Tag: MudHoney

Lionheart house 001

Rethinking the lion (from within a Bamboo refuge)

About a year ago I began to write a blog post –that never got completed and was put into the trash can, where it still is I guess– about how alienating living in a stand-alone sim and then faking mountains around your property to stand up for less aggressive privacy lines was turning to be. I stopped writing it because that’s what most people look for, it seems, or those big pseudo-estates with hundreds of sims dully distributed in giant waffle-like expanses wouldn’t be so successful. I prefer to have neighbors –good ones, let me be specific– and having sims to walk through and see what other sentient beings like to create and call their own. Yes I know you can TP anywhere and all, but adjoining sims offer another kind of experience; even the interaction with people living in them is more vivid and rich. Or that’s the way I see it, at least.

Lionheart main building

So that’s why I moved to Lionheart Estate, searching for that sense of community… and then you know that it kind of went the wrong way. I am persistent, though, so I got back to my little plot in there to try and do something… enjoyable for the rest of the time remaining on the tier meter. Thanks to a quick New Year’s snow melting process (or should I call it sublimation), the readaptation was gratifying, to the point that I may be giving the estate another, more durable, chance.

First, there’s no landscaping involved in this new setting. That’s why I don’t like pre-fabricated –a.k.a. themed– regions that much, because they generally restrict what you can do with the land. Lionheart is not a themed region per se, but as to secure the consistency and well being of the estate and its residents (what Mainland have never had nor done, and so why it’s such a large obnoxious patchwork) strict rules have been put into place. But that’s ok; it actually becomes a challenge: to see what you can do within what is permissible. Second, this is a more… contemporary look, unlike anything I’ve done before, so it was refreshing. Third, I tried not to disrupt my immediate neighbor, building up walls around the yard to keep that which my eyes don’t appreciate away from sight; I solved that “issue” using some nice bamboo to function as natural “privacy screens”. Maybe that’s the antidote to remedy Mainland’s suffering: to enforce bamboo plantations between limits, lol.

{ Items } I’ve already given slurls for some of these items in recent posts, so I’m listing those that haven’t gotten any mention yet. Nature & Garden: 3D Trees, Bamboo. Buddhabeats, Bamboo 2011. XED Design, Dracaena in terracota pot, Snake plant (garden). Culprit, Lotus (from Lotus barrel). Ossanha Gardens, Stepping stones (that link is to the Marketplace because I don’t know if the sim is still there; saw it as on sale as of this writing). Organica, Stepping stones (mossy). Landscaping by Felix, Rock (from one of his prefab landscape sets). nonino, Chouzu-bachi. || Architecture: Breno, Mars (Sunny). drobak, Hako house (this one may not be available anymore; this little cube house dates back from 2009, and I think I got it from a lucky board as well). || Furniture: One Grid, Wall tree with lamp, Deco birds. Bazar, Privacy screen & Entrance rug (from Arizona set). Cheeky Pea, Rue Abel loveseat.  MudHoney, Meredith chair. LISP, Anna prints. what next, Flyaway wall art (Dandelions & Birds). Tatty Soup, Tall lily vase. POST, Votive (candles) & Tivoli birdbath (modded). ililo, Eiffel slat table. Art Dummy, Idle (pompom flowers and vase). floorplan, Pallet couch (available at FaMeshed right now, that’s the slurl to the event, not the main store). MMGraffiti’s, Wall decoration – Picture frames (blue). PILOT, Larkin set vase. GiornoBrando [GB], Nodategasa (red).

Backyard in Lionheart house

So I’m staying in Lionheart a little bit more, and won’t rush payments anymore and go a week at a time. Now, if only those big signs of an expiration notice weren’t so intruding…

The woodland

Spacious: The woodland

First it was the islet. Then, it was the swamp and the marsh. Today it is the woodland. I think it’s been quite a long time since I last built a plot as diverse as this one. It might have been two years ago or so because that was the last time I owned so much land. Back then it was 12k sq.m. in a full sim, which translates to a lot more in terms of land capacity: 2811 vs 957. Oh, the glory days! If interested, check posts Next to Nowhere, Backyard, One third, and AAPPAA Style,  from January to May 2011, depicting what was then a longish plot divided into three different sections. I really enjoyed it this time, especially when the three zones integrate more naturally as well.

As I said in the first installment, it took me almost two weeks to finish as a whole, but it was worth the effort, methinks. For this last section, I thought about a light coniferous forest, with a small stream running through the tall trees and a comfy little cabin somewhere along the riverbank. I already had all the required elements waiting in my inventory, so I only needed a chance like this to complete the project.

The woodand

I have had these coniferous beauties for some time now, and only a few of them has shown up in posts before. I also wanted to use Mudhoney’s ultra-low prim cottage (shown in the pictures below) since its release last November, but didn’t had the proper landscape to set it in. Now I think this woodland setting, the fourth and last area in the parcel, suits it pretty well.

{ Items } Nature: 3D Trees, Coniferous forest – spruce; Coniferous forest II; Fern dark; Rocks & Common heather (from Natural Rockery); Blackberry bramble; Forest fern spleenwort, plant, fern carpet & roots (from Forest accessories 2); Jungle fallen ivy & branch (from Jungle valley pack). Organica, River erosion, Rock walls & stepping stones. Happy Mood, Sweet garden grass. || Architecture: Mudhoney, Holiday cabin. || Furniture: Sway’s, Asian relaxation set.

As the red shed, the cabin is a one-room structure that may have welcomed some rustic furniture, being in the countryside as it is. But well, I don’t have those right now, so I’m using the following items in their stead.

{ Items } Nature: XED Ddesign, Rubber plant (sounds like Robert Plant, isn’t it?). Terrashop, Small white poinsettia. || Furniture: Cheeky Pea, OmNom chair, Georgie bed. PILOT, Larkin set – Display case. DIGS, Arthur pictures – scattered. ililo, Ind. lamp (in red). Zigana, Lazy Sunday chair (manly man & buttercup). lame, Sarah’s loveseat.

Once again, check previous posts (Nowhere and The wetlands) for store slurls that may not be included in this one. This is a series, so there must be something integrating all of them (winks). And that’s all, folks.

Inventory revisited

Last night I tried (yes I tried) to clean my inventory. I started to delete whatever I haven’t used in more than 12 months or have no plan to use anymore, and to box whatever survived the quality control inspection into prims for easy storage. As it seems, thousands of items disappeared from my folders, mainly freebies I’ve pick up here and there and never even took a few minutes to see what their were. The experiment also let me rediscover long forgotten apparel that still look good after all this time. For instance, this black overall from GothiCatz, that dates back to 2007. It may not be so fashionable today, but I decided to save it from burning at the virtual stake.

In this second shot, a closer look at those accessories that seldom show well in small pictures:

Glases: PrimOptic – Xtrim
Mouth Piercing: Primitive Design – Insurrection
Necklace: Weird Monkey Design (WMD) – Ying Yang

Details for the rest of the outfit as follow:

Hair+cap: Argrace – KnitCap – Smart Short
T-shirt: barbee – Gift Tee-Shirt (gift no more, sorry)
Overall: GothiCatz – ExtremE (overalls only)
Shoes: Urban Bomb Unit – PornStar Hi-tops (black)
Gloves: SiniStyle – Taped Fingers

Tattoo: Aitui – Demise
Skin: The Abyss – Dave Gears [Light]
Eyes: MADesigns – Intense

Crates: MudHoney Designs – Chillin Crates

Pictures taken at home.