Continuing on the trail of ‘not doing too much’ I decided it was well past time I got back into some decorating. When I moved servers from Kithicor to Antonia Bayle a few characters of mine had to change their names – and when the character transfer tokens were first released there were some bugs that prevented homes from moving completely some times or prevented you from entering a home you owned due to a name change. These issues were sorted out with a simple petition, but the items from the homes were typically dumped into my over flow, which means I had to re-decorate. Not exactly a bad thing, since I love decorating (and at least it wasn’t the size of a complete guild hall).
I started out with my baby warden, who also happens to be a sage and one of my role play characters. She lives in big bend, and has a scribe shop set up there where she can sell books and spells to those who are looking for them. She doesn’t have a very fancy home – just the one room inn, but it’s still amazing what you can do with that space.
Some of my favorite items include the T8 ornate ferrite tables when you expand them to their biggest size. That’s what I’ve used as the ceiling / room corners in the screen shot above, creating little nooks and a smaller ‘house’ within the inn room. The walls are the tinker dividers that were rewards for finding those shiny cogs, and at the front I set up a counter for her sales. Missing from the picture along the right hand side is a small bench and a garden area, and if you walk through to the back of the home that you can see on the right hand side, you’ll find stairs leading upwards, and her little wash area and bedroom are up there, with some indium cage bars used as a railing. Also missing from the picture is a reading area around the corner on the right hand side, a fire place and four book shelves that I can fill with trinkets and nick knacks – the most important part of any house in my opinion.
It’s not the fanciest house I’ve designed (and thank you Hamal for the help, especially with those pesky stairs!) but it was another really fun one to design. It closely resembles the house I designed for my halfing in Baubleshire, which is also a one room inn. The expander that allow you to place 100 extra items within your home are great, though I have not needed one yet in either home. That means I can still place 100 more items without worrying about hitting the limit, something I’m quite proud of. Everyone seems to think that the bigger the home the better – but honestly you don’t NEED to have a 5+ room house in order to make it feel like home, and to decorate it in a creative way.
Speaking of creative, check out this fancy merry go round that someone created for their guild hall, when they gave players the options to turn their unused mounts into house items it was met with much rejoicing by the decorating fans out there, and I can see why.
Once the one room inn was completed (or at least as completed as it is going to get for now) I decided to continue working on Sharatan’s home – that’s the coercer. Her home used to be in a Gorowyn one room (I love not having to decorate a million rooms) but I decided to move her to a two room in East Freeport. So far very little has been done to the home, Hamal helped place stairs for two lofts (one in each room) and I built a cozy library on the first loft in the main room. In the back room I hope to have a garden set up as soon as the 20th rolls around so I can complete more grotto quests, and I haven’t decided yet what else I’d like. Once I get it completed I’ll be sure to post screen shots.
It may not have seemed like a very exciting day in game, but it was a lot of fun and after some stressful events that passed it was also much needed. Decorating is one of those relaxing pass times (though it’s certainly not for everyone) that I just enjoy so much, and I really love the fact that if I don’t want to craft, and I don’t want to adventure, I can just sit back and design something within the game that’s completely personal to me.
Happy gaming, and I’ll see you in Norrath!
Heya Star,
Argh I have 4 houses that I am decorating and the new tinkered walls are pretty cool. So far Paken’s House (SFP) and Winterhavens House (SQ) are done but I still have to rearrange some things. Morrow has just moved to a very cheap house (SQ) and Sandstorm just came back from Exile and is seeing what is his old home (SQ).
So over the next month I will be making sure all these hourse are done up nicely. Paken’s House entrance is pretty well done thou cept for the outside of it.
In 2 weeks my own family (Daughter and I) guild will ding lvl 30 so I will be getting that awesome GUILD HALL. Lots of decorating at the end of the month lol :)
Horrah for decorating.
I never understand the draw of player housing until my most recent return to EQ2. I think reaching a critical mass of housing items has shown me the possibilities for decorating. Tinkerfest was a big help as well. I made a gnome sized alcove with the dividing walls and tinker items in case I get a visitor of reduced size. :)
Hey Stargrace.
What is this expander you mention?
I’m getting to the point with my Neriak inn room where it’s getting really close to the limit. Fortunately books seem to be exempt or I’d already be over. But if there is a way to increase that limit, I’d be very very happy.