Housing Rally 2-15-14 – Lovely Houses of Norrath!

Welcome to the Homes and Tomes House Rally #12 – Lovely Houses of Norrath!

We’ll start off in guild chat to let late-comers join up, and then switch to raid channel once everyone is on board!

With this Rally, we’re looking at homes, temples and gardens devoted to The Goddess Arisen – Erollisi! What you’ll see is some truly beautiful places of all sizes devoted at least in part to Love.

Here again you’ll see some really astonishing creativity, as a Valentine’s/Erollisi theme is a bit more challenging than Frostfell or NotD! After all, most people don’t decorate for this holiday!

I’m your host Huell Kuerden, and tonight we’ll be looking at some beautiful, lovely houses throughout Norrath, in all corners of the world both Good and Evil.

And now on to this week of Norrath’s Gold! As we take a look at these houses, don’t forget to reward the designers by liking creativity and/or style! Try to wait until everyone zones in to Like a house though – otherwise the house can shift in the list and make it hard to find!

Don’t forget though!!! It means more people will visit and enjoy someone’s hard work!

For anyone new, we’ll be visiting houses via the Housing & Leaderboards selection of the main EQ2 menu. Sometimes the numbers have shifted a little, just ask if you can’t find it!

THIS WEEK WE’LL BE LOOKING AT MANY DIFFERENT KINDS OF HOUSES, SO SELECT THE LEADERBOARD SETTINGS GIVEN FOR EACH HOUSE, OR YOU MAY HAVE TROUBLE LOCATIING THEM!

Each house will have a Category and an Attribute, just enter them in the Leaderboards screen and you’ll be fine! Yell if you can’t find it!!! We’ll now switch to Raid Chat and dig into this week of Norrath’s Gold!

Our first stop is…

Grand Temple of Erollisi (#5 Hall of Fame/Creativity-Recent) by Kaian: A Felwithe Mansion.

Here we have a Felwithe Mansion, always a challenge to decorate due to it’s size! Here, much of the ambience is done by placing trees and shrubbery, a very natural appearance that fits well with themes celebrating the Huntress. Move forward but don’t take the teleport pad.

Ahead is a lovely fountain, surrounded by golden marble columns. Expensive but very beautiful! The trees and other vegetation give the illusion of being outdoors, despite the dome overhead.

Moving straight ahead, continue to the shrine of the bow. You’ll pass through a Lover’s Grand Veil – note at how large they can be made! Again, this area has beautifully arranged landscaping, again giving a very tranquil effect.

Be sure to look up! The open dome adds to the effect! Also look at the Tuptan Wall Sconces, which are used to give a warm yellow light to the golden columns. You have to look close to even notice them!

Continue on to the temple. The use of Vigilant Screens for some neat geometric effects can be seen here. I liked their use on the columns! I’m also a fan of Gold Sparkle Balls - Ahead you can see an open-air bedroom, again beautifully landscaped.

All through these areas lighting is key! Lighting was given careful attention here and as a result the decorations are much more dramatic!

Turn around and go back to the entrance to the Temple. Use the teleport pad on the leaf rug to visit the Red and Blue rooms.

I’m a particular fan of novel lighting effects, so look at the scratch-built bath in the red room. Note the use of flickering Braziers of Hatred to give a blue-white light, and an Acropolis feel.

The blue room uses the natural waterfalls and Purple/Blue vegetation to give a darker effect. A few bright green plants set off the darker colors.

Wander a bit – a lot to see here – and then we’ll move on to our next house!

OUR NEXT STOP IS:

Romantic Private Island Retreat (#15 Hall of Fame/Creativity-Recent) by Twinklin: Vale of Halfpint Delight

Here we have a nice romantic retreat built by our own Twinklin! We visited it briefly during our ‘Whole House’ episode, as if built ‘For-Real’ it would be a neat place to live!

At Zone-in, take a few seconds to appreciate the ponds and waterfall! This is all scratch-built, using watery platforms, crude stone benches/tables and Steamlord Tapestries. A beautiful piece of work!

Now enter the main house, again scratch-built! I loved the use of Leaf Rugs and assorted stained-glass for the roof! The decorations are very tasteful, and not the custom hearth! I liked the snowglobe with the flower embedded in it too!

Go through the sliding Vampiric Mirror doors to the patio and look around. E-day decorations are used as accents here, and the views are really nice!

Now move back into the main room and up the stairs. Straight ahead is an archery list (not a garden!). Continue up the ramp to the bedroom! All the amenities are here, including a makeshift shrine to Erollisi, sine the SoE folks STILL haven’t gotten us a REAL altar <grinds teeth>.

Jump down from the balcony and you’ll find a nice little picnic area – outdoor love nest!
Wander around the island! There are liitle decorated areas everywhere! A Wedding Chapel, secluded garden, etc.! We’ll move on in a few minutes!

Now we’ll MOVE ON TO:

Honeymoon in Neriak (#197 Hall of Fame/Creativity-Recent) by Orpiment: A Nerian Residence

Here we have a lovely use of the Standard Two-Room Nerian Residence, a frequently overlooked house that actually offers a lot! I found this house WAY down the list, and it’s so nicely done it needs to e kicked up a bit!

As you look ahead, you can see the room has been partially skinned with blue marble and stained glass tiles. The main area also features a bathroom and small kitchen area.

Go through the door into the bedroom and the décor changes! Now we have lots of dark reds as well as blues. A bathing pool, small house altar area and a love gazebo sleeping (?) area complete the Newlywed Suite!

Lots of Erollisi Day decorations round out this little apartment! Haven’t seen a lot of small love nests this year, so kudos to Orpiment for doing one – especially one with a Dark Elf theme!

Now we’ll head on to:

Romantic Hideaway (#47 Hall of Fame/Creativity-Recent) by Boglily: Personal Dojo

Here we have the ever useful Dojo! I used mine for a Men’s Room, but here it’s a Romantic Retreat! Oh well – no accounting for taste!

The standard dojo has been partially reskinned using red stained glass and sumac, and the ceiling done with red-rose topiary, a nice touch!

Decorations use some of the Castellum furniture line, and in areas like the kitchen they are used quite creatively! Check out the stove and fridge! Lots of Marble vases with plants and roses complete the effect.

In the inner chamber sports a custom fireplace and a bath, as well as the Castellum bed – my favorite of the ‘buy-me’ beds.

Another neat effort showing how much can be done with even a small space!

Next we’ll move on to our final house at:

Romantic Island Getaway (#52 Hall of Fame/Creativity-Recent) by Tempting: Vale of Halfpint Delight

Go left down the path to the house. As you go, note the small island picnic area, garden and water pools!

Here we have a more modern look! Go in through the front door, and you’ll enter the dining area. I like the Paineel chairs – they have a different look! On the far side of the room is a nice small kitchen, making use of ferrite cupboards as cabinets!

The white/blue/grey color theme looks very nice and modern! Don’t forget to check out the fridge – it uses Qeynos display counters as doors!

Going to the left is a sitting room with cushions and a custom fireplace!

Now head upstairs! You enter a terrific library/bedroom area (my bedroom just has Piles of Books – I’d like it here!). It includes a full bath!

This house is another example of a finely-built scratch house that I included even though it isn’t heavily E-Day themed (other than the title).

Take a look around for a few minutes and feel free to ask questions! Lots of people on our tours have extensive decorating/design experience and are happy to help!

Well, that’s about it for tonight! In two weeks we’ll meet again on Sunday to view some truly monumentally huge structures! Be there or be square and have a great evening!

K-

Housing Rally 2-2-14 – The Large House

Welcome to the Homes and Tomes House Rally #11 – The Large House

We’ll start off in guild chat to let late-comers join up, and then switch to raid channel once everyone is on board!

With this Rally, we’re finally looking at wealthy zip codes <chuckle chuckle>, but still houses that can be decorated in great detail! Larger than these 5-6 room houses, decisions must be made as item counts just don’t match square-footage anymore.

Some of these large homes are however challenging to decorate, due to the placement of rooms and unique architectures – but the results can be stunning!

I’m your host Huell Kuerden, and we’ll be looking at some beautiful large houses, both the largest houses available in game throughout the cities of Norrath, and the Large Prestige Houses available through the marketplace!

And now on to this week of Norrath’s Gold! As we take a look at these houses, don’t forget to reward the designers by liking creativity and/or style! Try to wait until everyone zones in to Like a house though – otherwise the house can shift in the list and make it hard to find!

Don’t forget though! It means more people will visit and enjoy someone’s hard work!

For anyone new, we’ll be visiting houses via the Housing & Leaderboards selection of the main EQ2 menu. Sometimes the numbers have shifted a little, just ask if you can’t find it!

THIS WEEK WE’LL BE LOOKING AT LARGE HOUSES, SO SELECT ‘LARGE HOMES’ IN THE LEADERBOARDS, AND THEN ‘CREATIVITY’ IN THE ATTRIBUTE AREA. If a house has different settings I’ll let everyone know!

We’ll now switch to Raid Chat and dig into this week of Norrath’s Gold! Our first stop is…

The Spirit Tree (#2 Large/Creativity) by Vanesh: A Kelethin 7-room Acorn

Here we have a standard acorn decorated largely by adding trees and shrubbery, a very natural appearance that fits well with Kelethin. A very nice look is created without reskinning the acorn – a nasty and involved job due to the irregularities of acorn rooms.

A touch I did like was the hiding of the ramps – my most unfavorite thing in Kelethin architecture. It does make it easier to get lost though! Head through the doorway to the left.

This room is decorated with natural stone furniture, which is again very in-line with the overall theme. Behind the stone wall is the ramp down, go ahead and take it!

Here is a nice sub-surface room with a feeling of being down in the Kelethin tree roots. The stones and water tiles are very well done, and just a touch of mist completes the effect! The lighting is also quite well done.
Return to the main entrance room, and take the hidden ramp up. A stone ring occupies this room, again lushly decorated with plants. In the center is a teleport disk – take it to the Tunaria Café and Shrine of Tunare.

Here we are OUTSIDE the house. The illusion that disguises is done via a wall of trees along the ramp – a neat effect. There are a few areas where you can hop out of the ‘house’, but they are well hidden. Wander a couple of minutes, and then we’ll move on!

Rising Sun Spa (#4 Large/Creativity) by Degahr for Vichane: A Maj’Dul Vacation Suite

Here we have a spa built of many interesting woods. I found the use of redwood and ash particularly beautiful, and the use of Sandy Square tiles match the wood well! Note that if you have your sound turned up you can hear the swish of sand on your feet.

Right ahead is a welcome sign, and a sign-in book (non-functional). Note that the Quel’ule book is one of the very few open books you can make. Moving to the left is a small ‘window’ diorama – very attractive!

Continuing down the hall you enter a bar area – be sure to look at the custom picture on the wall! The weapons display across the room is also nicely done!

Continue on down the hall through the massage room until you reach the double doors. There is a hidden teleport pad here, take it to the baths!

Here we have one of the very few functional baths! You can jump into it! Look at the how the tapestry of the steam lords over the mosaic tiles works so well, and the little detail of the control at the back on the bath.

Up around the corner is a small matching bathroom!

Wander a few minutes looking at the detail in this house.

Now we’ll move on to yet another city, go to:

Summer Portal Home (#5 Large/Creativity) by Padeshar: An Everfrost Summer Home

Here we have a lovely use of the Everfrost Summer Home, a frequently overlooked house that actually offers a lot. I found this house amusing because I’m currently working on a house skinned in black marble tiles rather than white. It is striking either way!

A you look ahead, you can see the use of white marble tile and azure stained glass squares. The effect is very nice. This house is intended as a general portal to other homes, and the portal frames add to the overall white & blue effect.

The shadowed stone chandelier gives excellent light for this, making the blues brighter and the whites icy. The flames of hatred at the corners of some of the portal frames achieve the same effect.

Carved Platforms used as steps and door lintels give a interesting character to the rooms. Across from the entrance is a sitting room using the same color scheme. Look at the use of the ornate shadowed bookcases as ornamentation!

A music/altar room and a bath complete the house. Look at the workmanship on the bath, with the griffon head fountains and interlocked mirrors. I also like the use of the wide carved benches as the walls of the bath!

What is also interesting here is there is easily enough room for another set of rooms on top of the ground floor – the rooms are all very high.

Spend a few minutes wandering and checking out some of the construction techniques, and then we’ll head to New Halas!

Now, head to:

Den of Frosty Ale (#14 Large/Creativity) by Kuerden: A New Halas 5-room House

Well, here is one of mine – a fairly old one! So old some of the editing was done by hand and with notepad rather than the layout editor. Little reskinning, but lots of bits and pieces.

This was intended as a roleplaying house with room for parties, and easy access to player amenities. All the broker displays are immediately inside the entrance, as is a bulletin board and mailbox. The alcove under the stairs holds a guild door.

To the left of the entrance is the Den of Frosty Ale, with a wide array of barrels! Passing outside, the use of an Icy Brazier and Stone Candlestick give a nice lighting effect on the Qeynos Claymore.

Downstairs is a carpenter’s shop including a selection of assorted wood sheets (stairs) for carpentry work. Upstairs is a bedroom, Feasting Hall and a shrine.

The shrine is fairly complex to achieve the animation, using a rotated Griffon Fountain for the main effect. The ray effect is an artifact of the rotation. The Shrine sconces are Icy Pedestal Tables.

We’ll now move on to another city! Go to:

Dragons Rest Casino and Saloon (#40 Large/Creativity) by Agameman: An Uncanny Estate

Here is a nicely done Uncanny Estate, lushly decorated with a wide assortment of bric-a-brac! The uncanny estate can easily appear shabby, but here it loses that look with some minimal reskinning and creative lighting.
Go left into the Casino/Saloon. There is a band playing – the Screaming Pink Tacos! Going across the entry hall you come to another gambling room. Note the extensive use of mannequins and plushies throughout the house.

Upstairs, there is a music room, a bedroom, and a casino bank.

Take a few to appreciate just how elaborately this house is decorated. I thought it was a really outstanding effort!

Lady’s Pirate Cove (#11 Large/Creativity) by Ladynightshade: A New Halas Five Room
Forestmoon Manor (#10 Large/Creativity) by Moonpanther: A New Halas Five Room
Optikal's Prismatic Sanctuary (#57 Large/Creativity) by Flamesong for Optikal: A 7-room Acorn
Halas: Port of Entry (#54 Large/Creativity) by Furrene: A New Halas Five Room

Well, that’s about it for tonight! In two weeks we’ll meet again on Saturday to view some Erollisi Day Themed Homes! Be there of be square and have a great evening!

K-