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This time I went for a different approach in modular building. Heavily inspired by the Haunted House, I wanted to create a stand-alone building with garden. From the start of the project, I was working in parallel on both of the houses, hence I am presenting them together.

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At the back of the house, there's lots of space that wasn't filled with details. The plan is to build a railway track in the back for the town layout of our LUG's upcoming exhibition. However, I wanted to add details to the back to see more life in town. There's a small barbecue at the back of the grey house, and a small siting area with wooden table and benches.

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The houses were built in similar style. It's obvious the sand green one is a MOD of Haunted House, while the grey one followed in style. My favourite details of both houses are the entrances. It's obvious, again, they were made by the same 'architect'.

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Both of the houses were made in modular fashion. The floors can be lifted to see furnished interiors. To start with the sand green house, there's a lovely corner just under the roof, in the bedroom actually, where the floor is in different levels, to make an easier access to the window, as well as to create a sitting area or just to make room for extra decorations.

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In the middle floor, there's a reading corner, to enjoy afternoons with a great book and relaxing in a quiet space.

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The other side of the floor is a bathroom - probably the most challenging build in the house. As it's crammed in a tight space, there's not much room for details. It has the basics (a bath, toilet and a sink) and a few pinkish decorations - it's a girls bathroom.

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The ground floor is the main area, there's a kitchen partly hidden under the stairs, and on the opposite site is the dining area. I'm quite happy with the kitchen, as I tried a ''different'' look. It gets hard not to repeat yourself with details.

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The dining area is parallel to a sitting area with a small couch and TV. There's also large glass door to the side porch and a view of the garden.

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The garden is small, but green. Also, it's facing away from the neighbouring house, so it's a nice and quiet place to relax.

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On the side, the grey house is more lively, with both colours and life. There's a similar floor arangement, with kitchen, diner and living room on the ground floor. This time, a TV set is hidden under the stairs, and a nice view of the garden can be enjoyed from the couch.

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The terrace is more open, and is only partly covered by sun shades. From the terrace, the garden is easily accessible. The terrace itself is one of the two favourite parts of the house.

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My other favourite part of this house is the daybed on the middle floor. It's next to a large window to enjoy the view. It's easy to imagine myself lying there, reading a crime novel, enjoying a hot cup of tea and watching snow falling down (or just daydreaming).

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There's a bathroom on the middle floor as well, a small one, and similar in style to the bathroom of the sand green house.

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The top floor is modestly furnished. It's a bedroom, so there's not much to see. My favourite detail is the bed with a book shelf included, that was inspired by one of the Ikea's models.

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If interested, a few more pictures can be seen on my Flickr.

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Wow, all over! The wrought-iron fence around the villas is a little bit creepy, but the interiors are nice and the trees are lovely :wub: . The position of the green house's tower with respect to the rest of the building is a little awkward (maybe it could stick out a little further?), but keep up the good work.

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Those are two beautiful buildings. My favorite part is the garden of the sand green building.

The two trees and the two flower pots make it elegantly symetrical.

The two bathrooms are actually quite big compared to the space I have left over for bathrooms. :wink:

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Really nice work :thumbup: :thumbup: I really like the new house with the same style of the Haunted house and the interiors that are very well detailed :wink:

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Those are really great MOCs! Love the many details on the interior, and the gardens with the wrought iron fence match perfectly.

I have to agree with jamesn, though, the positioning of the tower on side of the green house is awkward. Or rather, it feels as if the whole house just sits on the lot facing the wrong way, as the side with the tower and the balcony and the big glass window on the ground floor by far outmatches the 'real' front in terms of representativeness.

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Wow, very original! I really like both gardens and the general look and feel, great interior too!

Actually, maybe without the tower it would look more harmonious, but this is like saying that a delicious chocolate cake would even be better with melted chocolate on the side...

Excellent job! Thanks for sharing an inspiring.. I think this is a great way to have a more suburb/residential area in line with the modular street(s)..

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My goodness 'Redhead1982' your skills are going up leaps and bounds......the exteriors are delightful.....I almost expect the Addam's family to live next door to these two houses. :grin:

But it's the interior I :wub: , the tiling everywhere is delightful (especially that stair case) and those wonderful pieces of furniture. :wub:

Brick On 'Redhead1982' ! :sweet:

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Real eye candy, what a treat!

Exquisite details inside and out :wub:

I could imagine living there, except for the trains passing through the back yard while I'm relaxing with my family, but I doubt that will bother any LEGO inhabitants :wink:

While I think the design of the stairs on the first floor of the sand green house is great, the only thing that bothers me is the width - I think it looks too wide. Maybe 1 or 2 plates less wide would look better? But that's just nitpicking...

Thanks very much for sharing :thumbup:

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WOW!!! That an awesome beautiful couple of Villas!!!!

Congrats for this really cool MOC!

When I first saw the haunted house after its release, I said: We could make a real non-haunted house with this. And you did it, but you did it great!!!!!

All those details inside and outside are outstanding! I love the furniture, strairs, garden gate and fences, little trees with flowers...

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The structures are great, but what stands out for me in these building are the interior details :wub: and the gardens. My favourite details are the dark tan stairs, the yellow and white chairs, the simple, but effective, solution for the fridges and the drawers that the glass bottle sits on.

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Very good modular buildings.

Just my thoughts, :-

I guess these do fit into a town setting just like this

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but the architect would probably try to make them much more similar?

Although I think they are more likely in a suburban setting where two architects would produce similar styles..

Personally I think buildings of this grandeur would have larger gardens ???

I would probably make the back gardens with at least two extra 32x32 plates and and the side gardens with four 16x16 plates.

Alternatively they might be built around a shared large garden.

A bit like this.

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?hl=en&sa=X&biw=1366&bih=639&tbm=isch&tbnid=QfycmNLW7ZDjIM:&imgrefurl=http://www.leonkaye.co.uk/access-to-londons-garden-squares/&docid=pXzzQjXaZMMGJM&imgurl=http://www.leonkaye.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/garden-square1-200x200.jpg&w=200&h=200&ei=7uFQUfvWIKGg0QXDxYCgBg&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:5,s:0,i:97&iact=rc&dur=1057&page=1&tbnh=160&tbnw=157&start=0&ndsp=17&tx=79&ty=66

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Nicely done! I was just considering picking up a haunted house to make a MOC as well. The details and garden you have there far exceed what I could do though. Great job.

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Very nice MOC. Lovely gardens and interior details. The black turret maybe throwing the symmetry off somewhat when viewed from the front and back - perhaps it would look better without the turret?? - Maybe just a regular loft window instead. Either way - great work.

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First of all, thanks for the great comments, everyone. Until pointed out, I didn't even realize how the tower on the sand green house is sticking out. It's true, the house looks better and more imposing from the side with the garden, terrace and the tower in the middle. I kept the tower intact as it is. Regarding simetry, there's a similar house in my hometown with a tower to the side facing the street, yet the entrance to the house is from the other side.

The two bathrooms are actually quite big compared to the space I have left over for bathrooms. :wink:

I guess your flat/house wasn't made by the right architect, then. :tongue:

My favourite details are the dark tan stairs, the yellow and white chairs, the simple, but effective, solution for the fridges and the drawers that the glass bottle sits on.

The drawers are actually an imitation of the ones I have in my flat from Ikea (Malm model).

Personally I think buildings of this grandeur would have larger gardens ???

I would probably make the back gardens with at least two extra 32x32 plates and and the side gardens with four 16x16 plates.

Alternatively they might be built around a shared large garden.

A larger garden would be nicer, indeed. However, my limit here was two make buildings for a specific spot in the town layout for an upcoming exhibition, and I had to consider the limit factor - the railway track going round the buildings on the side and the back.

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First of all, big kudos to LEGO for their haunted house set. It might be my favorite build ever, and I haven't seen a set inspire so many wonderful MOCs and MODs since Cafe Corner.

As for your MOC, oh boy, so many things to like. I prefer your gray and red house over the sand green, simply because it is more original. However, I think the red roof could use a trim of a different color to break up the overwhelming red.

I love the yellow and white dining set, the terraces, the small bedroom in the roof of the red house, the reading room/daybed, and so much more.

In the picture of the gray house with the brown couch and TV hidden under the stairs, there is a plant and I can't figure out what piece is used for the leaf.

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Thanks, Paostmo.

That leaf is challenging, right? :sweet: It's an accidental by-product of my medieval diorama, where it got dislocated from the bamboo plant.

In the picture of the gray house with the brown couch and TV hidden under the stairs, there is a plant and I can't figure out what piece is used for the leaf.

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This build of yours takes several trips of viewing to appreciate all the details! The overall color scheme just pops! Such excellent use of the Haunted House set -- and sort of makes me think of the "It's a Wondeful Life" movie -- once they fixed up that house they threw rocks at and broke windows making wishes :blush: Have you seen that movie?

What is also fun is the way you display the furniture and fixtures inside ... a viewer can imagine themselves walking around inside! :wub:

Gardens are like icing on the cake for these wonderful houses! Hopefully you'll get good event photos with the train going by it to share with us later :thumbup:

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Not only have you done a great job on the houses themselves but the landscaping is nice and lush without feeling over done (which is easy to do). The greenery you have carried on into the houses via plants and flowers is also a nice touch. The rooms are well thought out and decorated nicely. Inspirational through and through, well done :thumbup:

I do agree with Paostmo in regards to the red roof, It could use something to break up the continuous red you have going on on the upper roof. When looking at the photos that show both houses together, the red draws my eye in every time making it feel like the focal point.

The more I see of these Haunted House based mocs/mods the more I want to order one up, despite it being too big in scale for my current project.

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Your modulars always amaze me! So many details you put in. The stairway in the 5th picture particularly caught my eye. If I can figure out how you did it, I may have to steal (err borrow) it sometime.

Great modulars, I always look forward to seeing them. Too many details to see all right now, but I will look more later as your modulars always take several looks to take it all (well most) of them in.

Andy D

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The drawers are actually an imitation of the ones I have in my flat from Ikea (Malm model).

I should have realised - I have two of those Malm drawer units in the dark brown/black colour in my dining LEGO room!

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I have kept myself from commenting on this until I had time to study the photographs properly, because this truly deserves that - and you've done a great job with these. And while the garden in itself and the exterior features of the buildings are very nice (I don't think the tower is necessarily in the wrong place; it all depends on what that side of the building is facing. If you imagine a river on that side, flowing past the building, I think building the tower on that side would be natural) - I have to agree with Kristel that what really stands out here is the interior. Your furniture is all lovely, with so many great details, including that waiter's tray for the table (which I think I've seen somewhere before, but I can't remember where - and it's still a brilliant use for that part). The stairs leading up from the livingroom do look a bit dangerous, I don't know if they'd pass a Health & Safety inspection, but building the steps sideways like that looks just as nice every time I see it - I'm going to need to try that next time I build a modular. And the stepped access to the window works perfectly.

All in all: I love it! Looking forward to seeing pictures of it in the diorama!

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Your interiors are stunning. LOVE that dining room table and chairs. Seems so bright and cheerful with the yellow inlay. And your approach to staircases is very unique.

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