Welcome to Fancy Suites! When the dilapidated (but well-loved) Town Hall was being torn down many got upset, especially when it turned out that the property would instead be used to build luxury apartments for the very wealthiest. Now, six years later, most have gotten used to the grandiose building that dominates the town centre.
Someone who hasn’t gotten used to sudden changes is Mr Goldsworth, the prior owner of Grand Emporium. After a bankruptcy (where the old luxurious department store was turned into a modern arcade) Goldsworth lost both his golden suit and his place to live. Ironically he now lives on the street, only a few metres outside his old apartment. The police usually treat him kindly, except when important visitors are expected.
Goldsworth’s old apartment on the bottom floor of the house is now a rehearsal studio for the latest and greatest in the music world, the hard rock band Max Turbo. Max Turbo started out as ”Where’s My Pants” but became a lot more successful after changing names. The band consists of excentric singer Max Venus, the guitarist Rick Lightning, the bass and backup vocalist Nina Cerise and the stir crazy drummer Shane McAllen, who, along with their studio technician (who noone remembers the name of) are busy recording their next album. Luckily the walls are sound proof! Since noone cares about anything but music the rest of the apartment is a mess of old music gear, pizza boxes and other trash.
On the second floor lives Christina ”Kicki” Lee, who lives a good life after a financially beneficial divorce. Kicki has the custody of their child but is WAY too busy doing TV workout to take care of such things. Kicki is also into interior decoration trends and has a top modern kitchen where she likes to make healthy shakes or preparing fondue for her friends Cardio Carrie and Sharon Shoehorn. In here you can also find a puppy who gets possibly even less attention than the baby.
The top two floors is a duplex apartment owned by rally star Jake Wheels. After his championships and investments Jake is now the richest guy in town and could claim the most wanted living space, which includes a terrace with a jacuzzi. There he entertains endless parties for his beautiful, rich friends. However, Jake can’t really enjoy life since he’s being hounded by paparazzis who are dead set on revealing his latest relationship.
I drew Fancy Suites on a post-it one night at the airport. The central idea was the big glass front, with an elevator to the different floors. At first the elevator would also have glass walls, but it turned out that the 2×5 transparent panels were extremely expensive. I got the idea for the angled wall from Green Grocer, although I lenghtened it a bit. The bottom floor and the elevator/hall area is one piece while the different floors can be removed individually like any modular house.
The house is mainly built from parts of Town Hall and Family House, with a bunch of specially ordered interior details and decorated tiles to add flavour, as well as a restock of generic pieces used during the build. I was inspired by several of the latest CMF’s so I made sure to track them down as early as possible, especially the rocker who was needed for Rick Lightning. The eighties theme came about for several reasons. Partly because I had planned an eighties apartment to include on the second floor of Palace Cinema (when that was supposed to become Trendy Arcade), and partly because I needed something to use all these bright Friends colours on. It also allowed me to continue my story from the arcade.
I had had plans for a fully custom modular for some time, but what got me going was a competition at Swebrick. Fancy Suites was mostly completed in a 12 hour marathon in late September, except for interior details and the last parts of the roof.