2014 Decorating Panel - share *your* creations!

UPDATE: Read this post!

At SOE Live Jazabelle, Afista, Lera and I will be on the Hardcore Decorating: Tips and Tricks panel. This year's emphasis is on smaller creations or simple structural builds that can be done without the layout editor.

We were thinking about showing a slideshow of Norrathian Homeshow creations while taking questions at the end! I can't promise we will show yours (timing is always a factor) but we'd love to try and include any for those that are interested.

Post a link to, or the screenshot, of your creation. Proper widescreen resolution would display the best (such as 1920x1080), but use whatever you got. We'd prefer pictures of things built without the layout editor (I bet someone has an older aquarium picture out there!), so please note if you used layout editor so we could put a tiny note on it so that the attendees are aware.

Also let us know what character and server name you'd like the picture credited to!

I don't know if it qualifies, but my dragon (image link) was done without the layout editor, except to tidy up the center blocks and half blocks that make up the body. From there, everything else was freehand and involved floating many rugs.

Here are a few screenies of what I've done without the layout editor: Moonpanther on the AB server. Member of Homes and Tomes.

I use the layout editor for turning things on their sides and minor tweaks and adjustments, so anything I've done without the editor was done years ago.

This was a house I did for my arasai defiler, before they added that horribly bright light to the pristine single candles. If I tried to make this house now, it would shine brighter than the sun and be terribly laggy. I really wish they'd give us two versions of that candle, one as a light source and one not. (That defiler is now a mystic.)








And this is one I did for my halfling ranger. As you can tell, both this house and the one above were done before they added the extra room.






Believe it or not, these parts of my tavern (The Training Room) were done before layout editing and received very minor updates afterwards.





(Originally, there was a watery platform at the bottom of the shower, but I traded it out for a watery tile when we got those.)



And this part of my Maj'Dul house was also done just before I found out that layout editing was actually a thing I could do.






Only two of these houses still exist today. I don't know if they'll help with your panel, but I wish you luck.

Awesome pictures so far! Can't wait to see more and yes, anything would help--we're all creative in our own ways and we'd love to show panel goers that as well.

Here's one of the things I plan on showing a how-to-do at the panel (we want to make everything we show/discuss available afterward as well for those that can't go):

Well, all the stuff I posted is doable on the fly. (Even the stuff I do now can be done using just the tools we have in game.)

For the paintings that I used as trim, you'd have to kind of angle your camera in funny ways. I used to line everything up as perfectly as I could get it by using the edge of a long carpet and a bookshelf. Of course, I also remember the days of decorating when we couldn't resize furniture, and to raise or lower something on the z axis, you had to stack tables on top of each other until you got the right height.

Decorating's come a long ways since then.

Me too, and yeah, I agree. ;->

One thing that helped me immeasurably was the Notepad editing method, basically, literally, just a way of placing things "by the numbers." Essentially these are the same numbers used by the Layout Editor, so I'm not sure if that's "cheating" or not, but since it does involve a lot of futzing, I usually just use the old ways and occasionally the in-game editing tool (which I'm still getting used to, and won't use for really tiny increments), but I like to think I still get decent results...of course, I didn't come prepared with pics, so I'll either have to post again or edit this. ;->

Uwk

Nice but may I ask a favor : if ye folks attend SOELive, then someone plz mention 'rotate-by-degree' and 'xyz axis moovement mode'

(And like the above poster, certain actions ye can only do at certain camera angles it's annoying... )

Some pictures! All done with either the in-game tool or Notepad, since I don't have the Layout Editor at all...

House: Lower Tenements, Gorowyn (or whatever the 2-room is called); unpublished, but Visitor access for merchant crates
Owner: Gignere
Server: Splitpaw

This first set is very much from a WIP, but the trickiest thing has been the ceiling dome in the first room...I know it'll look better with more tiles than 9 involved (and more scenery placed), but so far, this is how it looks:


Another scene; eventually I'll cover the Gorowyn bubble window with a Goahmari Meditation Pit to be a "sun" (and probably increase the light level by a considerable amount!); you can see the dome edge at the top there, and the other tiles will be used to fill in the gaps:


A third shot from this room is what will eventually become a "pyramid" that the mighty river I'll be placing here will flow towards; the floating tiles indicate where the minimum height of the river will start:


Another set of pics:

House: Pek's Place, Manors of Erollisi, New Halas (not Published; most of these aren't, but have Visitor access for shopping)
Owner: Peklochlapec
Server: Crushbone

I'm especially proud of just the little bit of Frostfell Snowglobe up there in the round window. We could raise and lower things by that point in the game using the mouse wheel, but trying to get a good angle to place it properly in the windowsill was still problematic, so I did that "make scaffolds using bookcases, etc." bit until I could get up there and eyeball it "in person." Still needed a Maple Shelf to give it a proper base.


This is the outside view, from the balcony (more on how I got up there in the first place to come!):


How I got up there:


Another view, from the top (complete with Pek himself!):

This was another "old school" project, where I placed each of these shelf "stairs" by hand against Ye Olde Room Divider (the types with the frames) at the height desired, then moved the divider back, placed another shelf slightly higher, lather, rinse, repeat. I will admit to "tidying up" the look a bit using Notepad.

An entry table, complete with Frostfell goblets...I call them that because they're literally made of Frostfell Baubles and Bells. ;->


I think at this point I'd best have another entry page, just in case the forum server freaks out at the amount of pictures, words, pixels, whatever concerns it. ;->

Uwk

More pictures! ;->

As you may have surmised, most of my "creative" stuff is in the little things, rather than entire houses and/or their interior decorating. I've yet to build an entire one from scratch, and am currently debating which prestige land to place any in. ;->

But I digress...

House: Uwk's Magical Mystery Tou-- (6-room Magical Manor, New Halas; unpublished/Visitor access for shopping)
Owner: Uwkete
Server: Crushbone

Many folks have probably "feasted" their eyes on this li'l number from way back when; here it is again in all its unashamed glory, complete with new urinal, in its new location:

I apologize for the dim lighting, but yeah, that's a Troll Chair, a Lucanic Vase of Enmity, yet another copy of A Frostfell Carol (actually for reading material, but no one will cry if something happens to it), a warmed roll of paper on the wall, sand on the floor just in case, etc.; not easy to stuff all that inside a Pristine Ironwood Closet! It also has a working door on the outside now, since it's chilly out on the balcony...a Freeport door. ;->

Again, the light's a bit dim, but you should be able to make out the glasses, the wand, the spell book, etc. in the Li'l Human Wizard's Room Under the Stairs (complete with saga to read about it, should anyone drop by to visit):



This one is from a house that keeps getting voted into the Hall of Fame, interestingly enough; it feels sort of cramped and unfinished to me, and I keep meaning to either unload everything from the Moving Crate, finally, and/or at least put in a proper floor covering in the first room here, but whenever I do, I get the willies about unpublishing enough to do so...it's as close as I've really gotten so far to "redoing" an existing place. ;->

House: Tanks for the Memories, Hall of Fame (4-room house, New Halas)
Owner: Abrahm
Server: Test

The spiral staircase in the back is what I'd like folks' attention drawn to, as far as placing tricky things; all the rest were really easy with just the ol' raise/lower bit (well, okay, the Ice tiles making up the corridor between the two tanks was sort of tricky, and still has issues, but I'm not sure the Layout Editor could help with that :-/):

The staircase sorta kinda works, after a fashion, but that's what tempts me the most to get the Layout Editor so I can do it up properly. :-/

Speaking of tanks...

House: Manors of Erollisi, New Halas (I think there might be Visitor access, but I'll have to double-check; just moved in ;->)
Owner: Anuma
Server: Test

Nothing really fancy here, just using the space under the stairs as one of the bathrooms for this family of 5 (well, that's what it says in his bio, and I've got 4 more characters in a Silver account that play the roles). Actually used the in-game editing tool for the grand majority of this:

The idea is that the hot water heater set-up here provides not only for this bath, but also for the rest of the house's needs. And interestingly enough, this is, so far, the first room that's been completed. My dozens of alts are more relaxed now that I'm focusing on truly important rooms first these days, as opposed to when Uwk was the only one with a "bathroom" of any sort at all. ;->

Uwk

Most of mine can be found by following my link in my signature. I don't expect any of mine to be included, but maybe someone will get some inspiration to decorate and build without using editor.
I have never used editor or the notebook method. Just want sliders for back/forth and left/right.

All the images listed here are awesome, and it's great for the decorating community to compose it for soe live. Can't wait to the videos.

Me too!

here's mine

name: Justinalyn

location: 2 Lucie street in South Qeynos

server: Guk

no layout editor used in this house and it's was published in February 2013 before they made a button that you can flip objects.

living room


guinea pig cage


custom kitchen


cat or dog food bowls


microwave


dishwasher and blender



custom back porch


swing set


garden light


ceiling fans






Landry room


litter box


matching dresser with mirror

guitar stand




custom closet


bathroom

hope you guys take pics or record of the panel show, I would like to see.

Yes, yes! Much love for Tenchi! I <3 her so much I <4 her!

And I didn't think I'd be able to contribute anything more recent than 4 years ago, but as luck would have it, I just finished a small house for my Tinker Land board game using nothing but the in-game tools and hand placement (and it was a real pita). I had to do it by hand to achieve that crooked effect I wanted. Come to think of it, nearly the entire game board had to be done by hand.

Bogllily's Tenebrous Isle, Qeynos
Antonia Bayle

Even though the game board's not finished, I opened up the house to visitors in case you needed to actually see it at your panel. This is the Crooked Old Rusty Metal House (Crooked Old Peanut Brittle House).

Oh, gods, yeah, I remember Tenchi's stuff there! It's like all the really cool make-stuff-out-of-other-stuff masterpieces of hers were together in one place (until she showed off her other houses, of course ;->)! She's deservedly quite proud of it, I hope!

Uwk

Awesome! Love all the variety here. You guys rock!

Confession time: I totally have some of Tenchi, Sapphy, and Cheribomb's images saved in my inspiration file aea. When I first began decorating you three were my 'teachers' even though you had no clue of that. I walked through your homes, studying them, pondering, and having loads of aha! type moments. So thank you for all the sharing of images and open houses you three provide.

May your walls always meet smoothly and your floors have no flicker,
Ava

Sigh, my floors often have too much flicker; comes from a bad habit of not getting enough tiles. :-/

Uwk
who really wishes we had recipes for some a lot of those

Hey everyone, I'm going to include what I can through this coming Sunday, and after that I'll be too busy getting ready to leave town. Thanks again for the submissions so far and hope to see lots more by Sunday!

Santa Glug's pub - no layout editor and done with the smallest New Halas house (1 bedroom?). It's on Freeport and Zhaanish the name you can use if you show it.