Gatekeeper's Lodge in Winter

 

This autumn one of my favorite SL stores, Apple Fall, released a recolored version of a previous gacha item, the Gatekeeper's Lodge. They also released a modular greenhouse that works well with the Lodge, though the windows require a little tweaking or hiding behind things. Still, with a little effort, I have a complete extra room to decorate. As it was the holiday season I made it the place to put my tree. Quite a few really nice home decor items were put out this fall, and I enjoyed putting them together. 

The Lodge is one open room on each floor, which makes a cozy home but can be tricky to decorate. I think I made it welcoming, even if it's snowy and freezing outside. Here's my holiday home this year in SL. The main room is divided into a small kitchen area, entry way, and combination dining & living room.

Nothing like reading by a nice warm fire while it snows outside!

Upstairs is another single room, which becomes a nice bedroom with another cozy reading nook.

And out in my holiday room, I have a lovely tree by Apple Fall and Fancy Decor that came out last year for Christmas. I added the beautiful new fireplace from 8F8 - Imagine...-Warm Hearted Tales Keeper and bracketed it with some wall panels from AppleFall. The colors matched amazingly well and I tinted the top of the wall to make it all blend together. 

I would say that 80% of my decor in this house was from Apple Fall and Nutmeg, because they do the cozy old fashioned look so well. I hope you all had a lovely holiday season, whatever holiday you may celebrate. Meanwhile, Raynee is gazing into the fire while it's freezing outside and dreaming of her next vacation to the place she has in her picture frames. 

Tiny Homes

Happy Autumn! 

I hope you're enjoying all the cooler weather (or warmer if you're on the other side of the equator!) I certainly am, though it's a little chillier than I like this weekend. 

My most recent home in SL was not a singular home, it was a set of Tiny Homes from Kraftwork. They are color-change both inside and out including the woodwork, plus the deck can be removed. I had fun decorating each one in a different style. 

In the green one, I tried to keep everything inside of it from Kraftwork, just to see if I could. I managed to do so except for a floor panel I put under the kitchen area and the toaster oven, which is from Fancy Decor. I had to do some editing to make some of it fit, but it wasn't too hard. The outdoor decor was not all Kraftwork, but that wasn't my intent so I'm okay with that. I did use a few outdoor items from there even so. 

In the navy-colored house, I went with more of a fun, beach theme. I did keep the Kraftwork Mini Boho kitchen in it because it fits with only a little editing, and I used a bed and cabinet from Kraftwork as well. 

The final color the house comes in is red. I did use another Kraftwork kitchen in it; it's the modular kitchen collaboration with Fancy Decor. The rest of the decor is from a mix of places. 

I had fun seeing what I could manage to fit into these tiny houses. I hope you enjoyed seeing what I did, and if you have any questions about anything in the pictures just ask and I'll see if I can tell you where to find them. 

Now, I'm off to take pictures of my latest decor adventure, which is almost finished.

This Was Supposed to be August's Blog

 

This was supposed to be August's blog post, but I got distracted. I had all the photos picked out but time just got away with me. I was just enjoying the sun and water so much that I couldn't bring myself to blog. At least that's the excuse I'm giving to you, and doesn't this photo just look like that was true? 

This house was another of the {YD} houses; the {YD} Houseboat. Their houses are usually on the smaller side and that helps me finish decorating them before I get distracted by another house! This one was the perfect summer house to decorate. 

It has a patio area on each end of the houseboat and a balcony on the top between the bedrooms. That's a lot of places to relax and enjoy the summer sun and I sure did my best.

Sunsets are beautiful on the deck with a drink!

I don't usually catch many fish, but it's always nice to sit and relax in the sun. You can always make up a story about the one that got away, right?

It's always 5 o'clock somewhere!

Inside the boat started out as a fairly open plan area with one small room at the side and then an open stairway in the center of the boat. I chose to enclose the stairway and give the different areas more definition. 

Kitchen, because I love to cook and I love to eat. Thank goodness I don't gain weight in SL.

I used repurposed some outdoor fencing an wall panels into a stairway railing and to enclose the staircase. 

Some of you might recognize my bookcase. I saved it after decorating it once and now I just whip it out and add a few bits and pieces to make it match the house it's being used in. It's the Kraftwork Bellosguardo Library with a lot of random decor added. I also made a little area around the corner for listening to music. I put some rattan window screens in to give a little privacy without blocking the light completely. 

There was a small room on the first floor that I put a bathroom in, because you know I have to have a bathroom if I can; if only to use all the bathroom decor I buy!

 

Okay, I have a confession. I did get distracted by a new house and didn't finish the second bedroom in this house. I know, shocking I'm sure. I did enjoy decorating the one I finished though. It's nice and spacious. 

 Ah well, it's time for me to actually work on my next blog. I've already done the photos and everything. Maybe I'll manage to get it posted in September and make it a two-blog month!

Time to be Extra

 Hello! It's a holiday here in the U.S. so I made it a 4-day weekend by taking Monday off. I did absolutely nothing, so it truly is a holiday weekend. I did manage to finish my latest house and take a few photos so I suppose I did do something. It's a pretty Queen Anne-style house (or Victorian style) from Scarlett Creative called the Green Lily or Daylily depending on the name of the folder it came in or the actual house. It was a re-release for the Saturday Sale a few weeks ago, so it's possible they changed the name. Either way, it's a pretty house that is perfect for decor from my favorite creators. It gave me a reason to be Extra in my decor, just like the blog title.  

This is quite different from my usual minimalist tendencies. I try to do fancy but usually end up with monochrome or MCM style when I decorate. It's as if there are two factions in my head; the one that buys all the soft flowy fabrics and fancy decor, and the one that buys all the clean lines and sharp-edged decor. I really let my soft side out on this house though.

I had fun pulling out all the cozy fabric furniture and classic artwork from my inventory. I had to mod the fireplace a bit and the house to make it fit but it was a lot of fun getting it just right. 

This house had no separate dining room so I had to squeeze an eating area in the kitchen. The rounded area was perfect for this. Again, it was fun searching through my inventory for less modern kitchen elements to fit the house. I have so many "country kitchen" pieces that never see the light of day in my usual houses and I am happy I got to use them. 

The stairwell gave me a perfect place to be a little extra in my decor. I love classic artwork so I have a ton of it in my folders but I rarely get to use it, so I went a little crazy here. I wasn't quite done decorating as you can see by the hammer and nails on the landing. I still have space on the walls! 

What could be better in a Scarlett Creative house than to use Scarlett Creative furniture? I had the bed, rugs, and curtains from an old gacha set and they fit perfectly in the house. 

Ok, I saved the best for last! My favorite thing about this house is the greenhouse which makes up the back half of the house. I have so very many plants in my inventory; big plants, small plants, leafy plants, succulents, all the plants! This is the perfect place for Raynee to sit on a rainy day and read a book with a cup of tea. Or on a sunny day with a lemon sorbet- thanks Apple Fall for the yummy lemon set! 

I hope you like this house! It's the first time I've hit my prim limit on my parcel (my SL friends will understand) while decorating a house- all those plants and the creek I built outside were hard on my LI. I actually didn't finish the second room upstairs; it would have been a bathroom or another bedroom if I had the LI, but oh well, ce la vie. 

Anyway, I have another house to decorate! And some BBQ to prepare for in RL, yum!

Some credits, though not all:

Scarlett Creative- house and bedroom furniture

Apple Fall- living room furniture, decor, a plant or two, bedroom cabinets, dining set

Nutmeg- plants, squishy chair, assorted kitchen decor

Thor- kitchen cabinets, random decor items

Fancy Decor & The Vordun- many of the artworks

Other decor stores- Kazza, Soy, Mithral (so many plants!), Broken Arrows, Granola, Kraftwork, and a few I can't recall. 

3 Day Weekend!

 Hey there!

Here in my area of the world, it's Memorial Weekend and that means an extra day off work for me! It's a bit rainy out this Monday so that makes it the perfect time for me to finally blog again. 

I've skipped a house or two since my winter post but here is my latest one. It's another {YD} build, as they are fairly small builds, cute, and very easy on my SL budget. This one is called Almeria House and it's another little stucco house with a patio and MCM feel. I love the arched windows in the front. So, here we go with the photos!

In SL I have a green thumb! That's great because in RL... not so much. I love the front patio area of this house because it reminds me of my RL house, complete with an arched front door! I just wish I had the cute gazebo and furniture in RL.

I didn't start out with the MCM style, but once again I ended up with it due to taking some inspiration from photos of a yellow chair and couch in RL. 

I continued with the gold and green theme in the kitchen & dining area, as you see. The arched bar window was a nice touch and the chairs & lanterns I dug out of my inventory from 2 different stores were perfect matches! 

The bedroom reflects my RL urge to travel the world with its passport and postcards on the desk, travel posters on the wall, and unpacked luggage lurking in the corner. I even snuck in a few RL photos of my favorite places. I like to imagine I'm sitting there at the computer planning my next trip. Ahh, if only.

The back patio of the house is pretty small but it does have enough room for a BBQ grill and table. As I said, it's a holiday weekend and I've cooked all this food, I just need someone to come to help me eat it. Oh, and drink some of this wine! 

(there is a second tiny room in this house but I wore myself out cooking and didn't finish decorating it. It would be a good office or maybe bathroom space)

Some credits:

{YD}, Apple Fall, Kraftwork, Fancy Decor, Muniick, Atelier Burgundy, Black. Sand, Brocante/Floorplan, Mithral, Granola., {moss&mink}, {wn}, HIDEKI, Bazar, DiCore, Broken Arrows, Trompe Loeil, Tarte

Another Winter Holiday

Another holiday season has come and gone and we're on to a new year. My last SL house of 2022 was the Scarlet Creative Lockhart Cabin with Snow. I always enjoy SC's little houses, they lend themselves to being cozy little homes.  

I pulled out my winter sky surround since I live on a green sim, found some new trees, and tried to find my White Christmas spirit.

I have an inventory folder full of Christmas trees, but of course, that wasn't good enough, I needed new ones. Fancy Decor came out with

 some lovely ornaments and Apple Fall let them use their undecorated tree as a base. Two of my favorite stores in a Christmas tree collaboration?! Take my $L! So, without further ado, here's what I did with the house and the tree.

 I just want to curl up with a cup of cocoa and watch the lights on the tree twinkle. Oh hey, it's SL so I can! Don't mind the cat, he's enjoying his holiday too.

I felt like this little cabin would work with a little bit of an industrial feel, so I added the brick walls. The clocks were a fun thing to find and use, plus the little London touches seemed to fit the theme. I pulled out one of my latest obsessions, a murphy bed from Muniick. I did tint it darker and added some closets on either side to fill in the space. The doggy was sitting in my inventory whining to be let out, so here he is; he and the cat ignore each other usually. 

Alas, tomorrow in RL I have to go back to work, but in my head, I'll be sitting here watching the snowfall with my furry friends.