Tropical Kinhouse
Kinhouse Remodel
Tropical Environment: The last time there was a remodel for the kinhouse was way back in September 2023. That was the time the Lyndelby Housing District opened up with a number of new hobbit-style decorations. The Spring Festival that year introduced a lot of new trees that were perfect for a King's Gondor theme. Since then, Corsairs of Umbar introduced a ton of new decorations. Midsummer Festival brought forth a lot of different palm trees. The Reward Track had a mixed bag of themes with elves, ship decorations, and a number of decorations combined for market stalls. Now was the perfect time to change things up.
Beach: When you first enter, I arranged the Archway to Umbar (earned with Eagle bits from the Allegiance barterer) above the chest like how the Arnorian Arch was arranged a few years back. Turning the floor into sand was perhaps the very first thing I wanted to do for the entrance. The vines weren't planned. The singing bowl was actually one of the last things added to the kinhouse when I found a stray slot with nothing in it. In fact, the raft and shed weren't exactly planned either. Much of the items that send you places remained with the new addition of the one for Legacy of Morgoth. Easter Eggs: The red dragon tapestry hangs over the war table to Gundabad; there is a suspicious platter of seafood by the Mysterious Door.
"Now where in Middle-Earth did my pet cave-claw go?" - Zans
Mysterious Forest: I wanted to keep the forest theme but finding the right kind of tree was a tad harder than anticipated. The healthy wisteria was too large but the potted wisteria was the right size. I grabbed as many forest-themed decorations as I could such as the Herbalist Table, Stone Outbuilding, White Stag, and Nanu's Hiding Place. There needed to be a centerpiece in the room without covering up the tiny hedgehog hobbit house and standing stone in the far back. While the fish pond fulfills that requirement, the size of the decoration still proves too be a tad too large. At the same time, I wanted to add as many scary things I could gather such as the spider chest, skulls on a pole, alchemist table, and a watcher. The vines and waterfall that tucks away the room didn't come until much later in development. Oddly enough, the Nazgul that is supposed to appear where the glowing purple mat is does not appear until you walk out of the way of the book and into line of sight. Easter Egg: The chirping you hear is actually hanging out on a limb of the tree.
Jungle Bar: The other side of the kinhouse took some major work. The first thing was the accessories placed around the tree. I traded so many maps, chairs, and guards in one little corner. I had everything from Samwise Gamgee to Bilbo Baggins sitting on a chair or couch of some kind and a more unique map hanging on the wall. The blueprint of the bar had the trees and kegs, but I voted against the hammock and the table that crowded the middle. The dining table under the pier with the sign all came late in development. I wanted to add some sort of guy who would take your money to stay at an inn, but the entire idea was reduced to a few simple objects such as a bed and wardrobe. You'll see what occupied all the slots in the next room. Easter Eggs: You can perform /sit next to the stool and chair. Hungry Deep Tavern is the name of the sign with the Grasping Maw on the wall and the Treacherous Hole.
"Hand me another!" - Resolina
Jungle: The room at the end went through many iterations over the course of a few hours. There were just so many problems that had to be adjusted and tweaked. First off, there was word of a new free housing furnisher (does not require expansion or any reputation tokens) somewhere for Legacy of Morgoth with a number of new piers available. Second, not all piers allow you to walk underneath them. The walls of vine was very finicky with the yard or furniture slots. Then I added a ladder and hid it next to a waterfall behind the left vine. It could not be pushed any further or you'd hit an invisible wall where the decor sticks out from the wall. Then, I had to arrange something on top of the pier, in view to lure you in, and interactable placed into a furniture slot so that it could be raised up on the pier. The Durin's Stone was practically perfect, but pushing it down into the ground seems to make it turn invisible. So the decoration could only be tucked in about halfway down with the head sticking way up into the ceiling.
Captain Logs: From my blueprint of the house, the bottom center room was supposed to be designed as the interior of a ship with the Nautical Housing Collection. As usual, there weren't a good set of surface and wall textile that would work on the second floor and the one below. Also, a lot of decorations from the set consist of tiny little lights that didn't quite fill the room. The ship bookshelves are only painted on one side. Instead, I decided to add it with a bunch of "research" material with bookcases, paintings, and murals. Bilbo Baggins didn't come until way later in development. Ironically, the bunk bed fit perfectly in the middle. You can't open the crafted wooden storage chest or interact with the bird. So as a consolation, I added Bilbo's Treasure Chest even though there is nothing in it. Don't forget that you can /sit in the Dragon chair! 
Marketplace: I originally didn't want to change this room too much from the previous theme but both the Cozy Den and OutDoor Market sets sparked some creativity. The Terra Cotta Tile made good flooring for a more conspicuous market closer to civilization. While the combined decorations helped fill the room, there are a number of little touches here and there - a jerboa house can be found tucked in a corner, a cart proved to be too heavy and spilled a collection of spices, there is a small sophisticated birdcage hanging from the large potted wisteria, a dwarf is hiding in a barrel, there's some tentacles moving in another barrel, a perfectly normal barrel and crate ready to scare you, a wandering cat, an explosive fireworks crate that is ready to distract a guard on duty, a mouse that comes out of a pesky hole in the wall, and an empty barrel that ports you down a river. Easter Egg: Since there is an extra ceiling slot available, I thought it would be interesting to add an interactable icicle.
Outside: The most obvious change outside is how the gazebos are arranged. There are three gazebos out covering the crafting center, the snowman dummy, and the standard training dummy. The Jacarandas (purple trees) next to the Fountain of the Sea made great background pieces where the enormous boulder that once accidentally prevented travel north of Bree once stood. Unfortunately, the piece does not have water as it is a second element that Scenario did not request at the time. Any number of items can be placed in the second enormous slot, such as the Dol Amroth Fountain but the placing of the snowman training dummy makes anything that doesn't envelop the overall openness difficult. The Maypole is interactable and allows you to spin around in circles until the paper part of the pole shoots confetti and a victory melody. There is still one spare yard slot where I placed a bucket of feed for the seagulls that fly overhead. One item could be placed somewhere along the path towards the door and the buckets of fresh fruit seemed to be a nice touch next to the mailbox. I would have liked to add more tree decorations, but there was no way to remove the base. So the Rohirric Fountain would have to make do above the Round Gondorian Pool and a cow pen next to the stables. As you pass by the medium sago trees, make sure to say hello to Samwise Gamgee on the road. Beyond that is a mix of all kinds of leftover decorations that were randomly placed to fill the remaining yard slots.
