Sunday, January 19, 2025
French Skybox - Kitchen/Dining, and the Bedroom.
Thursday, November 14, 2024
French Skybox - The Living Room
Sunday, November 10, 2024
A Long Time Ago...
In some blog posts far, far away, I started to modify and decorate a French style skybox. This is a continuation of that series.
I'm back! Holy shit, it's been over a year. I had no idea it had been that long, but there you go. The blog posts mentioned above are all the way back from when I started this blog back in 2021. If you're interested in reviewing those, I'll link them down below:
Friday, September 3, 2021
A Place to Dine, and Enjoy the View...
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!
Tuesday, August 24, 2021
Doin' The...Kiiiiitchen!
Hi there Pigeons!
So, now that we have our skybox renovations done, it's time to start furnishing. When I furnish a place, I try to put all the big furniture down first, before adding knick-knacks. This is especially important to do if you're on a small parcel, with fairly limited LI availability, as I am. It gives you an idea of what you'll have left for decor and clutter, once all the main stuff is rezzed. Because it doesn't do you much good to use 80% of your prim allowance on just two rooms, when you have five to work on.
It let's you edit...is your kitchen too primmy? Do you have too many chairs in your living area? Is your bed's LI count ridiculous? You have a chance to select other items that might suit your LI availability better, and give you more leeway for decor.
Today I'm going to concentrate on the kitchen. Since it's usually the most intensive room to put together, I like to get it out of the way first. As with your parcel, it's good to get a measurement of the available space.
This pretty kitchen is made with the following:

Vespertine - Small Spaces Kitchen (5 LI)
Balaclava!! - Tricia Shelf & Plates (2 LI)
ChiMia - Kitchen Trolley (1 LI) and Ladder Pan Rack (3 LI)
Trompe Loeil - Timeless Kitchen in Teal (29 LI as shown.)
(Also comes with a Cafe' Table and Chair - Not shown)
I love this kitchen, and have used it A LOT. Trompe Loeil also has bigger, newer kitchens, too, so if you like this, you can check out the others. This has a more mid-century-modern feel to it, which again isn't the most appropriate for the space.
Consignment - Catia Kitchen (Comes in White or Black)
Tuesday, August 17, 2021
Renovation Time! (edited)
It seems like no matter how perfect a build is at first glance, there always seems to be a few things that you want to change. I rezzed my new skybox on ground level, got it situated comfortably on my parcel to allow me space on all sides, then I sent it skyward. I had already done my homework to find out where in the sky I could put it so that there wouldn't be all kinds of neighbors around me, and I did that by checking out odd elevations.
A lot of people will go for even numbers up in the sky. So instead of checking at 1000 meters, 1500 meters, 2000 meters, etc., I chose an odd number of 1320 meters. It was perfect, so that's where I sent my new place.
As I take my own advice, I then put some landscaping down on ground level, to get that out of the way, and ensure that I wouldn't overdo my skybox and run out of LI before I had a chance to do it. It's not amazing, but it does the job.
I then tp'd up to the skybox, and figured out what I wanted to fix. The first thing was the doors to the room where I wanted to put the kitchen and dining area. They had to go, because I wanted that room open to the living area. To do that, I clicked "Edit" on the skybox and checked "Edit Linked". I selected the two doors, and clicked the "Unlink" button, to unlink them from the rest of the skybox. As I planned to repurpose them, I didn't delete them, just moved them out of the way.
(Edited to add...When unlinking pieces/parts from a build, it CAN cause issues. If you unlink the root prim, and there are any scripts or anything in it, it can cause things to stop working. Unlinking in mesh creations can also mess up the physics of the item. Always make sure that anything you adjust is copy/mod, so if it blows up on you, you can rez a new one. Testing first is important!)
Here's the Before and After:
Once that was done, I went into the bed/bath suite, where I wanted to ADD some doors. Right now, the two doors I was going to repurpose opened out, and I wanted them to slide, as I planned to make them pocket doors. So I went to the Marketplace, and found a cheap and easy script to use. I then edited each of the doors, went to the "Contents" tab, and deleted the script that was in them, and replaced it with the new sliding door script.
I added some pillars from the Fancy Decor - Classic Wall Panel Kit to either side of the door opening to form the "pockets" for the doors, did my best to tint them to match the surrounding environment, and maneuvered the repurposed doors into the doorframe, and fiddled with them until I had them centered. With the new script, I set them up by clicking and holding on them until the setup menu appeared, and again fiddled with them until they opened up the way I wanted them too, and as far open as I wanted.
Here's the Before and After (and After, Opened):
Now that I knew that my bathroom would have a little privacy, there was just one more simple change to make. While the bedroom came complete with a fireplace, the living area did not, and I generally prefer having a fireplace in the living area, as a gathering point to put the rest of my furniture around. So I decided to block the center window, and put the fireplace there.
Thursday, August 12, 2021
The Big Purchase
Buckle up kiddos, this is going to be a long one.
In the last post we talked about some of the prep to help with purchasing an SL home. For my workspace, I've decided on a skybox. So now that I've decided on this, I need to find one. Now, if you've done any shopping inworld or on the Marketplace, you know how freaking overwhelming this can be.
Personally, I'll usually go out to the Marketplace to start, and to help narrow things down I'll put in the style I want. Even still, if you type in, say..."Modern", you're going to get a ton of results. You can start to narrow it down by going to Buildings and Other Structures -> Other Structures -> Sky Boxes, do 96 items per page, and sort by your criteria. If L$ is a constraint, set your range, then you can sort by "Newest First", so you can see the latest and greatest. Or if quality is important, you can sort by "Rating: High to Low".
When you see one that looks promising, see if they list good details, like the dimensions, the Land Impact, and whether it's available to view inworld. Trust me, that last item is important. You're going to want to see it, walk through it, and determine if it's really what you want before you buy. What may look perfect in the listing, can end up being a dud once you're inside it. If it seems to fit everything you want, add it as a favorite, and keep going.
Once you have your list of favorites, start checking them out inworld. I'm not going to lie...this can be a slog. For my skybox for this project, I went to countless stores, often more than once, nit-picking everything. Can I afford it? Does it have the space I need? Will it fit? Can I manage a higher LI for the one I want? Are the textures good? Now, you might not be that exacting, and that's fine. But I'm a picky bitch, and want it perfect.
For my skybox, I wanted "Parisian". My home right now is VERY modern, and I enjoy a contrast, so I wanted this skybox to be the opposite. A little worn and shabby, but still classic and elegant. I had some that already fit the bill, but they were either too large, too new looking, or too small. I had to find my Goldilocks skybox, so shopping I went.
Below is a list of the skyboxes I toured/own, and at the end, the one I finally chose.
Apple Fall Parisian Skybox - Beautiful, as all Apple Fall stuff is, but too small.
Apple Fall - West Village Belgravia Skybox - Peeked at this while at Apple Fall, but it too was too small. BUT IT'S GORGEOUS.
Apple Fall - London Apartment - And one from Apple Fall that I already own, and while a favorite, it's just far too big.
BA - Paris Loft Skybox - One from Barnesworth Anubis that I considered, but in the end was just a bit small.
BA - Paris Penthouse: Deluxe Suite - This skybox from Barnesworth Anubis is one that I have, and while it AMAZING, it was just far too large. But seriously. If you want the ultimate Paris penthouse, this one I highly recommend.
Trompe Loeil Margaux Skybox - Gorgeous, but too small. But ask me how many Trompe Loeil houses I have. (The answer is OH SO MANY.)
NG-Designs - Life in Provence Skyloft - This one from NG Designs was cute with the outdoor terrace, but it just wasn't quite what I was looking for.
Milk Motion - Paris Haussmann Apartment - Gorgeous skybox from Milk Motion, but too high in L$ an LI.
Diamandis - Parisian Apartment Skybox - A pretty little skybox from Diamandis that was, alas, too little for me. (A new to me store, with really great skyboxes!)
Vespertine - Spring Rainy Days Skybox - I actually already own this skybox from Vespertine, and while I love it dearly, it was just a little too cramped.
Tarte - Primrose Skybox - From Tarte...very pretty, but just didn't strike me.
Tarte - Autumn Attic Skybox - And another from Tarte...this one was actually one of my finalists, but I ended up not wanting an attic-y look, so I passed on it.
AND THE WINNAH IS...
Varonis - Lueur Skybox - From Varonis, a store I'd never heard of before, but OMG, their work is incredible. This apartment is nearly perfect, and I fell in love with it the second I landed inside of it. The LI is a bit high, but I can work around that. (Their other apartments are also incredible, so I highly recommend checking out their selection.)
What did I tell you?? I looked at A LOT of shops, and A LOT of skyboxes to find just the one I wanted.
Sticking some pictures below of the new place. I'm so excited to get started on it, but that will be in the next post, as this one has gone on entirely too long.































