Architectural Elements or What We Salvaged From the Yard.

Pulling together a new set with Heidi at Exotic Elements. This set was inspired by an unreleased finial that Heidi designed for one of the sets. I was under the impression that it was released as I had tested it and loved it, but her displeasure with the way it patterned made it sit on the shelf, so to speak. It got me thinking about things that we use for one thing - a finial for decor - and what it was meant to be used as - a decorative finish to a post.
It's not such a leap to take a thing of beauty and make it 'art' but what about the utilitarian things we take for granted every day? A window, a door, a bathtub. Sometimes we take things that are meant to be one thing and turn it into something completely different. A brass headboard turned into a bench, a bathtub turned into a flower garden - that sort of thing. Being from New England, I am used to older homes with interesting details. Atlanta is littered with brick ranches. I own a brick ranch. The bungalows of midtown were just beyond my price range and that's not so bad, but the things that I was drawn to and worked well in an older home sometimes don't translate as well in a clean line mid century home (and by mid century, please do not mistake that for 'atomic').

For years I have loved going to salvage yards and grungy old antique shops. Finding unique things with a heavy layer of dust is my idea of a good time. Seriously. If this house I own were just a little more old or worn, I think it would be card blanche to rip out the (stunning) hollow core doors and put in mismatched doors - odd things with textured glass you'd expect to find in an old office building with gold and black lettering on it or interesting paneled doors; tear a wall down and expose the brick from the inside. We build these dream houses for our games - it would be nice to have that in real life too. All that takes money though. A nice door at a salvage yard could cost a couple weeks pay - or it could be a $5 score. Still - it's certainly easier and cheaper to make one for the  game. Someday - I will have an old and unconventional home, but today, I will have one in my game.

This is the third item in the set - it's a door screen. I like the idea of open spaces, but sometimes you need to define a space with something. Rugs, paint, a piece of furniture . . . or something unique. This has a few glass knobs (why are there none of these in the game so far??) and all glass panels so it divides a space, but doesn't close the space off.

The fourth item is also door related - a table. These things are damned tricky. SO much coding and I still don't know if I have it correct. I have friends testing it now for the way people eat at it and move around it.

Completely off the topic, I have tried to make something from the dots up so to speak. I followed a tutorial for making things from vertexes and faces. It has been a dream of mine to create items from my own home and this is indeed something from my home, but also something I have made. You might remember that I sew and that I have created cats and dogs and tried to sell them on Etsy. Well, I finally made one for the game too. It will probably end up as a xmas release - everyone seems to be doing advent calendars, but I don't celebrate any holidays (or my birthday) so it is sometimes strange to do holiday releases. The tarot set was just a fun project and I do like fortune tellers and exploring the unknown, but xmas is especially hard for me to get through. Anyway - someday I will sew more animals for Etsy, but until then, I guess the virtual ones will have to do.