It’s no secret that late last year I quit my last private land holdings in SL and retreated to my Linden Home. While some regard the latter as “lag-laden slums” (and to be honest, some of the Linen Home regions aren’t exactly picturesque), I’m actually happy with my Tahoe home and the region in which it is located, which is neither crowded and benefits from having both a river running through it and from a large expanse of open parkland close to hand.
However, in my wanderings through Second Life, visiting and blogging about regions and activities, I have on occasion, come across a style of house build which has both intrigued and attracted me. These are mesh builds by Winter DiPrima, and sold under the LAQ Decor brand name (LAQ as in the avatar skin brand).
I first came across these buildings – in the form of the Picturesque Cottage – while exploring Second Norway, and have since seen it in a number of places, including an appearance in Ginger Lorakeet’s Inside Art installation at LEA23. I’ve also found the Quaint Cottage featured at a number of places I’ve visited.
Both cottages are 100% mesh and demonstrate just what can be achieved with mesh and without it having to be hugely expensive in terms of land impact; both total less than 80 prims / LI, and the Picturesque cottage includes a window sofa and a modest kitchen in the count!
Of the two cottages, I confess the Picturesque Cottage is swaying me dangerously back towards taking-up a modest parcel of land, simply so I have an excuse to go purchase the cottage and put it on display. It has a delightfully attractive design which I find endearing – be it the curve of the roof or the slightly careworn interior walls or the fact that it looks so perfectly natural no matter where in pops-up in-world.
It certainly offers enough in the way of living space, with a large open-plan area downstairs with two rooms, and a galleried bedroom reached by ladder, and which has a lovely little balcony opening off of it, sitting above one of them.
For those with modest tastes, the Quaint Cottage offers a single-storey, two-room home which is again charmingly designed and which can offer more than comfortable accommodation – although while it will fit on a 512 sq metre parcel, the prim count / LI of 76 may make it more suitable for at least a 1024 sq m parcel when considering the question of furnishings, etc.
Both cottages include some additional features – window blinds which can be set to CLOSED for visual privacy and a house controller which includes a security system, a radio and options to “light” / “extinguish” the fire.
For those with more expansive tastes, Winter – again via the LAQ Decor brand – also produces mixed mesh / prim houses as well. As the time of writing, these comprise a mansion and a Spanish “castle” villa.
The mansion is the larger of the two, requiring a minimum parcel size of 2240 sq metres. With a prim count / LI of 497, it is also the “heaviest” of the house builds examined here – and also potentially the most unusual, featuring as it does a large swimming pool occupying what might otherwise be considered the grand entrance hall.
The Spanish-style villa offers three floors of accommodation, including a ready-to-be-equipped bathroom off of the main upstairs bedroom and two balconies as well as an outdoor water feature.
I have to admit the latter two are a little too big for my tastes – but then I’ve been known to live in a tin can :). However, for those seeking a large property, either may well be worth consideration.
Along with the houses, Winter produces a range of furnishings and outdoor items, some of which (walls / fences) can be seen in the photos here. All of them are, when one considers they are COPY, very reasonably priced.
The LAQ Decor furnishings are certainly worth a look at, and again a solid demonstration as to what can be achieved in mesh with a little care. The bedroom, lounge and dining sets all represent very good value considering the low prim count / LI of each, the colour options, animations, etc. I particularly like the fact that the furniture is all built more to a decent avatar scale than perhaps some other brands tend to be.
Whether you’re looking for a house or interior furnishings, LAQ Decor is more than worth a visit, be it via the Marketplace or a trip to the in-world store (and I very much recommend the latter).
For my part, I’m so enamoured of the Picturesque Cottage, I’m going to be hard-pressed not to go out and find a suitable parcel on which to locate it. And then, of course, I’ll need the bed, the lounge suite and the bookcases, and the … 🙂
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