So you understand how this was done -- this is the OTHER entry in this contest with this house called Bocas Belle V4 by Spargel & Shine. I didn't choose it because it was too small and kitschy for me, but it's typical popular SL cuteness. I understand it has its charms.
What I like about what Mari Moonbeam did with this house is that she rescued it from kitsch and cute by putting a stone fence around it. It immediately transported it to another realm. I love her backstory on site, which is about a British civil servant retiring in India. That story of course gives you plenty of scope for old artifacts and antiques and such -- it's why I went with the "gentleman explorer" as well, and it's often a gatcha theme as we know, i.e. from Ex Machina, or sets like the Traveler's set from Ria Bazaar.
Everyone knows I don't like gazebos -- except when I do -- and I agree this project needs one, so this is a very good one in fact. Copper rescues it.
This piece is just a wonder -- HAD TO HAVE! Aetherea Shrine, scattered flowers +Fallen Gods Inc. (decor). Turns out it was made by Alia Baroque (of course!) and was a shrine that was a one-time offering as a group gift in the countdown to Fantasy Faire (it even still has a notecard leading to the web site off FF). I actually was able to get Alia to give me this piece -- but for a donation to RFL of course! And actually he sold me TWO pieces as it is a set with "coming and going" in Latin. I have to find the place for it! Note these paradise flowers. B milevA's 1-Prim Multi 16 Line Bird of Paradise C=. They are old school SL. But I totally get why Mari used them as "paint' for this scene because they're in a row and low-prim and perfect.
BTW Alia turns out to be a rather imposing and even scary dude. Maybe because when I landed, he wasn't all rezzed in yet so I saw him as bare-chested and ALL tats. Way taller even than I am! And he had an AO that involved walking in a circle and swinging his fist and at first I thought he was taking a swipe at me. Alia, if you don't know, makes those have-to-have Faberge-type eggs under the name Libertine. Except Faberge would have been astounded at the possibilities of SL, which of course Alia milks to the hilt. He has three eggs for sale in RFL BTW -- one is an auction which was co-made with Meadowworks.
Having the Indian theme, you can stick in a Moroccan tile fountain like this!
You can also put in a lovely like this!
BTW, be prepared to weep and gnash your teeth at antiques and hunt gifts and such in this installation that you will never be able to get and which even if you pay Mari lots of money she can't give you as they are not on transfer.
A key theme of her house is a sad reason for some of the antiques -- they are made by SL avatars whose real typists have died in RL from cancer. One was Denver Hax, who I recall well, famous for innovative items like the "damsel in distress on the railroad tracks" in Caledon. These are his paperweights. When I went looking for paperweights I could not find any, except one welded with some books, so I made them. These belong to a more refined age of SL when people made things like this...
See what I mean by hunt prizes you will never have? Sob. This is from TLG.
The pith helmut -- perfect for this house, was also made by a person who died in RL.
I love these curtains!
Look at this whole effect! And once inside this house, it isn't as cloyingly cute, this attic is good.
What's wonderful about this scene is that the curry dish - 9 MI Chicken Briyani Set [2 LI] by Karthikeyan Engineer -- is exactly the same shade and pattern as this POME couch! +POME+ Dortchen Sofa in Sunny asian yellow - Hurray!
This is my favourite room. I could try to copy it but I couldn't. Everything is perfection, looking out the window, the couch at an angle, the billowing curtain.
Here's a photo she used from RL Bombay.
I'm so glad Air's wisteria got a viewing, I recently found his stuff in my inventory and kicked myself for not putting it out.
This is zerkalo's tent which is wonderful, and you can forgive the old-school pose balls because the piece is gorgeous, Exclusive Calla Edition Picnic Blanket, by Henredon. Then in the foreground is also likely an impossible-to-get hunt item, Petite Mort- Chrysanthemum parasol, I didn't find it in her store. Also [ zerkalo ] Indian rug shade - Reds.
Scattered flowers -- which I know from RL Indian events is a custom to greet guests.
Here you can see both rooms, and like the house more if the cuteness outside put you off. You could ask: why a rolled-up carpet? Answer: because it adds a line that's different and a balance, but also gives you more of a lived-in sense. They've moved in, and it's still not done. It's summer, and they're changing the rugs.
Look at this old-school SL craftsmanship. MNM - Victorian ship captain's desk by Astolat Dufaux. You just don't find things like this anymore. This was made also by a person who died in RL. It's eerie, and yet wonderful to think that his creativity could live on in this way. Also Object21Mesh Vandelo round table flowrs 5 LI Van deLo and [-BLUE SKY-] Porcelain Vase A size 2 LI Luca Python
This is the sort of fellow who could have lived in the house. Does a country ever recover from colonialism? Not even after 100 years...
Here's Artisan Fantasy's ultrarare collector's chest -- which I also had. Mari keeps it closed -- so you'll open it! I wouldn't have used a photo-put-on book shelf from noctis - [noctis] Double bookcase #2h (glass door) - who has way better pieces but towards the end, you have to count prims and I guess this is a good solution.
