The next part of town I worked on for Tinytree's tropical makeover was Stinky's front lawn, or "playground park" area! As mentioned in my first post about Tinytree's makeover, Stinky's house was the hardest to incorporate into my previous theme which was "Orange Autumn sunset", mainly because his house colours were so clashing. I'm finally happy to have found a solution for making my beloved cat fit in better! I also finished making the windmill plaza area.
Planning Stinky's Landscaping & Windmill
Stinky's house is located next to a small pond and overlooking the left side beach. His house was originally plot awkwardly in between the cliff and pond, meaning any vertical path next to it would have to be quite cramped. Instead, I planned to have a main path going horizontally in front of his house which then leads to the important/facility parts of town. Because the main path was a couple spaces away from Stinky's house entrance, I was able to plan out a space for the jungle gym and tire toy, one of the only two PWPs that match his exterior perfectly!
As for the windmill "plaza", I decided to go with what I know and copy this type of landscaping directly from my successful experience with Borei's "statue fountain plaza". I planned for this diamond shaped plot to be nearby the cafe and Retail for easy accessibility to both locations. It also has a path that stems out to Chief's house and soon-to-be June's new plot location. This area is probably the most significant change from Tinytree's past version where it was a thick natural forest. A big chunk of this area is now dedicated to "pathing" instead of nature. Because this left part of town is the only area I have worked on so far, I am hoping to move the more natural forest feel to the other side of town where it wont be as path heavy. In general, I'm moving Tinytree towards the more "town-like" landscaped feel rather than a natural forest anyways.
As reference, here's a picture of Borei's "statue fountain plaza" that is also the area that connects to Borei's Retail and villager community area. My plan was to have Tinytree's area be very similar but instead with a different centre piece PWP and different colour schemes.
Before: Stinky's House
Here's a picture of the old landscaping near Stinky's house. As you can see, his yellow trash can house was located right next to where I wanted a natural forest springs to be. I made it work somehow, but I still felt like his house was an eyesore compared to the rest of the landscaping. I also made a 1sq vertical dirt path going around to Chief's house which was nice, but would have been better if the houses matched better.
For example, directly behind Stinky's house is a clear view of Chief's house area. Chief's house was "natural" looking enough that it still looked good with my orange/purple theme going on. In my new version, I made it so that Stinky's house and Chief's house cannot be connected by a path so it at least gives them a degree of separation to work with how different their exteriors are.
Here's Stinky in front of his house during the hydrangea blooms! I've always wanted to put a tire toy near his house but couldn't because of it clashing with my landscaping at the time. Instead, I had a stump seating area next to his house so he can admire the beach to the left! I'm glad I was able to work a tire toy into the new landscaping, seen below!
After: Stinky's House
Here's his house now! This time around I did not crowd his house area with trees and bushes, instead I kept the trees to the back and made his "front lawn" centre pieces the tire toy and jungle gym. Now that my town's colours are generally rainbow-coloured throughout, I had no problem using these PWPs as they no longer clash. The glimpse of the horizontal path in the picture is a 2sq path but it also has a downwards 3sq path leading towards the town hall.
Here's us celebrating the park's opening! Thankfully Stinky was present to his own ceremony. I did this for you, Stinky!
Here is a glimpse of the area where the new plaza covers. It is an area of forest that is right by Chief's house and the cafe so it looks like a cafe garden and Chief's personal garden as well. I had purple violets here, with orange flowers on the other side closer to Chief's house, and a dirt path leading towards Retail. This road to Retail has the same layout in the new version, but instead of dirt paths it is now a giant plaza with a shorter 2sq leading up towards Retail.
The plaza is also big enough that it also covers some of what is seen above. I was most conflicted when redesigning this area because it was by far my favourite part of town that I would always showcase in photos when promoting Tinytree online. Originally, this area was a thick forest that had winding dirt paths and loads of flowers bordering them. It was a bit chaotic, but I loved how natural it looked. However, I plan to recreate a similar vibe in another part of town, possibly near my mayor's house. I also have the perfect plot ready for June, which should be right in the bottom corner of this picture where the 1sq dirt path is.
Here's the new plaza area! It basically tripled the size of the paths that lead to Retail and serves as a centre point that connects the cafe and Retail.
Before: Cafe garden
Here is a glimpse of the area where the new plaza covers. It is an area of forest that is right by Chief's house and the cafe so it looks like a cafe garden and Chief's personal garden as well. I had purple violets here, with orange flowers on the other side closer to Chief's house, and a dirt path leading towards Retail. This road to Retail has the same layout in the new version, but instead of dirt paths it is now a giant plaza with a shorter 2sq leading up towards Retail.
The plaza is also big enough that it also covers some of what is seen above. I was most conflicted when redesigning this area because it was by far my favourite part of town that I would always showcase in photos when promoting Tinytree online. Originally, this area was a thick forest that had winding dirt paths and loads of flowers bordering them. It was a bit chaotic, but I loved how natural it looked. However, I plan to recreate a similar vibe in another part of town, possibly near my mayor's house. I also have the perfect plot ready for June, which should be right in the bottom corner of this picture where the 1sq dirt path is.
After: Now a Windmill "Plaza"
Here's the new plaza area! It basically tripled the size of the paths that lead to Retail and serves as a centre point that connects the cafe and Retail.
Here's IKI visiting me again so I can show her some of my progress :'-D You can see the cafe in the corner. This area is surrounded by peach trees and pink and yellow flowers. I'm planning on having sections of town dedicated to different fruit. The only main fruit I don't plan on using are cherries. My native fruit are apples and those will be reserved for Hazel's house area.
That's all for today! Next I will be moving June in because Beau has finally settled on a move date. I'm sad to see him go, but I'm excited to meet some new villagers!
That's all for today! Next I will be moving June in because Beau has finally settled on a move date. I'm sad to see him go, but I'm excited to meet some new villagers!
