Do you know what happens when I don't get enough sleep?
No, I don't
just get delirious, I also get cravings to do inexplicable things I've never attempted before. On Second Life, I've generally made do with mega-prim platforms made to span the skies and function as a place of work; I have rarely styled and furnished a home of my own to completion, built to primarily to serve as eye candy.
You see where this is going don't you?
Now is as good time as any to give you a head's up that what follows is a fairly long blogpost about my
misguided journey delightful challenge in fashioning myself a home to be proud of. I recommend you take it a little bit at a time - just like your first boyfriend suggested - it is, admittedly, a sizeable amount to absorb.
Just like your first boyfriend lied about.
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{ Part 2 }
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"Baby, I'm ready to go"
Women dominate the Second Life consumer market. They are the target demographic; it is a much accepted truth. Therefore, the ultimate challenge for me was to create a home that exuded a sleek and modern masculine quality but at the same time, didn't deter the peenless by overdoing the dark, sci-fi oriented design style so commonly touted.
My baseline goals were the following:
- It must be immediately evident to a visitor that a peenful lives in this skybox (although a peenless would not feel out of place).
- It must have elements of my real life passions; music, high-tech, reading, video games and pets.
- It must employ use of higher-quality creations where possible for maximising aesthetics.
- It must be primarily my own styling (although, in retrospect, I did ask two people to help me pick my chosen bed out of two potentials).
With the above in mind, I set out on this two-part trek - determination on my face and hand on my wallet.
Just like my first girlfriend. (Oh burrrrn, Judy).
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"It's my life, it's now or never"
Studio Apartment by Abiss. mesh skybox (2x, with mods) - land impact 48 (61 with my mods), L$1,695
The above represents (besides my cluttered thought patterns) the final design I ended up with. As you can see, contrasting light and dark colour schemes, smooth sleek edges and a modern feel were incorporated into my efforts. Initial feedback was positive, so I stuck with the clean lines and splashes of colour.
The skybox shown above is actually two copies of the same Abiss skybox that I modded the living crap out of to join together. With a bit of creativity (a support beam and stairs, minor adjustments to the windows) I was able to make it relatively seamless. This mesh skybox comes in two versions; one without the bookcase for primsaving. The entire side wall (not pictured) has 9 preset texture exterior backgrounds for scenic ambience.
You'll notice later that I chose Abiss furnishings frequently to fill my residence as their design elements matches my vision most.
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"Here we are now; entertain us!"
I had a hard time picking lounge sets for a living room. I found that most couches where either too soft and round or too square and jagged. I needed a median that looked comfortable but fit in with the modern theme of well-defined lines.
I scoured seven different well-established home & garden stores (I shit you not) before I came across something that I totally...well, DIG...
DIGS - Delaney Couch - Taupe - Cuddle [MESH] - land impact 16, L$1,090
DIGS - Delaney Loveseat - Taupe - Cuddle [MESH] - (pictured in overview) land impact 11, L$550
DIGS - Delaney Armchair - Taupe [MESH] - land impact 6, L$350
DIGS - Delaney Coffee Table [MESH] - land impact 4, L$60
BSN Xeo Rug - land impact 1, part of lounge pack - L$1
While no-mod and no-copy, DIGS furniture are breathtakingly well-made mesh especially up-close inworld. I bought the cuddle version of the couch and loveseat instead of the group seat version (distinguished by a maroon/red throw on the side arm that isn't on the group version). They include the XPOSE couples' animations engine that's able to be shut down to reduce script performance issues. The cushions and pillows themselves serve as sit-targets independent of the XPOSE poseball engine; the couch sits three, the loveseat two and the armchair one.
Note: Due to a script malfunction, the XPOSE engine stopped responding and wouldn't restart after a shut down. After exhausting attempts to restart it myself, I dropped the creator, Iris Maskelyne, a notecard clearly detailing my issue. She responded within 6 hrs with a reply notecard and suggested fixes, as well as an offer to reset the product scripts if all else failed. As an FYI you may encounter similar issues with DIGS furniture that are powered by the above engine, but rest assured the customer service is of excellent quality and quick to boot.
NOTsoBAD TV Set - land impact 9, part of furnished house package, L$14,590
Surfside Outfitters GameBox 720 ELITE 120GB System - land impact 16, L$99
Surfside Outfitters GameStation 3 Slim 120GB System - land impact 17, L$99
Durp SNES Game System - land impact 16, L$149
AXL Pro Design speakers - land impact 4 ea. - L$99
Special thanks to Vitt for the entertainment unit (TV, cabinet with electronics and tabletop speakers) that she gifted to me for my skybox. It is
originally part of a NOTsoBAD mansion if you were curious. Vitt's credit card certainly was.
Video games used to be a big part of my life (and I wish it were more so still). As one of my main themes, I decked out my TV with three of my favourite gaming consoles. The "GameBox 720" and "GameStation3" (epiclols) actually come with a single wireless controller each, but the wanton prim usage would have solicited accusations of overindulgence from even the most prim-whorey of you.
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"Ain't no use in complainin' when you got a job to do"
Fortunately, modern office furniture was fairly easy to come by, so I stuck to mostly Abiss, with a sprinkling of Marketplace orders here and there to bring up the electronics and equipment. The goal here was to sport both an office space as well as a casual music production studio so I was able to mix both my affections for music and high-tech gadgetry in a single room.
Abiss interior Office desk LUX - land impact 43, L$700
Abiss Interior Lights - Sen lamp - land impact 11, L$399
Abiss interior - Aria chair Ashed TRANSFER version - land impact 17, L$499
Abiss Spot light - (pictured in overview) land impact 1 ea., L$295
ikon.ELITE Drafting Table + chair - (pictured in overview) land impact 19, L$450
Abiss Trisimo light - (pictured in overview) land impact 13, L$170
This represents the working/business side of my psyche. Guess which seat I'm going to sit in the least in this entire skybox?
ikon.ARMATURE Flat Panel LED Monitor - land impact 18 ea., L$500
ikon.ARMATURE Desktop Mini-Telepromptor - land impact 9, L$400
ikon.ARMATURE Low Profile Digital Deon SLAB Keyboard + Mouse - land impact 6, L$400
Abiss interior Conference Table II - land impact 17, L$300
Abiss interior - Aria chair Black TRANSFER version - (pictured in overview) land impact 17, L$499
Abiss Trisimo light - (pictured in overview) land impact 3, L$110
Although mostly composed of system prims, these monitors and the drafting table caught my attention because I wanted to throw in a little sci-fi geekiness without overdoing black and glow. These items fitted in perfectly. The monitors can be toggled to display in blue or green and the peripherals in blue, green or red. Not that you care. I barely do. #foreveralone
[Stank] iMac (Version 2) - land impact 4, L$149
[Stank] iMac Keyboard - (13-prim version shown) land impact 13, L$99
NOTsoBAD DJ Turntable - FullColor - (set to white) land impact 34, L$650
PIXLIGHTS FACTORY headphones black - land impact 27, L$470
PIXLIGHTS MX-001 speaker+amp black - land impact 26, L$490
PIXLIGHTS FACTORY club speaker - (pictured in overview, partially pictured above) land impact 36, L$156
I originally only had the casual music studio gear in this corner but added the Mac to pay homage to Vitt, who is a misguided an avid Apple user/fangirl - the keyboard contains an 8-prim version and a 13-prim version. It'll stay up until the Copyright infringement elves get me.
I have no idea why I got the hanging speakerbox set; it seems like overkill but I already took the photo, so fuck the king. It also does glow light effects when touched.
I really should delete that.
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"The hills are alive with the sound of music"
Yes. I overindulge in music things like Michael Bay overindulges in dramatic explosions. Shut up.
Abiss Piano black mesh - land impact 11, L$999
Abiss Interior Vase Xena 10 - land impact 2, L$99
Abiss Branches & Twigs - land impact 4, L$150
That piano has 4 different sit targets (singer, pianist, side-stand, sit-next-to) and 9 whole prerecorded songs. It comes in at an astonishingly low 11 land impact too!
Abiss Barcelona Chair black mesh transfer version - (ottoman included) land impact 12, L$450
Abiss Barcelona Chair cream mesh transfer version - (ottoman included) land impact 12, L$450
LISP - Funky Lispette Record Unit + light wood speakers - land impact 30, L$475
The LISP record player seat is a popular addition to many homes, I've noticed. It comes with a choice of separate lightwood or blackwood speaker units as well as a selection of vinyls and posters (not pictured).
{what next} Norwegian Wood Guitar - (decorative only) land impact 5, L$135
Guitar Lab 1prim Stand - land impact 1, L$100
DIGS Guitar Case - Worn- Standing - land impact 18, L$145
DIGS Delaney Rug [MESH] - land impact 10, L$150
WhatTIMEisIT v.10 - land impact 4, L$295
off-brand furniture Love Sofa - TYPE O - land impact 2, L$299
The clock on the wall is my single favourite thing in the entire skybox. There are multiple style options and the whole idea is awesome - I'd buy one in real life if I could afford it. At only 4 land impact and under 300 Linden dollars, this thing is a massive steal.
Both the rug and the bean bag sofa each contain many sitposes, with the bean bag sofa hosting a selection for couple-sits also.
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And so we reach the end of Part 1, comprising the living room area, the office studio and the piano lounge. Thanks for sticking by me; I realise this is a long read. Well, those of you that read the words on top of just scrolling through the pictures, anyway.
Hope to see you soon in Part 2, where I will dutifully cover the kitchen and the upstairs. But don't worry,
I'll call you.
What?
I promise...
