Moving on – $1L home !

I was dead chuffed to find this gift from Simple things & Forever summer today. Not everyone in Second Life changes their decor and surroundings when the seasons change – in fact for almost 8 years I lived on a tropical island year round (which is prolly why I have such an aversion to them now !) This is the “Trudy Tropical Island House”, its dead pretty and includes the patio, pool and all the trees and plants. You could use this straight outta the box as is – or play around with it.

You receive two versions one with everything and one with just the house – and beware none of it is in a rez box – so rez it in edit mode.

“The Trudy Tropical Island House is an open-spaced wooden house on stilts with 2 bedrooms. It sits on a man-made island with a swimming-pool. It has a spacious front balcony and extra-living area below the house. The house itself is 43 land impact and 22×26. The area for the ‘island’ and boulders is 36×43. The landscaping and pool are 90 land impact.”

It’s so low prim for what it is, Id use the whole thing and decorate – it’s no modify sadly but hey ho – what a find! The interior is nicely done with some shadowing and great wood textures. Limited time offer so grab it while you can. Check out the market place store while youre there – some other great builds for just $10L.

Dollarbie house

 

 

Hello Sailor – (renting a home in Second Life)

I’ve been dying to use that as a blog post title ! Its been a couple of months since I last looked around at rental homes – and this time I have found a real gem . It all begun when I was trying to sort out my inventory, I came across some items made by Ken Rosenthal – wow blast from the past! I haven’t spoken to Ken for years, so like the true stalker I can be, I looked him up and noticed he had rental homes. Now, if you know Ken, you’d know he is one classy guy. Intrigued to see what he had built I zoomed over – et voila – ended up renting one of his gorgeous homes in “Sailors Cove”. As I suspected the place was beautiful, small and welcoming. The real beauty is that you have access to the open sea from your home, rez your craft and you’re off ! The home is a light and bright space, open plan living downstairs and furnished mainly with pieces from one of my favourite stores “Bazar”. One double bedroom upstairs and a gallery landing – perfect for placing an easel …or something.

Soooo renting details:  $600L per week. The units are furnished and have an additional 150 prim limit(land impact) for you to add. You can request the unit to be unfurnished for a total of 270 prim limit (land impact). when you get your note-card with embedded group joiner just click and wear – et voila !

I haven’t had the urge to rez any more furniture to be honest – it’s so tastefully done already why change?. However the generous prim allowance means you can fool around with your collection of boats, yachts etc outside on your deck. There are just eight of this sweet homes to rent and three are taken already – pop over and check it out. The landmark given will take you to the deck of my place – feel free to mooch ! Thanks for the warm welcome Ken ❤

Sailors Cove

Greymoon designs (housebuilder – spent ages here as there are some fantastic homes for sale!)

Bazar (all furniture from here)

Look Away Faith!

I was checking out some old LMs for a place to take some pictures and I stumbled on this absolutely simple and yet stunning rental sim.

The sim  is called Baja Norte and it’s a blogger, moocher, beach lover, renters delight.  I haven’t rented a property here because for a small fee of 250Lds you can join the Baja Norte group and not only use the stunning decor items but also rezz your own props and poses if you feel the need to.   It would be good to join as the fee which is a one off helps towards this great sim but it’s not compulsory as you are free to use the facilities even if you’re not a group member.

Obviously it goes without saying if you do decide to join the group so you can rezz poses and props to watch the prims! and OMG clean up after yourself! Faith and I used to run a very successful and enjoyable rental sim but the cleaning up of other people’s prims was a pain in the bum.

Although there is more than enough places for people just to sit and chat and chill  and so you may never need or want to rezz anything.

I had a mooch around the homes the note that is  sent out does ask you not to enter a rented property which goes without saying but there are some vacancies esp the ones on the top of the hill.  At 250 a week these are bargain prices homes and although you only get 50Prims you will just not need them at all.  The whole sim is your playground and all you need is a few prims for some personal items.

Now I’m not a 100% sure if all of the homes come furnished already I’m pretty sure this was one of the Vacant homes and this is the standard to expect, it’s all quality items.  I’ll be back and I’ll have a recheck.

All these photos were taken in the sims own Windlight setting which is subtle moody and beachy at the same time, you of course can use whatever setting you want.

As I said the reason I’m not going to rent a home here is because I’m going to join the Baja Norte group and  now since our own sim is very much Autumnal and grassy I  have somewhere to flash the flesh and surf. This is a busy sim with plenty of people wandering, sitting and probably mugging for the camera and yet it is so quiet and people are just having a relaxing and fun time.  I sat on a log with my new log and even though there was 2 male AVs near to me we just sat and did our own thing.  If I didn’t rent my own sim I’d move here  and I know fine well Faith would also in a heartbeat.

Must mention the brilliant person behind all of this because she won’t be making money from the rentals here as she’s asking for so little so basically she’s done this just for the joy of giving to people in SL.  Lauren Bentham is her name and her surname might be familiar to a lot of people because she’s the owner of Bentham Manor and more.  I can’t believe that high is the sky is a packed shop/forest/woodland/build of spooky and ethereal items to buy for your home although most things are set out in a themed setting ie a spooky woodland most of what you see is for sale but check out her Flickr link as a picture shows you much better than I can write.

Baja Norte

Bentham Manor

Flickr

 

Boathouse blues (Renting a home in Second Life part 3)

Ahh yes, I am still on my bleu phase ! I even managed to find a house that’s blue – heaven ! Big thanks to a SLU forum member who poked me towards this rental company – I found SO many homes I liked it was hard to decide upon which one to rent and play around with. The rental company is called  “ffrendz” and have a few sites – the Sim I rented on is called Skadi. At the moment its all hands on deck as they are totally revamping their rentals – new homes – new layout. When I found a home I liked, it wasn’t quite ready – so I dropped a notecard on the lovely owner Basilicum Beerbaum and asked if it could be reserved for me, so I could pay the rent when it was ready. No problem ! The very next day, I was ready to roll. Received a note from the landlord with all the information I could need and dashed over to claim my retreat.

The rent is incredibly affordable, I was surprised. I was going to rent one of the little funky beach cabins but decided to go large and splash out on a larger home on the oceans edge. This larger spacious home cost me the grand total of $386L per week – what a steal ! I also get 250 prims, so plenty to decorate the home, rez up a boat as it has access to the sea to sail. As you can see outside you have a long deck area, perfect for entertaining, fishing from and lounging about. (I have a little confession *gasp*, I usually rent for a week, enough time to get a feel for the area and take some snaps – but yesterday I put another week on the box as I LOVE this place that much.) Player came over last night – got his seal of approval too. I haven’t been bothered by a soul but I see people on the sim regularly. I’ve sailed for hours, fiddled about inside and just sat enjoying the view. The landlord is friendly but not in your face – I was given all the information I needed upon renting, a warm welcome also. The rent box contains a prim counter – so you can easily keep a tally of how much you’ve used.

The home I chose to rent is fabulous. Underneath you have your very own boat house, a place to store your yacht or speed boat. I have really enjoyed sitting on the deck and watching people sail by. Upstairs are the living quarters, this is a view from one of the side windows. as you can see, you’re not hemmed in by other houses and it gives the feeling of wide-open-spaces. I noticed that none of the homes I looked at had a locking system for the doors, so I asked about it. You can, if you want, use a security system of your own. I bought mine from Phil Deakins at Prim Misers. I think they are around 150L a pop, easy to use, simple to set up . (I’ve used these for six years, brilliant little thing) To be honest though, I’ve not even bothered closing my doors – its a nice neighbourhood and you get the feeling that there’s no need to lock up and safeguard.

The main living area is vast, plenty of room for a sofa, desk or even split it into a bedroom studio kinda deal. French windows fold back to reveal a large balcony area that’s ideal for dining or sipping your morning coffee from. There is also a smaller room off the lounge, great for a nursery or office space, perhaps a small kitchen.

In one corner I placed my brand spanking new desk set from StandyBy Inc, currently available at collabor88. It really fitted in with my nautical home !

I also splurged a little at Sways and bought this darling little photo frame in the shape of a birdcage, you can add your own happy-snaps !

My superb sofa is from BoatHouse, I hadn’t been to this shop for simply agesss and I thought they might have something sweet for my new home. I was right ! Snapped up this couch and fishy shaped coffee table plus a rag rug for the floor. The animations in the couch are sooo lovely ! Singles & couples and naughty ones too o.O ! More from the Boathouse later I promise – I bought a LOTS .

FYI. Ffrendz rental community is undergoing a revamp currently, they will have rental offices set up at each location eventually apparently, which will make it easier to navigate around all the areas. There is also a web site which is under construction for the time being and may not be totally up to date, this is the web address : www.ffrendz.eu    .  Contacts
If you have questions:
Please IM:
Soar Wingtips or Basilicum Beerbaum

Sways

Boathouse

collabor88]

Standby Inc.

all clothing by coldLogic

Hair by Argrace

Prim Miser

Surprise(Freebie&Cheapies&Hunt items)

There are 2 surprises in this post the first is the fact I’m doing a house and the other is for Faith.  I have our sim Windlight setting set to this lovely blush sunset colouring and I’m not sure if Faith has seen it because like me she usually uses a setting which shows off skin and clothing to their best but this is the colouring any visitor to our sim see’s.  The house is also a surprise to her as I was just going to do the outfit but since this great build only has 5 days left to go at the slashed price of 55Lds I thought I must get it posted.

TBH it is relatively primmy but with the great texturing and open vista this sort of build lends itself to a minimalist look, but it actually comes fully furnished with a bedroom set, living room set, shelving, lamps etc.  the large decking area also has 2 sets of seating and other decor items.

Love the concrete flooring, deep slab at both doors and shadowing.  Don’t worry if you don’t like any of the furniture because it’s all removable but the bed was quite a surprise because it has some decent little poses in it but “Ohmai” as Faith would say it has not only a couples menu but one for the single lady and her pet rabbit!(geddit?).  Very naughty.

Comes in a handy rezzer and as I’ve said this is on offer for only 55Lds from… Best of all if you want to check it out before you buy then TP to the demo platform and you can rezz a copy but be warned it’s full priced in the rezzer, over 500Lds full priced, so make sure to TP back to the main shop and snag the bargain priced one.

To find not only this bargain but others follow the footprints and other markings on the ground and you will find a mix of indoor and outdoor items at slashed prices.  As it happens as usual when I’ve popped over to grab last minute details and the LM I tested out an outdoor seating bench the design of which is very common in the UK and it was pretty low prim and then I clicked the Menu! and that was yet another “Ohmai” moment.  Don’t worry plenty of non sexy in the menu but for those who like their naughty furniture to blend into their home then this seems to be the place to look.  Again be warned the item outside is full priced and so good to test out the poses but that same bench is inside on special offer of only 55Lds for the next 5 days.

Now to the outfit which is a quickie.  I popped over to Ghee to do their Lucky Jack Hunt and found this free skirt and top mesh combo in the main shop and it’s free for all so you don’t even have to join the group.  As you can see it’s a simple design but because I’ve used our sims windlight settings the colours have altered.  The top is a soft pink and the skirt is a pale mint and they match perfectly.  Doesn’t come as separates which is a shame as a simple top and skirt can always be combined with others to make new outfits.

I then slapped the Hunt Board outside the shop and then spent a lovely time wandering through the small and beautifully landscaped park where all the Lucky Jack cards have been hidden.  I failed badly getting anything and then I checked out the Ghee website and found that they have not only a very handy hint list but also you can also see what the prizes are.  Each card costs 10Lds and if you click on the card you do get to see whats inside it which means if you really want specific items then you can just go around and click the cards till you find the one with the item of clothing you want in and as someone with an over sized invent I so appreciate that.  As you can see from the website all of the clothes are so mix and matchable or as I was trying to do you could wear all the same colour. I will be returning to pick up the white top and white shorts because how cute will that all white outfit look with flat white shoes?

PDJ Style Furniture & More

Ghee

 Ghee Website with pictures and hints

 

[CIRCA] Goes wild !

I’ve been a fan of CIRCA for a year or so now and I’ve not known Cherelle do anything remotely like this next range “The Lost Island of Tane”…its tiki and willllld! LOVE it. (Reminds me a little of a game I play on my ipad – Virtual Villagers). Once Id rezzed up a storm from the boxes, I was amazed at the low-primness of it all. Zan and I keep a few hundred spare prims on our estate for such occasions but I just didn’t need them, all the pieces of this range are sooperdooper low and not resource hogging at all hurrah! Above you can see two of the main items from this new selection, the tiki house and warrior hut.

Wether youre role-playing or just want a superb new island home, this fit the bill. Good details and lovely textures make the structure blend in effortlessly. The larger build has a sliding entrance door and inside the most sweet little bamboo hammock bed/lounger build right in, its got oooodles of poses too. Theres also a table and some pots just to make it instantly cozy. The windows have swung open shutters and ornate tiki style decorations, plus a canoe underneath and ladder to get inside of course.

There are a whole host of other pieces to this vast collection, plants and grasses (some I have scattered about on the ground below the huts. Totem poles and camp fires – one of which has a pretty cool dance animation to really bring your camp to life ! Theres shelving and the cutest collared lizards to dot around. All pertty scrumptiously lowwww prim too.

Pop over to CIRCA and take a browse at this new range, plenty more to see of it than I’ve had time to show here ! Thanks Cherelle ❤

[CIRCA] Mainstore

Land & Sea

The reason I’ve made the “and” more pronounced is because at this prim count you too could have a home on your land and your sky.

I remember having flat basic building platforms that had more prims than this sweetie.  A lowly 8(4) prim count for all of this.

Big picture window so make sure you rezz it when you can capture an amazing sunset/sunrise.

Look at the texturing.  None of that ugly free wood plank look.  Perfectly in proportion to the average AV.

Apart from the open window this is the only feature in this home and the rest is a blank canvas.I’ve not used windlight at all just the normal environmental settings and you can see how gorgeous the texturing is.  Hop on the grey office chair and TP to the rezzed demo and you too will be able to see that this is a great offer. A small shop on an excellent shopping sim.  They have a couple of weird things, Flying Toast carpet, some really good and low prim wall decorations and for those with Brats, I mean kiddies, or those who are a child at heart a Dino Gatcha that gives you a rather good childs rocker but the best is this Mesh skyhome called Camelot and it’s only 8(4)prims and 50Lds!

With such a low prim skybox you can have a home on your land as well. This is a Dollarbie from Kukuvaya and it’s top quality.  Box is just inside the entrance on the floor.

A simple square but with gorgeous feature windows and a lovely porch area. 48 Prims in total but this is a sold well textured home.  Small and compacy with excellent scenic windows.

I’m in pain because I so desperately want at least 2 of these to be my new home.  This lady has managed to combine compact, cosy, snug, wallpaper, old fashioned  with open windows, clean-cut well textured and just plain homely livable homes.  Sometimes you want the view outside to be hidden and sometimes you want to bring the outside inside but still have a snug and private feel to indoors and she has managed it beautifully.  I’ve seen many homes in SL and I put these ones easily in my top 3 for prims, price, texturing and esp the windows and decor.  But of course this is only my opinion.  Fortunately she has a fully stocked rezzer for you to have a try.  She’s got land home, skyhomes (more than just a square box) pavilions and other smaller structures.

This isn’t a picture of the Dollarbie but just an example of the attention to detail.  This is a small Box room in one of her homes perfect for a shower room or in my case a craft room and even this small room has been given plenty of wall space and yet look at those windows such a good clear view of outside.

Conspiracy Theory (sky home)

Kukuvaya