My Linden Home Experiment

As you all know, I have not had a permanent home since the disappearance of my favorite Italian villa and somewhat secluded island. I have tried a few different places, but nothing has stuck with me like my former utopia. Ok, so I'm romanticizing the past to extreme proportions, but the place really felt like a virtual home, and I guess 'home' is what I keep searching for. Since I found myself, again, between dwellings, I decided to look into Linden's new house program that provides each premium member with their own 512sq abode.

The program is intriguing. Four different neighborhood types await, and each with a few different houses to choose from. Since the roleplaying/fantasy/mythology thing is not my cup of tea, I will only display the different neighborhoods that I actually considered.

There is the Asian themed neighborhoods and houses. The house details and beautiful trees make this a popular choice. If I had this little experiment to do over again, I think I would have picked one of these.
The only reason I didn't was the lack of windows. The inside seemed very boxed in with no window option. However, after choosing a house with lots of windows, I ironically spent most of my time with the curtains drawn anyway. I will go into further detail about the window issue when I show you the house I chose. The detail inside the Asian homes seemed lovely, and some had a loft which was nice. Overall, a pretty decent one room dwelling.
The woodsy/Adirondack/western/country themed neighborhoods are full of one style - the A-frame, in different colors. In contrast, the neighborhoods seemed too open and the amount of windows was staggering....kind of like living in a fishbowl. I know curtains would be an option, but still, it kind of creeped me out. Plus, the lack of house style variety made me pass over this option pretty quickly.
My final choice rested in the contemporary neighborhoods. The modern feel and angles seemed to limit the openness and the design was something I liked. However, my first huge mistake was choosing a single story dwelling in one of these neighborhoods. I didn't look hard enough to realize that these single story dwellings were quad units.....four houses attached to each other with a small shared courtyard in the middle.
The texture details were very nice, and the customizations were numerous enough to make your dwelling a bit different from the other three. Even the roof texture/color could be altered. This was the unit from the inside as received. As you can see, just one large room, although, some people have added partitioned walls to create separate living areas. The lighting fixtures and fireplace were nice touches. However, note that the prim limit is somewhere around 124....very low, and quickly used up, so you have to really get creative with the low prim furniture. To change the inside and outside features, simply click on the panel just inside the front door.

This brings up customization screens that are html based and connected to the SL account.
This was my attempt at customizing to my liking. I liked the warmth of texture and color tone, and after realizing that the windows looked out onto fairly boring space I customized the windows to include the curtains. Besides, I also noticed that my desire for curtains was suddenly greater when I realized that my neighbors were right on the other side of the wall. If one is going to have such close neighbors, I'd prefer a city highrise apartment, not a quad unit very undynamic in style.

From the title, you know this was an experiment. When I first started, Linden only allowed you the one permanent home with no choice for changing your house. I enjoyed the feature of letting me name my parcel, but I quickly found myself wanting to try out living in the other areas. After being stuck with this little dwelling for several weeks, I found that I hardly used it, and even though the option to change was newly added, I was suddenly questioning my need for a premium membership. If this was it....the stipend, the free boring little house, and preferred customer service....I knew that the money I was spending each quarter could be put to better use with a rental that I really enjoyed.I also happened to notice that my neighbors were not ones to stick around either. I'm suspecting this little Linden experiment is not going very well, or people are flocking to the Asian themed sim. Either way, after a year+ of premium membership, my little house experiment resulted in my pulling the premium plug. Perhaps I'll go back to that level again, but not unless it becomes very appealing. Right now, I like the freedom of renting in places that are creative and beautiful....and my neighbors are not right on top of me.

On a side note, getting rid of this little dwelling was not easy. I had to click on the land and choose "abandon land" to release my house. However, the house is exactly the size of the 512sq parcel. Which means any land around your house is Linden owned, and not yours to abandon. I had to move my camera under my house to find my land parcel in order to abandon it.....kinda tricky, but determination helped me out at that moment.

Many of you may love your new Linden homes, but for me, I think the simple structures crammed next to neighbors are pitiful examples of the creativity possible in SL, especially from its creators! If they continue this option, I hope they re-think the concept and create livable areas that knock my socks off, not bore me to tears.

On to the next dwelling,
Sif

Wrapping Up the Summer in SL New England

So I finally ended my house search by settling for a small cottage in New England. I chose this little place due to the theme purity of this sim complex. As a group of sims dedicated to the New England style, the fully furnished beach houses nestled on little island coves, complete with your own sail boat and pier are refreshing sights to behold. The complex is connected by wonderfully detailed New England villages that encourage wandering about and shopping in the unique little establishments. As a huge fan of theme specific residential areas, the theme intended here is hit spot on with the atmosphere created in New England, Mystic and Nantucket.

Not only are the houses reasonably priced, unique in individual style (no cookie cutter houses here) and quite realistic, but the community on these sims is extremely active in the areas of arts, entertainment, commerce and cultural events. Of all the places I have resided, this is by far the most active and close knit community I have encountered. However, the heavy event activity that takes place is also refreshing in the fact that the event locations (village squares) are very separated from the residential areas. Which means the events are close and part of your community, yet far enough away to still allow habitation in a fair amount of peace and quiet.

I could gush a little more about this series of sims, but it would be better to let you read about some of the unique features and events from the sims' own blog: http://www.slne.net/

Enjoy!

Sif

House Hunting SL Style - Part II

To begin the rental process, you must first find an available house. Some residential sims contain a nice showroom with pictures and rental rates of the available houses in a convenient slideshow sign. Once you have an idea of the house you would like, be sure to teleport there first to tour the home before you commit to the rental. You can pay the rental from the slide show display or directly from a rental box outside of each house. Once you have selected the house you want to rent, simply click on the rental box and pay the amount of advance rent you want to deposit. ***NOTE*** Before you pay this rent, be sure to read all land covenants associated with the parcel. Just like land purchase, rental houses usually have a land covenant that restricts how you build on it. For instance, some places do not allow flags above the houses or anything that could distract from your neighbor's view. Customarily, this covenant is included in a notecard either in the office or as an option in the rental box. If this is not readily available, simply right click on the land parcel and choose "about land". There should then be a tab named "covenant" to give you the details.

Once you have selected your house and paid the rental box, your possession of the place will depend on whether your new landlord is online. If they are not, you will have to wait until they invite you to the group permitted to build. This may take 24 hours, or it may be immediate. Either way, you still need to go shopping, so be patient and enjoy this new adventure in commerce!

If you thought clothes shopping was fun, wait until you get to decorate your new place! A whole new level of fun awaits as there are nearly as many furniture places as there are clothes shops! **NOTE** Make sure you remember your prim allowance for your new place and be sure to look at each item before purchase to ensure you buy the lowest prim furniture you can find. If the item's prim count is not listed in the buy hover box, just right click the item and select "edit" to see the prim count listed in the general tab. Trust me, the prim count can build quickly - so choose wisely! Oh, and no need to purchase TV or radio if you are renting the house, most rental units (not all) include these gadgets already installed in your house and ready to go!

Below I am listing a few of my favorite furniture places...so enjoy! However, some of them are more beach related so I will annotate to help guide you to the shops that will best fit your taste.

Lok's Low Prim Furniture: THE best place for low prim, low price furniture! Huge warehouse of things to choose from for every room in the house! I love the artwork and the rugs available...great selection and nice details for the price....if you need a low prim item to fill a bare corner...try here first...you'll be glad you did!

Eldrich Interiors: Truly the home of low prim/high detail furniture. The sculptie nature of the furniture adds an element of vinyl detail not often found in SL. However, I would only select these if your video card is fairly new. They have a notice at the front about the graphic settings you should use if you purchase these products. My only worry would be having guests adjust their graphics to better see your decor - might be awkward. They are a bit pricey, but the low prim for sectionals is worth the buy....the green couches in the pics below are from Eldrich. Also VERY nice feature: no visible pose balls - the seating is menu driven and offers guests a choice between several different poses!

Shops of Pendragon: I have to draw people's attention to Calavar/Pendragon again. The shops themselves are a bit small in number, but the additional architectural elements available are beautiful! You can choose from ancient designed fountains, columns, fire columns (my favorite), roman art, low prim giant palms in moroccan pots, and ancient design houses that are amazing! Definitely worth the trip!

Idea Home Center: Ultra contemporary furniture, but well designed - not your customary box shapes normally found in contemporary SL furniture places. Also a great place to buy nice memory pieces - structures that allow you to place your own SL or RL pictures inside for a personalized display.

Antique Artistry: I just found this place a couple of weeks ago. Wonderful mixture of high texture antique furniture alongside some contemporary designs. She also sells victorian houses if you're interested. Nice prices too!

K Design Tropical Island Furniture: My absolute favorite beach furniture stop! The prims can be a bit high, but the prices are great and the details are wonderful! The beautiful turquoise tent-like structures and gathering places are stunning and are perfect beach ensembles! Almost all of the patio furniture seen in my pics below came from K Design....gorgeous stuff!

Tiki Beach: Next to K Design, this is my other favorite place for beach furniture. This place is actually bigger and includes wooden piers as well as other landscaping items. Prims can be a bit high, and the pricing is decent, but the variety can't be beat...you will enjoy spending an afternoon here!

Organized Confusion: Very charming little place with loads of furniture that has a high level of detail. Both indoor and outdoor furniture is available. Some of the styles include primitive french country which is popular in RL....very rare to see in SL. Prices are reasonable and prims are decent. Definitely worth the visit!

Well, here I am in my new place....fully decorated....but, I didn't stay there long. I stayed for about a week until one of the units that faced the bay opened up and I snatched it before someone else could come along. As you can see, it had a better view and was relatively the same rental price. BUT, as I had mentioned in my previous post, close neighbors can expose you to public displays of affection - sometimes in the extreme - so I only stayed about a month until I yearned for a more intimate setting to bring colleagues....and perhaps to provide more room for dancing :-) So stay tuned for Part III as I explore an alternative adventure in residential experimentation: land rental and house purchase!

So, until next time, here's Sifriya, soaking up the sun and reading, naturally!

House Hunting SL Style - Part I

The thought of securing a residence for my avatar was at one time extremely laughable in my opinion. I already belonged to a business location and was considered a "resident" of this island which allowed me to select it as my "home" location. It was a very nice, large and safe environment complete with large sandbox for unpacking and changing clothes. Once SL was shut down, my avatar no longer existed and therefore had no need for a bed and jammies to pass the time while I took care of RL business.

Two things changed my mind about this concept:

1. Our large open sandbox was so open, that my poor avatar had no privacy, and in the middle of a wardrobe switch, she was frequently surprised by curious visitors....yes I know it's not real, but let's be honest, some of the avatar shapes and skins are rather realistic and it's just disconcerting to be surprised by male avatars just standing there not saying a word and enjoying the view. Sometimes the curiosity bordered on griefing since these observers were usually newbies and could not control their directions or flying....quite annoying.

2. While attending a volunteer meeting, one of the participants invited us to her SL home to make the group meeting a bit more private. Wow. The place was beautiful and our meeting had a nicer flow in this relaxed and spacious atmosphere.

These experiences got me thinking about what was necessary to own a piece of the grid.

Ok, so after exploring Linden's explanation about owning a small 512 sqm piece of land as allowed under the premium account (which involved about $10 per month), and after reading the tier scheme that applied to any parcel larger than your allowed 512 sqm, my eyes began to cross and I was disenchanted with the permanency of such a commitment based purchase.

Instead, I did a search for rental since I knew that commercial booths could be rented, and mixed among the results were house rentals available. The choices were amazing...any type of environment complete with any size house could be rented. Some homes were furnished some were not. Here is a breakdown of what I found:

A handy little store dedicated to rentals available: The Rental Directory

I loved this place. It was an easy way to view the different types of land/houses available to narrow down what type of atmosphere you would most enjoy. Some of the ads also included pricing samples to give you a price range - not many of these, but enough to get you started.

Pricing for house rentals are per week based. When you first see the price per week, it can be a bit of sticker shock, especially when you see the size of house per price level. Each house also has a prim limit - the maximum number of primitives your furniture can total while residing in the dwelling. If you rent a pre-furnished place, your prim limit would be very low; If unfurnished, usually very reasonable.

On this outing I decided to focus on beachfront property. It is summer afterall, and I've been very impressed by some of the tropical setting sims. If done right, they can be gorgeous. What I mean by "done right" is a tropical sim that doesn't look like a large square sim divided by canals into smaller sand box shapes. Granted, if it is land you rent or buy in this fashion, you may have the option to edit the terrain. If not, or if the house is a rental, your only option to change the look of the surroundings is to disguise your plot's rectangle with strategic landscaping.

Above all, shop around....take your time. One thing I also came to value as I looked at the possible rentals was the presence or lack of a group social area. Several places included the use of community areas along with the rental. This feature can be very nice for entertaining or as a way to make new friends out of your neighbors!

Ok, so I finally chose a place to call my own (for awhile). I decided on Kaia Estates run by a very nice landlord Meggie DeCosta. Meggie has other residential sims to choose from and I think you will like the detail she includes in these estates.

I didn't want to spend a whole lot, and for the price, Kaia is quite nice! The little tropical port with free use of the estate provided boats and jetskis is charming. Very appealing for visitors and comes complete with social gathering places such as a Starbucks and a wine room. There are even satellite shops of some of your favorite places, such as UK Couture, right there near your residence...very handy.

Besides the port, group membership also includes...

the use of a pirate lagoon, complete with pirate ship and diving actions....

a romantic lighthouse area set towards the sunrise....

the ruins of an ancient underwater city, complete with colorful fish....

a private cove with free use of the yacht....
a middle eastern inspired pagoda and lounge area for meetings or get togethers....
a roman/greek ruin with dance floor.....
a zen garden.....
and houses for rent that fit both the tropical taste and the forested seaside.
One really great thing about this sim is the natural placement of the houses on land that was designed in a more natural formation. No square plots here, the natural waterways (free to use with your boat) with little surprises such as fire pits and gazebos, make this place a cut above the rest.

I found a cute little place for L$600 per week on one of the inlets....basic in design, and looks small when first viewed. But inside, the houses are quite spacious and the simple shape allows for ultimate view of the scenery since two major walls are windows. BTW, Meggie just announced that she is lowering the price by L$50 on all units!
One note about choosing your place....take a look at the rating of the area. Kaia is mature, which doesn't mean a whole lot since they don't advocate pdas, but I have walked out onto my deck to scan the lovely horizon and inadvertently come across my neighbors out on their deck going at it like rabbits....so if you don't want to be at risk of such a blinding experience, pick a house with neighbors a bit farther away, or look for PG rated residential areas.

Stay tuned for my next segment about the rental process....and shopping for furniture!