommend you choose the shoes last so you can find ones that best match your outfit.

Finishing Up and Closing Remarks

First, don't forget to turn your AO on if you had turned it off to set up your avatar.

Second, please be aware that these avatars and outfits are “Starter” avatars. They are substantially nicer for new residents than what was offered before. But if you already have a high-quality mesh body/head/hair/skin – chances are that your Senra avatar won’t be nearly as nice as the one you have purchased.

Third, please be aware that there is currently new development underway for the Senra avatars. Creators are being invited to get dev kits and start creating – and it won't be long until you see a lot more options for this avatar.

Fourth, if you go to the WelcomeHub region, you will find that there is a free store with additional Blake and Jamie outfits. At the moment they are different colors of the same styles found in the library. But later on there will be new styles from various creators.

How To Be Inspired Without Actually Copying

By Teresa Firelight

I was originally working on a "Landscaping on Sand" article when the Ranch Homes got released. So many people turned their attention to the Ranches that I decided I should hold off on that article. (But I will publish it later on afterthe hype about the new release dies down.)

I decided to get a Ranch Home for myself. When I went to decorate it, I found that the living rooms on most models were “too big” for me. The way the windows were positioned made it tricky to add walls to divide it into smaller rooms. I tried several different layouts, but I couldn't find a design that I liked. My layouts had too much “empty” space and I hate interior designs lots of “dead space.” So I was a bit stuck on how to decorate this room.

I started looking to other people's designs for ideas. I found someone with an idea that I really liked. It was from  Bsoul's YouTube video, which Persephone posted on the forums (https://community.secondlife.com/forums/topic/501198-are-the-ranch-homes-hard-to-decorate/#comment-2616349). Bsoul managed to fill the large living room nicely and still look comfortable and livable.

Bsoul's Living Room

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His basic approach was to put the sofa in the middle of the room on a large rug, and then place things on all four walls surrounding it. He used a fireplace with some nice bookcases behind the sofa, and a television in front of it. (This combination was new to me. I often use fireplaces and I often use televisions, but I hadn’t put both in the same room before.)

I fell in love with the bookcases he chose (Madrid Collection from Kraftwork) and went and bought them. I also purchased the wood-filled fireplace (Apple Fall Camille Mantle w/ Logs) that he had put between them. So in that sense, I did copy him, but I used those pieces a bit differently.

I selected a different wood color and used different knickknacks to fill the shelves. I put plants over the mantle instead of a framed picture. I used ceiling lights instead of wall-mounted lights. In the end, my bookshelves-and-fireplace section had a similar effect, but it looked different.

I did place a sofa in the middle of the room, but it was a very different sofa. I used a wall mounted television with a console underneath it in roughly the same location that Bsoul had placess his television and stand. I also put a DVR and remote control on top of the TV console, which I made by uploading textures from the internet.

In short, I used Bsoul's idea of putting the sofa in the middle and a TV in front of it and the bookcases/fireplace behind it. But that is where the similarity stopped. I selected drastically different curtains and house plants. I used a pair of really cute hanging chairs from Tarte that looked “perfect” for a county home. I used some country-like wall art that I picked up from Broken Arrows, Apple Fall and Tarte. I also threw in a few other pieces of furniture plants and knickknacks to fill the room and give it a cohesive and lived-in look.

In the end, my living room followed the same basic design that Bsoul used, and it was inspired by his work. But it looks totally different from his room.

Teresa's Living Room

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So let me give you the principles you can use to be inspired by someone’s work without directly copying it:

1- Analyze the basic room layout. Did the person add walls or key pieces of furniture necessary to “make the room work?” Figure out what the basic approach was and use the same approach. In my case, Bsoul put the sofa in the middle and blocked it off with a large rug. He put a fireplace behind it and a television console in front of it and he put furniture and items around the sides to fill in the spaces. So I used that same general layout.

2- If your inspiration used any specific pieces of furniture or wall-kits that you fell in love with, go ahead and purchase that item. You can edit the piece and most of the time you can find the item name and creator. (Sometimes items from multiple creators are linked together and you have to be selective on your edits to get the right information.) Once you have the creator's name, you can open their profile to find their marketplace or in-world store.

Do be careful not to use too many items from their build. I recommend limiting it to one or two. And if possible, change the item's color/texture to fit in with your own color scheme.

3- Insert your personality and preferences into the build. This includes choices of wallpaper and/or wall colors, specific furniture items, color scheme, choice of curtains, choice of plants, etc. For example, Bsoul used an L-shaped Apple Fall overstuffed sofa. But I selected an old-fashioned wood-framed country sofa/table/chairs set (by Dekute Dekore). He had a brown/tan/white print rug and I had a pink shag rug. He had white floor to ceiling curtains, and I had a gathered print curtain that barely covered the windows. He had dark blue walls; I had an old fashioned warm floral wallpaper. His color scheme was blue and white; my color scheme was tan and muted pink.

If you follow those three basic principles, you can be inspired without plagiarizing – you can copy someone’s general idea without copying their specific build. Also, if you are inspired by someone else’s build and the opportunity arises, be sure to give them credit as your inspiration.

The other thing I would add is this: I think it is a great idea to look at other people’s interior decorating to get ideas on how to decorate your own place. And hopefully other people will get inspired by looking at your place.  In the end, we all inspire each other.

 

 

 

 

Home Makeover (part 2)

By Teresa Firelight

My last article introduced the concept of doing a Makeover on a property that you have become tired of instead of moving to a new one. This can make a “stale” property seem “fresh” and “new” and enjoyable again.

I identified 7 criteria to help accomplish this:

1. Use a different style of yard.

2. Consider using a different house.

3. Use a new color scheme.

4. Use completely different furniture.

5. Change room layouts.

6. Make a different room the “dominant” or “main” room.

7. Change the parcel’s name.

Now let’s explore them in more detail:

1. Use A Different Style Yard.

I already went into a lot of detail on this in my last article. In summary, we can change the look/feel of the parcel and immediate surroundings by how we do our yard. In my case, I when from a rugged natural and un-fenced yard to a highly cultured yard with a fence and hedges and trimmed grass. You can read the details in my previous article.

I will include the before and after pictures here – please remember that these pictures are cropped because they are presented in a gallery. Click one of the pictures to see it fully and then you can scroll through the others by clicking the left or right sides of the pictures.

"Before" and "After" - House Exterior

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2. Consider Using A Different House.

Note that I said to “consider” it – not necessarily do it. Try rezzing each of the different house styles from the controller, then walk through each one trying to visualize a possible room layout.

In my case, I give the Makeover to a Victorian, and they had just released four new house styles (open versions with few interior walls). I did look at each style. To be honest, most of the Vic styles are just too large for me, and I cant do a good job decorating the interior and exterior on a 371 LI allowance. I did not feel that changed with the new house models. So, that left me with a choice between my old tried/true model (the Doyle) or its new open counterpart (the Derby).

I considered some practical matters in making my decision. The new styles were just out, and interior wall papers for the Derby were not yet available on the SL marketplace. I wanted to use wall paper on this house instead of the default walls. That in/of itself was reason enough to keep using the Doyle. However, there was also another factor – financial. I already had a very nice interior wall paper mesh for the Doyle, did I really want to spend another $250L on a new one? Or would I rather spend the Lindens on new furniture? I decided to be cost effective here and use the Doyle.

In the end, I used the same house model as I had before. That did not hurt the makeover. It still felt fresh and new by the time I finished it.

Color Scheme - "Before" and "After"

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3. Use a Different Color Scheme.

Color schemes set the mood and tone of the house, as well as influencing what you use to decorate it with. They also set the feel of the place. For example, bright colors are often considered “higher energy” and muted colors more “relaxing.”

My favorite color scheme is blue and white, and that is what I had in my original design. But when I did the makeover, I switched to a slightly muted green color scheme. This effected my build in more ways than I expected. For example, I tended towards green leafy indoor plants instead of flowering ones. White curtains were replaced with green ones. White wooden counters (especially in the kitchen) were replaced with natural wood shades. And assorted pieces of art were replaced by potted plants.

Bedroom - "Before" and "After"

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4. Use Completely Different Furniture.

If you want to make a place feel “different,” then don’t use the same old furniture you use in other places. The effects were most dramatic for me in the bedroom and kitchen. Typically I use the LAQ (now HEIMA) kitchen in all my Doyle homes, because it is very pretty and fits nicely. But this time I used a new one, the Atelier Burgandy. It did not really fit well, so I had to resize and reshape things a fair amount. It did not come with a refrigerator or stove, so I used ones I already had in inventory. Also, it did not fill the room as nearly as much as the LAQ, so I ended up putting cabinets on the far wall to help fill out the room.

Another place it really made a difference was the bedroom. When I set up the wall paper, I choose a pink print for the bedroom. I was not sure what bed I was going to use, but that question answered itself when I went shopping for those Saturday sales. I ended up in a store I had not shopped in before: Petite Morte. I was tromping all over the store looking for the sale item, when my eyes fell on their pink bedroom set. It was absolutely perfect for my place. I bought some (not all) of the pieces in the set and went home to set up my new bedroom. It wasn’t on sale, but it was well worth the price. I really love how that room turned out.

Kitchen - "Before" and "After"

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5. Change Room Layouts

As discussed above, I did a major change to the kitchen layout, using much smaller kitchen cabinets and moving the dinner table under the center window instead of being on the far side of the room. Kitchen cabinets now line both sides of the room. The net effect is that instead of a separate dining and kitchen area, a cozy dining area is now in the middle of the kitchen.

But the biggest change was to the living room. It had originally been divided into two parts, a small sitting area facing the fireplace and a sort of long hall or entry way. It gave the room sort of a small closed-off feeling. The new arrangement was to move the sofa to the wall where the fireplace had been and turn the entire room into a single larger room. The focus of the new living room is a television (placed against the wall by the door) instead of a fireplace. Also I used a lot of green plants in the room.

Living Room - "Before" and "After"

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6. Make a different room the “dominant” or “main” room.

The dominant room is the room you most enjoy being in, where you want to spend the majority of your time. It is also usually the room where you invest more of your Land Impact (LI) allowance into – in other words, it is the room where you put in the most detailed decorations.

My favorite SL room has been the kitchen, especially when I use the LAQ/HEIMA version. It is very attractive and had has a lot of nice animations and kitchen decorations. That was the main room I “hung out” in at my previous build. I put out all sorts of nice decorations and food dispensers on the counters and made the room feel quite homey and inviting.

When I did my Makeover, I decided to put my emphasis on the living room. I rezzed a nice TV that has a lot of great shows in it, and set up the furniture to face that television. I filled the room with wall shelves and a lot of potted plants. There was literally no spot in this room that was not plushily decorated. But more important, everything I choose to put in that room was realistic – something I might find in my own RL home. This included wall shelves with plants, a bookcase, a TV stand, a sofa and two chairs.

And with these changes, the living room has become my favorite room.

Bathroom - "Before" and "After"

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7. Change the Parcel’s Name.

I know this sounds trite, but what we all the property effects how we think of it. So when we choose a new name, that goes a ways towards making it feel like a new place.

In my case, the original parcel was named “Safe Harbor.” But since I had chosen a green color scheme,. I renamed it to “Emerald Bay.” Now when I use the LM to that house, it “feels” like a different place.

 

Give Your House a “Makeover”

by Teresa Firelight

Do you nab a nice location, enjoy it for a while, then eventually get tired of it? If so, don’t feel bad – this happens to a lot of people in Bellisseria.

The most common solution is to take down your build, abandon your place, then look for another equally nice spot. Sometimes this works great. Other times you don't end up landing as nice of a place as the one you just left and end up wishing you had not moved.

There is another option. Instead of abandoning the home, consider giving it a makeover. If you make enough changes to your home, it will “feel” like a brand-new location. You will have fun decorating it, and it will become fresh and revitalized for you. Then you will enjoy living in it again.

I recently learned this quite by accident. I had a lovely Victorian location on a cliff above a cove with a lighthouse view. But I got tired of it after a year and did not visit the place much. I couldn't quite bring myself to let it go just yet. I postponed deciding whether or not to abandon it for a few months, until the annual alt who held would expire.

Meanwhile a friend of mine had a RL situation that left her for a season without a Bellisseria home. I wasn’t using that Vic, so I suggested she play with it for a few months. That way I could “test run” the idea of not having that location before giving it up “for real.”

So I added her to my land group and took down my build. I stopped by a few weeks later to see what she had done, and I was amazed by her build. The place looked so totally different than what I had. After seeing her changes, I no longer felt “tired” of that location – it wasn't the “same place” anymore.

Those few months went by, and she moved out. I tried a rebuild, so that I could decide whether or not to renew the alt and keep the place. But this time, it had to be completely different than what I usually did with Vics. It couldn’t be the “same old thing” that I had grown tired of.

So I came up with some guidelines to help make my current home feel like a brand-new location:

• Use a different style of yard.
• Consider using a different house style (from the ones in the controller).
• Use a new color scheme.
• Use completely different furniture.
• Change room layouts.
• Make a different room the “dominant” or “main” room.
• Change the parcel’s name.

I will discuss the first guideline now and cover the other six in another blog. I will share a series of before and after pictures, such as the one below. [These pictures are cropped because they are displayed as a gallery. I recommend you click on one of them to get the full picture then tap the left (or right) side to advance to the next/previous image. This will give you a much better image.]

House Front (before and after)

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1. Use a different style yard.

My original take on this property was to have a very “natural” yard composed mostly of ground cover and wildflowers. There were also planters along the front and right side. Since it was a beautiful scenic location, I originally did not put up a fence. I wanted it to appear that the nature of the area simply extended up to the house. I wanted my original landscaping to have a “natural and ungroomed” look and feel.

House Back - Before and After

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I originally used a lot of flowers and not much by way of “structure” around the yard. I did add a side deck to the house, connecting the front to the back porch. I also put out a deck-like sidewalk leading to another deck in the corner where the view was the best.

So when I redid the yard, I went for quite the opposite effect – very groomed instead of “natural.” I put a fence around the entire yard and lined that fence with a groomed hedge. I also used a lot of paved surfaces with little neatly trimmed grassy areas here and there.

Side Yard - Before and After

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I used a lot of potted plants (mostly evergreen small shrubs) instead of the wild flowers. I did dapple a few small with flowers growing along some of the hedges. But the new scheme was mostly green plants instead of flowers. Since the new ground was paved, I did away with the decks and added a small trapezoid shaped garden – again comprised of non-flower plants. I also worked in a brick planter and a little Victorian style garden table with two chairs.

I also changed the focal point of the yard. The original yard had a sitting area with a fantastic view of the side cove, which was a stunning view. It was in the corner where you could still see the lighthouse, but the seating favored looking at the cove (which was my favorite part of the view from this property). The new style moved the seating (a different style of outdoor chairs) to focus on the lighthouse, which is another stunning view. You could still see the beautiful bay if you stood by the fence, but the new yard now emphasized the lighthouse view instead of the bay view.

Bay View - Before and After

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This change in view emphasis helped it to feel like a different property, even though I had not actually changed location.

That is how I redid my yard (my first guideline) to give the place a new look and feel. I will share how I applied the other six guidelines in my next blog.

Kitchens! Kitchens!! Kitchens!!! Part 4

MODULAR KITCHENS CONTINUED

by Teresa Firelight

(Apologies for the delay getting this one out. RL became really busy for me so it took longer to publish than I expected.)

This is the 4^th and final article in our series on Kitchens. We started Modular kitchens in the previous article and covered two: Dust Bunny and Consignment Kitchens. Now we will look at two more: 1) the Fancy Décor & Kraftwork Kitchen and 2) the LAQ kitchen (aka HEIMA Kitchen).

Fancy Décor & Kraftwork Modular Kitchen

Fancy Decor and Kraftwork have a modular kitchen they developed together. It comes in either of five colors (each purchased separately). You also have the option of buying either PG or Adult versions of each color.

The kitchen does not come with any sort of texture change HUD for tinting cabinets or counters. But it does include a HUD that allows you to chose the metal handles color (gold, silver or black). The good news is that you can modify the kitchen, so you can tint cabinets or counter tops or the tile backsplash manually. Also, you can resize individual pieces if you need to do so to make them “fit” perfectly in your kitchen space.

When I took the picture, I did not use their tile backsplash. That is because it only came with a single tile texture, and I did not like that texture. Of course, you could make your own tile out of textured prims, but in this case, I just used the default walls.

I used the Snow color (a.k.a., white) kitchen. I manually tinted the counters gray, which gives them a light black appearance. I also tinted the refrigerator to match the counters. I linked it, and the total LI was 46. I also put their “kitchen clutter” on the countertop, which is another six LI.

This set has three different styles of drawers, and several different cabinet options. It also includes two styles of refrigerator, 1) a closed one and 2) a higher LI one that opens and is stocked with groceries. There are cabinets containing a microwave and a wall-mounted oven. (These do not open or close, but they look realistic.) There is also a stand-alone stove/oven unit. It doesn't open/close either, but you can turn the individual burners on/off by touching them.

The kitchen island is modular so you can make it as large or small as you like. There are a lot of options – sink, shelves, cabinets, bars plus a left and right “end cap” to give it a polished appearance. Personally, I had a narrow space, so I only used the Sink and the two “end caps.”

This kitchen employs an interesting approach to animations. Instead of building them into the modular pieces, they offer an “animation box.” It contains a slew of nice animations and prop rezzers, and you can put it where you want it (or put out multiple ones if you so desire). After placing it, you turn it transparent, and it “looks” like the animations are built into the kitchen – but you have total control and put them where you want them.

The set also includes a barstool that has a plenty of sit animations.

What I like: This is a very clean and modern kitchen and looks nice It has a lot of options so you can customize it. Also, I really love the cute hanging shelf/light that goes over the island.

What I don't like: I don't like the way they did the kitchen tiles. I also wish that they had included a few color options for the counter tops and appliances.

As the name implies, you can get this at either Fancy Decor's Mainstore or  Kraftwork's Maintore. (I recommend going to Fancy Decor because they have the kitchen set up for you to look at, and Kraftwork only has the vendor with no display model.)

LAQ Decor (aka Heima) Kitchen Set

LAQ Decor recently changed their name to Heima Decor. (So if you use SL search to find the store, be sure to use the new name.) I call the kitchen “LAQ” in my article, because that is what most people know it by. But if you buy it new, it is now named “HEIMA ^ Kitchen Set.” (If you bought it before the name change and are concerned about redeliveries – don't be. The redelivery page lists all of your LAQ purchases as well as any newer Heima purchases.)

Now that the rename explanation is out of the way, let’s talk about the LAQ (or HEIMA) kitchen. This is by far my most favorite kitchen. And it is also the most expensive kitchen that I own (at $L 2499). It is modular with several options of cabinets including a corner piece, sink, dishwasher, and refrigerator. Many of the pieces have great single and couple animations (but no adult animations) and rez props. There are several decorations you can rez-- all good LOD, low LI and nice looking. These decorations include things like a coffee set, vegetables on a cutting board, kitchen jars, food baking in the oven, etc.

The set comes in a rezzer, and (as rezzed) it is 59 LI. However, it is modular and the pieces fit easily together, so you can arrange it however you want, skipping some pieces and re-using others. This set gives you excellent control over what your kitchen looks like.

One thing that I really like about this set is that each piece is modifiable, and it is fairly easy to adjust the width of some of the cabinets so that they fit perfectly in whatever kitchen space you have. The cabinets with glass doors come pre-loaded with dishware, so you don't have to deal with empty shelves. Most pieces include both an upper and lower cabinet or appliance, with tile between the two pieces. This makes them really easy to arrange in your kitchen space.

The kitchen sink is the only exception. It does not have a top part attached, so you can place it below a window if you desire. However, the set also includes a fully loaded spice rack that goes perfectly over the sink.

The island has a sink built into it. It is shaped with an indentation under the counter, so you can put barstools under it and have room for a person’s legs. That is a nice realistic touch.

Did I mention that the refrigerator, dishwasher and oven all open, and the fridge is stocked with food? 

If you want to talk about texture options, this set has more than any other I have ever seen. Each appliance can be individually colored with 11 different metal options. The cabinets have 12 wood and painted wood options. (My favorite is the “old” wood.) The counters have 22 options including marble, granite, stone, wood and painted wood. There are 21 tile options and your choice of gold or silver faucets. As of that were not enough, each selector also has a “Color” button that lets you tint any of the selected textures.

What I like: This is the most complete and versatile set that I have ever seen. It is wonderful for family roleplay and it is very attractive as a home furnishing.

What I dislike: If you want adult animations, this is not the kitchen for you. (Personally, I don't use adult animations, so that is not an issue for me). I used to “dislike” the fact that it did not use the AVsitter experience. That means each time it wanted to give you an attachment, it prompted you for permission to attach. But GOOD NEWS – the most recent version (which just came out about a week or so ago) has been updated to use the AVsitter experience. Now it gives props to you seamlessly.  With that change, I have to “dig deep” to find something I dont like about it… and what I found is this… The animations were created for a rather tall avatar and I have to adjust them all for my “normal height” avatar. Fortunately, it is set up so you can adjust each pose for your avatar height.

[By the way, if you own an older version of the LAQ kitchen and want the updated HEIMA version that uses the AVsitter experience, just go to the store and use the redelivery terminal.]

You can get this kitchen at the HEIMA Decor mainstore. There is a room set up downstairs where you can play with the many kitchen textures, animations and options.