The Cat's Christmas

 Tis' the Season for Mistletoe and Mischief. Cats certainly deliver the second, don't they? This year, for the holiday season, I've decorated the Trompe L'oeil Darford Estate Cottage. It's an elegant house, and a change from the last few holiday houses I've chosen. (That reminds me, I never did show you last year's house, did I? Maybe later.) I love this house, even though I feel as if I could have added something else to make it shine for the holidays. The wreaths in the windows ended up making it look like it had eyes, which was not the look I was going for, so I removed them.

My favorite room in the house, with its warm and cozy fireplace, is the study. The cats enjoyed curling up and keeping warm on those cold, snowy nights. I combined the Fall Wall Panels from Kraftwork with the lovely Warm Hearted Tales Keeper from 8f8. The Heritage Furniture from Merak and the Velvet Boheme chair and pillows with their leather textures and dark floral fabrics combined to make this a room I want to curl up and read a book in all day. The cats tend to steal all the good spots, including my comfy Winter Gray armchair, where I left my tea and pralines. 

Speaking of mischief... the dining room is always a place cats can find something to get into. They know they're not supposed to be on the table, but when mom's not home, who will know?

And, nothing is more attractive to cats than a tree this time of year. Mine was no exception. It's from Fancy Decor - Festive Christmas Tree, though the base tree is the Apple Fall tree. I surrounded it with holiday decor - several things from the [Zerkalo] Noel gacha collection, plus a glass cabinet from Enaitch that I filled with my collection of snow globes from Fancy Decor. Jake updated the previous year's snow globes with PBR versions and sent them out to everyone who had previously purchased them. As you can see, the cats are having a lovely holiday. I hope you did too! 

A Bright Autumn Day

Autumn is in full swing, and I've been enjoying all the beautiful colors both in real life and in Second Life. In perfect timing, Trompe Loeil released a lovely cabin last month in three color versions, which just begged to be surrounded by the vibrant colors of autumn. Earlier this year, Studio Skye also sent out a PBR update for their trees, making it the perfect opportunity to create a charming little forest on my parcel!

I included some pine trees from Fundati to add a touch of green. To complete the look, I incorporated various autumn grasses, rocks, paths, and birch trees from LOVE. I also used a few items from Evergreen Gardens and Kohono, along with a garden wall and gate from Apple Fall. The fire pit and chairs are from Nutmeg. 

 Trompe Loeil - Lisbette Country Cabin in red.

The Little Library and Bench from Nutmeg make a nice place to sit and read when you find them in a clearing in the trees.

The inside of the house is welcoming with warm wood floors and trim, and the white plaster walls show off the beautiful stone fireplace. I used some comfy furniture from Nutmeg, along with a few odds and ends from Apple Fall and other places. 

The kitchen is the same one I've been using since it was released earlier this year from Kraftwork- The CottageCore Kitchen. The dining set is from Chez Moi, the curtains from Elm (tinted darker), and the bar and buffet cabinets are from Merak. Merak has been hitting all my buttons with their last few releases this year, and the Heritage Collections are wonderful!  

I always like making a little coffee nook and laundry space to show off all the cute things I can't help buying, especially when they release them in fall colors! 

Last, but not least, I have a cozy bed set from Lou Chara upstairs in the loft. I didn't finish out the entire upstairs, as once again, I ran out of prims. All those trees and pretty grasses add up! 

I hope you enjoyed my Autumn retreat. Now I need to start thinking about getting ready for SNOW! 

It's Been Awhile, But I'm Still Here

Hey there!

It's been a while since I posted, but I'm still here and still decorating my homes in SL. I just forgot to post the photos. 

Anywho... I'll probably (maybe, who knows) make a post of several houses all at one time to catch up with the last 18 months, but for today I'm just going to post the one I just finished. Then I can pick it all up and start with my autumn house... I already have some ideas on what I'd like to do.

On to today's home. This is the latest house released by one of my absolute favorite creators, Apple Fall. It's called the Patricia Cottage, and it's completely lovely. It's made with the new PBR textures, and also has several different options for floors, walls, and outside paint schemes to customize it to your tastes. I also like that while it's a decent size, it's just a one-bedroom home, which I prefer to decorate. I get bored with the bigger houses before I finish, and I also run out of prims... ooops! 

The brick doesn't change, but you can select your door color and the wooden siding (far right side of the house). Apple kindly included several of the textures in the package, so I was able to retexture a garage to match the house.

The entryway is a decent size, and I used a photo Apple Fall posted on Primfeed as inspiration to decorate part of it. I switched out some items, but the arrangement is similar. The living room has items from AF, Nutmeg, Merak, and Kraftwork. I also used a lot of AF furniture throughout the house because the textures blend well. You'll also notice quite a few pieces from Nutmeg, another of my favorite creators. 

The kitchen is a mix of the Kraftwork CottageCore kitchen with the Apple Fall Douglas kitchen sink. I tinted the white kitchen black, but it is sold in black too. The dining area and bar are a mix of AF, Fancy Fall, and the chairs from the Merak Harborline set that I tinted black to match. I've been having so much fun with textures since PBR was integrated into SL. I retextured the top of an old AF table with a new PBR marble as well as the marble part of the Camillia Bar. The checkerboard tile floor is also a texture I purchased and applied. 

The bathroom has the latest bath set from Merak, the Caldera Spa set. It includes the bathtub, surround, towel rack, floor, and several items behind the tub on the shelves. The other half is mostly from Nutmeg and Fancy Decor, with a few random decor pieces from other places. I don't know what was going on with the sink mirror. PBR mirrors still give me fits and act wonky sometimes.

The bedroom is a mix of Kraftwork (bed), Nutmeg (tables, chair), and AF (wall panels, cabinet, bench) with assorted decor and plants from my inventory. The patio set through the doors is from Fancy Decor. 

Also, I wanted to mention my curtains! They're animesh and blow in the wind. I saw them being used at a store and had to find them! They're from Sweet Pearl Fusion. They're adjustable in size, but the adjustments are limited, and you can't mod them outside of the kit that comes with them, but you can play around and make them work if you've got a big enough set of windows. 

As always, let me know if you want to know about a specific item in the photos, and I'll try to remember where I got it from. Now it's time for me to go think about autumn houses.