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Hey! At first I tried making a single “End of December” post, but not only was it extremely long and messy, I felt like I had to hold back on some screenshots and things I wanted to share in order to make it less long. This has just been such a busy half-month! So now I’m dividing it into this town improvements post, along with another post I have scheduled on town events, holidays, and daily happenings.
I’ve updated my dream address now, so if you’d like to visit first without being “spoiled” on the changes I’ve made, feel free to visit without reading this post. 🙂 Though I’ve never personally felt that seeing pictures of a town beforehand made me want to visit a dream town less (quite the contrary), or enjoy visiting it less. I like to have archived pictures to look back on, though, because dream addresses don’t last forever…like my Autumn update is completely gone now, so I’m glad I have some pictures of that time period to look back on!
Top half of town:
The busiest, most city-like part of town, and also the “sun” side of town if you’re familiar with my plans about that! As you’ll see, though, I took away some of the sunny flowers to look better with the snow. The gradients are more sunset-themed than sun-themed, in a way.
One of the first flower re-arranging projects I worked on was the town hall garden. I’ve always liked how the fade goes blue>purple>pink>red>orange>yellow, imagining that it reflects the colors of the sky from nighttime to sunset. Maybe it’s just me, though, but I felt that the red>orange>yellow part of the garden (which looked lovely in Autumn) looked garish against the snow. 😐
So I removed the warmest colors and extended the pink part of the gradient:
I think it looks much better now, for this time of year! 🙂 I’ll add back the red, orange, and yellow lilies when the snow melts, though!
Teru gave me the idea that I could balance out the rock in front of my town hall with another rock — a “permanent” gem rock! I loved this idea, so I covered up all the spots where the gem rock could spawn with flowers/patterns, except for the one space I wanted it to go. It took a few tries to get the exact-shaped rock I wanted, but now I have it! 😀 I’m really happy about it and feel so much better about my town hall area now! Part of what bugged me before was not just the rock itself, but the imbalance the rock caused, making your eye drawn to the rock. Now the rocks are balanced, so (imo at least) it allows your eyes to travel elsewhere.
I changed the train station’s fountain garden for the same reason as the town hall garden…I liked how it was before, but it didn’t look as good against the snow. 
I arranged a garden around the Re-Tail pond of pink and blue flowers, with Reese & Cyrus in mind, since the pond is right next to Re-Tail. I imagined the two of them going to Leif’s store together to buy the seeds, going out and planting them together, and the mental image of that was really cute and was what inspired me to make this garden. ^_^
Between the train station entrance, town hall entrance, and Re-Tail pond — which are all in close proximity — it might seem like there’s a lot of pink, blue and purple on this side of town, and I guess there is! 😛 But there are also other colors as well…
I’ve finished Lyra’s castle entrance now, which has lots of gold and sunny colors because I like to imagine that her castle represents the sun (in contrast to Estel’s representing the moon). As you go farther away from her castle, though, the colors fade from gold to pink to purple to blue.
I felt like I had to have these extravagant flower arrangements to make up for the fact that there isn’t room for any big PWP landscaping in front of her house, due to the pond being in the way. I think that it’s worked out okay regardless of the pond, and that it’s forced me to be more creative with the flower arrangements instead of relying on PWPs. But I might one day add a bench behind the pond!
Another colorful spot is the dirt path connecting Re-Tail and a ramp to the beach! It used to only have red, white, and yellow tulips, but I’ve been working on growing more tulip hybrids so that I could make this change. 🙂 I also planted some azalea bushes here and there, which should look pretty when they bloom in the springtime!
For a long time I’ve had red, white, and yellow lilies lining this path to help in growing hybrids, but now I’ve accumulated enough lily and violet hybrids to use those instead! I didn’t use a “pattern” for the flowers lining the path; part of this is because many neighbors live near the path, so it would be hard to find a color pattern that coordinates with all of the houses. Plus, I like running along the path and seeing streams and pops of unexpected color — maybe it looks messy to others, though!
Another example of a disorganized but colorful lily and violet garden — I just love lilies and violets together! ^_^
On the beach on this side of town, there are some warm-colored lilies lining the cliff and banana trees.
Once Charlise moved out (I’ll go into it more in the next post), I was able to move in a new neighbor, re-do this area, and add a lighthouse! I got the idea for a villager house near the lighthouse from Teru’s neighbor Tangy living next door to her lighthouse — I hope you don’t mind, Teru! It also lines up well with my other neighbors lining the western seaside cliff.
Bottom half of town:
The quieter, less developed part of town, and also the “moon” side of town, which is especially enhanced at this time of year because of the snow and auroras.
Built a hot spring recently! I’ve built the hot spring before in two different places, but I think this is its final home now. 😛 I love how the water looks at night!
Really happy with how this path turned out! 🙂
The beach on this side of town has cool-colored violets and white lilies lining the cliff, and coconut trees.
Bruce and Julian are the only non-human residents on this side of town, so it’s good that their houses go with the atmosphere!
The town tree is on this side of town, and I don’t think it’s looking its best at this time of year… It kind of saddens me that it went from this to this, with no leaves on the tree and a bare cobblestone pavement. 😦 If I could, I would still try to make the town tree look like a forest clearing in the wintertime by making patterns that would blend in with the snow, and then making “murals” on top of those patterns of little frozen pools. But I don’t have the time or pattern slots for that, and it’s possible I don’t have the skill for something like that either. xP
Violet lives on this side of town, and she and her house have gotten a new look! To be honest, I found the concept behind Violet and her house a bit boring before; her appearance was based off of mine (you know, as much as you can with an AC chara), and her house’s concept wasn’t anything beyond a simple cottage in the woods. But I’ve decided her new concept is a magician living in a mansion in a magical forest (a tribute to a book character I like), with a taste for having many plants and flowers in her home. ^^
Here are the new rooms I’ve put together for her house:
Main room:
A living room/kitchen with some plants and diamond modern wood furniture (I like how that series looks with the parquet floor).
Left wing:
A magician’s workroom, with the few magic-themed furniture pieces that I know of (the cauldron and crystal ball), along with as many strange contraptions and gadgets I could cram in there (the fireworks prizes seemed good to me for this). If you have a different idea for how one could make a magician’s workroom, I’d be really interested to know — not sure if I’m 100% satisfied with this room!
Back room:
A quiet and peaceful, old midnight garden.
Basement:
I was going for the feel of a vibrant magical forest clearing, maybe the location of a fairy feast or something… I’m not sure if it’s too busy and if I should tone it down a bit, so feedback is appreciated!
(Two of the other rooms are temporary placeholders until I get certain furniture sets, so I won’t share them here.)
The “entrance” to Violet’s house:
Now that I think about it, probably a good portion of my town is dedicated to various entrances to buildings, lol. But I don’t mind, I really like incorporating buildings into the landscape. 🙂
Center of town:
I guess this is technically the top half of town, but it’s so separated and enclosed by the river that I kind of consider this part as being on its own:
It’s a tricky peninsula to work with, and I think stuff like this is why many people prefer having straight-river maps. But I do think this has the potential to maybe be a cool spot in town eventually when I work more on it… I was thinking I could have it be a somewhat seasonal area in town, like in the spring and summer I could have a topiary garden, in the winter I could have an illumination park, and in the Fall I could have a garden of Autumn colors/a pumpkin patch.
Right now, though, it only has these two PWPs, because the two of them conveniently block houses from moving into this peninsula, making house plot resetting a lot easier!
One is the fence PWP, which used to be a faux-pumpkin patch in the Fall, but now it’s an apple orchard.
And the other is the flower clock, which probably looked better in Autumn, but for now I’m keeping it since it’s a convenient house repeller!
That’s the end of my picture tour of the changes I’ve been working on, thank you for reading! 🙂
A Forest Life 
Oh, wow, I saw some of these pictures on your Tumblr, but this is just amazing! You’ve really come a long way with your town, and your dedication shows! I wish I could get my town to look like that *cries*
Ahh thank you, that’s so nice of you to say, I’m glad you think my town’s come a long way 🙂 Aww and no you’re town is beautiful as well, and unique since it has a story behind it!
Wow, your town is gorgeous. Also, when you were listing the colors for your one garden, how did you change the color of the words?
Aww thanks! 🙂 And I just used the html code: <font color=”red”>text</font>
In place of red, you can of course type the name of a different color, or use one of the countless HTML color codes out there (like #FFFFFF is white, #000000 is black, etc. — many charts out there online)
Your attention to detail is so enviable. :3 I love reading your posts about the technicalities, such as precise villager house placement and the hues that compliment this PWP and that building, so 🙂 . Really makes me look at my own display with a more critical eye!
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Just my two cents on the magician’s workroom (since y’know, you asked for feedback): I would go for a bit of a darker atmosphere than can be provided by the birch flooring and library wall. I feel like it needs to be more mysterious… not too menacing, though. (Personally, I’d even consider using the spooky wall and floor if you’re going for more of a storybook magician kind of vibe. Makes me think of a cross between the witch from Snow White and the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella that turns pumpkins into carriages. xD)
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One more thing: that little chunk of land you call the “peninsula” could, after the PWPs have fulfilled their purpose, become sort of a clearing ringed by trees and bushes where you could do moon/sun/stars flower art if you’re into that kind of thing. The mural could even change with the season–I’d totally do something like that if only I had the SPACE in Miagen…
Hehe, thanks! 🙂 I guess my attention to detail might be a result of the smallest flaws/things being able to bother me, and me wanting to fix those things xP
Thanks so much for the feedback!! I kind of wanted to keep it from looking too sinister, since the character I was inspired by wasn’t an evil magician, and in the book, magic was seen as a sort of scholarly pursuit (like other, more normal fields of study). But I agree with you that it could definitely use more mysteriousness and overt allusions to magic, and I’ll try to think of ways I could do that!
Wow I really like that idea, thanks! I’ll consider it 🙂 The fact that it’s in the center of town does kind of seem like I should do something extra special with it that ties into my theme (though an illumination park and a topiary garden are tempting for me as well).
I can’t even– Your town is so–
I guess the closest word I can think of is beautiful but that hardly does it justice! The way you make use of the colour wheel is unbelievable; I think Winter may be my favourite season in Citàlune, especially the area in front of your town hall and the dirt path you posted on Miiverse! Your colours work so well with the snow and I’m so envious of your attention to detail. 😀
I can’t wait for my next visit!!
Ahh thanks so much Liam, you’re so kind! 😀 I’m glad you like how I’ve redecorated for winter ^_^ I’ve always really liked what you’ve done with your town too 🙂
You might be better off visiting in the dream suite, after the house plot resetting disaster that happened yesterday. T_T (Ugh, still not over it…)
Congrats on your rock!! Lol, what a strange thing to congratulate on 😆 But damn…that must have taken a ton of work, filling every single square to get it. And you’re right, it does let your eyes travel over the rest of the scene now 😮 The twin rocks practically blend into the field of violets.
And I think it was a great idea to reduce the palette outside the town hall and station for the winter. It fits in with the snow and winter colours much better, and really does look lovely in the sunset. Re-Tail’s pond garden looks so lovely 🙂 Those two lovebirds… I bet Reese bought all the blue ones and Cyrus all the pinks 😛
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WOW Lyra’s castle entrance looks glorious O.O I can’t wait to walk through your dream town, and when I get to Lyra’s castle it’ll be like the sun came out! Or was setting in a dazzling display 😀 Aside from that I love the random layouts of colours along the rest of your paths, like a step away from the carefully organised gardens of the important establishments into the more playful and carefree (though from experience that can take even more work and organisation!).
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Haha, I like Violet’s fun new concept xD It allows for some pretty interesting rooms, that’s for sure! I actually really like the basement, and if there ever was a vibrant clearing in a magical forest, that’s how colourful and busy it’d be ^^ The humble (by Citàlune standards 😆 ) garden entrance to her house is perfect too.
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Making the peninsula a seasonal feature is a really cool idea! I can’t wait to see how it turns out for the spring and summer and with the topiaries 😀 (No pressure though — enjoy winter first! xP)
Thanks! 🙂 It actually wasn’t too hard to cover up the remaining spots, since I only had to cover up the empty spaces that weren’t touching a tree, a bush, a river, or other obstacle, and my town’s gotten pretty filled up with stuff 😛 I really appreciate you giving me the idea so that I can enjoy my town hall area more!
Awww that’s such a cute thought about Reese and Cyrus x3
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I’m glad you like it! 😀 Though since my town is updated during an aurora, the garden isn’t at its brightest; I’ll have to have you over during a sunset sometime ^_^
I agree, sometimes I would find the seemingly less organized gardens harder to make, because I wanted them to look kind of random, but at the same time, wanted to have a nice balance of colors that was pleasing to the eye.
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I’ve always liked doing outdoor sorts rooms (like if you remember Twisk’s room in AC:WW) so it’s fun for me to do them again in New Leaf, with all the new furniture and customization options 😀
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I’m really looking forward to being able to decorate that peninsula more too! Can’t wait to get the last of my dream neighbors so I can get started ^^
The hardest part of my AC;WW town to arrange was the colourful pansy patch outside the shops, so I can appreciate that it takes more work than meets the eye ^^ (like not having two of the same colour side-by-side and stuff like that).
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Yeah, it reminded me straight away of Twisk’s room! And I really liked that room 😀
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I heard about your mishap with Erik’s house too, what a bummer >.< I hope you feel better about it soon! And maybe your concept of time in AC is different to mine (I still feel as though it's a new game :P), but those 16 villagers move out quicker than you expect! Though it's also understandable that you want to fill up the dream villagers quickly so you can stop stressing and resetting over house locations.
Oh but if you do end up kicking Erik out, I'll take him, or even hold him for you ^^ (if no-one else has offered… I doubt it!)
I’m not as upset about it now as I was when it first happened, but I still hope for him to move out soon. His house is an inconvenience as well as an eyesore where it’s located, since it’s in the middle of a frequently used path.
I guess I just find the prospect of cycling through 16 neighbors really daunting, especially since I’ve yet to cycle through 16 neighbors so far in the game, and because I already have 8/10 dream neighbors, so there would only be so much “room” to cycle. I’d have to keep cycling out the newest neighbors to my town, you know? And then keep resetting for their houses to go in a half-decent spot, and keep postponing the PWP plans I’ve been wanting to do… so I think at this point I’m just going to go with the second lazy neighbor I was debating, Doc. I had a hard time deciding between Doc and Erik, and even after I decided on Erik I kept having second-thoughts and doubts, so I think I should be happy enough with Doc. If this mistake had happened with one of my other dream neighbors (like say Julian), it would be even more frustrating because I wouldn’t have a good second option I’d be happy with.
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If you’d like Erik in your town, I’d be happy to hand him over when he moves 🙂 His house would look nice in your town! There’s no need to hold him for me (so he could be yours forever, if you want!), but thanks so much for offering, that’s really nice of you! ^_^
Oh, in that case maybe it’s fate that you’d get Doc ^^; Oh that’s true, you’d already begun getting your dream neighbours so you wouldn’t have cycled as quickly… And I totally understand it’s not worth putting your town plans on hold so long for.
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Oh and also if you paid for Erik, I intend to ‘refund’ you if I get him! xP
Oh haha I didn’t pay anything for him, so no worries there! 😛 I’ll let you know when he’s packed up, hope you’ll have a spot free 🙂 I’m not sure what to expect/predict for when he’ll pack up, if it could be sooner than I think, or if it could take a while.
I was just looking through some older posts and I absolutely LOVE the fairy feast room (Maybe I missed this post?). It has given me great inspiration for Lenore’s spring room and Autumn’s fall room! 😀 I need to collect more flower furniture for Lenore’s spring room! I wish there were big flower tables-maybe I can make a “bouquet” table out of the little ones?
I’m not sure if we’d “met” back when I made this post hehe. Thanks, I’m glad you like it! 🙂 I liked the room okay, but was still a little unsatisfied with it so I ended up turning it into the room with all the bamboo grass. A bouquet table sounds real cute! The way I collected extra flower furni was TTing on my second copy until I got copious amounts of weeds, at which point Leif shows up and has you pull them all up in exchange for one of the flower pieces.