Hi Ducks! Sorry it's been so long between posts. I have been EXTREMELY LAZY this past week. I also haven't been feeling 100%, and that didn't help. Anyways, today I'm setting up the dining area, and this post will be a bit less wordy than the last couple.
Last post when we did the kitchen, I went with a very traditional, somewhat "shabby chic" look for my cabinets, so I decided to keep that flow going with the dining furniture. The Muniick kitchen set also had a freestanding hutch cabinet, so I opted to use that in the dining area. The decor inside is from the What Next - Sofia Dresser with Decor set which I had originally considered. It was very cute in that space, but I couldn't get it looking just the way I wanted it, so I went with the alternative that made more sense.
The table is the Apple Fall - Country Table. It has that same weathered look to it, and the round table fit so nicely in that corner. The chairs are from the Apple Fall Plantation Kitchen which I mentioned in the last post. Now, the chairs rez all in white, which is nice, but I wanted the cushions to match the blue in the kitchen tile, so I opted to recolor them.
How did I do that? Well, let me show you!
Edit the item, and go to the Texture tab. Select "Select Face", and click on the area you want to recolor. As you can see from the picture above, the arrow points to the area I've chosen, which encompasses all the cushion area. Then click on "Color" to bring up the color picker menu.
Choose the color you want the item to be, in this case I chose a dusty sky blue, and click OK. It's that easy! (At least in this case. Be aware that it might not work so well on some items. As with any mesh item you try to modify, the creator might not always make it so easy, so sometimes it will be trial and error.)
Now, another thing you might have noticed from the picture of the dining room furniture, is that there seems to be a view other than just sky outside. I opted to do some landscaping of a sort, and I'll outline below what I did.
First off, I needed a backdrop. Unable to find a panorama picture of Paris that I liked, I remembered that another skybox I had from
AT Designs Skyboxes - The Reality Loft B124 - had a great backdrop system. So I rezzed it, and from the backdrop picker inside the skybox, chose the Paris option, which is a lovely sunset view, with the Eiffel Tower all lit up. I unlinked the backdrop from the skybox, and deleted the rest of it.
I then moved it in front of the windows of this skybox, and stretched it to cover that side. Below is the outside view. The reason I tilted it the way I did was so if you're standing closer to the window, you won't notice the empty space between the skybox and backdrop so much. I also wanted to add a couple of trees, to give the illusion that this is an upper story apartment, and to give some depth to the view. The trees I used are from the
JIAN - Ash Trees collection. I used a couple of the smaller, 1 LI trees. This kit includes a HUD that lets you pick the bark and greenery of the season, so you can customize them as you desire.
The last bit I added to the outside were some window boxes, specifically the
World of Wood - Balcony Flowers. They're only 1 LI a piece, and while not the most detailed, when looking at them through the wavy glass of the skybox, they look pretty good.
Using these window boxes also helps disguise that empty space between the skybox and the backdrop. But I had to really manipulate the camera to see that area. When you're just at regular eye level, you can see that you end up with a very pretty view.
That's it for this post! I know it's not as long or detailed as the others, but as usual, if you have any questions about anything, please let me know in the comments, or hit me up inworld, and I'll be happy to show/explain what I can.
Next time, we'll start furnishing the living room above. Couches, tables, bookshelves, maybe a desk? We'll see what fits. I was browsing Instagram, and found an apartment much like the one we're working on that was done with more modern furniture, and it looked pretty cool, so I thought I'd try it out.
Until then, take care and stay well. 💖
