Your home in SL

I could never figure out why anyone would want a kitchen either. I mean I can see having friends over for pizza and having a pizza on the table, kind of thing - but c'mon - you don't have to cook it!

I think bathrooms are more for sex than anything. The house I'm doing now (for me) has a tv area with a few comfy chairs, living room with lots of seating, fireplace with lounging cushions, changing area (pose mirror), bedroom and a good sized tub/jacuzzi/pool thing. I have never found a need for more.

What the heck do people do with these huge houses with 4-5 bedrooms? I saw one with a toilet you could sit on yesterday. Personally, that's one thing I do not wish to replicate in SL

You have to pick your market and be done with it, really. For myself, I choose to make low prim starter houses that are newbie friendly, designed to fit on 512s and 1024s. You can make whatever you want, but each house appeals to different people. Pick something that you like and go for it.

Also remember that the forum readership does not represent the average SL player.

I believe my fav home was a huge yacht I owned. Semi-furnished due to a lot of built-ins. I forget the size but it was around 70+m long. I had it on my own island.

I have come to realize I didnt need land or a home any longer, so I got rid of it all. I do play a child av so I am adopted and have my own room in my parents home, which I seldom go to hehehe.

Its amazing how priorities change over the years

Pick your market and run with it. You can't be all things to all people. If you want to cater to large landholders (4096+) then go for that. If you want a wider variety, that's cool, but just make what you like and someone will buy it.

Depending on what you are working on and how up to date the Beta Grid is, that is an option for uploading textures that you are not sure about. The money spent over there doesn't really count.

The only people I know that really use houses with multiple bedrooms are the SL families - bedrooms for the kids.

I have a new home, it is wood, glass and stone and pretty modern compared to my previous homes. The dimensions are 32 x 40 and it is an open plan first floor and deck and the upstairs is a one bedroom with deck. It sides on 16,000 m of land which is not very wide but almost the full length of the sim. The front of the house is the deer park so you can sit and enjoy the view and the rear of the house is the rest of the land with a secret garden, veggie garden, pond, pasture and farm areas.

In the past I have lived in a stone english cottage, a treehouse and a log cabin. Who knows what is next.

I also have a cottage that is a log home on the ocean.

I wouldn't buy a furnished house, I prefer my own things and half the fun of a new home is decorating it....

Important features are windows that tint, good locking doors and doors and windows that are in keeping with the scale of the house. One pet peeve of mine is floor textures that aren't matched up. A long expanse of wood flooring where it doesn't match in the middle drives me crazy. What makes a home for me are the finishes, the build has to be excellent but the finishes really make the look.

I wouldn't buy a home and land already finished. I love to landscape and build and I want to personalize my home.

1. Given the choices, modern, I suppose...a Craftsman-style bungalow. I have a few bits of land (two of which have houses on them currently), but that is what I consider "home".

2. I'm not in game to double check, but it is ball park 25x25m

3. ~3000 sq.m.

4. I've seen pre-furnished done a few different ways. One is that the furniture is linked in (and has universally been horrible). The other is giving the option of buying the furniture separately (boxed), or selling two versions of the house--just the house, or a package that includes the furniture. Myself, I like to have the option.

But what I'd really like to see (and just might do myself) is built-in furniture like you would find in a Craftsman or Frank Lloyd Wright house. Done correctly, it would "look" right, and probably save on the prim and texture count as well.

5. Locks--It depends on the quality of the features, how intrusive they are, and how tightly integrated they are. Door locks are nice, but I don't want to deal with a popup menu (asking if I want to open/close or change the security settings) every time I touch the door. I just want it to open when I touch it. But I also don't want to have to deal with chat commands to change the security. So for me, it is either no locks or some sort of central control panel.

Lights and light switches--built-in lighting is nice. If the light fixtures are big enough, then switches aren't necessary. I think it is more intuitive to just click on the light itself. But it would depend on the build. Having a master control to enable/disable auto-on at night is nice, also the ability to control who can control (owner/group/everyone) is good. Mostly, it just depends on the style, I suppose.

Off/on fireplaces. I think most people would just leave them on since prim wood is so cheap. Still, nice to be able to turn it off. It would be nice to be able to restrict who can control it, but not really that important to me (and here having a menu rather than click on/off wouldn't be as intrusive).

Tinted windows. Yes, generally. Depending on the style, I would rather see blinds, curtains, or shutters. And again, the ability to be selective with who can control it is nice.

6. I rent ("own" on private islands) three different properties.

One was pre-terraformed, landscaped (which I've added to), and already has a house. It was also pre-furnished, although it was made clear that I could return anything I didn't want. The furniture was gorgeous--it worked very nicely with the house (and definitely made it harder to resist). In the end, I went ahead and returned it all, since I make my own furniture.

The second was the same, although since then (when I "bought" it, he knew I wanted to make some changes and was interested to see what I'd come up with) I've removed the original house, we re-terraformed, I added a new house, and have done substantial landscaping.

The third was completely blank, flat land. It was always intended to be just a forest, although I've occasionally put a house on it.

My preferences? It depends. Even if I only want the land for the sake of the land, having a nicely furnished attractive house and good landscaping already there will not only catch my eye, but also suggests the owner is more than a box I pay rent to. It also takes some of the pressure off me so I don't feel like I immediately have to make it nice if it already is.

One final thing. While you can save prims by using walls with alpha windows as part of the texture, it causes a lot of problems. In some cases it isn't so bad, but as I rule, I avoid houses like that. The biggest reason is the alpha texturing issue, but I also like my walls to look like they have actual substance. Too often, house builders make the walls seem like a picture of a wall, rather than, you know, a wall.

1. What style home do you live in? Castle, Mansion, Modern or Theme

Medieval. Basic skybox at 300m

2. How big is it? Approximately in meters 450m sq

3. What size lot is it on? 512

4. Would you buy a pre-furnished house (if you were looking)? no

5. What features do you consider important? Light switches, locking doors, on & off fireplaces, tinted windows - anything else? I like all of these but the most inportant is locking doors and windows that can be made transparent/opaque

6. Would you rent pre-terraformed, pre-landscaped land with a pre-furnished house on it or would you prefer to do everything yourself piecemeal? I currently rent on pre-landscaped with a prefab house but I like making my own furniture

Gothic stone and brick manor with dripping blood

30mx30m approx.

1024ish odd roadside lot

not furnished

dripping blood

I'm a do-it-herself-er

I suck at building, so spent ages looking for the right house. I finally bought a two storey house with lots of dark wood and windows and two balconies (one on each floor). No idea how big it is, but the plot was around 1300 sq m'ish (until I bought the bit next door) and it only took up just under half of that. It looked a lot bigger when I got it back and plonked it down than it did on the display, but as things turned out it is just the right size to walk about without and cam round without bumping into things.

I wanted lots of places to sit, so it's basically two large rooms. I have a big lounge with two sofas and a couple of chairs. I've added a fab fireplace, and have a raised area at the end with a couple of chairs and a chill rug which look out over the water. Upstairs is a bedroom, again with windows and a large area to sit at the end in a big comfy chair. I don't see any use for a kitchen, or a bathroom, not for me anyway.

Both balconies have chairs/loungers, etc, and I have a swing in the garden.

As a real un-nesty type person, I have surprised myself in that I've really enjoyed finding the right furniture, mixing what I already had with stuff I bought (little things for little minds, I suppose, and yes, I've spent a fortune!!). The only things I've made are some pictures, and have used a couple of stained glass textures to make what I think look like stained glass portholes, just to break up the wood a bit. Oh, and a rug, an inspired afterthought!! I would never buy furnished.

The house has all the wizzy bits, menu controlled lights, lockable doors, tintable windows, etc, but I rarely use any of that, but it's nice to have should I want to. I might tint the windows if I am changing, but if there's no-one about I don't bother. The only thing I am not happy with is the door texture, which I can change, but haen't found anything that I think will look right as yet.

I've currently used 600-odd prims!!!!

Sorry, rambly reply to your question!!

Jen

1- i live in a beach house open to the elements and the environment! simple is best!
2- actually not sure how big it is. its larger than i originally wanted. actually on my island, you can see the original beach pad there (in the middle).

3- it's pretty large. not sure how large.
4- no, pre-fab is not for me in SL.
5- features are cool. i don't use stairs, but i do use teleports to get to the different levels.
6- i wouldn't want to do anything pre-fab as building / designing and creating is why i'm in SL in the first place.

do a search for "ORU Island" - best viewed at sunset or midnight!!
(still in the works)

I'd really love to see your beach house. Nothing came up in the search tool under ORU island. I tried just ORU and got Oral Roberts University but somehow I don't think that's it

I built my home, the Egotherapy Centre. It is in the style of a half-timbered English inn. I live upstairs in an apartment, while the lower floor is the reception display area and a shop. I have some opening doors, but no locks as it's all open to the public.

I've built a few house types and they used to sell but it seems the sales have dried up. There are a lot of reasonable freebie houses available and a lot of people build their own houses.

I concentrated on buildings suitable for regular 512m rectangular plots. They have a plan area of 20m x 10m and I kept the prim count below 50.

homeless after I gave up the rental craziness of my first 2 months.. my fave was a small beachhouse on linden ocean, 512m.. locking door and tintable windows tho i never used it.. i sat on the patio or fished off the dock if i was ever home.

now im considering putting a skyhome above my land and having a place to call home again.. ill prolly go with a blip home, cuz they have some decent and cheap prefabs.. im no good at decorating tho, and i dont like that most furniture costs more than my house.

I have a simple, modern skybox, sparsely furnished, using a limited palette of quiet textures.



10 x 10 x 4



Not interested in furnished digs. I had enough of that when I was at uni I have my own furniture and I like it just fine, thanks.



None of the above (except maybe a fireplace for the sake of ambiance, though I don't currently use one). Doors and windows are not necessary - I come and go by TP; I have an alpha texture on the inside surfaces of the walls so I can see out, which gives a nice airy feel to the interior. The outside of the skybox is blank with a low shine.

Most of what is needed in a RL dwelling is simply superfluous in SL - we don't need roofs to keep the rain and sun off and we don't need walls to keep our stuff safe - all we really need is a sight screen to deter casual stickybeaks - and even that won't stop anyone who really wants to look in.

Locking doors really have no function either; if you have anything in your house that has a sit script in it, it's simple for anyone to cam through the wall and sit down.



I prefer to create my own environment.



You're so very welcome!

there are freebie furnitures too. but, what is an acceptable price?

Well the prefab homes that I like are 500-1250.. but when I went to the Ikea in SL it was double that I think for a furniture set. I have a few freebie couches, but either there are only 3 poseballs all far apart, or the sit script is all loopy and i sit backwards on the arm of the couch. Maybe I need to start making my own

I don't really know a good price, on SLX its all over the board... But no way could I blow over 5k on a living room set!

Davin, dear, there are literally THOUSANDS of shops that sell furniture in SL. Don't limit yourself to the RL brand names, like Ikea. Spend time looking around and deciding on a theme (Victorian, modern, etc?) or not (random ecletic is fun too) and I can absolutely guarantee you that what you want exists (with decent poses too!) in Second Life. It just takes a little time. Happy shopping!

I've never really understood the relation in prices between furniture and housing either. Obviously neither really costs you anything to build unless you consider building tools you bought to make it, texture uploads, full perm scripts/animations, etc. you bought and it's about the same for furniture and houses.

Houses are definitely a lot more work to build in my opinion but it really depends on the particular house and furniture. I've seen houses that look like they were slapped together in a few hours and furniture that must have taken several days and vice versa.

Some people pay way too much for some things because they don't know their value and because they aren't aware of what else is available. Ya gotta shop around

Hi. I wish I could afford to live on a bigger piece of land but all I have is a 512 size lot. I looked all over the place for a small house that was very low prim but couldn't find much. I ended up trying to make my own and it dosen't all fit together so perfectly ...lol I have a draft coming in from cracks Still it looks different...I used an old stone texture for the outside and for my ceiling I can see the stars since I made it transparent and have one inside wall as a stain glass wall....but what I am saying is I think there should be more unique style homes for small lots with low prims and I to would rather decorate my own home on my own.....thats the main reason I wanted a home

1. What style home do you live in? Castle, Mansion, Modern or Theme

Sort of Modern California Big Sur open space plan? Is there such a thing? I'm on Linden protected water - it's very open to the environment from all sides.

2. How big is it? Approximately in meters

I think it's 25 x 30, 2 stories

3. What size lot is it on?

4096 originally, but I just bought the lot next door a couple of days ago, so now 8192. My lot was very long and narrow and I felt extremely pinched in. Got a good price on the 2nd one, so I grabbed it.

4. Would you buy a pre-furnished house (if you were looking)? Fully furnished, partially furnished or not furniture.

Never pre or fully furnished. I work in the design field in RL and it would drive me batty having someone elses vision already in my home.

5. What features do you consider important? Light switches, locking doors, on & off fireplaces, tinted windows - anything else?

Tinted windows are important, more for mood than privacy since I darn well know anyone can cam in. Locking doors very important. Again, I know people can cam in but I have had people also walk into my bedroom unannounced and at least a locked door will stop that from happening. Something really creepy about looking up and having a person looking over you in bed! I don't care about light switches all that much since most homes I'm drawn to have very large windows and are very open to the daylight and I don't tend to use lamps for lighting. Fireplaces are a nice feature; although mine just stay on all the time and I'm perfectly happy with them as they are.

6. Would you rent pre-terraformed, pre-landscaped land with a pre-furnished house on it or would you prefer to do everything yourself piecemeal?

Well, first I wouldn't rent but if I were renting, maybe it wouldn't bother me so much things done in advance by someone else IF it were tasteful and low prim, so that I could add things of my own as desired.

1) I have Castles, Modern, Themed, Gothic, Fantasy, and Sky Boxes. I like to change my land around often LOL

2) 20x20 to one that is like really really huge not sure meter size

3) Had my houses on 512 up to 1/2 sim

4) I would never ever buy a fully or even partially furnished home. A nice water feature is different.

5) lockable doors, TPs that work--no stairs, tintable windows, on/off lights...something cool. Oh, and I a house that is easy to rezz and moved around. Plus all my homes are copy/mod so I can redo what I don't like about the house. I won't buy a house that is not copy/mod.

What would really be nice is a texture packet that comes with the house in case you need to add interior walls or make a screw up you make. Or, where the textures can be purchased. Or, better yet, have the textures available for purchase.

6) Like to do it myself.

i'll give you a special deal on any item i sell, which is log furniture & basic homes. IM me inworld if interested. just you... this time.

i have 2 lands and so 2 houses....(more in inventory of course lol)
the small one is a 512 skybox, with a fab Tokyo view and realistic lights...the big ones is on a 4096 land and is a victorian house very nice but too big...i am currently looking for a nice victorian one to replace the other so i have more space to do some gardening
didi say i love victorian houses?
I look for...
1-realistic textures and dinamic lights
2-spacious rooms
i don't buy furnished

thanks 3, we shall chat very soon )

back to the OP.. I built a place last night.. I have a 2048 wif double prims for my gallery and jazz bar and magazine hq office.. then I wanted a sky box, so I literally made a big box, 32x64.. I made it black from the outside but clouds on the bottom.. I made one wall phantom to fly in/out of, then inside I decorated with a beach scene, some palm trees, a giant aquarium, a boombox, a freebie prefab beach home, and a few places to sit.. I even set a lil love raft in there for kicks. It's more space than I need, I could fit 4 homes in there and rent them out if I had a hippo box and the time to care.

But I'll prolly ballete it and start over, or ditch it to save prims to use to spice up the jazz bar upstairs from my art gallery.. I did it all in b/w like an old movie, its really fun.