I've been working on this bedroom off and on for a week. I'm not sure what I think about it yet but I thought I'd give you guys a preview. I'm thinking it's too bright and colorful during the day and I should think about toning down the bedspreads because I want to keep the walls and the carpet. Any suggestions? You can post them here or PM me if you want.

Other than being a little bright it looks really nice Miss Kathy. You've done a really good job on it.

I love the colors! I do agree that it's a bit bright, but I really like where you're going with this room. It's so cheery

Beautiful work!

It is a bit bright (that line seems to be this topic's theme ) but it's excellent none the less! I love it! Can't wait to see it when it's all done.

how in the world did you do that!!!? i think it looks good but like others said it is a little bright but i like it

Thank you to those who are replying and PMing me. Does anyone have any suggestions for dimming it down? I want to keep the carpet and yellow walls. Perhaps I can darken them up a bit? Should I have only 2 or 3 colors of bedding instead of 6?

I'm not sure what I should do next to tone it down, which is why I'm asking for suggestions/ideas. I really need some ideas to try out.

Sweezy1992, I basically repainted everything using a paintbrush and then eraser tool in Photoshop. The carpet is actually a photo of a tulip plantation I found online and loved the colors so built the bedroom around it. The floor I pieced together from the living room. Really, REALLY strained my eyes on this project so my eyes will be taking a break to rest up.

Looking at it again, I'd say the only really bright color in the room is the rug, which I personally really like, so.... In all honesty I really don't think it's TOO bright, just maybe a bit much for some.

Also, I see that the beds seem to be further from the wall then they used to be. Was this deliberate or...? I only mention it because it gives the illusion that the kids' room is higher than the parents'.

Hi Krystal, actually the beds and desk are too close to the walls. LOL! I'll need to move them a bit before I post the maps. Thank you for your comments as well.

I agree with Krystal on the beds, I do really like how they look as they are, it's just the carpet that brightens it up that much more. You can try playing around with the carpet once you get some rest from straining over the room.

Let us know how it goes!

hmm... then I must be crazy (which is likely anyway) because I could've sworn there was more flooring behind the beds than usual... oh well.

Looks like the flooring comes up a bit too high and the wall not quite low enough in comparing kidsBedroom mods. Maybe the beds appear smaller to me because of the "padded bedding".

I thought the beds might be too close to the back wall because the little boy asleep in the last bed in the top row looks like he's going to fall out of the bed and the little girl on the left is not quite high enough on her pillow. I also noticed earlier today when the boy was playing a board game a small part of the gameboard was hanging off the right-edge of the desk. LOL! Thank goodness it's still a "work in progress" and I really appreciate everyone's comments so far... gives me new perspectives/ideas on how to make things better. Thank you. Keep the ideas coming!

I LOVE this game!

I really like the carpet. If you wanted to make the room seem a little less bright, you could move the bedspread colors a bit more to the white side of the color spectrum. Like the difference between This and this . That way you still are in the same family.

I love it.

I love the colors! The rug looks great too. I agree with what the others said about the overall brightness. Perhaps toning down the bright yellow wall with a pattern or a smudge of shading or maybe adding a bump map to the rug would do the trick.

I definitely think you should keep all the beds the colors they are and not use fewer colors on them. I love the whole "rainbow" look the room has with that rug and I'm afraid you would lose some of that if the beds weren't so varied.

The beds appear to be "too far away" from the wall because of the amount of flooring that appears above the rear legs of the beds. I can't see the corner by the master bedroom well enough to tell if the floor line is lined up with that room, so I don't know if it is because your floor goes too high, but you should be able to tell by removing the bed layer and checking it out.

Great work so far!!

Actually, Kathy, I think it's the best kids' room I've seen yet! The bright colors are very apropos for children. I wouldn't change a thing! Thanks so much!

I loved it!

I agree with the guys here about being a little bright, but I think you should keep this bright version and maybe make a "less bright" one.

I do think this bedroom, bright as it is, is awesome and could go really well with some mods.

i like it cause i allways thought that the old bedroom looked a bit girly. P.S. i like anything between bright/colorful to extremely bright/extremely colorful.

So do I

I just took another look at the room and I think it's perfect as it is Did you edit the screenshots at all in the first post because for some reason I don't see anything I'd change LOL Maybe I'm going crazy!

Beautiful room Kathy!

Thanks again everyone for your comments and input. I'm still resting my eyes and am itching to get back to working on the bedroom and try to incorporate everyone's ideas. Hopefully Friday. I have a new plan of attack on how to get my floor and walls to line up right. I wish I knew how to do wallpaper like the rest of you modders!

Moonlyght: I like your idea of a bright version and a not-so-bright version since some folks like the bright one. (I also was the first to download the new colors you did of Lysarria's master bedroom last night!)

BayouBlonde, what is a bump map? BTW, my peeps will be eating Aussie cuisine for dinner tonight! Like the others, your menu's make me drool! I wish I could eat as well as my peeps do thanks to you!

Lyssaria: I haven't touched the images since uploading them.

I'm so glad your little peeps are enjoying the food! I tried to work on some Asian meals today and for the first time I couldn't concentrate because thinking about the menu had me just dieing to go cook. lol

A bump map basically has the effect of adding a textured look to a surface. They can be used for all sorts of things. I was just thinking that it would give the wall a bit of a textured appearance without changing the overall color of it. I can't really tell you how to use a bump map unless you're using GIMP. lol Lyssa and Lewanda are great help with the other programs though. I don't even know which program Moonlyght uses. hehe

Actually Miss Kathy, the only thing that is too bright is the wall, and it can be fixed very easily by lowering the hue a bit. I love all the colors you have in the rug and beds. All in all I think you did an awesome job on it.

Hi!

I use Adobe Photoshop Portable. It's really nice 'cause it's light to load.

LOL you didn't change it? I could've sworn I saw a different rug.. lots more solid colors and brighter. In any case, I still wouldn't change it the way it looks, I love everything about it. It's such a playful room and it'll definitely give a strong contrast to the other rooms depending on the mods used.

I have Photoshop 6.0 Although I have a Mac, I run it on a Windows Partition. However, I've noticed my computer getting really hot after only 1 hour of working on the mods so shut down so it can cool off.

BayouBlonde, I downloaded Gimp about 2 weeks ago and... wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I guess I just need to take the time and figure out how to use it. I don't even know how to create a new layer but I did paint some pretty pillows when practicing. Gimp's gradient tool works differently from my Photoshops gradient tool.


Lewanda: Your mods are AWESOME!

Lyssaria: Thank you for the fountain light. I'm glad you said that it would work with all fountain mods because I plan on modding tomorrow and will be adding BayouBlonde's new fountain to my map. By the way, I'd read your thoughts when you were first contemplating opening the gate... then the next day I saw you had actually done it! Cracked me up!!! Is there anything you can't do? You go girl!!!

MissKathy

I am so excited for you to get your kids room done! I am going to start a whole new game just so that I can have it! So, get it done really super fast!!! lol *kidding* I just wanted to give you a little pep talk.

Jennifer

Thanks Kathy! Getting the light on the fountain took 15+ tries which involves opening and closing the game >_< It distracted me from my poor golden retriever mod, but I'm about to submit that now.

I love the colors on those pillows! they also look so shiny and silky, I just want to pounce them

I'll work on it for you this weekend At least straightening up the alignments.

Thank you Lyssaria, I have no idea how I did it! LOL! It was my first attempt at using Gimp.

Miss Kathy, I just posted a little tut for littlewindbird on how to get your maps perfectly straight.

Hi Lewanda. Thanks for the "heads up". Map alignment wasn't my trouble though. Mine was within the maps themselves because I literally did things the hard way by painting and erasing over the different portions of the maps and so I over-painted some areas. I fixed it all today though by using the shape tool, then filling the shape with color, rasterizing the layer and then using the perspective tool to get the slant I needed. A much easier process than I had been using. I just needed to "think it through". Things look great now.

I'll put the furniture back in the room tomorrow and then post the maps. I know Pebbles22 and a few other players are waiting patiently for them.

I'm glad you got it fixed Sweetheart.

It's great seeing your mod posted up Kathy!

Thank you Lyssaria. I found a better way to do floors and walls than I was doing it! Experience IS a great teacher.

It definitely is! Even with all my years of experience in graphics, I managed to learn new things with these mods. I'm looking forward to more of your artwork!

And I'm learning from all of you!

When I first saw the mods in here I had absolutely NO idea on how to do it myself.

I still don't have so much of an idea, but at least now I have a hint. *laughs*

And I found out that "modding" is quite relaxing! I've found a new hobby!