Go Nautical on a Budget
by Kassadee Marie, HSM team writer
Ahoy there, mates! Summer may be over in the northern hemisphere, but here in Home it can be virtual Summer whenever you want, all year long. And what goes best with the hot summer sun? Water, of course! There’s nothing like being on the water when the weather is hot and you want to cool off, whether it’s a lake or a sea, river or stream or an ocean. It’s a great time that makes great memories, and you can have them on Home, too.
Here are some ideas that will let you combine some old favorites and catch some rays while out on the water — while looking great, of course — and still stay on a budget.
If you don’t own it already, the first thing you’ll need to do is pick up the best estate bargain on Home (in my opinion): the Sunset Yacht from Loot.
This estate has so much to offer! The view changes around you, as the yacht slowly moves around a tropical lagoon in the ocean. There’s diurnal control with several settings, including pause, to suit your every mood and on the lower level, you can turn on the lights at night, if you wish. There’s also EOD (Entertainment on Demand) for movies, television and live events, and RadioIO with stations for all genres of music. There are several areas to decorate on two levels, and with built-in RadioIO, you won’t need to use a lot of furniture slots adding a musical item. There’s even a hidden reward for performing certain activities, and additional sea birds for partying with 11 friends at the same time. All this is for a price tag of only $4.99! By the way, there’s additional sea life available to you with inexpensive add-ons, such as a huge whale that leaps from the water periodically. If you haven’t seen that yet, you’re in for a real treat.
Speaking of add-ons for the Sunset Yacht space, “Cabin Boy Trout Trouble” by Loot is a fun little game to play and you also receive a red inflatable dolphin as an ornament and dolphins in the sea around your Sunset yacht at the same time. There is also another small reward to be earned within this game itself. You can purchase it three ways, including as a cabinet game. It’s $1.99 for either version of the game and $2.99 in a bundle with four hoodies, two for each gender.
If you’ve won them, the white reward chair and couch from the Vendetta game at Abstergo labs would look good on the lower floor of the yacht. If you haven’t won them, or are interested in a more nautical look, consider the “Captain’s Collection” from Bigyama for $1.99. This set of three items, including a couch, chair and coffee table, is done in a stylish blue and gold nautical theme.
If you don’t have the Homecast rewards of a chair and umbrella table to furnish the upper deck areas, you still may have other suitable nautical or outdoor furnishings in your rewards or “already purchased” furniture for this. If not, I recommend the “Outdoor Furniture” bundle, also from Loot, which includes seven items for $1.99. These are two upright chairs and two lounge chairs, which come in two different styles, a parasol, and two tables in different sizes. Be sure to add lots of nautical ornaments there, like the dolphy figurines that can be won from the Hudson races and items like the seashell and beach parasol guest rewards from Dream Island, or the sea slugs from Seaside of Memories, if you have them.
For dressing in a nautical style on Home, I recommend the “Sailor” costume for females and males from the Sony Costume Originals store. These outfits are each four pieces, including a hat with hairdo, for a mere $.79 and it’s hard (if not impossible) to do better than that anywhere else on Home. These outfits are so inexpensive that you may want to also look over the sailor outfits from Lockwood. Under their Fool Throttle label, you will find the “Cadet Cadence” pack of four items for the ladies for $2.99, which includes a sailor hat with pigtails hairdo, a short top and a skirt, in white with blue and red trim, and white sling back pumps. The “Sailor Saintly” items for the guys, which are the Square Rig cap for $.99, the Sea Captain shirt and dog tags for $.99, the Wavecrest trousers for $.99, and the Deckhand Deck shoes for $.49, are priced individually. You ladies may want to start your own nautical clothing look with the anchor top from Billabong or one of the sailor tops from Granzella’s school collection. Add the “finger pinched by a crab” reward item from Southern Island Hideaway to any any of these outfits to add a little humor to the look.
There are several nautically themed companions available in the Sidekicks store, such as the “Land Shark” for $2.49 from Sony, which dips in and out of the ground; the “Seaside Coconut Crab” set for $2.99 from Granzella, which also comes with a face-hugging version for males and females; or the new copper “Bubbly Submarine” for $1.99 from Juggernaut. If you’d like something a even more humorous, there’s the bright purple B’Loons octopus for $1.49 from Konami with its fun and floaty animations.
The yacht is a great setting for a nautical party. Set the time of day or night as you please, turn on RadioIO to your favorite music channel and invite some friends. It’s simple and fun! And, it’s totally “on a budget.”
December 16th, 2012 by Kassadee Marie | 1 comment
Home is endlessly entertaining to this California girl. Kassadee has been in Home for about four years, and loves almost everything about it (with a few notable exceptions). She spends way too much money there, and perhaps too much time... Someday she will travel the world and write about the people she meets and the places she sees.
Love the article, makes me want to get on my yacht right now and catch some rays.