You’ve been in Second Life a while now, you’ve decided to take the plunge and find yourself a home. You’ve bought your land, or found a lovely rental island and paid the tier. You’ve decided you want to be careful of any DIY accidents and splinters ruin your hands so you’re going to buy your Second Life home, but wait… where to go?

Welcome to my personal Second Life essentials for home makers; a small, yet succinct list of my personal recommendations from the filled world of the prefab home.

[ba] barnesworth anubis


Tastefully nestled into a hillside on the Demersal sim is [ba] (barnesworth anubis) without doubt one of the best known names in the world of Second Life prefabrications. With a vast array of residential prefabs and a small, yet growing number of commercial builds, ba offers its visitors good quality in a vast array of styles at reasonable prices.

The shop displays show images and information about the individual prefabs as well as a quick and easy option to teleport to the display in-world, where you can wander through the potential house of your dreams and all without an estate agent chirping it's features in your ear.

Various sizes, costs and prims await you at ba, all explained on the easy to understand vendors. The majority of houses are priced in the 1,000$L - 1,500$L price bracket, some indeed much lower, and similarly a few more expensive. Most of the builds come with copy/mod permissions and an easy to use rezzer for initial placement. Also, most have window tinting and lockable doors etc, although you should always check details thoroughly before parting with your hard earned Lindens.


I took a peek at The Howe Efficiency Home which is one of my favourite ba houses. It makes for an excellent starter home. At only 750$L and 88prims it's perfectly suited for smaller plots.


Trompe Loeil


Connected on the same cluster of sims as ba stands Trompe Loeil. This outfitter isn't just a prefab maker, they also have some landscaping products for sale. Predominant however, of course, are the prefabs on offer here.

Trompe Loeil offers a smaller collection to the likes of ba, however the quality is outstanding. Indeed some prefabs incorporate sculpted prims for maximum prim efficiency and style. The arrival shop features vendors with easy to use teleport to display functions similar to the neighbours at ba.

The styles on offer in this smaller selection are quite unique. You can have a sculpt hobbit home, popular with Lord of The Rings fans or you could chose to live in a rustic Silkhouse. With the varying styles, varying prims and prices follow suit.


Without doubt The Hobbiton home is not only a fantastic quirky house, but also quite an achievement with the plentiful use of sculpts. Priced competitively at 2,000$L and featuring 351 prims the house speaks for itself.


If however you have no delusions of hobbit-ism then perhaps the The Arc - Luxury Lodge is for you. Make no mistakes this isn't your average Second Life prefab. Priced at 12,500$L and engulfing 751 prims this gigantuan building won't suit all. I however have been in love with this building since the first time I ever saw it and had to feature it here.

Scarlet Creative


If however you're the kind of person who enjoys clean lines, with white minimalistic qualities then you should venture no further than ScarletCreative. With a substantial collection of homes most RL architects would be proud of, the minimalist look is one which suits many.

There are various sizes, prim counts and price costs at ScarletCreative so really you would need to venture around this sim to find the build to suit you, and your needs. However as this is a beautifully constructed region, wandering around isn't a hard task.


I'm choosing to feature the Grand Urban Beach House from ScarletCreative. Weighing in with 480 prims and costing just under 14,990$L this is one of the more luxurious homes featured here.

BOTHA ARCHITECTS


You've decided to embrace your inner architect however you're not one for the clean, white line, minimalist look of ScarletCreative. Botha Architects may very well suit your needs. Scattered across 2 sims the architecture here at Botha covers a plethora of styles.

Similarly to ScarletCreative, Botha doesn't have a store with all the build offerings laid out, so you will need to hot foot it along the pathways and explore these sims yourself.

In true architectural fashion, you couldn't describe these houses as low prim. If however prims are not an issue for you, then these meticulously designed homes are filled with many prims furthering the attention to detail. In fact many of the houses come with in built water features or fireplaces.

Featured in the image above are two very different styled buildings on offer at Botha. The Treehouse on the left, complete with 323 prims, and priced respectably at 3,999$L offers home makers another path to take on their search for the ideal home. Meanwhile the house on the right, with a staggering 1,106 prims and priced at a modest 11,000$L is certainly an investment in your future home.

Skye Castles


"An Englishman's home is his castle" - it must be true then that said Englishman shopped at Alex Bader's, Skye Castles.

As quoted in Skye Castles creator, Alex Bader's profile - "Skye Castles - the finest castles in all SL? Only you can decide". I must admit that true to my Scottish Heritage I have seen quite a vast number of Castles in Second Life. People clambering to have a piece of tangible history in this fast paced virtual world. In my personal opinion Skye Castles are the finest castles in Second Life.

Upon arrival at Skye you will be presented with a notecard containing the landmarks to all the build and accessories on offer here. It would be well advised that you store this notecard as it will make exploration of this place a lot easier. With a growing number of castles, and pavilions, tower houses and even a bridge it's no wonder that Skye Castles stretch over a number of sims.

From the dark depths of Skye Gothic Castle through the Skye Deco Castle and into the Skye Steampunk Castle the collection here can only be described as eclectic.

Nipping on the heels of 1,000 prims stands the Skye Faery Castle and at a cost of 15,000$L it is a substantial expense but then it IS a castle! One major advantage of the Faery Castle is the selection of accessories you can purchase to decorate it. From the Faery Watchtower, to the Faery Bed and even a Faery Bridge which all go hand in hand to compliment this building on arrival at your home.


Even the relatively dormant steampunk in me is aroused by the Steampunk Castle here. Also costing 15,000$L and charging off with 842 precious prims this building uses the best of it's included scripts to create a quirky steampunk experience. Panel opening doors and a rotating sphere system driving outer cogs which all go hand in hand to make more than just a home it’s an experience!

Hydro Homes


Ok so you've looked at my recommendations and decided you don't want to live your Second Life in a castle, or clean minimalist home. You haven't found anything at Barnesworth Anubis or Trompe Loeil so what now?

Well perhaps you're someone who wants a little funk in their modern living. If that's the case then go along to Hydro Homes.

You'll arrive in a clean functional store with vendor images and all the information you'll need about prim counts and costs. I find the layout at Hydro very helpful, the builds themselves are split into categories dependent on the size of parcel they require. Starting at 499$L for 512 sqm homes increasing to a maximum 1,999$L for 2048 sqm builds you'll find the houses here all priced very reasonably.

Venturing towards the daylight you will be presented with 3 levels to rise too and take advantage of the temp rezzing platforms to view your potential homes. With clear instructions you can see which platform is in use or free and up, up and away you go.

The Enigma is a clear representation of what you can expect at Hydro Homes. A curvaceous building with plenty of interesting features which will help to set your home out from some of the other prefabs available in-world today. In the largest size category this build utilises 307 prims and will cost you 1,999$L, well spent in my opinion.


That completes my tour of some of the best Prefab makers in Second Life at the moment. The Second Life prefab world is a humongous world, the market is flooded with options for you when you purchase your virtual home. It pays to spend time investigating the options open to you before making your decision. Hopefully as I believe these establishments stand out from the others, this list will give you a good place to start.