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elizabethrobertajones · 6 years ago

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(part 1) this is random but something im curious about is do you think the next few years will see a radical shift in more lead lgbt couples in shows? i feel like when supernatural started it was all about subtext/queerbating between characters we would never see canon (maybe), the last few years have seen an update in more side lgbt characters/couples and while not a lot, more main lgbt characters then we had before. I don't know if tumblr/twitter fandom translates to general audience...

Yeah, I mean, the only way is up. I feel lucky that I managed to encounter a fair amount of queer content in my formative years, whether targeted programming on TV, or taking the route of not really differentiating the perceived cultural value of independent media like webcomics and webnovels etc from the mass media as I was young enough to naturally grow up on the internet as the internet itself was growing up and web 2.0 was pretty much taking off alongside my use of the internet. And that I had liberal parents who didn’t regulate our internet, and lived in a community where culturally I didn’t really fear being discovered casually accessing all this like in particularly this terrifying seeming evangelical christian community in America.

Which really makes me feel like A: everyone should feel that comfortable in themselves via the media as I did as a mass accessible thing or B: that the world at large should be soaked in as much representation and more that I encountered as a curious teen because at the very least it did me no harm and at best helped handhold me through an awful lot.

And then brings us to the problem that the world isn’t actually like that and for a lot of people their media is restricted one way or another, from everything such as the era of social media weirdly making us much LESS broadly travelled on the internet as I was back in the day (SO many bookmarks - I had like 100 that I would check either daily or on their weekly update schedule, with enough habit that I had pretty much memorised it all without using an RSS feed or just following everyone’s twitter and waiting for update announcements, never mind the vast pit of things which I occasionally checked to see if their sporadic but very worth it updates had occurred somewhere in the last month/year) to the vastly overwhelming amount of media accessible to us. It seems almost to flood the market and creates this panic about watching the worthiest shows and campaigning for them and raising awareness and the FOMO and how things slip by and zomg you have to watch this that and the other, when even just making this list on Netflix now contains more hours of TV than a human lifetime and also one liable to disappear from the service at some point or another without warning.

And then on top of that you have the absolute cultural monoliths that if you’re not going to have a cohesive culture - which now includes the entire population of the world because of our connectivity on the internet and mass-joining of services - based around smaller shows and stuff, then at the very least everyone is going to watch anything under the main Disney umbrella, other superhero flicks, animated things, and all the really big studio franchises and remakes, as well as a few TV monoliths which manage to get enough people talking to make it seem like “everyone” (again - these days it seems like that’s presumed to be the entire western world plus everywhere else these things air) are watching, like Game of Thrones or whatever… THESE properties are the inescapable ones and on that basis they’re the things we have to lean on the most for representation and then again barely get any, when it comes to gender and sexuality, due to them shooting for such worldwide markets that they can’t imply gay people exist to censors in places such as China. And it exposes the cultural awfulness inherent just in getting a white female character in the lead role of some things, or the absolute garbage fire lurking underneath that if you dare have a black stormtrooper or make one of your female ghostbusters black when you’re already ruining the childhoods of so many how dare…

In those respects, having side characters who aren’t even major well-known superheroes or jedis or ghostbusters or whatever also be gay (because even well-known lesbian Kate McKinnon didn’t manage to get her ghostbuster to be canonically gay even if we All Knew) would be absolutely groundbreaking, even if it was, like, a role that could be snipped out for the Chinese market or something. And that’s probably exactly what would happen, and cue ensuing riot from whichever fandom, along with everyone rightly pointing out that even for us who got to watch it it was still a tiny side character… I mean Disney is still at the stage of what they did with Beauty and the Beast’s ~canonical gay character~

So yeah… that’s thrown back to TV and smaller movies to lead the way and because the generations showing most likely the real global percentages but actually just the young western world stats on queerness in any form (like… 25% instead of 1% or whatever and that’s STILL probably too low) are still teens to young adults. The previous gayest generation above them are still just arriving in power and settling in, and the excellent changes we already have from the generation before that is what we are seeing now... But given THEIR cultural context, even their best can still seem to younger eyes, moderate and not generally placing queer characters in lead roles except in niche or indie or otherwise “acceptable” places to take those risks. I think change is always coming and culturally each generation being more open and accepting that the last is really making changes and so on, hopefully things WILL change rapidly and what was the common state of affairs in the sort of indie media I consumed as a teen will be the mainstream soon because a lot of those creators 10 years later are kicking off…

All that said, TV in the mainstream is still controlled by Mark Pedowitz types exercising their power over the Bobos who have their Wayward Sisters pitches with the clearly labelled main character for the main teen demographic being queer. The culture is very much that we’re now pretty open and can happily have queer characters, but the main characters are still largely held separate. A good example is Riverdale, which is on the CW, a newer show with writers such as Britta Lundin, who is young, queer, and wrote a novel blatantly based on being a Destiel shipper and fan interacting with the cast and crew in fandom spaces, and whose first solo episode of Riverdale featured a looooot of the gay stuff (yay).

But while she’s a story editor and writer for the show and can use it as a platform for writing stories for its audience using a whole range of canonically queer characters, the show still keeps all 4 of its mains at a strict remove from this. Cheryl can come out as a lesbian in the second season after a lil ho yay in the first but no clearly marked storyline about her identity, but even though Betty and Veronica kissed in the first episode it was blatant fan service (for Cheryl in-story, lol) and mostly just set the tone that they are the sort of seemingly straight girls kissing for attention while having strong romantic or physical attraction to guys. In the second season the kiss comes up again in joking that Jughead and Archie are the only ones of the main 4 who haven’t kissed, Archie gets one planted on him by a dude as a “judas kiss” moment of betrayal in season 3 and he and Jug are teased that they were expected to get together because they were close but in the same sort of homophobic undercurrent tones as early Destiel snarking from side characters, seemingly less about their relationship and more to unsettle them with implications… I mean it was a complicated moment but in the long run it didn’t seem entirely pleasant to me, especially given the overall emotional state they were in and later plot etc etc. (My mum is 1000% invested in Riverdale now as a former Archie Comics reader as a kid so this is now my life too as I was in the room when my brother callously exposed her to it, hi :P)

Anyway that’s just one case study but aside from SPN it’s probably the most mainstream teen demographic thing I watch… Other examples would be things like B99 which had Rosa come out as bi and that’s awesome, and made us all cry a lot, but Jake, the clear main character even in a very strong and well-treated ensemble, has a great deal of bi subtext, there’s no way given Andy Samberg’s apparent habit of ad-libbing MORE progressive jokes that he’d ever be intentionally harming people if that’s how his brain works (you know, like other people quick-fire offensive stuff from their mouth working faster than brain sense of humour :P). But at the same time for all Jake’s quipping about crushes and such and the fact the show clearly knows how to be sensitive to bisexuality with Stephanie Beatriz being a strong advocate, just because Jake’s the main character and adorably married to Amy. In NO WAY can that be threatened because they’re SO GOOD, so there’s STILL uncertainty that this will pay off in the same special episode “I love my wife but I am bi” kinda way that seems obvious that could just be said. We all carry on without it affecting anything because obviously Jake’s found his soulmate so we don’t mess with that but they should know it’s important to clarify it… Even with B99′s track record, I’m nervous solely because Jake’s the main character and main characters tend not to get self-exploratory arcs about latent queerness and ESPECIALLY not if they’re happily married. If ANY show was going to do it right and trailblaze in this exact era it would be them, but… gyah :P

Anyway I guess the conclusion right now is that the more mainstream you are the more uncertain it feels, but we are right at that cliff edge, especially with shows putting in SOME of the work. If B99 doesn’t get us there (or the Good Place where they’ll happily confirm Eleanor is bi in interviews but I believe she hasn’t said it outright on the show despite clearly showing attraction to female characters, again, the denials we know so well in SPN fandom reflect a wider audience view of dismissing this stuff as jokes and not reflective of character feeling and identification without a Special Episode dedicated to confirming it >.>) then we’re very clearly on the cusp of SOME mainstream or massively well-known show doing it at least once in a meaningful way that has an Ellen-style cultural impact on TV writing.

Let’s make it a goal for 2019 or 2020, and hope that a NEW show with a canonically queer main from the start is pitched and becomes a mainstream hit in the next 5… Still got a ways to go before Disney level mainstream but again there IS work going pushing the envelope, especially if we get a movie of a franchise such as idk Further Legends of Korra, or Steven Universe or something else that’s massively pushed the envelope with sexuality or gender for their main character on the small screen in the experimental petri dish they’ve had there for children’s TV. Something that would force Disney to blink about a lesbian princess or Star Wars to let Finn and Poe kiss or Marvel to let Steve and Bucky hold hands or something in order to remain relevant.

Once the Big Cultural Monoliths get in on it, I expect culture as a whole to first of all react quickly on the small screen, but honestly I’ve been waiting for them to snap pretty much my whole life since adolescence and they’re taking such wee tiny baby steps, and some factors are enormous geopolitical awfulness, that the story as a whole is unpredictable and we can only really hope that things don’t slow down.

(Where this affects SPN is just impossible to say right now, given its almost unique position in this mess due to longevity vs fandom vs almost entirely new generation of writers’ room)

#Asks

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charllieeldridge · 5 years ago

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10 Best Free WordPress Plugins Every Travel Blog Should Have

If you’ve been searching for the best free WordPress plugins for a travel blog, then you’ve come to the right place. After you’ve chosen a travel blog name and learned how to start a travel blog, you’ll then want to customize it and make it your own.

For those of us who don’t have any website design or development background, WordPress plugins are the way to do this. They will help both the look and the functionality of your website.

Think of your new blog as an empty house with no art or decor to spruce it up.

Installing WordPress plugins on your blog is like decorating it with free paintings and decorations that have been pre-made by professionals.

They work well, they match your design and they’re easy to implement. But just like a house, you can quickly over clutter your blog with too many plugins, so be careful and make sure you keep them to a minimum and only download and keep the ones you really need.

In this article, I’m going to list the top 10 free WordPress plugins for travel blogs.

These free plugins are 10 that every single travel blog should have (plus another 6 bonus plugins). Some of them are specific to only travel blogs, but most of them are vital for any new blog, so even if you’re a food blogger or a mommy blogger, these plugins could help you grow your blog faster and more efficiently.

These plugins have all been approved by our developer and our SEO team to ensure that they’re not too heavy for your site and should not noticeably hinder your existing speed rating or Google traffic. It may be a good idea to backup your database and run a speed test on your site before and after any new plugins are added to make sure they’re not affecting your load times.

1. HTML5 Maps

Interactive maps are a great way for travel blogs to show countries that they’ve travelled to and where they have content about.

These maps have clickable regions or countries to bring people to specific categories on your site. The paid Interactive Maps Plugin ($21) is more intuitive and has more features and map options than HTML5, but for a free plugin, you can’t beat HTML5 Maps.

They won’t give you all of the maps without upgrading to premium, but at least you’ll be able to embed a sleek looking map on your destinations page to get started.

It’s worth noting that these maps can load slowly depending on your caching system and hosting plan. If you find that they’re loading slowly, it may not be worth it to have this plugin on your travel blog.

DOWNLOAD HTML5 MAP PLUGIN FOR WORDPRESS (FREE)

2. Yoast SEO

One of the most important factors of growing any new blog is to make sure that your website has a solid SEO (Search Engine Optimization) foundation. This is going to help your site rank in search results like Google and thus, drive traffic to your site.

At the time of writing, Goats On The Road receives over 75% of its traffic from direct organic Google searches. That shows just how important it is to keep search engines and SEO on your mind while building a new site.

Yoast SEO is a free plugin that allows you to not only optimize your site map and readability of your blog, but also optimize your on-page SEO directly from the Edit Post screen in WordPress.

If you have Yoast, then after you’re done writing a post you can scroll to the bottom of the page and check the SEO health of your post before publishing.

Yoast tells you how good your SEO is with a handy green, yellow or red light and gives you dozens of tips on how to add to the post to give it an SEO boost.

The plugin will count your keywords, check readability, allow you to edit your metadata, check for optimal length and more.

No blog should be running on WordPress without this handy, free plugin.

DOWNLOAD YOAST SEO PLUGIN FOR WORDPRESS (FREE)

3. SEO Smart Links

This is my favourite plugin that you won’t find on other “Best WordPress Plugins” lists. That’s simply because not that many people know about it.

SEO Smart Links allows you to automatically add internal and external links to your blog by simply choosing which words to auto-link.

For example, let’s say you just wrote an amazing post about budget travel and you want to drive traffic to it.

With the SEO Smart Links plugin, you can easily set it so that any time the words “budget travel” appear on any page, post or category on your site, it will automatically link to your budget travel guide. (note: use variations of the anchor text)

I love this plugin for travel blogs because you can go in and add the keyword for every city, region, country and continent on your blog and auto-link them to appropriate posts/pages.

The plugin also allows you to auto-link all of your categories using the slug as a keyword, which is perfect for travel blogs as most have continents and country names as their categories.

Similarly, you can also link outward using the same tactic. If you have a great affiliate for Booking.com, you can set SEO Smart Links to automatically link the words Booking.com (the plugin is in action now, automatically linking that term for me), or any time you type “book a hotel room” it can link to your affiliate as well.

You can even set it to make all external links from the plugin “nofollow”.

Do you have a favourite travel camera that you always talk about on your blog? Make it so that every time you type Canon G7x into your blog, it automatically links to your Amazon affiliate for that product!

This plugin is amazing and it’s definitely one of my favourites.

DOWNLOAD SEO SMART LINKS PLUGIN FOR WORDPRESS (FREE)

4. WordPress Editorial Calendar

It’s extremely important that you publish articles on a strict schedule on your blog. Just like a newspaper or your favourite TV episode, everyone wants to know exactly when they can expect new content.

Google also rewards websites for being predictable because they know that users want to receive their content on a predictable time frame.

WP Editorial Calendar is the perfect plugin for organizing your posting schedule and seeing what’s next.

The plugin shows an easy to use, drag and drop calendar. All of your draft posts appear on the right side of the screen and you can simply drag-and-drop the titles onto the day in the calendar that you want it to publish.

You can set the time of publishing and schedule it right from the plugin!

A properly organized calendar with posts going out three times a week should look like this:

Any new blogger who’s trying to follow our 6 Day Success Schedule To Explode Your Website Traffic should definitely use this plugin. It will help you organize your posts and make sure that you are giving your readers their content when they expect it.

DOWNLOAD WP EDITORIAL CALENDAR PLUGIN FOR WORDPRESS (FREE)

5. Shortcodes Ultimate

Shortcodes are a bit of coding that you can put in the edit post screen of WordPress to show a specific bit of content. For example, if you have the Shortcodes Ultimate plugin and you type this into the edit post screen of your WordPress dashboard:

It would look like this when it appears on the live post:

10 Best Free WordPress Plugins Every Travel Blog Should Have

12 Top Safety Tips For a South African Road Trip

Photographing Morocco: Tips on Etiquette and Technique

How To Become an Au Pair and Travel The World

The TEFL Academy: A Complete Guide to the Courses

Pretty cool hey? There are literally dozens of different shortcodes that you can choose from to create different bits of content on your site like tables, carousels, styled boxes, galleries, dropdowns, accordions, buttons and more.

Just look at all of the options.

DOWNLOAD SHORTCODES ULTIMATE PLUGIN FOR WORDPRESS (FREE)

6. WP Hide Post

WP Hide Post is a great free WordPress plugin for travel bloggers, because we create a lot of content that doesn’t need to be seen by all of our readers.

Maybe you’ve written an article simply for the purpose of SEO, but it’s not something all readers need to see.

With this plugin, you can simply hide the post from your audience by ticking a few boxes in the edit post screen. This will help your blog to earn money, while not appearing too “advertisy” to your readers.

If you’ve written a post that’s great for your “Indonesia” section, but doesn’t necessarily have to appear on your home page, then you can click a box and hide it.

You can choose to hide it on the front page, on category pages, in feeds, on author pages and more. It’s also great for creating one time sales pages or hidden content that you only want people to find if they click on a certain link on your site.

DOWNLOAD WP HIDE POST PLUGIN FOR WORDPRESS (FREE)

7. Wordfence Security

Every website is prone to getting hacked at some time or another. Facebook has been hacked, Instagram has been hacked and even Google Drive has been hacked, so don’t think for a second that your WordPress blog is immune to viruses, malware and hackers.

Our site was hacked earlier this year, but luckily we caught it early and updated our Wordfence Security plugin to prevent it from happening in the future.

To combat the ongoing online crisis of hacking, you need to protect your site using a security plugin. Wordfence is powered by a constantly updated Threat Defense Feed and Web Application Firewall which helps to stop your site from getting hacked.

If you’re reading this post and you don’t have any sort of Malware security plugin installed on your blog, you should stop reading this right now and go download one from the plugin directory. We use Wordfence and it seems to do the job (so far).

DOWNLOAD WORDFENCE SECURITY PLUGIN FOR WORDPRESS (FREE)

8. Akismet Anti-Spam

As your blog starts to grow (and even beforehand sometimes) you’ll start noticing a bunch of spam comments appearing in your conversation feed on your blog posts.

“Hey, great post! Check out my new broom that sweeps for you! [insert spammy link here]”

This kind of annoying spamming can never be completely avoided, but Akismet Anti-Spam helps to limit your spam comments to an absolute minimum.

The plugin can be free if you “name your price” at $0 and all you have to do is install it, add your Akismet.com API key and it will clean up your site from unwanted spam.

To date, this plugin has cleaned our Goats On The Road blog of over 500,000 spam comments! That’s a lot of time saved and outgoing links blocked by simply running this plugin in the background.

DOWNLOAD AKISMET ANTI-SPAM PLUGIN FOR WORDPRESS (FREE)

9. TinyMCE Spellcheck

I have no idea why WordPress doesn’t have a built-in spell check and grammar check in the edit post dashboard, but until they do, the TinyMCE Spell Check plugin is an absolute must for travel bloggers.

I’m not saying that it catches everything. If you’re a long-time reader of this blog, you’ve still probably seen a few grammatical errors and spelling errors, but this plugin easily cleans up 90% of your incorrect English.

Your readers will expect you to be somewhat professional in your blog posts, and if they’re forced to read through a slew of mistakes, then you’ll immediately lose credibility and they’ll likely click away to another website.

The TinyMCE Spell Check adds a little ABC icon to the WordPress Edit Post screen and when you click it, it will underline all of your spelling errors. It also checks for grammatical mistakes and it will offer suggestions if there are multiple ways a certain sentence or phrase can be written.

Update: you don’t actually need this plug-in anymore unless you want it. I recommend the free Grammarly browser extension instead. Click here to get that.

DOWNLOAD TINY MCE SPELLCHECK PLUGIN FOR WORDPRESS (FREE)

10. W3 Total Cache

A caching plugin is vital to ensure that your website is running as fast as possible. But what is caching?

Basically, web browsers like Google Chrome and Safari actually save data from websites that users visit frequently. So if you visit Goats On The Road, your browser will cache (or save) some of our images, website layout and videos so that the next time you visit, you don’t have to wait for your internet to load the content, it will already be cached in your browser.

To ensure that your website is caching your content and serving it to web browsers around the world, you need to have a good caching plugin.

W3 Total Cache has long been one of the most recommended caching plugins for WordPress and it’s pretty easy to install and implement.

There are 16 pages of settings for this plugin, but you don’t really have to tinker with any of these settings. The plugin will optimize itself for your site and you can pretty much let it run right out of the box.

DOWNLOAD W3 TOTAL CACHE PLUGIN FOR WORDPRESS (FREE)

A Few Bonus Plugins To Check Out

The below plugins are not essential, but could add a lot to your travel blog and give it a good boost in speed, traffic and conversions. They’re all free except for OptinMonster and have been approved by our developer and SEO team.

P3 Plugin Profiler: The more plugins you have on your site, the more you can potentially slow it down. The P3 Plugin Profiler plugin analyzes your site and checks for errors and analyzes MySQL queries as well as speed and compatibility issues between plugins. The plugin hasn’t been updated in 3 years, but still works with most themes and is secure.

Smush: This plugin will compress your photos automatically on upload. Photos are likely one of the biggest slowing factors of any travel blog. With WPsmushit, not only can you auto-compress images on upload, but you can also batch compress previously uploaded photos saving up to 70% of the space and not losing out on visible image quality.

jQuery Pin It Button: Everyone is gung-ho over Pinterest these days and for good reason. It drives huge traffic to travel blogs if implemented correctly. This plugin is an easy, one-click solution to give your site a big Pinterest boost. It simply ads a hover-over Pin It button to any image on the site making it easier for your readers to share your content to their boards. You can even use alt tags and size restrictions to narrow down which images have the button and which do not.

StopBadBots: If your site is growing and you’re finding that you have a lot of downtime due to overusage, there’s a good chance it’s mostly because of bad bots crawling your site. There are two things you can do. Pay your host a bunch more money to upgrade CPU and RAM, or, add a bunch of code to your .htaccess file in order to block the bots. StopBadBots plugin does the latter for you and updates the code as new bad bots appear on the web.

MailChimp: MailChimp is one of the best WordPress solutions for fast-loading pop-ups and lead generation technology. If you’re not already capturing emails with your travel blog and starting an email conversation with your followers, you’re missing out big time.

This plugin makes it easy to implement stylish plugins that won’t slow down your site.

Note: We’re currently using Thrive for pop-ups and lead generation, and while we’re happy with the service, it’s not free, so I didn’t list it here.

Which Plug-Ins Did I Miss?

There are new plugins being added to the WordPress directory every day, so surely there are many new plugins that I haven’t included in this list. What plugins do you find the most useful? Please share in the comments below and tell us why they’re so indispensable!

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heysnowflake · 5 years ago

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Sims 4 Questions

1. What is it about the Sims franchise that draws you into playing the game?

Being able to build with so much control and creativity. Also being able to live vicariously through my sims is a big seller.

2. Are you working on a build right now? If so, what are you building and why?

I am currently working on a recreation of Barbie’s Dreamhouse from the netflix series ‘Barbie’s Dreamhouse Adventures’. From the first episode, I just fell in love with the house. It is such a different take on a Barbie dreamhouse. It truly gives you the sense that the house does exist, whilst still being a complete fantasy. Unlike most barbie houses, you actually get a feel for the scale and the floor plan, whereas others would often have endless closets that just couldn’t exist and didn’t appeal to me. I love how, because it’s with Barbie’s whole family, it’s a proper family oriented house with every colour imagined used within. And the rooms are so inventive and quirky, I just had to build it. I’m currently around, I want to say 3/4 way through and it is easily my favourite build I’ve ever done. Will be creating the whole family soon, including the puppies of course. And then will also make Ken and his house, and the Reardons for their neighbours so that I can fully enjoy my gameplay. I’m also thinking of making Barbie’s friends too to really fill out Del Sol Valley.

3. What is your favourite feature that was introduced in the Sims 4?

I’m someone who never properly played with the earlier Sims games. I played with Sims 2 and 3 with friends but I’ve never actually owned the game myself and played hours on end of it. So my knowledge is somewhat limited where those are areas concerned. But what I have noticed is that the building tools are far more flexible and cross-neighbourhood travelling is much simpler which really enhances the gameplay.

4. Which life stage is your favourite to play?

I have always played as a young adult, they’re my favourite to control as I feel like you can do the most with this age. But I do love having pets and children in my family.

5. Do you like completing challenges? If so, which ones have you done?

I have yet to do any gameplay challenges but I have done a fair share of building challenges which I have thoroughly enjoyed. I’ve done the strictly black and white build, I’ve recreated many existing/fictional houses as a challenge for myself (like I’m currently recreating Barbie’s Dreamhouse for my save file) and I’ve done a few budget builds like creating starter homes and large houses under 100,000 simoleons.

6. What are your current top five packs?

Seasons, Get Together, Cool Kitchen Stuff, Parenthood and Cats & Dogs (that was extremely difficult and I hate that you made me do that).

7. List your top three favourite packs from each pack category:

Expansion packs: Seasons, Get Together and Cats & Dogs

Game packs: Parenthood, Jungle Adventure and Spa Day

Stuff packs: Cool Kitchen Stuff, Laundry Day, Movie Hangout, Perfect Patio and Vintage Glamour

It all varies depending on which style I’m into at the time, but the packs I’ve mentioned easily have my favourite gameplay and build and buy items.

8. What pack would recommend a beginner to purchase first?

As a first pack, I would always recommend an expansion as they offer the most gameplay and items to build with. Sooo...... It’s a tie between Seasons and Get Together. Get Together if you’re more into modern items and hanging with friends. Seasons if you’re more into family time and traditional country houses.

9. Name three gameplay items you’d really like to see in the Sims 4:

I’d love a proper sized telescope that I can place in someone’s room, a cinema screen where you can book certain movies to watch and visit with snacks (I get that you can kinda do this with movie hangout stuff but it’s not the same as an actual cinema), and a mini golf course.

10. What kind of world would you like to see next in the Sims 4?

I’d really love another world that is based around animals. In particular, I reeeally want an farm expansion pack. So we’re talking building your own farm, you can own and ride a horse, flock sheep, take care of pigs, get milk from cows etc. And the whole world could be very country-esque like Cats & Dogs, but instead more land and you could have grocery shops that only sell fresh food. You could live somewhere else but then also own a farm that you can visit/work at. OR!!! I think a Zoo expansion pack would be amazing. Like we could get a new zookeeper career, take your kids to the zoo, feed certain animals, watch animal shows. And the build and buy items could all be animal themed.

11. If you could create and release your own stuff pack, what would you make?

I would 100% make one of two packs. I’d reeeeally like to collab with Disney and release an official Disney stuff pack. Have some really versatile furnishings with plenty of swatches, but also include some very clear disney items. Like disney character toys, disney bedding, maybe even give kids disney vhs tapes where they have to rewind them before they watch the movie. Just little things like that. But one I’d really love to make right now is an actual Barbie stuff pack. Especially if you base the stuff pack on things in the netflix series ‘Barbie’s Dreanhouse Adventures’, you could get so many versatile furniture pieces that all have this modern yet 70′s vibe(each one having every colour swatch available, including pink). You could have iconic pieces like an actual buildable elevator that you can stick in any house, a computer with multiple screens, barbie’s official pink and orange bed spread, a twisty slide, a trampoline, a 3D food printing machine, an inside children’s train that children and pets can ride around the house in… I feel like there’re so much potential there.

12. What are some particular build and buy items that you would like to see in the next patch?

As in the aforementioned, I would like to see a buildable elevator. We’ve seen that they can make them in City Living, but I want to be able to have a working one in my house, rather than just simulate one with clever building. Preferably, I’d love two versions- one that is walled, and one that is windowed, both with many swatches. I feel like four squares (2x2) is the best size as it’s not too big or too small. Another one I’d like to see is spiral staircases. I feel like, moreso than the elevator, this is one the community has been asking for for a while. And whilst the configurable staircase tool they created is genius and I use it all the time, I’d love a simple spiral staircase that fits all wall heights and has a variety of swatches. Another build item I’d like is one I’ve seen in customer content. As someone who plays exclusively on console and never wishes to play on a computer, I rely heavily on packs and patch updates. So I’d really love them to add in infinity windows. Essentially, these work similar to some rugs where you have two items of the same window- one being either end and one that is the glass in the middle. That way, we could have windows that run across the whole wall seamlessly. Another window related feature I’d like is where we have windows that adapt with the line of the roof. For example, in many modern builds, you see windows that cut off at an angle in line with the roof, and I’ve love a tool in the Sims that can help me recreate that. Talking of roofs, I’d like to see an option where we can sledgehammer the inside of the roof so that we can have angled ceilings. And whilst we’re also talking about ceilings, along with having the option for an angle, I’d like to be able to change the colour of the ceiling. I know I’m not a programmer, but I do feel like these are all features that could easily be implemented into the game. As for buy items, I’d simply like to see more swatches of what we already have. We have plenty of furniture, but just give me more swatches of that furniture piece so that I can use it more. Though I would love a nice and simple, large, round dining table.

13. What’s a pack you’ve been waiting for?

I am currently waiting for some sort of farm expansion. Although, whilst I’m in the Barbie kick, I’d love something to do with Barbie. Particularly in the Sims 4, I feel like everyone has created a Barbie house at least once in their life, in one way or another, and would benefit from a Barbie pack.

14. Do you have a least favourite pack?

I don’t particularly hate any packs but there are definitely ones I don’t use or only use for one thing. Realm of Magic for example, I haven’t even delved into the gameplay and I’ve only ever used the items in one build because that build was specifically for a witch. Spooky Stuff pack is great for when you want to experience Halloween and they have a great wooden floor but that’s basically about it. Strangerville, I’ve never even bothered with the gameplay but they do have some nice windows.

15. A pack you feel is underrated?

I don’t think it’s as much now but I feel like Get Together gets extremely overlooked when their game play is genuinely fun and you get a great array of items. I also feel like Spa Day is underappreciated by some people. Like their wallpapers, floor swatches and build and buy items are some of the most versatile that we have in the game. Plus, being able to do various relaxing exercises with Sims is really fun.

#sims4 #sims #sims 4 questions #sims 4 buy mode #sims 4 build #sims 4 build and buy mode #sims 4 questions tag #sims community

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amplepower · 7 years ago

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#57: The Home Design Choices That Drive Us Crazy

Decorating is incredibly subjective, and everyone has design choices they LOVE and other things that make them feel… I don’t know… twitchy? Sad? Hangry? So we’re sharing what we’re neurotic about avoiding in our own home: like a certain way of arranging furniture and a specific color combo. We’re also detailing a range of places to find original art (in an awesomely broad range of prices) and we share a personal update about our beloved chihuahua. Plus, we’re revealing our new secret weapon for typos, and – wait for it – the exciting conclusion to the “what computer bag will John get?” saga. WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE! Oh, and you get to experience the beauty of Drunk House Love.

You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, and TuneIn Radio – or listen to it below! Then use this page to check out any links, notes, or photos we referenced. Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you might have to click through to the post to see the player.

What’s New

Above is the photo of the painting we snagged from Homearama (that’s the showhouse event like the one we did back in 2014). It’s from a painter named Rita Driscoll at Yellow Door Art RVA.

Before we show the 2 for $8 art that we found via Facebook Marketplace, here are some inspiration pics so you can imagine how they might look at the beach house:

(sources: first image, second image, third image)

And here they are. At $4 a pop, Sherry’s pretty giddy about them.

Last but not least, here’s Sherry’s quick framing of the pages she tore out of July’s issue of Real Simple.

We also talked about ways to find or make art really more affordably (when you’re in that wall-filling stage, not the refining stage) back in Episode #17.

That episode also included this mood board of some inexpensive wall-fillers we found: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

And we also rounded-up more art we’re especially enamored with in this post about a portrait we commissioned from a talented neighbor of ours: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12

Here’s a pic of Burger (pre-surgery – and not so sure about the doggy ice cream he was offered) where you can see his eye mass that had to be removed. Once he’s more on the up-and-up, we’ll try to get a shot of him more recovered.

Updates

Here’s the bag I got, thanks to tons and tons of recommendations from you guys: eBag’s Professional Slim Laptop Bag in Heathered Grey (with an orange interior – in honor of the ol’ Jansport backpack). I’ll try to remember to get a photo of myself modeling it for you guys when we hit the road with it for our next business trip.

This was the other company that was suggested over and over again: Timbuk2, which also had lots of tempting options.

And since I feel like I’ve been ragging on my ol’ Jansport, I should point out that they’ve got some sleeker looking laptop-friendly options now too.

What’s Not

Here’s the full Be on HGTV page where you can see casting calls for various shows – and shame on us for not realizing Love Yurts is already airing on DIY. We clearly have some catching up to do.

Plus, if you wanna pine after a Modpool like us, here’s a quick video about them from Woman’s Day:

Design Neuroses

Our showhouse living room (pictured above) is just one small example of Sherry’s intense yearning to keep books and frames lined up with the edge of the surface that they’re on, as opposed to angled). The irony is the heavily angled photo – ha!

And below is a shot we took last week of the breakfast nook in our beach house (just picture a pendant coming down right in the middle of that doorway.

And here’s a shot that goes along with our talk about how if the fridge & dishwasher were here it would mean they’d be visible from the front door. So glad we went with this configuration instead.

And here’s our favorite LED light bulb that gives off a great soft white light that’s the least offensive to my special eyes.

We’re Digging

For those who enjoyed our past “book club” suggestion of The Kind Worth Killing, Sherry highly recommends any of Liane Moriarty’s books that she has been reading for years (like Big Little Lies, which they later made into that HBO series). Her favorites are actually What Alice Forgot and The Husband’s Secret, and she’s got Truly Madly Guilty and The Last Anniversary on her to-read-next list.

And here’s where you can check out Grammarly for your computer. You can either download the free extension/plugin or just copy and paste your text into their website to have it double-checked.

Also, if you’re looking for something we’ve dug in a past episode, but don’t remember which show notes to click into, here’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging from all of our past episodes.

And lastly, a big thank you to Thomas Avenue Ceramics for sponsoring this episode. Head over to http://ift.tt/2mK5jaG to shop beautiful tile that’s delivered right to your door, and to see Sherry 10 favorites from their collections (some are pictured below). Also, don’t forget to use YHL20 to score 20% off your first order.

Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #57: The Home Design Choices That Drive Us Crazy appeared first on Young House Love.

#57: The Home Design Choices That Drive Us Crazy posted first on findqueenslandelectricians.blogspot.com

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endlessarchite · 7 years ago

Text

#57: The Home Design Choices That Drive Us Crazy

What’s New

Above is the photo of the painting we snagged from Homearama (that’s the showhouse event like the one we did back in 2014). It’s from a painter named Rita Driscoll at Yellow Door Art RVA.

Before we show the 2 for $8 art that we found via Facebook Marketplace, here are some inspiration pics so you can imagine how they might look at the beach house:

(sources: first image, second image, third image)

And here they are. At $4 a pop, Sherry’s pretty giddy about them.

Last but not least, here’s Sherry’s quick framing of the pages she tore out of July’s issue of Real Simple.

We also talked about ways to find or make art really more affordably (when you’re in that wall-filling stage, not the refining stage) back in Episode #17.

That episode also included this mood board of some inexpensive wall-fillers we found: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

And we also rounded-up more art we’re especially enamored with in this post about a portrait we commissioned from a talented neighbor of ours: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12

Updates

This was the other company that was suggested over and over again: Timbuk2, which also had lots of tempting options.

And since I feel like I’ve been ragging on my ol’ Jansport, I should point out that they’ve got some sleeker looking laptop-friendly options now too.

What’s Not

Here’s the full Be on HGTV page where you can see casting calls for various shows – and shame on us for not realizing Love Yurts is already airing on DIY. We clearly have some catching up to do.

Plus, if you wanna pine after a Modpool like us, here’s a quick video about them from Woman’s Day:

Design Neuroses

And below is a shot we took last week of the breakfast nook in our beach house (just picture a pendant coming down right in the middle of that doorway.

And here’s our favorite LED light bulb that gives off a great soft white light that’s the least offensive to my special eyes.

We’re Digging

And here’s where you can check out Grammarly for your computer. You can either download the free extension/plugin or just copy and paste your text into their website to have it double-checked.

Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #57: The Home Design Choices That Drive Us Crazy appeared first on Young House Love.

#57: The Home Design Choices That Drive Us Crazy published first on http://ift.tt/2qxZz2j

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additionallysad · 7 years ago

Photo

#57: The Home Design Choices That Drive Us Crazy http://ift.tt/2urhrP0

What’s New

Above is the photo of the painting we snagged from Homearama (that’s the showhouse event like the one we did back in 2014). It’s from a painter named Rita Driscoll at Yellow Door Art RVA.

Before we show the 2 for $8 art that we found via Facebook Marketplace, here are some inspiration pics so you can imagine how they might look at the beach house:

(sources: first image, second image, third image)

And here they are. At $4 a pop, Sherry’s pretty giddy about them.

Last but not least, here’s Sherry’s quick framing of the pages she tore out of July’s issue of Real Simple.

We also talked about ways to find or make art really more affordably (when you’re in that wall-filling stage, not the refining stage) back in Episode #17.

That episode also included this mood board of some inexpensive wall-fillers we found: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

And we also rounded-up more art we’re especially enamored with in this post about a portrait we commissioned from a talented neighbor of ours: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12

Updates

This was the other company that was suggested over and over again: Timbuk2, which also had lots of tempting options.

And since I feel like I’ve been ragging on my ol’ Jansport, I should point out that they’ve got some sleeker looking laptop-friendly options now too.

What’s Not

Here’s the full Be on HGTV page where you can see casting calls for various shows – and shame on us for not realizing Love Yurts is already airing on DIY. We clearly have some catching up to do.

Plus, if you wanna pine after a Modpool like us, here’s a quick video about them from Woman’s Day:

Design Neuroses

And below is a shot we took last week of the breakfast nook in our beach house (just picture a pendant coming down right in the middle of that doorway.

And here’s our favorite LED light bulb that gives off a great soft white light that’s the least offensive to my special eyes.

We’re Digging

And here’s where you can check out Grammarly for your computer. You can either download the free extension/plugin or just copy and paste your text into their website to have it double-checked.

Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links

The post #57: The Home Design Choices That Drive Us Crazy appeared first on Young House Love.

#additionally sad home renovations

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lukerhill · 7 years ago

Text

#57: The Home Design Choices That Drive Us Crazy

What’s New

Above is the photo of the painting we snagged from Homearama (that’s the showhouse event like the one we did back in 2014). It’s from a painter named Rita Driscoll at Yellow Door Art RVA.

Before we show the 2 for $8 art that we found via Facebook Marketplace, here are some inspiration pics so you can imagine how they might look at the beach house:

(sources: first image, second image, third image)

And here they are. At $4 a pop, Sherry’s pretty giddy about them.

Last but not least, here’s Sherry’s quick framing of the pages she tore out of July’s issue of Real Simple.

We also talked about ways to find or make art really more affordably (when you’re in that wall-filling stage, not the refining stage) back in Episode #17.

That episode also included this mood board of some inexpensive wall-fillers we found: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

And we also rounded-up more art we’re especially enamored with in this post about a portrait we commissioned from a talented neighbor of ours: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12

Updates

This was the other company that was suggested over and over again: Timbuk2, which also had lots of tempting options.

And since I feel like I’ve been ragging on my ol’ Jansport, I should point out that they’ve got some sleeker looking laptop-friendly options now too.

What’s Not

Here’s the full Be on HGTV page where you can see casting calls for various shows – and shame on us for not realizing Love Yurts is already airing on DIY. We clearly have some catching up to do.

Plus, if you wanna pine after a Modpool like us, here’s a quick video about them from Woman’s Day:

Design Neuroses

And below is a shot we took last week of the breakfast nook in our beach house (just picture a pendant coming down right in the middle of that doorway.

And here’s our favorite LED light bulb that gives off a great soft white light that’s the least offensive to my special eyes.

We’re Digging

And here’s where you can check out Grammarly for your computer. You can either download the free extension/plugin or just copy and paste your text into their website to have it double-checked.

Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links

The post #57: The Home Design Choices That Drive Us Crazy appeared first on Young House Love.

0 notes

woodcraftor · 7 years ago

Text

#57: The Home Design Choices That Drive Us Crazy

What’s New

Above is the photo of the painting we snagged from Homearama (that’s the showhouse event like the one we did back in 2014). It’s from a painter named Rita Driscoll at Yellow Door Art RVA.

Before we show the 2 for $8 art that we found via Facebook Marketplace, here are some inspiration pics so you can imagine how they might look at the beach house:

(sources: first image, second image, third image)

And here they are. At $4 a pop, Sherry’s pretty giddy about them.

Last but not least, here’s Sherry’s quick framing of the pages she tore out of July’s issue of Real Simple.

We also talked about ways to find or make art really more affordably (when you’re in that wall-filling stage, not the refining stage) back in Episode #17.

That episode also included this mood board of some inexpensive wall-fillers we found: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

And we also rounded-up more art we’re especially enamored with in this post about a portrait we commissioned from a talented neighbor of ours: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12

Updates

This was the other company that was suggested over and over again: Timbuk2, which also had lots of tempting options.

And since I feel like I’ve been ragging on my ol’ Jansport, I should point out that they’ve got some sleeker looking laptop-friendly options now too.

What’s Not

Here’s the full Be on HGTV page where you can see casting calls for various shows – and shame on us for not realizing Love Yurts is already airing on DIY. We clearly have some catching up to do.

Plus, if you wanna pine after a Modpool like us, here’s a quick video about them from Woman’s Day:

Design Neuroses

And below is a shot we took last week of the breakfast nook in our beach house (just picture a pendant coming down right in the middle of that doorway.

And here’s our favorite LED light bulb that gives off a great soft white light that’s the least offensive to my special eyes.

We’re Digging

And here’s where you can check out Grammarly for your computer. You can either download the free extension/plugin or just copy and paste your text into their website to have it double-checked.

Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links

The post #57: The Home Design Choices That Drive Us Crazy appeared first on Young House Love.

#57: The Home Design Choices That Drive Us Crazy posted first on http://ift.tt/2qOPBf9

0 notes

truereviewpage · 7 years ago

Text

#57: The Home Design Choices That Drive Us Crazy

What’s New

Above is the photo of the painting we snagged from Homearama (that’s the showhouse event like the one we did back in 2014). It’s from a painter named Rita Driscoll at Yellow Door Art RVA.

Before we show the 2 for $8 art that we found via Facebook Marketplace, here are some inspiration pics so you can imagine how they might look at the beach house:

(sources: first image, second image, third image)

And here they are. At $4 a pop, Sherry’s pretty giddy about them.

Last but not least, here’s Sherry’s quick framing of the pages she tore out of July’s issue of Real Simple.

We also talked about ways to find or make art really more affordably (when you’re in that wall-filling stage, not the refining stage) back in Episode #17.

That episode also included this mood board of some inexpensive wall-fillers we found: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

And we also rounded-up more art we’re especially enamored with in this post about a portrait we commissioned from a talented neighbor of ours: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12

Updates

This was the other company that was suggested over and over again: Timbuk2, which also had lots of tempting options.

And since I feel like I’ve been ragging on my ol’ Jansport, I should point out that they’ve got some sleeker looking laptop-friendly options now too.

What’s Not

Here’s the full Be on HGTV page where you can see casting calls for various shows – and shame on us for not realizing Love Yurts is already airing on DIY. We clearly have some catching up to do.

Plus, if you wanna pine after a Modpool like us, here’s a quick video about them from Woman’s Day:

Design Neuroses

And below is a shot we took last week of the breakfast nook in our beach house (just picture a pendant coming down right in the middle of that doorway.

And here’s our favorite LED light bulb that gives off a great soft white light that’s the least offensive to my special eyes.

We’re Digging

And here’s where you can check out Grammarly for your computer. You can either download the free extension/plugin or just copy and paste your text into their website to have it double-checked.

Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links

The post #57: The Home Design Choices That Drive Us Crazy appeared first on Young House Love.

#57: The Home Design Choices That Drive Us Crazy published first on http://ift.tt/2qCHnUt

0 notes

statusreview · 7 years ago

Text

#57: The Home Design Choices That Drive Us Crazy

What’s New

Above is the photo of the painting we snagged from Homearama (that’s the showhouse event like the one we did back in 2014). It’s from a painter named Rita Driscoll at Yellow Door Art RVA.

Before we show the 2 for $8 art that we found via Facebook Marketplace, here are some inspiration pics so you can imagine how they might look at the beach house:

(sources: first image, second image, third image)

And here they are. At $4 a pop, Sherry’s pretty giddy about them.

Last but not least, here’s Sherry’s quick framing of the pages she tore out of July’s issue of Real Simple.

We also talked about ways to find or make art really more affordably (when you’re in that wall-filling stage, not the refining stage) back in Episode #17.

That episode also included this mood board of some inexpensive wall-fillers we found: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

And we also rounded-up more art we’re especially enamored with in this post about a portrait we commissioned from a talented neighbor of ours: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12

Updates

This was the other company that was suggested over and over again: Timbuk2, which also had lots of tempting options.

And since I feel like I’ve been ragging on my ol’ Jansport, I should point out that they’ve got some sleeker looking laptop-friendly options now too.

What’s Not

Here’s the full Be on HGTV page where you can see casting calls for various shows – and shame on us for not realizing Love Yurts is already airing on DIY. We clearly have some catching up to do.

Plus, if you wanna pine after a Modpool like us, here’s a quick video about them from Woman’s Day:

Design Neuroses

And below is a shot we took last week of the breakfast nook in our beach house (just picture a pendant coming down right in the middle of that doorway.

And here’s our favorite LED light bulb that gives off a great soft white light that’s the least offensive to my special eyes.

We’re Digging

And here’s where you can check out Grammarly for your computer. You can either download the free extension/plugin or just copy and paste your text into their website to have it double-checked.

Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links

The post #57: The Home Design Choices That Drive Us Crazy appeared first on Young House Love.

#57: The Home Design Choices That Drive Us Crazy published first on http://ift.tt/2r6hzQy

0 notes

amplepower · 7 years ago

Text

#57: The Home Design Choices That Drive Us Crazy

What’s New

Above is the photo of the painting we snagged from Homearama (that’s the showhouse event like the one we did back in 2014). It’s from a painter named Rita Driscoll at Yellow Door Art RVA.

Before we show the 2 for $8 art that we found via Facebook Marketplace, here are some inspiration pics so you can imagine how they might look at the beach house:

(sources: first image, second image, third image)

And here they are. At $4 a pop, Sherry’s pretty giddy about them.

Last but not least, here’s Sherry’s quick framing of the pages she tore out of July’s issue of Real Simple.

We also talked about ways to find or make art really more affordably (when you’re in that wall-filling stage, not the refining stage) back in Episode #17.

That episode also included this mood board of some inexpensive wall-fillers we found: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

And we also rounded-up more art we’re especially enamored with in this post about a portrait we commissioned from a talented neighbor of ours: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12

Updates

This was the other company that was suggested over and over again: Timbuk2, which also had lots of tempting options.

And since I feel like I’ve been ragging on my ol’ Jansport, I should point out that they’ve got some sleeker looking laptop-friendly options now too.

What’s Not

Here’s the full Be on HGTV page where you can see casting calls for various shows – and shame on us for not realizing Love Yurts is already airing on DIY. We clearly have some catching up to do.

Plus, if you wanna pine after a Modpool like us, here’s a quick video about them from Woman’s Day:

Design Neuroses

And below is a shot we took last week of the breakfast nook in our beach house (just picture a pendant coming down right in the middle of that doorway.

And here’s our favorite LED light bulb that gives off a great soft white light that’s the least offensive to my special eyes.

We’re Digging

And here’s where you can check out Grammarly for your computer. You can either download the free extension/plugin or just copy and paste your text into their website to have it double-checked.

Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #57: The Home Design Choices That Drive Us Crazy appeared first on Young House Love.

#57: The Home Design Choices That Drive Us Crazy posted first on findqueenslandelectricians.blogspot.com

0 notes

amplepower · 7 years ago

Text

#57: The Home Design Choices That Drive Us Crazy

What’s New

Above is the photo of the painting we snagged from Homearama (that’s the showhouse event like the one we did back in 2014). It’s from a painter named Rita Driscoll at Yellow Door Art RVA.

Before we show the 2 for $8 art that we found via Facebook Marketplace, here are some inspiration pics so you can imagine how they might look at the beach house:

(sources: first image, second image, third image)

And here they are. At $4 a pop, Sherry’s pretty giddy about them.

Last but not least, here’s Sherry’s quick framing of the pages she tore out of July’s issue of Real Simple.

We also talked about ways to find or make art really more affordably (when you’re in that wall-filling stage, not the refining stage) back in Episode #17.

That episode also included this mood board of some inexpensive wall-fillers we found: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

And we also rounded-up more art we’re especially enamored with in this post about a portrait we commissioned from a talented neighbor of ours: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12

Updates

This was the other company that was suggested over and over again: Timbuk2, which also had lots of tempting options.

And since I feel like I’ve been ragging on my ol’ Jansport, I should point out that they’ve got some sleeker looking laptop-friendly options now too.

What’s Not

Here’s the full Be on HGTV page where you can see casting calls for various shows – and shame on us for not realizing Love Yurts is already airing on DIY. We clearly have some catching up to do.

Plus, if you wanna pine after a Modpool like us, here’s a quick video about them from Woman’s Day:

Design Neuroses

And below is a shot we took last week of the breakfast nook in our beach house (just picture a pendant coming down right in the middle of that doorway.

And here’s our favorite LED light bulb that gives off a great soft white light that’s the least offensive to my special eyes.

We’re Digging

And here’s where you can check out Grammarly for your computer. You can either download the free extension/plugin or just copy and paste your text into their website to have it double-checked.

Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links

The post #57: The Home Design Choices That Drive Us Crazy appeared first on Young House Love.

#57: The Home Design Choices That Drive Us Crazy posted first on findqueenslandelectricians.blogspot.com

0 notes

endlessarchite · 7 years ago

Text

#57: The Home Design Choices That Drive Us Crazy

What’s New

Above is the photo of the painting we snagged from Homearama (that’s the showhouse event like the one we did back in 2014). It’s from a painter named Rita Driscoll at Yellow Door Art RVA.

Before we show the 2 for $8 art that we found via Facebook Marketplace, here are some inspiration pics so you can imagine how they might look at the beach house:

(sources: first image, second image, third image)

And here they are. At $4 a pop, Sherry’s pretty giddy about them.

Last but not least, here’s Sherry’s quick framing of the pages she tore out of July’s issue of Real Simple.

We also talked about ways to find or make art really more affordably (when you’re in that wall-filling stage, not the refining stage) back in Episode #17.

That episode also included this mood board of some inexpensive wall-fillers we found: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

And we also rounded-up more art we’re especially enamored with in this post about a portrait we commissioned from a talented neighbor of ours: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12

Updates

This was the other company that was suggested over and over again: Timbuk2, which also had lots of tempting options.

And since I feel like I’ve been ragging on my ol’ Jansport, I should point out that they’ve got some sleeker looking laptop-friendly options now too.

What’s Not

Here’s the full Be on HGTV page where you can see casting calls for various shows – and shame on us for not realizing Love Yurts is already airing on DIY. We clearly have some catching up to do.

Plus, if you wanna pine after a Modpool like us, here’s a quick video about them from Woman’s Day:

Design Neuroses

And below is a shot we took last week of the breakfast nook in our beach house (just picture a pendant coming down right in the middle of that doorway.

And here’s our favorite LED light bulb that gives off a great soft white light that’s the least offensive to my special eyes.

We’re Digging

And here’s where you can check out Grammarly for your computer. You can either download the free extension/plugin or just copy and paste your text into their website to have it double-checked.

Thanks for listening, guys!

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The post #57: The Home Design Choices That Drive Us Crazy appeared first on Young House Love.

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amplepower · 8 years ago

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#53: The Curveball That Blew Our Beach House Timeline

Sherry has taken on a new side job that I’m steering clear of, and – spoiler alert – it has already given her a good excuse to go shopping. Plus, we’ve missed our goal of being able to spend a night at the beach house by the start of summer, and it’s all due to something we never could’ve anticipated (or prevented). We also find out which design trends most people are ready to be done with (shiplap? succulents? decorative poufs? *gasp!*) and you’ll hear what annoying outdoor to-do list item I checked off my list for Father’s Day. And – oh, look! A deer!

You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Overcast, and TuneIn Radio – or listen to it below! Then use this page to check out any links, notes, or photos we referenced. Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you might have to click through to the post to see the player.

What’s New

Above is an after photo of the house Sherry “lightly staged” (no big furniture changes – just paring down, rearranging, simplifying, and adding some pillows/art/accessories). As you can tell from the before picture below, this room’s transformation was mostly thanks to removing all of the distracting personal stuff so potential buyers could really see the bones of the house. And you know Sherry loves adding a pitcher and a few vases full of yard clippings for fast & free greenery. Simple changes but such a difference, right?

And the good news is that the house got multiple offers within a day of being listed. And as you may have guessed, Sherry ran around the house shouting “sssssssold!” with her hands on her cheeks (much like Kevin McAlister in Home Alone).

You can hear more about Sherry’s staging adventures in Episode #41, which involved a few bigger DIY projects to prepare our friend’s house to sell.

We also popped over to the beach house last week to check on things. There’s not much to show for it, but here’s what it’s looking like these days (at least the outside is a whole lot more finished looking than the inside):

And since we didn’t get a picture of that fawn – here’s one from a couple of years ago instead. So cute. So hungry.

What Home Decor Trend Has To Go?

If you wanna weigh in on several head-to-head trend battles, you can still cast your vote over on the Buzzfeed poll we referenced.

And as promised, here are those “fancy cheese boards” that are stalking Sherry on Facebook (you click something ONE TIME and Facebook #cantstopwontstop). 1 /2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

Can We Just Talk About…

Here’s an example of the alarmist stories about Fixer Upper being partially “faked” that we’ve been seeing in our feeds. Please note that the detail that the whistleblower was a model was so important that it made it into the headline.

We had trouble being shocked, especially since revelations like this about House Hunters go waaaay back to 2012

Even back then Julia, the blogger behind that post, was stunned by everyone’s surprise – and how the news went viral (so much so that HGTV responded in this follow-up post)

Last year HGTV even got in on the joke with this spoof video that takes you inside the House Hunter’s Writers Room: “Do you ‘oooh’ at a foyer? I feel like that’s more of a kitchen sound.”

And to Sherry’s point about the furniture not always staying with the Fixer Upper homeowners, Katie Bower has done a couple of posts comparing the show’s “after” photos to what the homes later look like on rental listings.

Oh, and as for Cash Cab, here’s a quick recap (apparently some people are really surprised!) but here’s a more in-depth story of it being more set-up than we’d like to believe.

We’re Digging

Above are some of the Ikea products that we’re happy to see on Amazon (heads up: prices are sometimes higher than what you’d find in Ikea stores, so this is really best used when it’s not easy to get to an Ikea in person): 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13* / 14 / 15

*Meatball sauce not to scale (ok, neither is anything else) UPDATE: We learned after this podcast went live that Ikea released a statement saying these are 3rd party sellers, and not Ikea (despite being listed as “sold by: Ikea” on Amazon). Bummerssss. They did say they’re exploring the idea of selling on Amazon in the future though, so here’s hoping!

Since I can’t link to mulch, I’ll link to the old post about the first time we mulched this yard. Exciting!

And I can show you how the delivery guy somehow misinterpreted my instruction to dump the mulch “where you always do, in the big mulch bed where the orange flags are” this year. So instead it got dumped about 15 feet in front of the flags, right onto the grass. Awesome.

If you’re looking for something we’ve dug in a past episode, but don’t remember which show notes to click into, here’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging from all of our past episodes.

And lastly, a big thank you to Delta for sponsoring this episode. You can check out the all of Delta Faucet’s products and innovations (including the inspiration and sketches behind their Cassidy line) at DeltaFaucet.com/YHL.

Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #53: The Curveball That Blew Our Beach House Timeline appeared first on Young House Love.

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statusreview · 8 years ago

Text

#53: The Curveball That Blew Our Beach House Timeline

What’s New

You can hear more about Sherry’s staging adventures in Episode #41, which involved a few bigger DIY projects to prepare our friend’s house to sell.

And since we didn’t get a picture of that fawn – here’s one from a couple of years ago instead. So cute. So hungry.

What Home Decor Trend Has To Go?

If you wanna weigh in on several head-to-head trend battles, you can still cast your vote over on the Buzzfeed poll we referenced.

And as promised, here are those “fancy cheese boards” that are stalking Sherry on Facebook (you click something ONE TIME and Facebook #cantstopwontstop). 1 /2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

Can We Just Talk About…

We had trouble being shocked, especially since revelations like this about House Hunters go waaaay back to 2012

Even back then Julia, the blogger behind that post, was stunned by everyone’s surprise – and how the news went viral (so much so that HGTV responded in this follow-up post)

Last year HGTV even got in on the joke with this spoof video that takes you inside the House Hunter’s Writers Room: “Do you ‘oooh’ at a foyer? I feel like that’s more of a kitchen sound.”

Oh, and as for Cash Cab, here’s a quick recap (apparently some people are really surprised!) but here’s a more in-depth story of it being more set-up than we’d like to believe.

We’re Digging

Since I can’t link to mulch, I’ll link to the old post about the first time we mulched this yard. Exciting!

Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #53: The Curveball That Blew Our Beach House Timeline appeared first on Young House Love.

#53: The Curveball That Blew Our Beach House Timeline published first on http://ift.tt/2r6hzQy

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