Help with fleshing out a castle counter?

[Old Wolf]

Howdy once again.

I've decided to make the 1st floor center area of my castle into a "useful lounge."

The idea here is that I'm going to create a nice little area with tables and a fireplace for people to relax in, and then I'm going to create a "bar" by the stairs. The bar will actually double as my real crafting area (I'll have a decorative one in another part of the castle), and will have something around 50 different containers within a 9x9 area (this will be a trick to deco... :X) that can all be accessed from one point. To top it off, I also am going to attempt to fit a forge, oven, and anvil into the area. The spinning wheel and loom I'll leave to my decoed crafting area, since I wont need them much. To give credit, the idea was inspired by this post: http://vboards.stratics.com/showpost.php?p=71274&postcount=7

Anyway, what I'm trying to accomplish right now is the appearance of a bar. I've made two attempts, but I'm not sure I like how either turned out. Note that in the picture, the stone one is in the actual location the bar will be in.

What I'm here for is suggestions for how to create a bar that fits the look of a castle. I've done some looking around, but couldn't really find anything that fit this unusual idea. Containers as part of the bar would be a plus, but are not necessary (I'll take looks over functionality in this case).

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Old Wolf


Edit: Also pardon the extra junk in the picture, and the bolts, I neglected to move them before taking the screen shot. :X

Edit2: Also pardon the mismatched colors on the stone version... I didn't have any matching tables... obviously in the final version I'll correct that if I use tables.

 

[Teeshy]

If I can log in at all today (=P) I'll try an idea I have in my head =)

First thought to be honest was forges and plain stone tables - same as you've done =)

*edits* havent managed to log in for more than 2 minutes together today =P

one thought I had though, was what would it look like if you used the end pieces of tables, without the forges? Like use the west most part of a east/west running table, all next to each other running north/south
(gosh I hope that makes sense!)

You should (I think!) be able to hide chests under them too?

 

[Faerunner]

I've never deco'd a castle bar but here are some general ideas that might spark something... I'd go for stone or metal, if you want the real hardcore castle look. Wood can be done, and makes a softer look than the stone, but some of the elven containers just look too "off" for the castle, so I'd stick to Yew tables and other non-elven furniture if you go that direction.

I "hid" my small forge by putting it into an east-facing stone table (I think - I'd log in and check but my account's not currently active). You just have to place a goza and raise it, target the forge on the goza, place the table underneath and lower the forge. If you lower it too far the table will block access, so the top edge of the forge will have to show about 2-3 pixels above the table, not quite flush with it. However, it's barely noticeable as being raised and looks pretty good. It also saves space since you can stack other things on top of this setup if you keep your goza mats handy, or you can place things on top of the table and as long as you can see part of the forge to select it, or have a macro, you'll be able to use the forge. If you like, you can do the same for the anvil, although I like the idea of hiding it under a plant or other deco (maybe a basket of goodies or pile of books) much better.

You can also hide chests under tables or gozas, if you place them and then lower the tables/gozas on top of the chests to make a continuous bar/table and place items for deco or use. The Decorative Elven chests look ok on the ends but they don't sit tightly against each other very well as you've already found out, or you can use metal or dyed wood chests for an unbroken line under the tables. Another option is to make "cabinets" above the bar/tables on the north and west walls, by raising gozas about 1/2 to 2/3 up the wall and placing cherry armoires or other containers on them. You can experiment with how high to raise the gozas before the furniture won't place - most furniture like bookcases won't place if their top will be above the top of the wall, but furniture height differs so some things will place on some really high gozas. After they are placed you can axe the gozas or leave them (if they are nicely dyed) to outline the cabinets.

Dye tubs are your friend for any deco, btw. I would suggest picking a color of stone table, and working off that to make a color scheme for your bar area. Don't necessarily dye everything the same shade, but make the bar and its containers match, choose a darker/lighter shade for various containers, etc. The special dye tub can match granite colors fairly closely.

Edit: Oh! I remembered someone a few months back did a kitchen area in a castle using ornate elven chests (not boxes - the bigger, two-square ones). Dyed grey, they look like stoves or decorative stone... left natural they are nice wood and you can even put the elven or yew tables on top of them for a decorative counter, although it's hard to do corners with the wood tables (generally, you can either make the corner piece stone, avoid having corners, or stick a plant/pillar/bigger container in the corner to work around the issue). (http://vboards.stratics.com/showthread.php?p=20538#post20538) has a picture of the work, if you haven't already checked the castle deco thread.

 

[Old Wolf]

Thank you for all the ideas. I still can't seem to find what I'm looking for. Maybe I'll just go with the stone look, pick a nice colored stone, and get going on it. There may not be that perfect solution I'm hoping for.

 

[Old Wolf]

Just as an update:
I tried rarewood chests, armoirs, and some other odds and ends. None of them looked any better.
I sort of liked the look of small forges in a line, with a stone top... but something didn't quite fit there either.

 

[Teeshy]

Ah, rarewood chests were what I was about to go in and try =P

I'll try to think of other things now

*edits* You know that you can dye small/large forges with tokuno dyes? Not sure if you have any, but perhaps black dyed forges with shadow stone tops?

Would be an expenisve experiment though, if they didnt work =P Oh, unless you try on Test Shard? I can barely move on test, or would try for you =)

 

[Thiefy/Glorfiedel]

in my keep is a "couch", maybe this fits in your lounge too.