My Custom 18x18 (Pictures)

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Ive almost finished my 18x18, which is by tye side of the road due south of Luna. I'd like to share the pictures with you and ask for some constructive critique.

Some of the rooms are not fully deco'd yet such as one of the cellar rooms and im looking for ideas. Hope you like it:

The Outside View: Not much more to say

Rather than starting at the bottom, the stairway from outside leads directly to the first floor, which is the main living area with Kitchen, Dining Room/Lounge, Storage area and staircases up to the second floor and down to the cellar:

The staircase from the first floor entry hall leads down to the cellar, which I have made with no windows to give an underground look, with bare dirt floors. Here there is the Smithy area, the tailors and an empty room (maybe alchemy area? any ideas? :

Moving up from the first floor we come to the second floor/roof complete with Pond, Garden and two bedrooms. One is deco'd as a bedroom, the other im thinking of making into a study/rune library (again ideas welcome):

Hope you like it and all ideas welcome.

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[Sarsmi]

That's a cute little corner pond! I like the arrangement of staircases, that can make or break a design for me. Especially those wacky little designs with weird rooms, it can be hard to figure out how to do the stairs (I try to avoid using teleporters, just not a big fan). The rooms have a lot of balance, and fit well together.

The deco is nice and looks good and isn't overdone...if I were to change anything I'd probably just throw a few more plants around and some other knicknacky things (like vases, fruitbaskets, side tables with books or whatnot) but that's miscellany that's more centered on individual taste. Oh, the "basement" I would probably do the cave flooring, using it to outline the rooms individually so it's like the floor has been worn smooth from use but the edges are still dark and dirty from not getting walked on very often.

That spare room you could do alchemy/fletching or tinkering, or carpentry. You could do up a table saw or lathe, or put down a couple of archery buttes for testing bows (or a dartboard in front of hay sheaves with arrows coming out, old school!) and of course there is that alchemy table add on and a million types of bottles now with the stealable ones as well as glassware to make a quite credible display of potions and whatnot.

 

[Siteswap]

Thanks Sarsmi. I agree about the teleporters ... ive never liked them and never use them myself, although I can see that they would be advantageous in a small plot where its hard to squeeze a staircase in.

I love plants and will be adding more in bit by bit along with more 'knicknaks' just to finish the rooms off. Thanks for all the great ideas for the currently empty rooms.

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[Tiny Dancer]

Its super cute! You did a really nice job.

 

[Wilde1]

i like the idea of making a "cellar" and what you came up with for that space. consider that idea stolen

nice work!

 

[Stupid Miner]

Nice place.
On to the constructive criticism:

The grass on the roof needs something in it, all the decorations are on the border so it looks open and empty.

I like the tile roof, but are you going to put anything on it?

The basement is similar to the grass in that it's too empty looking. Especially that empty room , need to do something with that.

You need to work on cropping and combining your pictures better . It helps to zoom in real close on the border between the two pictures so you can align them on the exact pixel.

On to the less concrete criticisms: There's too much gray stone on the outside... needs to be mixed with something else. Perhaps see how wood would look for the decorative half-arches?
Or you could put more climbing vines, have them climb up all the levels. It's a bit tricky to pull off and takes practice, but it's a useful skill to learn.
http://uo.stratics.com/homes/betterhomes/dd_decotips.shtml
The one you'll want is the canopies one. Instead of placing the last board place a small table, then you can walk up to the second floor and start all over again with the same method to get the the 3rd floor, etc. Place the items directly on the table top, don't target the bottom tile.

I can go on with the suggestions if you want more, otherwise ill stop here.

Anyway, nice house.

 

[Lord Gareth]

Hmmm I disagree Stupid Miner. I think the basement is simple yet more then enough amerced in the crafters area. but maybe perhaps different dirt tiles to mix in. They may not look that much different in the tile selection but once you start to put them together it changes the entire ground feel of a basement.

 

[Lord Drakelord]

I like it

 

[Stupid Miner]

Hmmm I disagree Stupid Miner. I think the basement is simple yet more then enough amerced in the crafters area. but maybe perhaps different dirt tiles to mix in. They may not look that much different in the tile selection but once you start to put them together it changes the entire ground feel of a basement.

Actually, adding some stony dirt was what i was thinking too... just something to visually break up those big blocks of brown. Though i still think the empty room needs crates or something in it.

 

[RuthieJ]

Looks very good, nice work!!

 

[Faerunner]

I'm impressed! The rooms are broken up very naturally into useable spaces and I love the water features, although the grass in the 'garden' up top could do with being broken up a bit more. Maybe add some of the new poppies or something similar to dot the grass without being overwhelming. As far as the basement goes, hmmm.... a storage cellar? Maybe a "museum" of sorts, showing off old artifacts stacked on crates, with a broken bit of furniture in the corner as though the place has been neglected for a while.

Good luck with it!

 

[Stupid Miner]

Kinda bored at the moment, and since you did ask for constructive critiquing...

In the blacksmith room... the still-glowing forged metal is on the floor. It'd make more sense for it to either be in the forge or on the anvil. In the forge makes the most sense because what kind of smith would leave glowing metal unattended, and if it was out of the forge it would cool off eventually which graphically it wont.
There're no crafted items in the blacksmith room.

The food on the dinner table should be on plates.

There's rushing water on the ground floor that originates from nowhere. A stagnant pond would make more sense.

Some things to consider: the newer artwork such as the elven washbasin is a completely different graphical style than the older art; it doesn't mesh visually.

These are just some suggestions to consider. None of them make or break the design though.

 

[Siteswap]

Thanks for all the kind replies everybody.

Thanks also for the ideas ... I'll certainly be incorporating many of them into the design. Thats the great thing about house design ... you never really ever finish, there's always something else to tweak or improve.

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