Norrathian Interior Design – Guildhall Edition

What was your inspiration for this guildhall?

I requested to be part of the guild decorating team very soon after I joined the guild. The guild had only recently moved into T3 and although the other decorators Aneasia and Lione had done lovely rooms there was still a lot of space so I saw this as my chance to flex my decorating muscle in a bigger space.

What are your favourite materials to work with in-game to create certain effects (waterfalls, stairs, grottos, aquariums, etc)?

I very much like natural materials such as wood, stone and garden type ones. I like materials that can be used to create effects that weren’t what they were originally made for. I love the introduction of the cloudy squares with the cloudy movement on them – combined with the layout feature they open up so many possibilities. I also love the marble items as they have a lovely texture and reflect light really nicely.

How long did this guildhall take?

The parts that I did at first – the merchant area, library, ladies' lounge, gentlemen’s lounge, museum and kitchen/bar took a week or so to do. When SF came out and I saw the gorgeous weathered bookcases, I had to redo the library and did so in 2 days and I love the finished result. I also redid the garden at that point as it used to be a lot bigger but I really wanted to reduce the item count to reduce loading times for members and the garden had a huge item count. The most recent addition to the hall is the maze which I created when Squitch – one of the members managed to break out of the hall into the Commonlands. If you take the teleporter over, he made the house that you arrive in and then I just had to do something with that huge space, so created the maze.

Did you plan it with a certain story in mind, or did it just grow out of what you had on hand or what your character would want in their home?

There isn’t really a story as the hall is a mix of practicality and aesthetics. The important thing is to have easy access to the amenities and creating a nicely decorated hall without using so many items that it takes everyone forever to load the zone.

How many items did you end up using and was it hard to keep within the limits?

The hall has 1283 items in. For the reasons already stated, it was easy to keep within limits. The hard thing is to make it look nice with as few items as possible. The library is a great example of a room that looks full but uses surprisingly few items since the bookcases can scale so big.

What decorating tips do you have for your fellow decorators (veteran or newbies)?

A couple really – buy an expander if you need more space. The escape key is your friend – if you accidently start to move the wrong item, hit escape and it will go back to where it was. Make friends with other decorators – use the homeshow forum a lot and also join the homeshow chat channel which is full of friendly people – use /join Antonia_Bayle.Homeshow or just /join Homeshow if already on AB. Don’t be afraid to experiment with using items in unconventional or experimental ways. Finally, a practical tip – if the house is going to hold sales crates, think carefully about where those will be. People hate hunting for a sales crate if they have only entered your house to buy something. For that reason, I always place my sales area where it can be seen from the door, even if it is through an archway in a separate room, as in this house.

What one thing would you like to be able to build in-game if you could have all the materials you wanted and item limits weren't a constraint?

I would love to be able to design a house from scratch, including size, layout etc. This would enable such creative houses to be built. For I house item I would love a water or glass tile without frames, a starry tile which looks like the sky with movement included on it such as a shooting star – like the movement on the cloudy squares and finally I would love a guestbook in which visitors could leave comments. While I am on the subject of what I would like – I would like to see the link between size of house and number of sales slots removed – as a decorator, I often pop into random houses to look around and all too often the big houses are just empty apart from sales crates. Alternatively an in-game feature where people could list their houses if they want visitors would be great.

If you change your decorations seasonally, what is your favourite time of year for decorations?

I love Frostfell but so far haven’t decorated the hall specifically for a festival. Instead, I tend to use bits from each festival as part of the regular decorating as there are items that will fit in well all year round.

Who was involved in the decorating for your guildhall, if you had help?

The parts that I did, I did alone. However, the other members of the decorating team are Anaesia, Lione and our newest member Aerika.