#shauriel

Shauriel’s Grand Psijic Villa

Player: @Shauriel

Housing Contest 4: “A School” pt. 5/6

Recap of entries of our recent housing contest where the contestants were required to create a place of learning.

In this post are the entries:

1. Bosmer School for the Arts of the Wild Hunt

Player: @Perdita

House: Snugpod

2. Boarding and Training School for Horses

Player: @Shauriel

House: Mournoth Keep

3. Silvervind’s Velothi Reverie

Player: @Silvervind

House: Velothi Reverie

The Quiet Refuge

Player: @Shauriel

Title: The Quiet Refuge

Player: @Shauriel

House: Sleek Creek House The winner of Tamriel Homes’ featured home of the month voting for October is Shauriel’s Sleek Creek House: “The Quiet Refuge.” In this home you can find a very unique take on the layout of Sleek Creek House and very pleasant garden design, enhanced with good use of the large Khajiit tents and a great view to the surrounding scenery. In this post you can find a few pictures of the home, but if you are playing in the PC/EU-server, it is recommended that you visit the house in game to experience and see what it is feels and looks like in person!

Interview: Below you can read a short interview with @Shauriel, the person behind the creation, and find out what they have to say about The Quiet Refuge and ESO’s player-housing in general:

1. Q: From what sort of creative background are you coming from? Do you have any other creative pursuits or hobbies? What are your preferred forms of self expression? A: I have very little creative background to be honest. I did take art when at school, but I wouldn't say I was, or am very artistic. :) I do like to do embroidery and make small things like cushion covers, table covers, and etc. As life can be very stressful for everyone, I like to bring relaxation into my houses. I try to express this by adding water and water movement, and calming light to my creations. I love nature in real life and would love to put more of this into my houses.

2. Q: Where did you find inspiration for this particular concept? Did you have any points of reference? A: When I was looking at which house to obtain I was looking for something that had a water feature and an outside area: Sleek Creek at that time seemed to be the one. I'm not one for dark places, etc., and I looked at the caravan house and thought I can lighten it up by using the Alinor columns and place Alinor flooring to the ground, but at the same time keeping some of the decorative woodwork of the house itself as a contrast. I noticed the direction of the water flow and decided to place a waterfall to the left hand side of the entrance and build a rock side to it, so it wouldn't look too out of place as it would be walled off. I also got some (I think they're some coral reef things) and turned them around to make flooring for second layer to the house. The inspiration I get just seems to flow as I go along. When I go see a house before buying one I think of what I can do with it. Though, I don't usually have a very specific plan of "oh I'm going to make this that, or the other”; it just develops as I go along. As for point of reference, I just like light, airy places with water.        

3. Q: What did you prioritize with your approach to the concept? Did you have any core ideas, or principles that you aimed to follow? A: As I love light airy places and as there is some lovely light Alinor pieces around, they became the basis of this house and really made it what it is. My only principle was to create a nice relaxing area.

4. Q: Which parts of this concept did you find the most challenging parts to design? A: The most challenging part of this house was the back wall. It was hard to line the Alinor walls up to cover the back wooden wall due to the available camera angles and it took a lot of running up and down to the second floor, and tiny movements to not only line the walls up horizontally, but to ensure they were vertically aligned as well. I do like the Dark Elf furniture as well: it contrasts nicely with the Alinor, especially as decorations.       

5. Q: Are there any specific areas or details you'd like to highlight in particular, and tell us about how you came up with them? A: One area I'd like to highlight is on the second floor: I had originally put plants on the reef flooring, but when I went to see house of another Tamriel Homes member who had done some fantastic farm themed design, I saw they had something that looked like soil and thought that's brilliant and would go nicely in my house. I asked how they had done it and it was such a simple thing I could’ve kicked myself for not thinking of it beforehand: all it was, was a hay pile turned upside down! But heck, it looked so good!

6. Q: Do you have any housing related tips or thoughts you'd like to share with the rest of the community? A: When building and creating, experiment with everything. Mix different things together to either make something, or to create a focal point. Use things for things that they were not designed for: you'd be surprised at what can be achieved visually. Even the most mundane item can be used as a finishing touch that really makes something work, that didn't feel complete before.

7. Q: If you could ask Zenimax to improve the player housing in ESO in some way, which changes would be on the top of your list and why? A: They have some really good things out there, but I must say the number of item slots is really a VERY big issue. It is possible for them to increase the item slots especially to match the size of the house you have. 700 slots for the bigger houses is really what you need for the smaller ones so that the detail you can put in can be more precise. The option to morph items into other things would be easier if you are not counting the remaining item slots. Also the ability to enlarge or to decrease the size of the items would be amazing, and more choices of color schemes. And lastly the ability to be able to move the camera angle outside of the character's perspective would be awesome.

8. Q: Lastly, what sort of future plans do you have player housing-wise? Can we expect to see more from you? A: As for future plans housing-wise, I'm definitely doing more. I really love doing housing and can often get so engrossed in it that I forget to look at the chat and worse still, I forget what time it is! Hence no early nights for me when I am doing housing stuff. :)

Thanks for sharing your creation and thoughts with us! We’ll be looking forward to see more from you in the future!

Tour: We also have a video featuring a tour around @Shauriel’s home, in case you cannot wait to, or cannot visit it in game! The vid is provided by our member Elara Northwind, whose channel is also worth checking out for many more great creations! Watch a video tour at @Shauriel's Sleek Creek House here!

Housing Contest 5 - A House With a Story: @Shauriel’s Stay-Moist Mansion

Player: @Shauriel

Shauriel’s Snow Globe

Player: @Shauriel