Utilizing the Value Packs: Lakeside Log Cabin
by Orion_NGC1976, HSM team writer
When I first entered into the virtual world of Home, I had already heard about virtual commerce from co-workers who were on Second Life. This meant I wasn’t too surprised to see virtual items for sale in Home. At the time, I vowed, as I have heard many of friends vow, that I would not buy any “non-real” items with “real” money. But as time went by, I wanted to have a personal space that was a little more too my liking than the very nice studio that Sony provides for free to every user.
If buying virtual items enhances the entertainment value of the Home experience, then how would it be any different from buying any other purely entertainment experience that was not tangible, such as renting a movie? The price for a Home personal space wasn’t much different from the price of renting a movie. The experience of a Home personal space would last a lot longer than the roughly two-hour experience of the movie.
I am an outdoors person, so the one space that stood out above the others for me was the Lakeside Log Cabin personal space. The Lakeside Log Cabin – in many aspects – reminded me of camping trips; the rustic cabin with wood pillars and stone covered walls. The fabulous view and the ambient sounds alone makes this place worthwhile – from the roaring fire inside to the outside sounds of water lapping on the shore. The oranges, reds, purples, and deep blues that are painted on the sky from the setting sun as it sinks below the horizon over the still lake is just stunning.
Sony has some very nice Home value packs hidden in the PlayStation Store. These value packs are not available within Home at the Mall, but are in the PS Store. The Home items in the PS Store can be found in the PlayStation Home section of New Releases. There are several great value packages there. If you have not already checked out these deals in the PS Store, you really should not miss out on them.
The PlayStation Home Starter Pack 2 features the Lakeside Log Cabin personal space and is a great way to acquire the cabin, as the starter pack is the same price as the Lakeside Log Cabin personal space.
The Home Starter Pack 2 ($4.99) includes:
- The Lakeside Log Cabin personal space
- The Lakeside Log Cabin Furniture
- Sofa (seats three)
- Sofa (seats two)
- Armchair
- Coffee table
- The Mysterious Doll
- Male avatar outfits (5 different)
- Female avatar outfits (3 different)
Fireplace: Cozy chat area
For those who were PSN members before the outage, the Welcome Back package included the very classy looking Paris Modern wood furniture. This bundle also has some really fabulous wood furniture items. Between the Log Cabin furniture, the Paris Modern furniture and other free items that can be found as rewards or for free at the Mall, one can decorate the cabin very nicely.
I am partial to the rugged look of the dark brown leather sofa in the Waterfall Terrace Set 1 furniture bundle. The Waterfall Terrace Set 2 furniture bundle has the cream-colored leather furniture. Each of these bundles are $4.49 in the Estates store of the Home Mall – $8.98 for both sets. Sony has provided another economical way to acquire these bundles as part of another PlayStation Store package; the Home Advanced pack for $9.99. The Home Advanced Pack contains many more items for the same price as the two Waterfall Terrace sets. So if you are going to purchase both Waterfall Terrace furniture sets, you should purchase the Home Advanced Pack.
The Home Advanced Pack ($9.99) includes:
- The dark leather and dark stained Waterfall Terrace
- Armchair
- Sofa (seats two)
- Sofa (seats three)
- Ottoman
- Grandfather Clock
- Glass and wood coffee Table
- Iron Fire Tools
- The light leather and light stained Waterfall Terrace furniture
- Armchair
- Sofa (seats two)
- Sofa (seats three)
- Ottoman
- Grandfather Clock
- Coffee Table
- Copper Fire Tools
- 15 Waterfall Terrace decorating ornaments that includes vases, chests, sailboat, etc.
- The Luxury Racing Box personal space
- Male avatar outfit (Deep Sea Diver)
- Female avatar outfit (Tinker)
Entryway: Paris Modern Divider with NASA Space Program Items
The Lakeside Log Cabin is a very large space and may even be difficult to decorate every inch of the space without hitting the item limit for personal spaces. There are two large rooms, each with fireplaces, joined together by a spacious deck.
In the main room, there is a stone covered wall with a raised stone platform along the wall. On this wall I placed the Paris Modern Room Divider (Welcome Back package), which has a 70’s modern look. On the shelves of the divider, I placed the Loot NASA space program items. Among the Loot free space program items is the Space Shuttle with booster rockets, the Apollo Lunar Module, and the Gemini (1965-66) and Mercury (1961-63) space capsules. I was born just before John Glenn went up in space and became the first American to orbit the earth, and I watched with the rest of America the lunar landing of Apollo 11, both of which had a great impact on me. The Mercury capsule and the Apollo lunar modules holds a special place for me, and I am very grateful that Loot has provided these wonderful items for free.
Right Side of Cabin: Grandfather clock, sword display and desk
Leaning up against the divider is the Guitar Hero guitar (VIP Lounge. Note: this space is no longer available through the navigator, but if you or a friend has it saved as a favorite, you can still get to the space and receive the guitar as a reward). Above the divider I have the Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception Wall Art (available at the Tokyo Game Show 2011 event in the theater through September 29th). The colors in this piece blends really nice with with the colors of the stones in the wall behind it.
The wall hangings from Aurora – Twitcher (Aurora level 30 reward) and Lucille (Aurora level 45 reward) – also look great on the stone covered walls. I have both of these hanging on the wall in the secondary room.
Along the long wooden wall in the main room I have hung the very cool looking Novus Prime Concept: The Blackwing (Welcome Back package) wall art. The light colored wood of the Alcove set (SIREN: Blood Curse) sword display makes a nice contrast to the dark wall. This sword display can be won as a reward at Siren, by either completing any of the Ward of Despair challenges in less than two minutes or without any individual in you group being captured. So if you don’t have this free item yet, get some friends together and head down to Siren.
Hanging on the wall on the other side of the display case, I have the Incinerate Framed Poster. This is an item that you receive as a reward when visiting a friend’s Rapture Apartment. By the door that leads to Central Plaza, I have a coat rack (Home Advanced Pack).
On the opposite side of the room, there are the glass windows that run from ceiling to floor to allow one to take in the wonderful sunset view. In front of the windows I have the light wood Paris Modern dressers; one on each side of the door that leads out to the deck. The Home Advanced package come with fifteen Waterfall Terrace decorating items, such as the decorative box and vases. These items can be used to accent the flat tabletop spaces like the Paris Modern dressers.
To the right of the fireplace, I have the dark stained wood grandfather clock (Waterfall Terrace Set 1), and on the left side I have the iron fireplace set (Waterfall Terrace Set 1) next to the firewood basket (Home Advanced Pack).
Fireplace: Sofa and coffee table
For the main area of the room I wanted to have it arranged as partly an area to sit by the fire and partly a workspace area. In front of the fireplace I have the dark leather sofa (Waterfall Terrace Set 1) and log cabin dark stained wood coffee table (Home Starter Pack 2) with the sailboat sitting on it. Incidentally, the raised stone platforms that are on either side of the fireplace can be accessed from either the far left or right sides of the platform. Two people could then sit facing each other, making a this cozy chat area in front of the roaring fire.
For my work area I needed a desk and the only desk that I had was the gold desk from the mansion, which would clash with the wood decor. The Paris Modern coffee table (Welcome Back package) is actually too high to used as a coffee in front of a sofa, but works great as a small table or even, as I have used it here, as a very elegant desk. The style of Paris Modern dining chairs (Welcome Back package) matches the coffee table being used as a desk. For the finishing touches on the work area, I have the Paris Modern lamp and fountain pen on the desk (both from the Welcome Back package).
Sunken Deck Area: Fabulous Sunset
Outside there is a huge deck, with a sunken area in the middle nearest the lake. There is a lot that you can do with the deck. There is the umbrella that came in the Welcome Back package or the jacuzzi from the gift machine that can make the deck area into a happening place. I split the deck into three different areas: food, intimate, and mingling.
The brown Paris Modern dining tables (Welcome Back package) with the rows of thin strips of wood around it’s sides has a very distinctive outdoors look, so I used it as part of a barbecue area. I don’t know of any free barbecues, so I had to purchase one.
For the other two areas, I used the off-white leather chairs and sofas (Waterfall Terrace Set 2), as the back, base and sides are all made of wood and the light leather stands out in the low light of the night. The rough cut coffee table (Waterfall Terrace Set 2) is a also a perfect fit for the deck between the sofas I have placed by the garden as a gathering place for conversation with friends.
Along with the two chairs in the sunken area of the deck, I also have the Paris Modern glass side table (Welcome Back package) that has a V-shaped wood base. The glass is slightly illuminated in the low light. On the glass table I have the neon female statue from Sodium, which adds a glow to the area.
Utilizing Sony’s value packs, one can receive the Lakeside Log Cabin personal space with enough furniture and decorating items to have the creative flexibility to really make this cabin have your personality and make it a place to rest and relax with friends.
October 4th, 2011 by Orion_NGC1976 | 9 comments
Father, husband, dolphy racer and sometimes Home world traveler.
This is a nice well written review of the Log Cabin. I may be prejudiced in that it’s still my favorite space.
While I do wish I had room for 1 to 3 more items, it’s not a difficult space to decorate although I suppose that might depend on what one wants to do with it.
I enjoyed this article.
Thank you Fleetfoot for your comments.
The Lakeside Log Cabin is likewise my favorite personal estate as well. I’m a sucker for rustic, nature-themed spaces, and this one, to me, is a perfect example of the Home Goldilocks Theory: just the right size for the current item limit. It’s not a monster of an estate, and it’s also not an exercise in shoehorning like Primarch’s Vigilarium.
Hmm…the tweet about this article was slightly misleading. I clicked thinking it was a review of the value packs, but it’s mostly about how the author decorated HIS space. Some of the items are no longer available and the Welcome Back Package is no longer free. It’s a nice look, but for $15 in value packs and a Welcome Back Package that would cost much more if it were purchased now, the doesn’t exactly speak to one looking for a good value.
BTW…math needs some double-checking! $4.49 x 2 does not equal $9.98 last time I checked.
Stephie, thank you for your comments. The goal of my article was twofold: One, to get people to think creatively about decorating with the items that are available as rewards (including limited time rewards which many may have), free in the store and items available in packages in the PlayStation Store. Two, to provide information about some of the packages in the PS Store that people may not be aware that they even exist, since it is separate from Home.
Thank you for catching my inadvertent math error.
Ooh…it automatically upgraded my smiley to something I didn’t intend. LOL…sorry, I’m not making mad faces at people over here!
This space was the second one I bought in Home, the Waterfall being the first. I liked the fact that it was a dusk setting to contrast the dawn setting of the Waterfall. It is a beautiful space and fun to decorate, though I wish it had a more private area for a bedroom, which makes it a bit of a challenge but not one that can’t be tackled. All in all it is a nice place and I would buy it again. Good review Orion.
Nice article. I think the starter packs are a great value for someone new to Home. I got the original starter pack with the Paris Tower apartment when it first came out.
The decorating ideas were helpful and the Lake Cabin is still one of my favorite spaces in Home.
Now I just need to figure out what to do with the Wizard’s Den I got free when I bought it. :/
Another great article, Orion and fun to read. I love to hear that men decorate, too.