With the new forums, a lot of my old (and older) decoration posts have vanished. I decided that, rather than flooding you with a lot of image-heavy posts, I'd just describe each house and post one main picture with a link to the album containing all the pictures for that house. Descriptions for each of the rooms are written in the linked album. I used this as an opportunity to revisit some of my homes and either move them or remodel them. Some of them have been drastically altered, and some were changed very minimally. As I finish a new house, I'll add it to this thread. First up is one that I haven't redone, though I'm certain it has been redone by someone. I kept meaning to help them update the hall, but I just never had the time. The Discipleship's Guild HallMedium-Sized Guild Hall, FreeportAntonia BayleI did this hall when guild halls were new and before layout editing was even a concept, so this is an old design. (This is probably evident by the size and quality of the screenshots.) I contributed a lot of plat towards the hall's purchase, which was also before having hundreds of plat was unheard of. Since this time, the guild hall went through a few changes here and there that weren't made by me. If you visit, and you notice it doesn't look the same, please remember that the hall changed as people added things to it.Bellflower's Enchanted ForestAerie Kolmas, KelethinAntonia BayleYou will find this house on the Housing Leaderboard doohickey under large houses. I did this when layout editing was first released. A friend donated a druid ring for this project. I was learning how to use the editor as I built this house. I revised a couple of rooms, but the rest is untouched. I thought about redoing the walls of the main house with tall and narrow divers to remove the trim of the old room dividers, but this house is literally 1 slot from being full. There's no more room to revise the main house.Suyin's Maj'Dul Retreatnear the Court of Blades, Maj'DulAntonia BayleYou will find this house on the Housing Leaderboard doohickey under large houses. This was the second project I did after layout editing came to be. This house was originally just three rooms, but EQ2 expanded the house size. I loved the patio, and I wished I could break out, but I had no more teleport pads and couldn't buy any. I discovered that I could break out the house without a pad but running around Maj'Dul proved dangerous, especially around the stairs. instead, I built up to her roof and screened the giant black hole behind her house with plants.And that would be the end of my old houses redone. I am working on others, and I will start posting my new houses in the next post.
And here begins the new houses... Merribell's Magical ManorConcordium Tower, QeynosAntonia Bayle You can find this house on the Housing Leaderboard doohickey under large houses. Merribell is a little arasai (in four different versions: warlock, necromancer, coercer, inquisitor) that looks like a flying waterlily. She may look pretty and act friendly, but she's evil to the bone. I had a lot of fun with house, especially in trying to make some parts look neglected and other parts look well cared for. The glasshouse maze was originally built in a one-bedroom house in Neriak with teak bookcases. When vampiric mirrors first appeared in the game, I was so excited to have a glasshouse maze. Unfortunately, they were no-trade, so Axxon helped me farm as many as we could before the event ended. When SOE added an extra room to the houses, it changed the dynamics of the original maze, and I never completed the house. Years later, I decided to move the maze to Merribell's house. Because the room was shaped differently, I had to tweak the maze a bit. Suyin's Romantic HideawayPersonal Dojo, FreeportAntonia Bayle You can find this house on the Housing Leaderboard doohickey under small houses. Suyin does have a soft romantic side. She doesn't show it, but it's there. I had a ton of fun with this house. I started it the night before last by lining the walls, floor and ceiling, and I finished it early this morning with furniture and plants. The Erollisi Day furniture pack is an awesome deal. I calculated the cost to buy each of the packs in there (with sale prices factored) and it would have cost me 5,510 station cash to buy the packs and other extras included in there. To find it all together for so so much less thrilled me. I bought it, put the gold marble on Suyin's boat, and used the Castellum in her dojo. The kitchen was especially fun to do because I experimented with different ways to use the Castellum furniture, such as using the office chair to make a stove and the dining chairs to make cabinet doors.
Evidently, the links to my houses were inadvertently removed when it changed to give the option to resize the images. There's a timeout limit on editing a post. *eyes the community managers* That's just silly. To keep the hyperlinks from mysteriously vanishing again, I've posted the direct links here. So there are the links... The Discipleship's Guild Hall http://imgur.com/a/7bsmi#0 Bellflower's Enchanted Forest http://imgur.com/a/O8Kzx#0 Suyin's Maj'Dul Retreat http://imgur.com/a/WdE1h#0 Merribell's Magical Manor http://imgur.com/a/Sm7lC#0 Suyin's Romantic Hideaway http://imgur.com/a/oW80v#0
An update (since I can't edit the original post with the location)... Merribell's Magical Manor has been moved from "Large Homes" on the Housing Leaderboard doohickey to "Hall of Fame." It certainly surprised me.
The Tiger's FistSuyin's Galleon of Dreams, FreeportAntonia Bayle You can find this house on the Housing Leaderboards doohickey under medium houses. When I started this, I had planned to cover all the old wood on the boat with sumac tiles on the inside and ash tiles on the outside, but the boat had other ideas. I had thought the dojo was the buggiest house I'd ever decorated. I was wrong. This house was so buggy that there were surfaces that refused to be tiled or even decorated. There were spaces inside the boat where I couldn't put any furniture because the house would eat it. That posed a challenge. An avid decorator will appreciate the tremendous amount of painstaking work this was, but I don't know if a casual decorator will recognize just how much went into this boat. It looks like a very simple, plain boat with not a whole lot to see... So to help explain, I've linked the house count into the album, taken after I finished paneling and before I started decorating. For just the paneling, I used 489 separate pieces of tiles. They had to be tilted at varying degrees of .8°, 2.5°, and 3° to cover the surface correctly. To figure out the exact degree was a lot of trial and error. Tiling that worked on the port side of the boat did not work the same way on the starboard side, and so it had to be changed and altered in the new space without the house eating it up. I discovered that some places could not be tiled at all. That was pretty aggravating. I think I gave up three times when I was tiling. I do know that lots of colorful language was involved. album link: http://imgur.com/a/3yyrl#0
Mehryl's Animal ReserveVale of Halfpint Delight, QeynosAntonia Bayle I had actually started on this house when I fist came back in January, and I decorated a big chunk of it before I found myself at a standstill. I couldn't finish parts of it until I got the faction, recipes, and level to make some of the items I wanted. By the time I got all that, I found I needed plants for Mehryl's turnip tops, so I had to wait for the druid grotto event. During all that waiting, I worked on Suyin's boat, which was the first truly new project I'd taken on since returning. I finally placed the last turnip top today... which makes Mehryl's island sanctuary the second truly new project to be completed since I returned. (Merribell's Manor and Suyin's Dojo were both projects I'd started long ago and left half-finished.) After this, I have two more old projects that are still half finished and a commission. A few words... Like Suyin's boat, Mehryl's island just didn't look quite right without some adjustments to the basic appearance. I wound up using half her item count on plants: trees, grasses, herbs tucked into the corners of rocks, etc. Most of them are subtle touches here and there, but it was a whole lot of plants. Thank you, devs, for giving us plants we could gather for free! album link: http://imgur.com/a/DJE5h#0
Updates (since I can't edit the original post with the location)... Suyin's Romantic Hideaway has been moved from "Small Houses" on the Housing Leaderboard doohickey to "Hall of Fame." Mehryl's Animal Reserve can now be found on the Housing Leaderboard under medium houses.
Suyin's House of PortalsMistmoore Crags Estate, FreeportAntonia Bayle Server This is a house that I actually began a long long time ago. Then I stopped decorating it. A few months later, I'd start decorating again and then stop. Rinse and repeat. Basically, this house is a long LONG time coming. I like to collect portal objects. I'm not talking portal doors to other houses, but actual in-game portal objects that teleport you to various places around Norrath. This project began as a house to display all the portals I've collected over the years, but then it morphed into a central travel hub, with a portal to the hub placed in each and every one of my houses. Using an idea I blatantly stole from Neversea, I set up a warehouse for all my extra unused furniture using prestige houses from my various alts. Instead of classifying things by events (because I can never remember which event had which kind of tile or plant.), I organized it by furniture type. Just as I thought I was finished with the project, I was promoted from Amaury's "assistant quartermaster" to assume all the duties of the actual quartermaster. Unfortunately, the way our guild hall was designed, there really wasn't an office space for Suyin to personalize. The "office" that the officers are supposed to share is a blank nondescript room with a group of empty desks. I think the original plan had been to allow each officer to decorate their own little space? It certainly would have encouraged guild members to use the guild hall more often, but that never happened. Unfortunately, the problem couldn't be fixed. There's just no space left in the guild's hall for more furniture, so I built a quartermaster's office in Suyin's travel hub. With permission from my guild leaders, I placed a portal to the hub in the guild's hall. I kept Amaury as Quartermaster in the office I designed because *whispers* I'm kind of hoping he'll come back. Now, Suyin's portal house is pulling quadruple duty: a travel hub for myself and my guildmates, a housing display, a warehouse, and an office. This house is not posted on the Housing Leaderboard doohickey because we cannot add things to our houses once we've published them. There will most likely be new portal objects in the future, and there's the possibility of houses to add to my housing portal room. As a result, this is one of those projects that will never truly be "finished." However, I welcome you to come visit or leave a comment below! If you're an evil, just head to South Freeport. If you're a goodie, head to the large guild hall in Antonica and visit "Moonshadows." You'll find a portal to the travel hub across from the guild's bank. album link: http://imgur.com/a/hWRO8#0
Updates! Because who doesn't love updates? Suyin's Maj'Dul Retreat and Bellflower's Enchanted Forest have both been moved from "large homes" on the housing leaderboard doohickey to "Hall of Fame." Suyin's House of Portals is undergoing renovations. The quartermaster's office that was once inside her private home has been moved to her guild's hall, and that space is now being re-purposed with another project. I will post the updates when they are finished. The Quartermaster's OfficeMoonshadow's Tier 3 Antonican Guild HallAntonia Bayle I never thought I would actually have an office inside my guild's hall. After all, the original quartermaster never had one there either. With the limitations of decorating at the time that the hall was decorated, there was just no space to put it. The item count was literally 4 slots away from being completely full. Well, Neversea, being the awesome person she is, began redoing and updating the hall and found the space for the quartermaster's office. I told her that all I would need was a corner and 20 item slots. She gave me an entire room and twice the slots. Actually, she told me I could use more than that, but just don't go hog wild. I tried to use no more than what I felt would complete the space. She even flipped a draconic stage upside-down on the floor for me because I loved the dark grey tiles so much. So without further ado... The Quartermaster's Office! album link: http://imgur.com/a/jqdQP#0 Now, while all this was going on, I had offered to decorate a home for my guild leader who mentioned that she really wanted it done so Euryale would have something to show for all her family's RP wealth and status. It took a little longer to finish than I'd anticipated, but that was only because I had to wait for the Nerian City Festival to buy tiles. Euryale's Formal HouseEurryale's 3 Walk of the Dead, NeriakAntonia Bayle I don't know if Euryale plans to put this on the housing leaderboard or not. When she first told me about the project, she mentioned that she wanted it to be in the style of a Grecian villa. She shared with me a link to the layout of such a villa and felt that the Nerian homes lent themselves well to the style. She was right; they do. So off I went to do some research, study pictures and determine what kinds of furniture I'd need to get the desired effect. Since her family colors are dark blue & silver, I knew that I wanted to make the foyer all about her family's wealth and affluence and those two colors. To me, a foyer should go BAM! I'm in your face. Notice me! From there, I designed her formal areas and then moved upstairs for the informal areas. I hope I got the effect she wanted. As a side note, you'll notice bare walls and empty surfaces. This is uncharacteristic of me as I tend to love including little details that make a space look lived in, but when I design a home for someone else, I like to leave out those little touches and let the customer add them. To me, it allows them to personalize the space to their own tastes. I just go in and set everything up. Then they can add their own paintings and knicknacks. album link:http://imgur.com/a/L5bRs#0
Suyin's House of Portals - The Meditation RoomMistmoore Crags Estate, FreeportAntonia Bayle Server When I started this house years ago, it was originally just intended to be a place for my portal objects to be displayed. It then evolved to house my prestige housing portals, my warehouse for extra furniture, and an office for my guild's quartermaster. Thanks to Neversea's hard work, the quartermaster's office is out of my house and in the guild's hall where it belongs. I then re-purposed the space to become a meditation garden for Suyin. It's a place for her to relax when she gets ticked off. Suyin, however, is not know for her patience, just her enormous amount of self-control. This means that she'll be using this room often. Hehe. As there will most likely be new portals added to the house, this house will not be posted on the Housing Leaderboard doohickey, but it is open for visitors. A portal to this house has been placed in all of my houses that I've decorated, so traveling around from place to place is relatively easy. album link: http://imgur.com/a/DA4RO#0
Eightysix's Void LabDimensional Pocket, FreeportAntonia Bayle Server I was commissioned to do this house by a guild mate named 86. 86 is not a ratonga. He's a lab experiment, a very small lab experiment, so his interests are a little odd. He asked only for a soul catcher, and that's what I began building. Then I got a little carried away and built him an entire observatory. Next on his list? A dock for his void ship, so I built that as well. Then he asked for an actual void ship. If you give a mouse a cookie... The only problem with this home is that it only has 400 furniture slots. This place is HUGE! It has five different platforms to decorate. Why only 400 slots? So with expanders, we got it up to 700 slots, and I filled all but 62 of those slots. The last 62 slots are for 86 to personalize. album link: http://imgur.com/a/OEGoI#0
Wow! You've done a lot of beautiful decorating. Thanks for posting the links. I'm still pretty sad about losing our old forum. Ever since, I've felt like so much of our history was just erased, poof, gone, so it's nice to see posts where people have created wormholes into the past.
Thank you for the compliment! I was indeed very sad about the lost posts. I tried finding them but couldn't because the search feature doesn't work in the archives. I had more homes that I've done that were in there, including some of the earliest mazes, waterfalls, fireplaces, and shojo screens. Even though they were older and done before layout editing and cool new furniture, I still thought they were very pretty. I also don't like how we can't edit our posts on these new forums. If I have an update, or a link breaks, I can't go back to the post it was in to fix it. I have to make a new post with the new information. That blows... big time. Now that my two commissions are done, I'll be redoing the Tiger's Fist. Another decorator gave me a tip about doubling tiles in spots where they tend to vanish, so I'm about to try it. If it works, then every part of the boat that I want paneled with plain ash will be paneled. Cross your fingers!
Updates! Suyin's Romantic Hideaway is back in the "Small Homes" section because there was a glitch that was driving me nuts. I unpublished the house to fix the glitch and republished it. Those who visit the Quartermaster's office in the Moonshadows guild hall will find it guarded by Agents Stark and Rogers. Apparently, Torryn decided her office needed guards. He should have given me Agent Banner. He's infinitely sexier than Stark or Rogers. The Tiger's Fist is finished! Again. The doubling tiles trick worked on almost every surface except the two that I wanted to tile the most. I decided that not many would be looking at those two surfaces anyway and left them as is. The inside remained pretty much as it was with the exception of adding 9 of my crafters' tradeskill apprentices to the ship. The only part that changed was the outside of the boat. Rather than creating a new album for the revamped ship, I just updated the old album.
While working on a memorial garden, a decorator friend and I got to talking, She told me that one of my houses was used in Domino's video and told me which house it was. I was all like, "No way. I finished that house after she left the EQ2 team." She found the link and sent it to me. Sure enough, my house is in a music video! I... am so incredibly flattered (and "completely stoked," as my son would say). Be sure to like on the video. The ending is hilarious.
Tyta's House3 Integrity Rd, FreeportAntonia Bayle Server Tyta asked me to do a fireplace for her house. I was nearly finished with the fireplace when she also asked me to build her a small personal bar. Everything else in the house was done by her, but here are the images of her custom-built fireplace and bar. album link: http://imgur.com/a/R4Z0n#0
Updates! Suyin's Romantic Hideaway is back in the Hall of Fame, and I now have a 2nd trophy for it that I'm not sure what to do with. I'm sure I'll think of something. The Tiger's Fist has been moved from "Medium Homes" on the Housing Leaderboard doohickey to Hall of Fame. As an aside, and something the devs will hopefully consider... It's a shame we don't have a little box on the publisher tool where we can enter the name of the decorator who did that house. Perhaps a field underneath the title of the house? It would make searching for other houses that decorator's done a lot easier.
The Garden of Hope - Mistmoore CragsGardenofhope's Mistmoore Crags Estate, QeynosAntonia Bayle In game, a guildmate asked about the indoor pool in our Garden of Lost Souls. We explained to her that the pool was a gift to honor a player who died four years ago. After the conversation, Neversea approached me to ask if I would decorate one of the Gardens of Hope for Jen. The Gardens of Hope are a multi-decorator project that encompasses several homes. She told me to pick one of the houses, and I told her that I would be honored to do so. I chose the Mistmoore Crags estate. I first met DJench'la on the Venekor (RP/PvP) server, where I played a wood elf druid named Shikaeshi. When I transferred to the Antonia Bayle server, Jen was there to welcome me with open arms. I shall never forget running around with her arasai, Ysobella, the schemes our winged mischief-makers made to create trouble around the Discipleship's guild hall, or swapping fairy costume ideas on the Raven Mythic website for Halloween. She was an inspiring woman who always brought out the best in people album link: http://imgur.com/a/NqvBp#0
House Gevaudan's Throne RoomChrysanthe's Secluded Sanctum, FreeportAntonia Bayle Chrysanthe asked me to decorate her throne room for House Gevaudan, and I had never decorated a Secluded Sanctum before. Of course, I told her I'd do it! Off I went to do some research on throne rooms, and I walked away from that research a little less than impressed. Throne rooms were basically big empty rooms with fancy trim and floors and big chair or two on one side, sitting on a dias. Kind of underwhelming, isn't it? After five different versions of the entry way, I finally settled on a city park theme. Yeah, sure. House Gevaudan are vampires, and the house has no natural lighting or windows, but they're getting a garden anyway! album link: http://imgur.com/a/6NQJt#0
Oh, and an update! Mehryl's Animal Reserve has been moved from "Medium Homes" on the Housing Leaderboard doohickey to "Hall of Fame."
