the man behind the curtain.

*pic credits at end of post

I’ll be honest: I don’t think about curtains that often. That holds true in RL as well as SL. BUT – I do absolutely acknowledge that they can really finish a room, and therefore I support them. I’ve seen some really great mesh curtains come out recently, and I definitely support those. So does Maxwell Graf of Rustica. BAM – that’s a blog intro.

Max sent me his latest release, which just happens to be a full set of very lovely, detailed, and customizable mesh curtains. What’s that? Customizable? Hells yes. Max has provided a full set that includes swag and side panels and gathered drapes and sheer panels and lace panels…and I think that’s it. What’s awesome is that you can use all those pieces together, or just the ones you want. Like if you just want a simple window treatment, no problem, just grab those side panels. Or you can go all fancy like I did in the pic above. What’s more awesome is that the curtains are just textured with the baked shadows — so you can just go into edit mode and select a color and BAM – lovely depth and shadows on curtains that are the exact color you want. Even more awesome than that awesome is that Max has included those shadow textures separately, so you can get even fancier and use them in Photoshop to apply over your own texture. That + that + this + that = endless options.

Max has also included a bunch of lovely mesh curtain rods with great finials – so one more thing to really dress up those windows.

Join the curtain revolution (I just made that up) at Rustica! [SLurl]

Oh, and see that cute little vase of branches with the dangly heart, up in the first pic? That’s available (and so is the rug) right now from Rayvn Hynes and MudHoney, at her location on The Nest. It’s available as part of the Valentine’s Day Gift Event where a bunch of Nest merchants have awesome transferrable gifts available for Valentine’s Day! Be sure to wander around the sim to check it out!

MudHoney at The Nest [SLurl]

*credits for first pics

curtains, sheers, rods: Rustica (Maxwell Graf)
loose paper: floorplan. (Tegan Serin)
Valentine branches: MudHoney (Rayvn Hynes)
Rug: MudHoney (Rayvn Hynes)
Skybox: Trompe Loeil (Cory Edo)

Rustica gives you options!

I had a chance to catch up with Maxwell Graf of Rustica last week, which is always nice. 🙂 He asked me to come by and pick out my own set of his new release, the Shaded Set. I chose the Tiger Maple finish, which is just one of, like, A MILLION (or fifteen) different wood options that are available. The entire Shaded Set is very traditional and craftsman-inspired, with clean lines. There are a ton of pieces in the set – you can cover the bedroom, living room, office, dining room, and even the foyer. What’s really exciting is that this new line also comes with …[dramatic music]…a HUD for upholstery texture changes! It’s pretty cool.

Here are a few of the bedroom pieces, straight out of the box:

Pretty nice! But wait — I attach my HUD:

…and ta da! A plethora of texture options is now available to me! The tab I’m showing above gives the actual textures; there’s also a ‘Colors’ tab that gives you…wait for it…different color options. So, you can recolor your textures…or go with the plain textures and mix up the colors…lots and lots of possibilities! I played around with a few options:

Cute! I like being able to mix and match bedding, and you can do that sort of mixing/matching with all the upholstered pieces in the collection. I really think the HUD is an awesome way to go – you just click the item you want to change, it shows you that it’s ready to be edited, and then you can click away with the HUD until you get the look you want. The bed is a little tricky, since there are multiple layers of bedding, but it’s fun to play around with. I like the range of textures that Max has included, especially all the leathers. Being the picky texture gal that I am, though, some of the textures are a bit too photo-realistic for my taste, and/or don’t quite work with some of the pieces at a 1×1 repeat. Still, there are so many options to choose from, I definitely found looks that I like!

A few of the living room pieces, too:

I LOVE a hall tree, so I’m super glad that Max included that in the collection! Like I said at the start of the post, this collection is VAST, so I definitely want you all to go check it out. The pieces are also complete with lots of fun animations – Max really packed a ton of great details in there! What’s even more impressive is that all these pieces are super low prim! All 24 pieces in the set, all together, only total 73 prims. THAT is amazing.

See it all at Rustica! [SLurl]

The post where i tell you about stuff

Hi! Here’s what I have for you today – first, a new release from La’Licious Designs: the Old Door Table set!

Available now at La’Licious [SLurl]

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Next, another amazing house from Maxwell Graf of Rustica – the Forever House, another in his series of LagNmoor Village houses. (If you’ve never checked out the prefabs at Rustica, then get to it!) There are a ton of great features in this house, but what I want to emphasize here is that this awesome build is only 280 prims! Now, 280 is not slight, sure – but look at the detail and character you get for only 280 prims!

See it here [SLurl]!

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The Loft has announced “Rooms To Go” – some new items and some remixes of existing items, all geared towards easy custom decorating for you! Read more about it on The Loft’s blog, and check out just a few samples:

The Loft [SLurl]

*Top 12* Summation!

Here’s sort of a quick link guide to the Top 12 places. I hope it’s been useful — I really, truly appreciate the great comments received here and in-world, and it’s been absolutely delightful to speak with several of the designers that were spotlighted in the list. I’m going to add a link over to the right of the page so that this post can be easily accessed going forward, and I really do hope it can be considered a toolkit of sorts for folks who are ready to claim their own second space!

Houses:

Part 1: Barnesworth Anubis Pre-Fab[ulous] Homes & Furniture [blog post]

Part 2: The Black Spot Shipyard [blog post]

Furniture:

Part 3: The Loft [blog post]

Part 4: Mezzanine [blog post]

Part 5: Del Sol Furniture [blog post]

Part 6: Rustica Home Furnishings [blog post]

Part 7: Ramos Designs Furniture [blog post]

Landscape:

Part 8: Heart Garden Centre [blog post]

Part 9: Botanical [blog spot]

Accessories:

Part 10: CAS [blog post]

Part 11: Avenue Four [blog post]

Part 12: Shade Fantasy Outfitters [blog post]

Thanks again to all for the positive feedback on this series. Stay tuned — I’ve got more evil plots that I’m hatching and plan to unleash on the world – you don’t wanna miss that! In the meantime, I’m going to try my best to resume regularly blogging; I have a few places I was contacted to review, so I want to be sure to get those taken care of first. Hope you’ll check back often!

*Second Spaces* Top12 , part 6!

Welcome to Part 6 of my Top 12! Need some background on what this list is all about? Click here for the original post.

Today, we travel to Rustica Home Furnishings. Rustica is another one of those places I go to for the build itself almost as much as for the product. I mean, come on – look!

Rustica’s designer, Maxwell Graf, spared no ounce of creativity in this build: there are secret passages. Enough said. It’s a castle through and through — the grandeur, the roughness of the textures, the luxurious velvets, the detailed windows…it’s amazing, and you must take time to explore all throughout and around. I’m not ashamed to admit that I got lost…like, 4 times. Totally worth it, albeit a bit harrowing at times.

Now, certainly, Maxwell caters to the castle dweller, BUT don’t think that’s all you’re going to find here. There are pieces that I would describe as mid-century modern (20th century, just to be clear 😉 ), some perhaps art deco – and what strikes me most about all of Maxwell’s pieces is that they’re very masculine. Not macho — not at all — just masculine. I like that a lot. Additionally, the most fun thing about Rustica is that all the pieces are ‘in motion’ – doors and drawers open, roll top desks roll – so click everything!

As always, just a few pics to show you some of my favorite finds until you can get over there and check it out yourself.

Ironoak Armoire: it’s the texture, of course, that gets to me the most on this piece. This does look like something I’d have in RL, though…if I was that cool.

Cafe du Blonde Bedroom: Remember what I said about masculine? Boys, pay attention — this is the sort of bedroom the ladies want you to have. It’s warm and inviting, while also saying ‘I can fix your appliances and kill your spiders, while keeping my finely tailored clothes and classic watches neatly stored away, and will lay you down in satin sheets every night.’ Ladies, holla if ya feel me. 🙂

Sofa Bed of Yummy Goodness: Seriously, that’s the name. I had to include this not just because it is indeed yummy, but also because I don’t think I’ve seen this in SL before. It’s a working pull out bed. Awesome.

Okay, you know what to do next. Head over to Rustica, wander thru everywhere, click everything, and embrace the masculine goodness!