Tag: Bray's Place

Better (Virtual) Homes and Gardens: I Am Hosting an Open House Until August 11th, 2021!

Many people in Second Life choose to set up a virtual home for themselves, creating a house and garden that would be impossible (or impractical!) to have in real life. There are hundreds of SL home-and-garden enthusiasts who showcase their design work via a blog or a Flickr photo account!

This blogpost is an update to one I made last Christmas, when I first moved into a community run by Bray Preston-Rising, which I have written about previously on this blog, called Bray’s Place (SLURL; website). In my 14 years of visiting thousands of Second Life sims, I have never received such a warm welcome, or encountered such a wonderful community!

Unfortunately, Bray has suddenly taken seriously ill, and as a result, Bray’s Place Blues club will close immediately, and the Bray’s Place sim will close on August 11th, 2021. I wanted to take the following pictures to remember this place, before it is gone forever!

Here is what my Second Life home looks like inside, plus a few pictures of the front patio and the back yard. Please click on the pictures below to see it them in a bigger size and get all the detail! I am quite happy with my little virtual home! (Now, if I could only keep my real-life home as neat and tidy as this!!)

Be sure to read the spines of the books in my bookshelf 😉

I will attempt to update this blogpost later with some details on where you can pick up my home decor; much of it is from Apple Fall (particularly the living room and kitchen). The magnificent Queen Nefertari bust on the coffee table in the final picture—something I could never hope to own in real life!—comes from the Archaeology gacha at Silas Merlin’s store and gallery (here’s the exact SLURL). The wonderful planetary orrery on the kitchen table actually works, and it is available for only L$10 on the SL Marketplace! (I found it while cam-snooping through someone else’s house, always a guilty pleasure!)

OPEN HOUSE: And if you’d like to pay a visit yourself, you’re in luck! I am holding an Open House until August 11th, 2021, when Bray’s Place sim closes. Here’s your taxi! The welcome mat is always out and Blues Music Fan Radio is always on! Please note that there are NO adult/sex animations of any kind in any of my furniture 😉 so behave yourselves!

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: A Custom Steampunk Look for Only Seven Linden Dollars!

Have you joined the RyanSchultz.com Steals, Deals & Freebies group yet? I will be posting EVEN MORE news and tips on finding fabulous freebies and bargains in Second Life than I post here on the blog! More information on this brand new SL group here.

Bray’s Place Blues Club and social community is celebrating its third anniversary on February 21st, 2021, and the theme is steampunk, that is, a genre of science fiction that has a historical setting and typically features steam-powered machinery rather than advanced technology.

Steampunk clothing features a style of design and fashion that combines historical elements with anachronistic technological features inspired by science fiction. So yesterday evening, I began to rummage through Vanity Fair’s overflowing inventory of over 236,000 items collected over 13 years, to find something suitable to wear to this event!

Most of the steampunk outfits I had were of the old system-layers-and-flexiprims variety, but I wanted a more modern, mesh outfit. I was so pleased with what I came up with (and how I did it so inexpensively), that I wanted to share my results with you!

Vanity Fair is wearing:

  • Hat, Hair, and Monocle: Mono by EMO-tions (I picked this up for free from their group gifts area sometime last year or the year before, I believe, and while I could not find this gift again at their new store location, I was able to find it on the SL Marketplace for only L$5 for a complete fatpack of colours; there are options for you to wear just the hair, just the hat, or just the wonderful steampunk monocle, the hair with the hat only, or the hair with the monocle only.)
  • Steampunk Necklace: I picked this up as a freebie years ago from a store called Newtique, but I’m afraid it’s no longer available! Any steampunk necklace should work well with this outfit, I think.
  • Peplum Jacket: Now, this part gets somewhat complicated, so please pay attention! This jacket is based on the steampunk peplum jacket by Meli Imako; this is the full-perms version (L$150 on the SL Marketplace), which you can texture and colour it as you please! You can also pick up one of 41 different full-perms textures for this jacket for only L$1 each from Amazing Creations on the SL Marketplace. Please note that in the original version of this blogpost, I had mistakenly assumed that the Amazing Creations Marketplace listings were for the complete jacket, and not just the textures! So be careful to check what you are buying. To add even more to the confusion, at the Amazing Creations discount sales wall you can buy outfits containing various pre-textured versions of this peplum jacket for only L$2 each, if you join the Amazing Creations group for free. So I suggest that you buy the Meli Imako jacket only if you really want to customize it; otherwise, head to the discount wall at the Amazing Creations store in Second Life (here’s the exact SLURL; please save the SLURL to your inventory, then right click on it, select Show on Map, and just follow the red arrow to find it). Got all that? Whew! Nobody said being a freebie fashionista was always going to be easy!
  • Long Skirt: This delightful boho skirt, with a triangular floral inset at the bottom hem, is a free group gift from a tiny, obscure little store called all…About on the Second Life grid (here’s the SLURL, just click the Join Group sign to join the group for free, then click on the gift panel as shown in the picture below.)

MY TOTAL COST FOR THIS ENTIRE STEAMPUNK LOOK: Only 7 Linden dollars! (If you choose the Meli Imako full-perms version of the jacket, the cost goes up to a still-reasonable L$155.) So, as you can see, you don’t need to break the bank to get a polished steampunk look, suitable for wandering around the Caledon or New Babbage sims!

If green is not your colour, there are eight other versions of this long skirt for sale for only L$90 each in the all…About store (and, at the time of this writing, the brown skirt is on a Super Sales Weekend promotion for only L$50!).

Please don’t forget to come to the steampunk-themed 3rd birthday party at Bray’s Place on Sunday, February 21st, 2021, with a wide variety of deejays and live musical performers happening all day between noon and midnight Second Life Time/Pacific Time. In 14 years of traversing the grid, I have rarely come across as warm and welcoming a community as I have at Bray’s Place! And you’re cordially invited to join us as we celebrate three years of great music and amazing community! If you don’t have a suitable steampunk outfit, please do come anyway, but please note that there is a “clean and classy” dress code in place. Bray’s is also LGBTQ and furry friendly!

We’d love to have you join us. Mark your calendars!

Vanity Fair is also wearing:

Pictures taken at the all…About store and at the Lappock Rock Lighthouse in the Vernian Sea at New Babbage.

Upcoming Events at Bray’s Place in Second Life

As many of you know, I have made Bray’s Place my home community in Second Life, even going so far as to give up one of my Linden Homes and moving into a lovely house on the Bray’s Place sim (and you can, too; just check the Bray’s Place website listing of available plots of land for your next home).

In fourteen years of hopping from grid to grid and club to club in Second Life, I have rarely encountered as warm and friendly a welcome as I have at Bray’s Place! This place is very special to me, especially in the middle of a bitterly cold Winnipeg winter and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

I wanted to promote three special events which are taking place at Bray’s Place over the next week. I cordially invite you to come party with us!

First up is Valentine’s Day, when Bray’s Place celebrates Love and Friendship Day. Come join the special line-up of talented deejays and performers, If you are alone on February 14th, we’d like to extend a special welcome to have you join us, too!

Two days later, Bray’s Place celebrates Mardi Gras! Dig out those Mardi Gras beads, and your finest feathered costume, and join us as we celebrate Fat Tuesday, which is what Mardi Gras means in French, reflecting the practice of the last night of eating rich, fatty foods before the ritual Lenten sacrifices and fasting of the Lenten season.

Finally, Bray’s Place Blues club is celebrating its third birthday on Sunday, February 21st, 2021! The theme is steampunk, so pull out your best steampunk/Victorian wear!

To find Bray’s Place, just do a keyword search for “Bray’s” under the Places tab in search. For more information about Bray’s Place (including a list of available rental properties), please check out their website. And tell’em Ryan sent you! 😉

Moving to Bray’s Place in Second Life: One of the Best Decisions I’ve Ever Made

Up until now, I have either owned my own place in Second Life (for several years I had a rather expensive homestead in Bay City), or I had a Linden Home as part of my Premium membership.

But recently, I decided to move into a community run by Bray Preston-Rising, which I have written about previously on this blog, called Bray’s Place (SLURL; website). In my 14 years of visiting thousands of Second Life sims, I have never received such a warm welcome, or encountered such a wonderful community! I have truly found a new home.

Parcels range from ocean view bungalows at L$199 a week for 119 prims, all the way up to a large lot where you can erect your own home (or choose from one of Bray’s large selection of homes) at L$850 per week with a 630-prim allotment!

Here are some of the features of these parcels, from the Bray’s Place website:

Brayniac Shores Rentals – Waterfront & Sky Garden Properties

• Below Market Value, Affordable Prices
• Generous prim allowance
• Special Satellite radio with the club stream
• House and landscaping not included in the rental prim allowance – They are ‘gifted’
• No Lag Sim
• Professional landscaping and large garden areas
• Choice of house styles or the option to use a house of your choice.
• Private parcels with radio stream options
• 124 couple dances HUD on each property
• Access to our active and friendly Blues club community, large public beach, voice-enabled games room (Greedy, Skippo, Dominoes, and other fun games), state of the art photo studio, meadow and campground.

The games room is just one of the thoughtful amenities at Bray’s Place (there’s a professional photo studio upstairs)

All the parcels (except the skybox cottages) have either ocean, lake or river frontage, and all are beautifully landscaped. And, if you wish, Bray will even decorate for you, taking into account your personal tastes and even your favourite colours! (Bray tells me this service is popular among certain renters, particularly males.)

Here are just a couple of examples of Bray’s decorating work:

If you wish, Bray can also come and install a special radio that plays the music stream from the deejays and performers at Bray’s Place Blues Club! Or, you can set your own parcel music stream to any internet radio station you like.

I had originally intended to rent the Lake Villa property at Bray’s Place, in the vicinity of the Blues club, just for a single week, so that I could take the following pictures. However, after I had finished decorating, I fell in love with the place, so I actually gave up my Linden Home, and moved into my new home at Bray’s Place permanently! It’s one of the best decisions I ever made.

Good bye, tiny old Linden Home!
Hello, Lake Villa at Bray’s Place! This is definitely an upgrade!

I pay L$625 per week for 510 prims, and after decorating my little heart out, I still have almost 100 prims left over to play with! If you wish, you can get more prims from Bray, although I honestly don’t know why I would need extra! Even ancient, prim-heavy furniture from ye olden pre-mesh days can fit easily into my allotment. As you can see from the pictures below, I have added all kinds of finishing touches to the rooms in my Lake Villa home, like stacks of books, wine glasses, teapots and tea cups—even Christmas stockings hanging from the fireplace mantel!

I can see Bray’s Place Blues Club (and the covered bridge) from my living room
I’m all decorated for Christmas!
A view of the living room, hall, and dining room
Having tea in the dining room
A view of the kitchen
The bedroom has doors that open onto the back deck
Another look at the bedroom
A look at the bathroom
The back deck features a fireplace
The rear of the property features a private beach, and there’s more than enough prim space to set up this English garden shed in the backyard, a recent free group gift from Hisa!

If you are interested in renting a home from Bray’s Place, here is a listing of properties currently available. There is also a rental display on the wall to the right of the front door inside the main club building, with photos and a teleport to each parcel (here’s the SLURL):

See you at Bray’s, either as a visitor to the Blues club, or as a fellow renter! As I said, this is one of the best decisions I have ever made in all my years in Second Life.