Modern Mistake

Modern homes seem to be an absolute favorite of TS3 lot builders, and I can see why. It's easy to make a modern house look dramatic, and it allows the builder to utilize an open floor plan (a touch easier than trying to balance interior and exterior layout). Not to mention, you can use a flat roof without guilt. Dear god how I hate fiddling with roofing. I'm not criticizing the people who build these lots. They look lovely, and they're super popular.

But I have a terrible confession to make: I know less than nothing about building modern houses. This style simple isn't present in my area. The buildings I grew up around are more likely to be Victorian, built during the civil war, or newer prefabs. We just don't do modern in this corner of Ohio. Sure, I've seen modern homes on television and on the net, but it isn't a style that I feel very confident in replicating. But I was feeling gutsy, and I wanted to try to experiment with getting more familiar with it.

But I cocked it up in more than a few places.

I scoured the internet looking for good pictures of modern houses, but I couldn't find one that I really like (or felt that I could duplicate), so I just started building with no particular plan in mind.

In case you're saying, "Well, that's a dumbass move," let me assure you that I agree.

I don't always have a solid plan when I'm building, but I really patched this thing together. I pretty much built a box, and I added wings for interest and to accommodate rooms. All the while, I was singing, "I don't know what the fuck I'm doing!"

Yep, I sing self-deprecating songs while I'm building. My favorite tunes include: "Colors: How do they work," "What the hell do you mean I can't do that," and "I can hide this fuck-up with moar deco."

Here is a weirdo room that I stuck on the roof. The cool thing is that it affords access to that awesome flat roof. In my actual game. I placed a couple of telescopes up there to encourage some probing.

So what are the consequences of building with absolutely no plan? You end up with a giant mansion that only has 2 bedrooms and 3 1/2 bathrooms. Yep - that's it. It does have three bars, so my sims can get hammered enough to sleep on the floor.

The second floor has one bedroom, an office, two bathrooms, a bizarre sitting area, a bar area with karaoke machine, a few indoor and outdoor seating areas, and a pool table/rec area.

Besides lacking a satisfying number of bedrooms, there is a lot of wasted space. Yes, a modern house should be open, but this thing is a sprawling behemoth.

The ground floor contains a second bedroom, sunken living room, dining room, kitchen, access to the basement, and a gym. The outdoor area has a full kitchen with a bar, pool, hot tub, and a car port.

Front entrance

Sunken living room

Tamika could not be convinced to leave the television for five minutes. So I offed her in the backyard moments after this shot was taken.

Dining room and kitchen area

 This house was another victim of my disappearing items. There used to be a really nice painting on the wall here, but it has left for greener pastures.

Outdoor dining

 Guest bedroom

 Gym

Office

 Again, I'm a geek for balconies and walls full of windows.

 The upstairs party area

 This is the bizarre seating area that I mentioned before. There must be a better way to use this space, but I squandered it on a giant couch.

 A balcony with more room for drinking
There are actually a number of small hiding spots in the balcony areas of this house. I thought they may be fun for sims who want to sneak away from the main party for a little more privacy.

 The master bedroom

The master bath


I certainly like some parts of this house, but it still needs work. However, it has given me some ideas and a little more experience for my next attempt.

A Crazy Idea

I'm always looking for something new and entirely different to build in game. One can only build so many standard houses before they cease to be of any entertainment value at all. Besides, if I had the 'motherlode' cheat in real life, I sure as heck wouldn't be living in a typical house. So I decided to try to incorporate one of my favorite styles into a Sim home. I adore repurposed buildings in the real world, but they're not all that common in a game where you can build any structure from scratch without real life constraints.

I've had the opportunity to work in a couple of repurposed churches, and I nearly lived in a repurposed factory. I like how the original architecture is given new life by new furnishings and an unexpected layout. In addition to my own experiences, I drew inspiration from this church in Australia. As a note, I wasn't trying to replicate it exactly, but I definitely pulled a few ideas from it.

It might be a silly idea to "remodel" a building when I am actually building the entire structure from scratch, but I'm pretty fond of how it is turning out.

 The building process is about 85% complete. I'm still deciding on a few of the features, and I'm constantly changing things.

 The basics: The house is currently placed on a 40x40 lot, and I still have some room left in the yard. There are two bedrooms and two bathrooms. The church part of the building has two floors, but the newer living area only has one. I have added a full basement below.

 Second Floor: This area contains a large library with two computer work stations. It may be stupid for game play, but I added wood ceiling beams to add to the old church feeling. They do get in the way a bit if you are trying to view this floor from the top down, but I'm willing to deal with it.

Ground Floor: In addition to the bathrooms, bedrooms, living room, dining room, and kitchen, there is a large rec room with a pool table and a bar as soon as you enter the home. I stole this idea from the church I linked earlier. 

The pool area (more pics later) is inspired by the home of a family friend. I wanted to create a sort of secret garden, but it will be easier to see this section later.

Finally, the incomplete basement. I've set up the nectar cellar and nectar making  equipment, but I haven't quite decided how I will use this space yet. Possibly an art studio? Even if I don't know what I want to do with it, I always add a basement to my homes. It's so nice to be able to access that space later without major renovations.

 This is the front entrance lounge area. Who wouldn't want a bar in their church? I'd probably have far better attendance if this is what my local house of worship looked like.

 Moving into the living room with staircase to the library.

 The living room. I'm sort of in love with the glass wall overlooking the pool.

Looking back at the second floor library balcony. 

 Here's another little feature that I stole from the Australian church. Between the church section and the kitchen, I have created a tiny office with glass walls. It's a great way to put your favorite sim on display. Better yet, lock the doors and you'll have your own sim aquarium.

 The dining room and kitchen have a bit of modern and Asian influence going on. Sims can either eat at the formal dining table, or they can use the breakfast bar that looks into the kitchen.

 The kitchen is large and well-equipped for a serious cook.

 Apparently I felt I needed another shot of the dining room. You can also see the basement stairs from this angle.

 And here's where I lost my fucking mind. Most of the house is in neutral colors, but I really wanted the bedrooms to have some more life, so I chose purple... It's not all my fault. I found a pretty neat bedroom online that inspired this madness.

 A different view. I created a glass column to display some bamboo in the corner.

 The craziness started in the master bedroom, and it continued in the second room. I may have/probably went overboard. I'm considering changing it, but I kind of like it.

 Moving up to the second floor, here is a shot from the back of the library.

This is a shot from the front of library, looking over the balcony. This is another reason I decided to add the ceiling beams. That open space seems to be the perfect spot for the large chandelier from Seasons, but I hated to leave it hovering in midair. The beams give me a nifty way to provide some support.   

 Off of the indoor dining area, there is a small patio with a full outdoor kitchen. Because this area is actually in the front of the house, I used fencing and bushes to create some privacy. Your sims wouldn't want their neighbors to know how much nectar they go through at a dinner party.

 At the back of the kitchen, there is another small patio that leads to the pool area.

 I may have gone insane with the flowers, but I really wanted that wild look. I'll have to see if they gum things up during play testing.

Around the corner, I added a small fenced area with a hot tub. With the high walls around this area, you just know your sims are going to be getting a lot of action here.

There's still a lot of work to be done (recoloring, basement, vegetable garden, and so on), but I think it's coming along well. After I finish this home, I'm back to creating dumps for a very trashy version of Moonlight Falls. I just needed a break from all of the horrifying surroundings.

I'm having an issue with Custard at the moment, but once I get it back up and running, I'll be listing all of my cc here. If you have a question in the meantime, feel free to leave me a comment.

The Old Victorian

I based this house on some of the places in my hometown and some great online pics of Victorian homes. It's also where I learned that you absolutely must have testing sims on property during a build, or you'll end up cursing your existence and knocking out walls. Yeah, I totally wanted to rebuild that roof 6 more times. (Fuck roofing)  The house still needs some work (especially after I had some items randomly disappear from my downloads), but I figured my sims could continue to improve it as they started their new family.

The Old Victorian

 The house has 3 bedrooms, but it sleeps six comfortably. It also has 4 bathrooms (each bedroom has its own attached bath). There are two main living floors, but there is also a full basement and an attic that could be arranged as an extra bedroom.

 The great wraparound porch was one of the main reasons I wanted to try building this house. I love that it has little nooks and crannies for socializing and enjoying the outdoors. The backyard needs some more landscaping. I can't seem to settle on the right trees for the place.

 This house was created for another member of my gardening legacy, but I have yet to send him out to plant all of the starters that his parents gave him. I imagine it's only a matter of time before it, too, is fertilized with townies.

 The first floor contains the living room, dining room, bathroom, study, and kitchen with breakfast bar.

 The second floor has a large master suite with room for a baby. The parents of this sim were rolling wishes for grandchildren so frantically, that I hoped this might give them some ideas. I have also included a child's bedroom, fully decorated, and an incomplete spare bedroom.

 Finally, the third floor attic. I'm mostly using it as storage for seasonal decorations, but it could be easily converted to an extra bedroom.

 This fucking roof.... I must have redone it 20 times, and it is still not right. I swear, I'm going back to building boxes.

 A shot of the living room with a nifty little window alcove. My sim is proper, so I wanted a sort of classic feel for the room.

 A small coat area near the front door. It happened by accident, but I think it turned out cute.

 The formal dining room. I've left the shelves empty for the gem and trophy collection that he is bringing with him.

 The kitchen with an island breakfast bar. This room was the main victim of my disappearing items. I had to replace all of the cabinets, and I can't get it back to its former glory. Eh, the idiot sims will probably burn it down in a day or two anyhow.

 The study. I'm sure my evil sims will be planning their world domination from here. Then again, they'll probably just be engaging in a lot of cyber sex.

 The master bedroom. It looked much cooler until I realized that nobody could access the bed. STFU you don't need to sleep! You're screwing up my design!

 Master bath

 One of the kids' bathrooms.

One of the additional bedrooms

Check back for a list of CC