by Kassadee Marie, HSM team writer

When you first heard what the fourth reward estate from the Sony Challenges was, you may have thought, “Why do we need another Harbor Studio Apartment?”

If so, you’re forgetting all the times that people (including maybe you?) asked for different weather at this space. It would probably be impossible to add more features to the oldest personal space in Home, so while this isn’t actually a weather-changing ability, it is almost what we’ve asked for.

A lot of people have commented that they love the dramatic colors and all the lights on the boats, piers, and buildings in the revised view in this estate. Even the lighthouse at the end of the rocky causeway is functioning now.

Owners of this estate will have noticed the unfortunate loss of the ability to change the wallpaper in this space. The off-white walls are so plain; it’s lucky that we can have four wall hangings in this space. Not all of the estates on Home — reward or purchased – and none of the clubs have this feature. At least the lights still work, and when changed to the off position, the space still has a cozy and warm feeling to it.

So: what do we do with a rainy theme? Well, a lot, actually.

First, a fireplace is almost essential to the theme. Who wouldn’t want to sit in front of a fire on a cold, wet day? There are many choices for fireplaces in Home. Lockwood gave out a “Heartwarming Hearth” a while back that you may have and would like to use here. mydeco sells one called the “black animated fireplace” and Juggernaut offers their “romantic fireplace” which plays soft jazz music. Either of these would look great here. Game Mechanics offers an “elegant fireplace” in which the fire can be turned on and off. It’s one of my favorites, and I recommend you purchase it for other estates, such as the original Harbour Studio Apartment. Unfortunately, it blends too well with the color of the walls here and looks very bland, even with its black trim and mantle. There are other choices in the stores, also, such as Kovok’s “Marble Fireplace” (which also may be too bland against the walls here).

The perfect bed for this space is the wet-looking water bed (with poses for your avatar) received as a reward for sending gifts from the Granzella gift machine and reaching the 100-ticket level. And the absolutely perfect chair is the “water splash chair” from mydeco. Check out both of these items for staying with a rainy motif here. One other item you might also like here is the “Rainy Window” by Juggernaut. Just be sure to place it on the outside wall.

You may want a patio or beach set on the balcony, and two different reward collections would look good here. Two are older items — the table and chair from “HomeCast Rewind” and the other is the cafe table and chair reward from Serenity Plaza by Juggernaut. The blue glow in the second set’s umbrella contrasts nicely against background sky and the table and chair look like something you might be willing to leave out in the rain. If you don’t have these reward items, Sony, LOOT, and Lockwood sell both of these types of items, individually and in packs.

Fish tanks would look great here. Lockwood offered a huge tank as a reward with the purchase of the Dream yacht, but it might be a bit overwhelming for this small space. They also sell tanks in two shapes, rectangular and cylindrical, very inexpensively. Sony has an “Ocean Bubble Aquarium” that you may like. Digital Leisure offers quite a few aquariums in various sizes and several shapes. They have a built-in fish keeping game with rewards. Juggernaut sells an “Aquarium Table” in their Nautilus collection and Intellivision offers an aquarium table, also. And this is still not all of the tanks in Home.

Any reward fountains you have or almost any you can purchase would make an elegant watery statement here. Lockwood has two “modern fountain” rewards in their Dream and Arctic Yachts; VEEMEE gives a park fountain reward at Acorn Meadows; and Digital Leisure gave one as a casino fountain reward. Lockwood sells two, one large and one small; nDreams offers one in their Blueprint store; Toylogic sells a “ruined fountain'; and Sony sells two large fountains, also. Just be sure the fountain isn’t too large and ends up taking over the space and that it will fit through the doorway, if you’re planning to place it on the balcony.

You’ll need an umbrella. Lockwood has a prop parasol in Drey that could be set on the floor in the entryway. Certain bundle purchases from Granzella would net you an umbrella or parasol stand and one these would look nice in the entry way of this space also. One pack is the “Magic Umbrella Set” which is offered in black and in pink. This is a locomotion bundle. Some of the female clothing bundles come with stands, also. These are the “Chic Loli Parasol” set, offered in white, black, pink, and navy blue and the “Taisho-era Student” outfits, which all offer a stand with an umbrella, in peach, black, and white.

Model sail boats would fit in very nicely here, and there are several reward ones. One is from completing the LOOT capers on the Sunset Yacht and one is in the LKWD Life Redeeminator, earned with Lockwood Life crowns. Sony also sells a Waterfall Terrace model boat in their Originals furniture store. VEEMEE has a reward “ship in a bottle” from Acorn Meadows and another is available to be made at Juggernaut’s Bramblenook Farm. Sony sells a Cutthroats ship in a bottle and LucasArts’ Monkey Island sells one on its own wooden stand. To continue the nautical theme, you could pick up an old wall hanging item also from Lucas Arts’ Monkey Island called the nautical anchor or you could pick up the weather vane – “Sail Boat” from Granzella or the “Ship Wheel”, also from Sony’s Cutthroats collection.

Some additional purchases you might consider are the “Stitchkin Cuddle Toy – Storm” from Lockwood or the “Lantern of the Swelling Tides” by Juggernaut or dolphin shaped seats from Hudson which also provide new colors and designs for your dolphies (if you have the Dolphy Apartment personal space).

If you don’t want to shop for additional items, some of these reward items or others you may have with this theme, paired with any blue furniture that you already have would enhance and compliment a “rainy” motif. Also, if you like a little humor in your spaces, I recommend adding one, some, or all of these items: any of the treasure chests containing fish from Irem or Granzella; the simple rain barrel from Bramblenook Farm by Juggernaut; the four dolphin statue rewards from the Hudson races; and the “dolphin” mobile reward from the Blue Whale space by Granzella.

As always, I hope you’re having fun with the meta-game of decorating in Home. I know I am.

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One Response to “Decorating the Challenge Spaces: Rainy Day Harbour Studio”

1. BeautyByMe says:

   August 23, 2014 at 3:52 am

   https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=301855316661032

   Here is mine

   Reply