I call this a "cottage" but it's really more of a rambling multi-story hobbit house. Originally started as a visualization of the location our characters would retire to after our D&D campaign, it kind of took on a life of its own and then petered out as I lost interest. At one point it was going to be our house for the HOZZ webcomic as well, probably because I got lazy and wanted to re-use assets. The project ran for a few months starting around the end of 2006, shortly after I graduated from college. This was a couple years after the mansion model, and a year before Freedom, so I haven't made any significant jumps in skill by this point, though I am feeling more comfortable with Blender as a tool.
Most of the comments below are what I originally wrote at the time, not my current (spring 2023) thoughts.
If you have comments or feedback, feel free to leave it here. If you'd like to commission a custom 3D model, I can help you with that.
Preliminary exterior view. I've added some textures and details since this rendering, but it's a pretty good overview of the cottage.
This is the front door. I really like how it turned out, although I may try to taper the vines a bit eventually. The door knocker is also a bit inconspicuous. Perhaps I should add a ring around it or something else to draw attention, as it seems to fit in too well.
Since this was my favorite, I asked Midjourney to re-imagine it.
Entering the main door, if you look to the left, you'll see something like this. The room needs a lot of furnishings, but the framework is there. The left wall has windows to the outside in it. The left door is the guest bedroom, and the right door is the kitchens. On the right you can barely see the fireplace (which also needs a lot of work).
View up the spiral staircase from the main house. This staircase leads to the second story and the upper porch on the outside.
This is viewed through the doorway to the second story. The lower arch leads to the first story, while the top door goes out to the upper porch.
This is the interior of the room beneath the waterfall. You can see out of the window through the waterfall to the exterior (vaguely). To the right is the archway to the rest of the house. The base of the main spiral staircase can be seen through the arch. The ceiling above is glass, and looks up through the pool of water above. This was before there was any good raytracing in Blender, so I had to make do with point lights.
This is the lowest room in the tower. The spiral staircase is to the right (just visible between the door hinges)
Okay, still the top room of the main tower, but now I fixed it! I'm much happier with the lights, now I just need some furniture. What will this room be used for though? Who knows?
Another "overview" shot. I decided to go with a plastered look instead of stone for the tower. The windows are in now, but the top of the tower still needs some concept art and a lot of work. Yes, the grass needs work too.
picture from inside the spiral staircase in the tower. I'll probably have to add some lights, but I liked the effect of the sunlight off of the wall. The current stair material is obsidian, but it will probably change in the future. Out the left window you can see the waterfall pool, and (faintly) the underwater skylight. In the center is the door to the bottom room of the tower.
Mod: 3/7/07 New picture, this time with better global lighting.
A view from the end of the upper room. The top picture is the previous version. All long and hallwaylike. Not inviting at all. It's not even a straight hallway! YUCK!
At the bottom is the new version, a little wider with different struts. Better? I think so.
The door at the far end leads to the central staircase. This room is almost exactly above the main room below, and the fireplaces share a common chimney, along with the kitchen. I think floors are the next thing to go in, that should help to reduce the over-lighting in the middle of the room.
Finally, the top of the tower is done. This is the interior of the top of the spiral staircase. Out the center window in this picture the river can be seen, which flows by the front door. The room feels like it's too small, which is probably true. I think it is fitting for the highest room in the building. There are windows on six sides.
Looking up at the ceiling of the top room above the spiral staircase. I'll probably add some sort of light hanging from the center, but this is it for now.
A view from the exterior of the top of the tower. The roofing is supposed to be some hard dark stone, probably obsidian. Barely visible in the lower right-hand corner is the circular "skylight" into the round room in the main house. The hut on the lower left is above the main staircase for the house.
Main overview. The tower top is finally finished (at least for the most part). The grass needs to be fixed, but it's looking rather complete on the exterior.
Another view of the exterior, looking downstream past the tower.
