The April/May round of The Collage opened on the 23rd with delightful designs and exclusive releases from 8 home & garden creators: Thaino Designs, Serendipity Designs, Shutter Field, Cozy Essentials, Spargel & Shine Homes, Dreamscapes Art Gallery, Prime, and Lumiere. You are guaranteed to find something for everyone’s taste. The exclusive offerings this month include a luxury bathroom treat, outdoor garden decor, business board room, nature art studio and picnic set, shabby chic craft and sewing room, screened gazebo and furniture, and a very special treat, an adorable Victorian shop!
With the exclusive items, I created a sweet and charming build with a nod to a country village. Spargel & Shine Homes Annie’s Antique Corner Shoppe transported me to the fictional town of Avonlea from Anne in Green Gables, a beloved children’s’ novel. I imagined title character Anne would visit a country dress shop, similar to the one I created, with rambling paths and picnic area on her journey into town. This quaint build is my new favorite with enchanting spring foliage, al fresco dining area, art spot, and a porch swing adjacent to the neighbor’s house. Since I created a large build, I’m going to break the post into sections. First, let’s set the scene in the garden.
Spargel & Shine Homes Victorian corner shop is a lime washed brick with intricate wood craved casing around the windows and doors, exquisite stained glass panels, faded vintage signs and welcoming french doors, leading to a tin ceiling first floor store. A side note, what a fun tongue and check note for all Scandel viewers, the optician sign from Defiance, Ohio :-).
To enhance the feeling of a country boutique, I created a windy cobblestone path with overflowing spring flowers of daffodils, lavender, and iris, shrubs, ground cover and delicate trees line the edge. The Barnesworth Anubis stone garden pavers kit surrounds the Ash tree with mini spring bulbs in the center of the village. This garden setting resembles a park with rest areas and sweeping views of the water.
The country path runs parallel to a neighboring home furnished with Cozy Essentials exclusive items. Ms. Paige Raven, producer of Cozy Essentials made the Garden Swing with animations for adults, children and couples, as well as the Hailey Bench (animations with props), Hailey Side Table, Muskoka Adirondack Chair and Butterfly Planter & Tree. Also included at The Collage is a screened gazebo with painted cloud ceiling and sliding double doors (look for the gazebo featured in an upcoming blog post). These charming pieces could accompany any home style and are a nice addition to your inventory. Cozy Essentials is one of the few home designers that offers animations for kids and they have a separate children’s store with family friendly furniture. Taxi to Cozy Essentials mainstore…
Everyone loves the park to enjoy natures beauty, or to run after to kids, or better yet, a picnic! Well, you’re in luck and just in time for summer nights filled with al fresco dining parties, Prime’s picnic set is perfect. The Rustic Picnic Table is a sturdy bench & table unit, complete with animations for males & females, seats up to four avatars with auto-wearable props. The picnic table comes in two sizes, one for average SL avatars and the other made to fit RL sized avatars. Ms. Reven Rosca, co-owner and designer of PRIME also released the flower field and tub of Hibiscus. Corresponding tubs of flowers, fencing and other garden decor items are available at The Collage. These are great items that you will use over and over this spring & summer. PRIME is an expert at creating animations for male and females, and known to have the best LGBT beds in SL. Taxi to PRIME mainstore…
Another activity one loves to do on a warm day at the park is be inspired by nature and paint. Ms. Heavenly Villa, creator of shutter field made the ideal set, Garden Easel Set & Garden Bench. The Garden Easel with canvas comes in two styles, green with a painting of topiaries, and cream with a landscape of flowers, accompanied with corresponding colored stools and benches to rest the painters palette. You could always use the Garden Bench under a tree, window or inside your home. Ms. Villa has a number of other items displayed at The Collage including another easel set, additional canvases, lanterns, picnic basket, and corresponding outdoor dining set. All of these items are absolutely a must have! Shutter Field has nature inspired appointments with muted colors that blends easy into your home. Taxi to shutter field mainstore…
I hope you enjoyed my interpretation of a country village. Tomorrow, we go inside Spargel & Shine Annie Antique Corner Shoppe, where I will show you the dress boutique and the upstairs workroom. There are lots of wonderful items at The Collage that you don’t want to miss. Let’s Get Decorating! Taxi please…
Gloria Silverstone 
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