Placing a Wine Rack on a Kitchen Counter

Welcome to the new phase of my blog... useful design tips, no budget, no rules!  You know that architect's laptop you got when you joined the architecture career?  No?  Go get one!  You need to have a computer to do what I'm showing you as we're going to be using some special tips, also known as cheats, to get around the physical limitations of Sunset Valley.  Don't be scared... you won't ruin anything.  Or well... just make sure you have a copy of what you're working on before you try the more complicated tips.  ;D

When I was completing my last design challenge for SHGC, I started with the idea that a wine rack sitting on a counter in the kitchen would be easily accessible and at a convenient height.  It would be perfect for someone who enjoys wine but doesn't have the time or money to dedicate a basement to storage.  I thought "I'll just set this rack down on this counter."  Wrong!  The silly thing doesn't stay!  It's just another one of those quirks we live with in Sunset Valley.  Can't set a wine rack directly on a counter.

I got around this by stacking a wine rack on top of another wine rack, placing them against the wall, and then placing the counter right where the lower wine rack was sitting.  Seems like a physical impossibility, but we designers have our little secrets.

Want to know the trick?  Grab your computer and press Control+Shift+C all at the same time.  You should see a long blue bar come up on your screen.  In this, type moveobjects on and press Enter.  Now you can move design objects so that they overlap others!  When you're finished, just press Control+Shift+C again and then type moveobjects off to turn off the feature.  It's a neat little tip we designers use all the time, and you'll get even more practice with it if you follow this blog!

My one caution in this situation is to make sure the lower wine rack is the same color and material as the kitchen cabinet.  Because they're occupying the same space, you will sometimes be able to see the sides of both objects together.  Keeping them looking exactly the same will make them blend better so that it's less obvious.

Now take a look at the finished product!

From the Ashes of Defeat...

sigh

Well, I guess you know by now that I didn't make it into the last round of the competition.  Sorry I couldn't tell you earlier, but I was under contract not to spill the beans on the final round.  I've come to terms with getting eliminated and am happy with the redesign I put forward in my last entry.  I was going to whimsical elegance, but I think it may have come across as too cutesty.  Take a look and see what you think:

Personally, I'm really proud of my bistro seating and think the circular awning is very chic.  I also love my wine rack in the kitchen.  There's a trick to getting it to stay up there... more on that in a bit.

On the other hand, I'm really happy that the contest winner is my favorite DIY designer... Gianna!  She won the final challenge which was a redesign of an entire house!  I gave her my business card and she thought she might be able to use me a local resource for finding interesting decorating objects. :D  I'm so thrilled!


Where do we go from here?  Well, I've generated enough professional interest from the show to be able to quit my job at Harga's (love you Harga... but I won't miss the job!) and support my sis and nephew by doing design jobs around Sunset Valley.  I've even got a long term writing contract in the works with the Serenity Point Chamber of Commerce.  It's a cute coastal town not too far away, and they're contracting me to write features on homes and businesses to garner some interest in the town.  They're undergoing a huge beautification process right now, so the features won't start coming out for another month, but keep your eyes open for them!  (You can check out their beautification project at http://magically-simlicious.blogspot.com/)

As for this blog... It's staying around!  Yep, I'm going to continue the blog so that I can keep sharing cool design tips with you, just as I did during the contest.  I'm not going to stick to a low or high budget as the goal is simply to share design tips that I find witty, fun and useful.  This takes us back to the wine rack I was talking about earlier.  Wondering how it all fits together?  Check out the next post!