La Galleria News

Designer of the Month: Charmayne Brentley

2010-01-26T11:28:00.001-08:00

Charlayne is a longtime La Galleria customer who fell in love with my Villa and made it into a beautiful, comfortable home -- and had too much fun doing it! I asked her how she went about it:

I am happiest in an environment that feels cozy and warm; I love to make a house feel like a home. It's more about color, and the way a room makes me feel, than any certain style. I suppose that an eclectic style describes what i like best -- sometimes it's trial-and-error, and sometimes things just fall into place as if they were meant to go together.

I have always been interested in decorating, but in Second Life I can change my wall color almost as often as my hair color! The possibilities are endless. When I realized the interesting, and realistic, textures and furnishings which are available, I wanted to work with those to create a space which is enjoyable to be in. One big factor has been my partner, Tad Carlucci. His patience, guidance, and knowledge, were big factors helping me to jump in and overcome any hesitation or fears of making a mistake ... and there have been plenty of those! All part of the process of learning...grin.

2010-01-01T11:16:00.000-08:00

PANDORA'S WINTER WONDERLAND

2009-12-19T18:00:00.001-08:00

Pandora Phillip, whose remodding and decorating of the Rose Cottage is on this blog, has the use of a whole sim for the winter, and has turned it into a Winter Wonderland! Outside, more to see and do than I can include here -- inside, EVERYTHING Christmas! It is fabulous!

Moon Allard

2009-12-12T05:51:00.000-08:00

Moon owns a beautiful island with furnished beach cottages, and activities for residents. Strolling around the island, residents can find many interesting things like this romantic Lover's Grotto, featuring the Lover's Table, all dressed up for the holidays.

Ginger Cyberschreiber

2009-12-11T07:56:00.001-08:00

No Designer of the Month this month, as I would like to post a variety of pics from anyone who would like to share their work here with others -- I would especially like to see what you have done for the holidays -- so send me a pic or two! I noticed someone new making a lot of trips to La Galleria over a couple of days, picking up some very nice things. When I talked to Ginger, she said her house was gorgeous, so I asked for some pics -- and indeed, she has done a fabulous job! I especially like the way Ginger uses colors and tones. They are subtle, and all complement one another so well.

LA GALLERIA DINNER PARTY ON TV!

2009-11-25T08:47:00.000-08:00

This is my second appearance on the Second Life TV show Designing Worlds -- this time featuring cooking a Thanksgiving dinner in one of my kitchens, followed by a Thanksgiving dinner party. It was such fun! (The dinner party segment starts about halfway through.)

Designer of the Month: Yshmael Zapatero

2009-11-11T14:54:00.000-08:00

The November Designer of the Month is Yshmael Zapatero, who is decorating two very different homes, one of which is a La Galleria house. By masterfully mixing contemporary, antique, and traditional styles with Asian accents Yshamel has created homes that are understated but dramatic, sophisticated yet inviting, as you can see in the pics below (and it was hard selecting the dozen best ones!). Here is part of an interview with Yshmael:

How do you create a room? Do you mostly have an idea of what you want it to look like, or do you mostly see things and develop an idea as you shop?

When doing a room, I go for what my mentor, Ray Hoffman, always tells me, the wow factor - I want to walk in to a room and go "Wow, I want that."

I never have an idea of what I want a room to look like, and it's funny the room can come from a rug, or an art piece or a color, but it's never the furnishing.

How would you describe your style?

I dont have a style, that would be restricting; I love Oriental decor, but I never do anything totally Oriental -- I find that mixing things makes it more interesting. That's why I liked La Galleria from the beginning: there was the Louis XV chair next to the Chinese screen.

I love color and texture, well made furniture with details, that is all I need, and prims I tend to forget those.

One of my new dining sets...

2009-10-09T17:27:00.001-07:00

I really do love this one! I have made several other things out of the same wood -- coffee tables, writing tables, and some other chairs with the rush seats, to go with other tables.

New Kitchens & Updates

2009-10-06T20:56:00.000-07:00

If you are a kitchen owner, IM me for the newest update package, which includes a hanging pot rack that rezzes 4 or 8 pots, 6 potted herbs, and a very cool shadow to slip under the kitchen!

I have some great new kitchens, too, among which are the ones you see here.

Concerns about Theft

2009-10-01T12:09:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am concerned. For the convenience of customers, I keep everything but houses rezzed, even though it costs me a lot of prims to do so. However, that makes me even more vulnerable to theft, as thieves can copy anything that is rezzed. That's not to say that clothes, skins, shoes, etc. are not vulnerable, because they can be stolen literally off your avi's back.

Thieves justify their thievery in a number of ways, but it boils down to creators not being entitled to reap the rewards of their labor -- somehow, the thieves are entitled to those rewards. Sometimes people ask me if I really made everything in my store. Yes, I made every stick, all by myself, plus a whole lot more in inventory that I don't have room for. I do all the customer support, advertising, etc. You can imagine how many thousands of hours that has taken, and how it must feel to see someone else reap the rewards for those hours.

There are a number of things that can be done to reduce theft by making it more inconvenient, but nothing that can prevent it. Nothing. What we all can do, however, is be on the lookout for stolen merchandise, because SL and Xstreet are full of it (and now, so are websites outside of SL). There are whole stores, even whole sims, that are nothing but stolen merchandise.

When you see something that does not look right, notify the original creator, or whomever you think the original creator might be. Think carefully before buying that super-cheap (or free) item from someone that seems to sell ONLY this sort of thing. For example, the Xstreet listing for 12 very nice FULL PERM hairs for 295L? All stolen, of course, from easily recognized creators.

Designer of the Month: Pandora Philipp

2009-09-15T14:39:00.000-07:00

I love Pandora's decorating because she thinks outside the box, as you can see in the pictures below of the Rose Cottage -- she has not only decorated it with an exciting sense of eclectic style and bold color, but she remodeled the cottage to suit her needs. She has added two baths, a nursery, an art room, and yes, a room for her dogs! Her property has a boat house and tree house and interesting things to interact with everywhere. It looks fabulous! She says:

"I buy what I like and then build around it ... I like unique, lots of people just buy what they see out and leave it, you need to make it comfortable for yourself. I just put out what I like, not what others think I should, I have to live here.... lol!"

Pandora always has a clear vision of what she wants, and I love working with her to modify things to match that vision. That's a lot of fun for me, and very rewarding also to see the final creation. I supply the artist with the tools and materials, but it is the artist who makes the final art work, and I love seeing that.

Pandora welcomes anyone to come see her home here. If she is home, just IM her to let her know you want to take a peek. She also has several shops -- clothes, flower arrangements, and contemporary furnishings-- which can be found at her mall here.

2009-08-13T20:42:00.000-07:00

My new 18c English cottage! Below are pics and a description from the notecard.

It has:

* detachable 4 linked columns,
* a detachable patio with pool and pool water,
* a detachable front walk with planters.

Also rezzed along with the house are copyable and modifiable:

* ceiling fans,
* hanging light fixture,
* planters with rose bushes,
* rose bushes,
* sculpted open-close curtains (lace pattern and solid
* open-close privacy shutters.
* security orb

DESIGNER OF THE MONTH -- GIANCARLO TAKACS

2009-07-31T20:29:00.000-07:00

Two of my favorite customers are Giancarlo Takacs and Ryker Infinity, who together have built the gorgeous and very popular Costa Rica sims -- and have absolutely stunning taste in furnishings. I asked Giancarlo to be this month's Designer of the Month, and you will see why in the pics here (read more about Costa Rica Sims at www.costaricasims.com). I asked Giancarlo to tell me something about how he went about creating his masterpiece"

"For many, the first thing that comes to mind when they hear Costa Rica is beautiful beaches. And that is true, Costa Rica has some of the most gorgeous beaches in the world, but the country also has many other environments -- every form of terrain, wildlife, and plant growth that can possibly survive in a tropical climate.

Being the estate CEO of the Costa Rica Sims, I am aware that the beach environment is the most popular among SL residents and I have designed over 60 sims with a beach theme. My partner, Ryker, and I were thinking for quite some time about moving somewhere else within our estate. But while he is more of a city dweller, I have always loved the country and honestly I was growing tired of the beach scene -- in RL Costa Rica one of my favorite places is the province of Heredia. This inland province is known for its beautiful mountains, magnificent waterfalls, cloud forests, and manor homes.

One day while talking to a fellow resident about the idea I had for our country estate, he recomended Cierra Anatine, owner of Kismet. I went there and right away fell in love with the homes. Now the hard task had just begun. How do you take a city dweller to the country? Later that morning, Ryker came online and I asked him to come to where I was, because I wanted to show him something, but I needed him to keep an open mind.

When he teleported to Tir Na Kismet sim, right away I explained what I had in mind for our new home and to my surprise, my city dweller was very happy to move to the country!

One of our greatest joys in SL as a couple is to create projects together. In the 17 months we have been together we have seen our estate grow from 24 sims, to over 60 today. One of our “projects” we were working prior to our house was furnishing of our new welcome center. The Costa Rica Sims is a brand known in Second Life for offering the best of the best and that is how we discovered Pamela Galli and La Galleria. We used her beautiful furniture for our new welcome center and loved it so much there was no doubt we were going to use her designs for our home. We really loved the traditional elegance of her furnishings, her impeccable taste in textures, and exceptional sense of scale and proportion. This made her designs versatile for mixing and matching to fit different rooms, create compelling ambiance, and set distinct moods for various living spaces. In the end, we were able to achieve a relaxed, yet still refined and luxurious retreat, surrounded by natural beauty."

La Galleria Designer of the Month: Cocoa Jewell

2009-07-03T12:44:00.000-07:00

The La Galleria Designer of the Month is Cocoa Jewell, CEO of Creative Jewell and Jewell Enterprise, who has taken her love for interior and landscape design and turned it into a business. Below you will see pics of some of her designs, in which she blends a variety of styles into a warm and inviting environment. Cocoa makes every effort to personally build and design her gardens and interiors to reflect her clients' tastes. Whether it's warmth and home....or peace and serenity, Cocoal builds and designs according to her clients' needs and desires.

Feel free to IM her to set up a free intial consultation. You can view more examples of her designs at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Christal/195.139.21.

Just because it's pretty....

2009-06-29T14:44:00.001-07:00

And also so I get one more post in before the end of June!

I have several of these sofa sets, in different colors. There is a dark version with darker shading and the lighter version you see here. All are tintable. I like to play around with the colors and pillow colors, matching the rugs. Each has several sit animations in each cushion, plus the sofa has MLP. The sofas are $299 and the loveseats $199.

Win an Apartment Full of La Galleria Furnishings!

2009-06-23T20:00:00.000-07:00

When Prim Perfect magazine invited me to be their Designer of the Month for June, I thought "Oh, goody!" - and then they told me I would be decorating a cabin on the Galaxy Cruise ship. Now, as it turns out, this cabin was quite large, which is good, but I would be limited to 300 prims, which is -- a challenge. As it turned out, it was a good exercise in analyzing how I could lose prims without sacrificing quality. I was not able to use some of my very favorite things, of course -- I did so want to use my leopard skin occasional chairs -- but I used a lot of things from the Low Prim section of the store, and did away with a lot of shadows.

The cabin has low ceilings and dark paneling, so I covered the floors with wood, painted, and wallpapered. :-) And yes, that took some of my precious prims.

Prim Perfect has a contest in which you can win ALL the furnishings (as well as free rent for the cabin for a month). All you need to do is find the prim count on the items shown on p.66 by visiting the stores, and sending in your notecard to Prim Perfect with the totals. Seems pretty simple. Prim Perfect's web version of the magazine can be found here.

Summertime = Partytime!

2009-06-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

Invite your friends over and spend the day having a cookout!

GRILLING

Touch the grill to get a menu to rez uncooked burgers or barbecued chicken -- then after a bit, "turn" the meat over by rezzing the cooked versions!

To cook the meat on the grill, touch the cannister to get the turner or tongs (for owner only) -- accept the animation then click on the turner or tongs to "wear" them. You don't have to dig around in inventory for them!

Guests may touch the bag of potato chips for a chip, or the soda or beer can for a drink.

PICNIC TABLE

To eat, touch the picnic table for the menu and choose your food and number of guests! Touch the food to get food or fork and start eating! Rez the ice chest and guests can touch the cans for a soda or beer.

Food Items:

Appetizers -- Chips & Salsa with Margarita or Cheese & Fruit with Wine

Meals -- Barbecued Chicken with Grilled Corn and Tomato Slice, or Cheeseburgergs with Potato Chips.

Dessert -- Cherry Pie or Cookies

Each picnic bench has three "seats", each with a male and female dining animation.

Designer of the Month -- Endora McAndrews

2009-06-05T02:43:00.000-07:00

La Galleria's Designer of the Month for June is Endora McAndrews, who owns a beautiful Virginia style house in a beach community. She does a lot of entertaining: "I have family all over SL. This house is sort of like an adult play house. We are all busy, but we meet a lot and barbecue a lot and enjoy each other's company as if we were in real life."

Endora's friend and housemate Angelinne Cazalet was helpful in the set up of the furniture in the house, and did the landscaping you see.

While most of the decor is soft, muted colors in traditional, classic style, Endora created flair by skillfully blending touches of Asian, Contemporary, Victorian, and Western. "I decorate for comfort", Endora says.

The result is a design consistent with with classic style of the house, but with a crisp, contemporary feel -- perfect for the warm and welcoming gathering place it is.

Dinner Party Kitchens are here!

2009-05-26T09:57:00.000-07:00

I have four kitchens done so far! Here's the info from the notecard that comes with them:

While the kitchen is great fun by itself, it is designed to be integrated with the Dinner Party and Dinner Party II dining sets, where your guests can sit down to the meals you prepare in the kitchen while they have appetizers at the kitchen bar.

The kitchen has three areas -- all copyable -- that rez food through a menu, and each of these comes separately and must be placed in the kitchen:

1) The food prepartion island, where you can prepare full meals which include salad, sauce for lasagna (none of that bottled stuff!), and assembling the lasagna, and, when you just want to serve a treat, chocolate chip cookies -- and when you are not cooking, a bowl of fruit or a brass pitcher with gerbera daisies.

To rez these, touch the top of the island. To stir, wear the wooden stirring spoon from your invenotyr; to chop, wear the chopping knife. (You may have to adjust your height and/or the spoon and knife in order to stir and chop correctly -- or move the bowl or pot.)

2) The oven and range, where you can cook lasagna sauce, lasagna, cookies and cocoa, baked potatos, rolls, french bread -- and you can grill steaks. To rez these, touch the BACK WALL of the stove.

3) The bar (attached to the kitchen), where your guests can munch on cheese and crackers while they sip wine, have chips and salsa while they drink Margaritas, have pita and hummos, have a lovely ivory and gold cup of steaming cafe au lait, a beautiful rose-pattern teapot that gives a steaming cup of tea along with a basket of muffins to serve, or serve the cocoa and cookies you have made -- and when you are not cooking, a bowl of fruit or a brass pitcher with gerbera daisies. Just touch the bar countertop to rez these.

All of the rezzing items are copyable, so you can take a copy and place them wherever you like, as well as rezzing them.

******

The kitchen is modifiable, but if you change the size of the oven, the island top, or the serving bar top, the food positions will get messed up.

The kitchen comes with optional copy- mod walls, as well as transferble hanging lamp, four stools, a set of wooden spoons that gives a wooden spoon to stir with, a coffee maker that gives a steaming mug of coffee, a potted basil plant, a set of four cannisters, a set of three pasta-filled glass cannisters, a rolling pin, a cutting board, a cookbook, a hanging kitchen utensil rack, three baskets, and wall decor.

The kitchen by itself is 45 prims, not counting the items that rez or the extras listed above.

Designer of the Month -- Damanta Galaxy

2009-05-14T18:37:00.000-07:00

A new feature of this blog is one I have been planning since before I started it -- to showcase how my brilliant and talented designer-customers (even if they only design for themselves) use La Galleria furnishings to create showcase homes.

This month's designer is Damanta Galaxy, co-owner of Club Erin, the Parkhead Mall, and Gra Go Deo Rentals. Damanta has done a superb job with her beautiful beach home, mixing styles to create drama, and using a sophisticated neutral tone palette with dashes of color.

Damanta has also designed the beautiful wedding chapel and garden overlooking the beach - along with a honeymoon suite -- which will be availble soon for weddings!

If you would like your creation to be featured in the blog, send me a couple of pics -- you may be chosen Designer of the Month! But I can tell you the competition will be stiff, because there are some very talented people out there. :-)

XStreet SL Merchants Hunt!

2009-05-12T10:17:00.000-07:00

X marks the spot -- look for an X (like on treasure map) on the floor somewhere! The hunt lasts a week and starts Thursday, May 14.

Hungry for more?

2009-05-08T22:23:00.000-07:00

Good news -- I have the food sets for the rectangular tables for 6 in a texture change version! I have boxes of lasagna and steak dinners, chocolate mousse, and strawberry shortcake. I also have breakfast (muffins with tea or coffee) and coffee for for the small round Dinner Party II tables. More to come!

A Dozen New Fireplaces!

2009-05-06T10:26:00.001-07:00

All different styles, each with sculpted logs & crackling fire! In the picture see also my beautiful new Lalique vase.

New Dinner Party II Dining room!

2009-04-30T05:56:00.001-07:00

I just love these chairs -- they go equally well in a contemporary or traditional dining room. As always, there are a number of different tables and chairs that go together, so you can pick the look that suits you best. The side chairs are only 8 prims, and the arm chairs 10.

Get ready for summer!

2009-04-25T16:52:00.000-07:00

This set has beautiful wicker, and the cushions are tintable -- and the table rezzes a cheese & fruit plate with wine, or chips and salsa that gives a chip for the left hand and a margarita for the right. I also have a lounge chair that matches. The set of four chairs and table are only 15 prims without the appetizers.

New STUFF!

2009-04-20T06:01:00.000-07:00

I have two new Dinner Party II dining rooms for 8, two new ones for 4, and a new contemporary one for 6 -- each with new chairs. I have also made a bunch of great looking new vases and planters -- out on the back patio, where you can pick plants and flowers to put in them. Lots of other smaller stuff as well -- come take a look!

Creating a Knockout Room

2009-04-05T16:02:00.000-07:00

I think rooms of all one style can be very attractive. But if you have looked around La Galleria, you can see how I like to create dramatic flair by mixing a variety of styles to create a look that is really exciting. Don't allow yourself to be boxed in by the "matchy-matchy" mentality! Diversity in home decorating, as with everything else, is just more interesting than homogeneity.

If you like it, it will "go" with pretty much everything else you like, and create an environment that truly reflects your unique taste and creativity. Go ahead an put that Egyptian relief plaque or antique rug with your contemporary sofa! Put that black lacquer console with your traditional sofa -- it goes with just about anything, and nothing adds a touch of drama like Asian accessories.

That said, I would like to introduce my new line of seating, created in collaboration with my brilliant and talented partner, the misnamed Idiot Winn. The pics are some examples of knockout rooms created around our Nine Labs line of seating:

• Touch seat after sit to change sit.

• Hold Touch 1 sec to adjust sit. Move pole to adjust position. Click Save, Next, Done.

• Touch arm to change texture.

• Touch back to get cuddle menu -- STOP to remove balls.

• Tintable any darker color:

NEW STUFF!

2009-03-29T11:03:00.001-07:00

COFFEE TABLES THAT REZ CANDLES AND CHEESEPLATE

I have all kinds and all styles! These are great for entertaining guests -- the cheese and fruit plate gives cheese on cracker for the left hand and a crystal wine glass for the right.

NEW LOVER'S PICNIC!

Celebrate your love with a picnic just for you and your lover!

Food items include:

* Chips and Salsa plate that gives a chip for the left hand and a Margarita for the right.

* Fruit and cheese tray that gives a cracker and cheese for the left hand and a glass of wine for the right.

* Fried chicken, potato salad, and cole slaw that gives a chicken leg and a fork.

* Cheesecake that gives a slice of cheesecake on a plate for the left hand and a fork for the right.

* Cherry pie that gives a plate with slice of pie for the left hand and a fork for the right.

When all done, cuddle, kiss, and rez a campfire to gaze into together!

Touch the center of the blanket to rez animation balls.

Touch the edges of the blanket to change textures.

Touch the picnic basket to rez food items or campfire.

Touch food to receive fork or food and drink items with eating animation (sit on balls first).

Touch wine bottle in basket to get a goblet of wine.

The blanket and basket are 22 prims. Rezzed items various, but I kept it pretty low.

New Stuff

2009-03-02T06:53:00.000-08:00

DINING

I have several pretty new Dinner Party II dining sets -- touch the table top and choose dinner or dessert for 2, 4, or 6, along with wine, glasses, cups, coffee, bread, salad, etc! When you clear the table, rez the centerpiece.

You can now buy two food boxes to add to the Dinner Party II sets -- one is steak, baked potato, salad, and French bread, and the other is lasagna, salad, and a roll. These are for place settings for 2, 4, or 6, rectangular tables only. More boxes are planned, but these are a start!

Most items in the store are now sold individually, but you can still get the set discount --if you buy a complete set -- 6 or more chairs, table, rug, two other pieces of furniture -- you get a refund of $500, so even if the sets are not boxed, you still get the set discount. There are signs in the store explaining how to get the discount. Just IM me when you have bought a set and I will refund!

BARS

I have two new bars -- one a Tiki with a detachable covered deck, so it can go indoors or out (and a matching patio set is available), and one a Soho in gleaming steel and granite. You touch the top of the counter and they rez various bottles and drinks, and when you touch those, you get one to sip!

They come with lots of linked copyable glasses and bottles, and a copyable matching stool. The Tiki comes with a lighted ceiling fan and the Soho with two hanging lights. I also have my original "Cheers" bar that looks like an upscale pub, and comes with a stained glass surround.

RUGS

I got a new rug shipment in -- some really pretty ones, especially Aubussons! My rugs have two prices: if they are the highest resolution that SL allows, and will stretch to any size without getting blurry, they are 98L; if they are lower resolution, they are a little less. I will not sell rugs that have too low resolution to look good in a normal sized room arrangement.

La Galleria gets a new home!

2009-02-14T19:14:00.000-08:00

There is a (short) story behind La Galleria's move to its own island. When I started getting low on prims and thought about getting my own sim, I told myself that I could not have a sim of my own until I had used the prims I had wisely and well.

I made myself get rid of anything that was not selling (no matter how much I liked it) and I looked at everything in the store very carefully to see if I could improve it. And guess what? There was a lot I could improve! So that's why I am so focused on upgrading and updating - it is a way to keep creating without using more prims! In fact, a lot of the updating was finding ways to cut prims.

But finally I ran out of prims. Now that I have prims to spare, though, I have discovered the value of making good things better and I intend to continue.

Have it Your Way

I am very aware that many of my customers are artists for whom their home is their artistic medium. They have a passion for creating a beautiful environment. This is why I like to offer lots of options, and have signs all over the store saying so. For example, I use a lot of light fabrics because they can be tinted any color. (Much of the wood can be darkened or lightened as well.) This is also why I have not boxed up all the Dinner Party II dining sets -- so people can mix and match tables and chairs of the same woods. (And I have been known to change the pillow fabric or even the fabric on the entire sofa or chair.)

Coming Soon

I started out making the Dinner Party tables with either lasagna or steak dinners, but soon I will box these up so that whichever one is not in your table, you will be able to buy and add to it. It's a pretty simple procedure. Next will be another dessert besides cheesecake. I have several but have not decided on one. Options for the Hostess tables will be next. And eventually I will have more for the Dinner Party tables: Greek, Asian, Tex Mex to begin with.