Today marks the start of an important new initiative for the Homes and Gardens market in Second Life with the opening today at 12 noon SLT of The Nest, a region that is the brainchild of Isla Geleach, the owner of Cheeky Pea.
The Nest is a sim in the style of a slighty run-to-seed Mid-Western town, in a retro style. But here you’ll find many of the greatest homes and garden designers in Second Life, in buildings that range from shabby respectability on Main Street, to shacks that are very definitely on the wrong side of the tracks … all filled with samples of some terrific designs.
I caught up with Isla this morning and chatted about this wonderful new project.
“A friend of mine offered me a sim and I have missed an H&G sim* for so long since the old one closed,” she said. “I thought it would be fun to make a new one. It started out life as bird houses believe it or not!”
The concept of a Mid-Western town evolved in conversations with Sesi Acklandof Little Boxes, and Sesi and Winston Ackland are co-sim designers with Isla. Hallie Galli is in charge of rentals and marketing, while Rob1977 Moonites is the lead on all things technical, like the logo and the website. The buildings that are used pull together elements from Dirty Rat and Sea Salt among others, with Sesi and Winston contributing a number of builds, too. The overall effect is delightful and rich in character.
“One thing we said at the start was we were not going to stuff as many stores in for as few prims to turn a profit,” Isla explains. “The sim design actually takes up half the prim count.”
It seems a wonderful way to have developed the sim, and to create a venue that is exciting to visit as, in addition to the buildings that constitute the stores, there’s a wealth of other fascinating builds to find – all characteristic of a Mid-Western town of the mid-twentieth century.
“It’s not a shopping mall,” says Isla firmly. “It’s a way to see amazing quality designs all in one place, and then you can go from there to their main stores as a link to see what more they have to offer.”
And this is certainly true – with the larger ‘stores’ offering 75 prims to occupiers and the smaller ones just 50, this is not about selling on the spot but rather about creating compelling shop windows that are, in effect, portals, in a high traffic environment. And the names of those stores should certainly create a lot of traffic!
“When I got the opportunity to take this sim over, I was thrilled,” Isla says. “I knew it would be perfect for this … I would have to say thank you to Corbin Coage and Alicia Stell, as they gave me the means to start the sim – it used to be theirs.”
I think they’ll be more than pleased to see its new incarnation!
The stores in The Nest (as of 10am SLT this morning) include:
{theosophy} ~ [North West] ~ *BEO* ~ [.nordari.] ~ fucifino ~ Mudhoney ~ *Funky*Junk* ~ [kusshon] ~ Second Spaces ~ LISP Bazaar ~ Vespertine ~ {what next} ~ *Y’s HOUSE* ~ C&D Designs ~ [Coeur] ~ *Tatty Soup* ~ The Loft ~ [ba] barnesworth anubis ~ {meberry} ~ CLUTTER ~ elefantu ~ Cheeky Pea ~ Tranquility Way Station Designs ~ Crackberry ~ Ambiance Interactive Furnishings ~ Petticoat Lane ~ Little Boxes ~ Sway’s ~ Thistle ~ Mary’s Little Lamb ~ ponitee::: ~ [w]under] ~ [[[nocc.]]] ~ **Comfy Within** ~ aDORKable Poses ~ La’Licious Designs ~ Dutchie ~ [ABODE] ~ bitter vanilla ~ .:: inSight Designs Textures ::. ~ UrbanizeD ~ [croire] ~ CORBIN
COAGE CREATIONS ~ (cluttered) flowey ~ eklectik ~ *Art Dummy! ~ Baffle! ~ DAHaus ~ -JoHaDeZ- ~ MoltoBene!
The sim is opening today at 12 noon SLT – but watch this space for details of a party next weekend!
* This was the SL Home and Garden sim run by Jennaa Loire that was a hugely popular home for Second Life home and garden designers for some months back in 2010. It has been very sadly missed.
Prim Perfect 