TarynTempestwind I enjoyed your lesson & looking forward for lesson 2. I am working on a house right now that I am using what you showed in your lesson. Here is a quick snap shot of the front of what I have done so far.
IMAGE
I may move the garage door to the side & add another. I also have a walkout basement in the back. I will take more picture.
You're registered! Your house is looking great! You should consider making a thread for your WIP photos so that you can join the Blackcat Builder's.
Zoo
I will do that. Can it include thing from other lessons?
Hi Zoo and Taryn! I forgot to register for Lesson 2, but here I am! I read all of Lesson 1, but haven't started on my homework yet... I just opened Sunlit Tides for the first time and am making it builders blank as we speak!
I don't think I ever made it to the Blackcat Builder's, but I did most of the other courses, and did Taryn's first MOO course and created a steampunk home, and have used her MOO techniques for every build after.
Here is my WIP thread: http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/733584.page#11654210
Thanks for offering these courses, I feel they have drastically improved my building skill!
Hi Everyone! In part 2 of MOOve your Grass we'll talk about how to finish your lots with terrain work, landscaping, paint and some MOOing thrown in for good measure. I promised you that I'd share MOO trick for the outdoors with you and so I shall. I hope you will post pictures of your own re-creations of it too. Part 2 is all about prettying up your lot and making it make sense and correlate back to the terrain manipulation you have done in Part 1.
Open your cheat code box and type
MoveObjects on (Note- you do not have to have TestingCheatsEnabled on for MOO to work. It works independently, You can also type it without capital letters, like this: moveobjects on )
So how else can we MOO a swing?
Using the same idea, I placed my swing with MOO OFF...leaving plenty of space for adjustment. Now that you see where it "can" go, go ahead and turn MOO ON.
Now that you've seen some MOOed swings...what can you do? I bet you can come up with some unique ideas too! I have played with swings like this on many of my builds and it's fun to get different looks. Swings are fun for the whole family, not just children. They are excellent for drawing your Sims out into your yard and giving children a plaything. Sometimes a swing set on its own just doesn't fit in with your Victorian or old time cottagey home. You need something dressier or something more old fashioned. See what you can come up with now that you've learned a bit about what works and the placement of what works. Post some pictures for us! Re-coloring and new textures will tie all the pieces together and as always, that is the real secret to good MOOing. We will do another version of a MOOed swing a little later on too.
Back to the Victorian home. Here is a simple pool, but see how you can place it smack up against your foundation? Because my terrain is higher, in the front, due to the front retaining wall, my foundation is higher in the back too. I blended he terrain back from the front of the lot, in a low slope to the back. This gives me a higher foundation wall than normal. I had room to blast out a couple of pieces of the foundation, and tuck some plants under the porch for a focal point in the pool. Then I could MOO in some fountain pieces. It's a simple, but dressy effect. It can be a beautiful, space efficient way to add a pool. And what fun for parents to be able to sit on the porch directly above and keep an eye on the children or guests. I kept the flowers very balanced and formal for this build, just repeating them. The fountains are simple, and formal too. The fence is the same as the front to tie the front and back of the lot together.
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Continue adding plants. - Landscapers tip- use the same plant in clusters around your flower bed and lot. This keeps your eye moving along in the bed as it spots the same color. In real life, the same plant will bloom at the same time, and this keeps your flower beds from having holes where nothing is blooming. Odd number theory is again considered as I plant. - True story- I was hired to design a very large flower bed in the front of a lot. I worked with a neighbor of mine, a surgeon, who had seen my work, liked my style, and wanted a 3 season -something-always-blooming garden. He didn't really want a drawn out, pre-planned design. He trusted me to know what plants would grow in our area and when they would bloom and what plants would go well with which plants and keep steady color all of our short growing season. He really loves plants, and he wanted to help pick them out and learn along the way. And so we went to nurseries to pick out plants. I told him to pick out what he liked, I would advise and guide, already knowing many of the plants I definitely would want, and I would set them all out and make sure they looked good. He wanted to do all the actual planting himself, and he was very interested in learning about the plants along the way. So we jumped in the truck and spent the day going to different nurseries, loading up the truck, taking the plants home, and repeating the process. After nursery number 1, he quickly caught on to the "Odd Number" theory. Whenever he'd find a plant he'd like, he'd ask me if it would grow, bloom, be a good choice and when I'd say yes to all he'd ask "how many? my answer would be 3, 5, 7, 9... He soon caught on and would just say, "odd number?" When we finally got home, I spent a couple of hours setting the plants in place on top of the flower bed, moving, adjusting, considering. We watered them thoroughly and he planted them all the next day. It is gorgeous and they love the constant bloom and change of colors that happen from spring- fall.
So the gist of this long story is...plant in odd numbers...repeat the same plant throughout ...cluster the plant.
For the second part of this lesson, let's go back to a home from lesson 1. It's a big 64x64 lot and we need to fill up the empty spaces with landscaping. I know this is something that everyone struggles with. "I have this nice home, but the lot is so big...What do I do with it?"
It isn't a big home, so it isn't going to fill up the space to make it look complete. And maybe you think it IS done. I mean, there's quite a bit of landscaping already! If so, then this lesson will help you see more potential in your own lots. And it will help you take your lots further both visually and practically by giving your Sims more opportunities to use their outdoor space. It will add to your home's "Wow factor" too, by giving your downloaders more see and more to play with.
We will raise and play with the terrain to really tie the whole lot together. On the left of the lot, we have this very high and hilly area. On the right, it's just utterly flat. It doesn't quite make sense. You'd think, in nature, if the land was that hilly and rough, that the rest of the lot would reflect that and have some dimension and contouring too. We have the space to do more with this lot and we have the space for a pond! So let's begin there.
Now let's finish this lot. What would we want if we were Sims and lived on this lot? A pool! A pool as woodsy and natural as our home and the pond next to it.
Now to do "something" with that obscure area I set aside with the steps. I like the way it looks to create a rock border. And now, after Lesson 1, we've also discover it helps guide our Simmies to use the stairs.
You can see how I am adding the same types of plants I've used n the Pool display. And no, the flower in the water did not stay in the water! It just got caught in the screenshot as I MOOved it.
Now let's just consider a few pictures and talk about how they were done. This is just to give you ideas or inspiration. These builds are all in my studio, and I'm not showing you them seeking compliments, or rec's or downloads, thus I will not post links to them, but more to show you examples without having to create new builds and tutorials. So look at the pictures, not for the homes, but for Terrain Manipulation or paint. Concentrate on how the terrain was moved rather than the homes. Consider though, how the style of home looks with the landscaping and terrain work around it.
This is the build that actually started the inquiry for a terrain class. And you all can blame SuePea, because she asked, "How much planning did you need for this house and wouldn't that kind of thing make a good ZOO U class" or something to that effect. Somewhere in my showcase thread is real proof of this and I'll post it if I have to! I told her I'd pass the message to Zoo and without missing a beat, Zoo asked if I would teach it. ( I think she didn't want to and so she happily passed the buck and *forced* me into it...threatened me, beat me, bribed me with candy and hunky firemen) So I think we can all safely blame all homework and frustration on SuePea and Zoo! Remember that!) This build is raised above street level by 8 steps. When I began my random vision, as I do...I knew I wanted to set this home higher than street level to give it an impressive front from the street, and I wanted my driveway to slope up and around, for a grand feel.
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Another DNA request home, my requester wanted a "man cave" basement. She also wanted pasture land for a horse. So how could I give her a nice pool area, but keep it separate from a pasture? I kept getting this feeling of a wanting a special pool area away from a messy pasture. But how to do that?
This home is the most downloaded and rec'd in my studio. But I think 50% of its spooky factor comes from the terrain work and landscaping. It helps it to look intimidating from the street. When I start to build, I do try and imagine myself as a Sim and how the house will look from the street. Just imagine having to walk by this house after dark! It would certainly make you walk faster! It's so high! Imagine having to crane your head up, up, up to see the top!
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So in studying the terrain on all these examples -and thanks for hanging in there for all the pictures- Did you get some ideas of what you can do? Of a new kind of house on a new style of lot? Because that is your homework.
(shocked looks of doom from the entire class at the mention of "homework")
Your homework...and do remember to blame SuePea and Zoo, because THEY STARTED IT!....Is to create a new house on a new lot and really stretch yourself with your terrain work, landscaping and paint. Take your landscaping further than you ever have. Create little areas in the landscape for your Sims to go out and enjoy. Even if you are beginning builder and you simply "berm" your flower beds, that makes a really nice difference. A flat lot is a boring lot. Show us something that is new for you and a building stretch for you...no matter your skill level..the goal is to stretch yourself and grow as a builder.
***Extra credit for you is to MOO a swing!***
Thank you for having me back as a guest professor. I thoroughly enjoy seeing your progress! Thank you for the friends requests too! I am so proud of you all for being so willing to learn, and for all the screenshots of beautiful builds I have seen from you here and on your Black Cat builder's threads!
Taaaaryn, you are killing me here! :shock:
Quick question: The house I first posted as my work on part 1 of the class, I might have decided to scrap (temporarily!), because I had a feeling that the one I managed to put in an actual Blackcat Builders Homework thread would suit our assignments for part 2 MUCH better!
And it turned out I was right. So, can I continue with this build:
Annette..that home is in my studio, if you want to download it. It has some hidden fun in it! Found the link for you Annette..if you want to see what the house looks like:
Just AWESOME Taryn!!! :shock: :shock: :shock: ... I'm afraid I've only had the time to briefly flick through the lesson but I just needed to let you know that it looks an absolutely amazing class!!! :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:
Thank you soooo very much for spending all that time to put together such a vast amount of information and giving us all the opportunity to make our builds more interesting and improve our building skills.
A shower of 'Sour Babies' coming your way ... guaranteed not to have been pre-licked for better stickiness to teachers
Hip Hip Hooray for Taryn the supreme MOOve Your Grass MOOing Master!!! x x x
Dolphine...It absolutely qualifies as a new build on a new lot. And it's gorgeous!
Yaaaay, awesome! I have SO many ideas for the east side of the lot (which I have cleverly kept out of screenshot, hehe!) and I think you're gonna see the effects of our classes all over it.
Just for curiosity, have you heard of Castle Hill Inn on Rhode Island? If not, try to google it and have a peek at all the pictures of it. That place looks like heaven and I personally can just imagine what you'd do with the place, if you got your hands on it .
Dolphine, those cookies look delicious! *partakes of the yummy goodness of teh emmie-em cookehs!*
*between bites* just wanted to share something kinda funny with ya'll: I'm so used to seeing "MOO" for "moveobjects on/off" now, when I start to enter the code, I automatically start typing "mooveobjects on/of"
I'm doing the lesson step by step, but I have scrolled through an looked at all of the amazing pictures. Taryn, you are one awesome and creative lady! Can't wait to do all these things!
Okay, back to work now. (hard to call it work when it's so much fun! )
Hahahahaha! OK, I have officially lost it and need to go to bed...
My cat was yelling in the bedroom, for the umpteenth time today. So I walked inthere, looked at him and then said "If I MOO the plant more to the right, will you STOP yelling at it?"
... yeah. Uhm. I got nothing. No defence. Bed it is :oops:.
Taryn, I did not register for the class, but have been lurking in the background for the first class and now this one. I also was reading through MOO U course 10 last night! WOW!! I just wanted to say thank you for sharing your extensive knowledge on the inner workings of this game! I thought I knew a little, but now I see I knew less than I thought!! Again, thank you and I will be using alot of new techniques in my future builds now thanks to you!
Comments
I will do that. Can it include thing from other lessons?
I don't think I ever made it to the Blackcat Builder's, but I did most of the other courses, and did Taryn's first MOO course and created a steampunk home, and have used her MOO techniques for every build after.
Here is my WIP thread:
http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/733584.page#11654210
Thanks for offering these courses, I feel they have drastically improved my building skill!
First of all, thank you to everyone that participated in the MOOve your Grass tee shirt contest! Gosh, they were all so cute! I am featuring Fairy Taryn wearing Suepea's tee shirt in our lesson! Here is SuePea's contest winning tee shirt for our class. http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=8163600
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So let's jump in and make a retaining wall. We'll use the foundation so that we can keep the land hugging the wall. This will give us two distinct land levels. So we raise the terrain for a set of 4 steps. And begin placing a strip of foundation on each side that will act as our retaining wall. I am just guessing to how much retaining wall I will need across the front. It can all be adjusted once you build your house and see how much space you need.
Add steps- just to check the level and position.:
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Remove the steps and bring the foundation in to hug where the steps will be.
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Place your steps. Notice how the terrain shifts slightly. It drops at the base. This is normal, and we will blend it away with the soften tool later. ( The photo shows that I am down one level, which is why the top of the foundation is open)
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From the top of the steps, begin to level.
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Level one side, pulling the level right up to the foundation's back side.
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Level the opposite side. Pull back the sides of your terrain as far as you wish. This can all be adjusted once you start building your house. I am just matching where my retaining wall is.
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Level your walkway at the steps:
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Smooth the walk from the street to the steps to soften the dip we had in the terrain. (In the picture above, I remove the stair rails. To do this, I had to delete the steps, and remake them without rails. In my game, the game couldn't "see" the rails when they were in the foundation piece, so I couldn't just hammer them away. - Just a heads up in case you notice this too. I wanted a cleaner, neater appearance between my retaining wall and the steps) :
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Recolor your foundation, floor and steps to all look like one cohesive piece...Just like it was built this way.-to get the same wall pattern on your floor as on your wall, go to the carpet section of floor and lay down one white tile of carpet. Then you can clone the pattern and color of your wall to the white carpet and have a perfect match.
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Now choose your favorite fence to run along the front of your foundation to make this spiffy retaining wall. I chose this Store fence, because I like it's formal, Victorian city-street feel. I also decided that I wanted to use flooring for my sidewalk, instead of terrain paint, to keep the sidewalk very neat and formal as well. In doing so, the dip in my terrain is back, but I decided I liked the look like this. If you use terrain paints, you can keep the smoother walkway.
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Time for some MOOing! Open your cheat box and type
MoveObjects on
Now because the retaining wall looks so heavy and blocky, we need to disguise it with MOO. Pick your favorite plant or plants to snuggle up against the fence and disguise the blocky foundation. I am going for a simple, classic hedge of white hydrangeas. I am placing it right up close to the fence, rotating my plants here and there to help them look more natural, letting some of their branches and stems peek through my fencing as they would grow in real life.
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Tah-Dah! Here is my hedge and cute retaining wall. I even raised and lowered the terrain along the bottom of the retaining wall to give it a natural, rolling hill effect. I moved the mailbox to the wall too. I changed the grout color of my floor tile too, to be more subtle.
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Then I remembered thee cute lions from BuydebugMode, and Mooed them in, and re-colored them to blend in as if they were made to be here.
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Magically....a house appeared! I simply brought my flower hedge down to the lower level to finish it off. I chose to just do the front with the retaining wall to keep this lot more open.
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Testing the steps...no problems:
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I like this house and so I added to it a bit with the right wing. I will upload it eventually and when I do, I'll smooth out that terrain along the front retaining wall. it looks a little choppy. But I also have no other landscaping in place, so all that will be changed.
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The back of the house. (Fairy Taryn is peeking ion the windows! I wonder if she wants to buy the house or if she is just snooping!):
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Here is the bonus MOOing I promised. We will play with MOOing a swing into something dressier than just the playground swing.
First things first. With MoveObjects off, Set aside an area for your swing. Your swing may move slightly to accommodate what we will be doing, so make sure you have space around it.
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Open your cheat code box and type
MoveObjects on (Note- you do not have to have TestingCheatsEnabled on for MOO to work. It works independently, You can also type it without capital letters, like this: moveobjects on )
I am going to add an awning for my swing. The awnings are in the curtain section. Now a curtain can only go where a wall would be, so really, the awnings are going to determine where my swing goes. I placed one to the front, and one to the back. My swing was positioned just right for the awnings :
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Now, If your swing and awnings don't line up, because they are not exactly where a wall would be, Just move the swing for a moment (this is why I had you allow for extra space) and set your awnings as close as you can to where you originally wanted your swing.
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And then add your swing between the awnings.
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Now play with your toys and see what you can do to pretty up your awning swing. The reason awnings work is because Sims can walk under curtains. I have found that the swing can be finicky about placement. So you will need a tester Sim handy. The swing will let you MOO things easily into the center, but it gets finicky about things placed too close to the legs of the swing. So I can easily set this pillar in the middle, but I must watch my placement of these planter boxes on the sides by the legs of the swing. They need to be more towards the outside of the leg...not in the middle
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I matched my two sides:
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I am trying to disguise my swing somewhat and make it look like a new swing altogether, so I added this vine in the middle.
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Recolor everything to blend together and become one unit.
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Now I had another idea. Would my Sim use the swing if I placed an arch in the middle? Like a curtain, my Sim does walk under it...let's try for curiosity's sake. what I really wanted, was something to fill in the space between the awnings and make the top look more solid. This was a tall, square arch that I thought might just do the job. If it would work.
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So I tried it. And I like how it looks. My swing looks rather Victorian, to match my house, and it's certainly dressier than it was alone.
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Fairy Taryn went to test it, and she had her little fit. As you can see in the screenshot, what she is unhappy with is the placement of my flower boxes.
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So I slide them further to the outside of the swing's legs. They are peeking out just a little, but it's not too bad.
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So let's test again. How will she feel about the arch MOOed into the swing? She liked it just fine!
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So how else can we MOO a swing?
Using the same idea, I placed my swing with MOO OFF...leaving plenty of space for adjustment. Now that you see where it "can" go, go ahead and turn MOO ON.
This floral valance acts as a curtain too, so again, it needs to be placed where a wall could be placed. The swings goes inside.
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I am skipping steps, but I know you can see what I've done...I added the new wedding arch from the store's Bohemian set, one to the front, and one to the back. Then I carefully added flowers, staying to the outside of the swing's legs. . I like this version a lot! It's pretty, and romantic. I could definitely see this on a wedding venue lot. (Note to self. I have a wedding venue DNA Request on the list..this would be perfect for a Photo Op.)
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Now if a Sim will swing under an arch...and if a Sim will use an arch with a fence and gate...surely she will use it on the MOOed swing, right? Yes! Because the swing doesn't seem to mind MOOing a piece into it that a Sim will walk under. And! My flowers must have been placed correctly and not too far into the swing, because I didn't have any plant adjusting. If your Sim has a fit and won't use your swing, you probably have something too close to the inside of the swing's legs. Scoot them out just a bit. Try again. This is very pretty!
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Another version of a MOOed swing, to get you thinking about ways you can MOO one yourself. This time I am using the little vine covered arbor that is in the store's fairy set. It also acts like a curtain, so positioning must be adjusted for where a wall "would" be.
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Adding a different wedding arch this time for a different look:
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Now I am adding different planter boxes. Remember to keep them to the outside of the swing's legs. There is only a little wiggle room here for MOOing.
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Remember the Circus plaque from the store? We used it in my MOO U class. They are such fun because we can slide them up and down. They work here because the vine covered arbor is already set where a wall would be, so these went into place easily. I just MOOved them into a slight arch formation to sort of disguise the square top of the swing:
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And now to re-color these in a wicker look. Just for a different look than what I've shown you.
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Now to make it look more natural with trees and plants and to disguise the legs sticking out of the planter's a little....and to test! This is another cute look!
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I was just fooling around with this version! Maybe this would be for a 🐸🐸🐸🐸 or carnival lot? To put the roof on, I placed 4 pillars by the legs of the swing just long enough to get a floor tile above so I could create a roof. Once the roof was on, I removed the pillars. I was curious if a roof would work with the swing. It does!
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Now that you've seen some MOOed swings...what can you do? I bet you can come up with some unique ideas too! I have played with swings like this on many of my builds and it's fun to get different looks. Swings are fun for the whole family, not just children. They are excellent for drawing your Sims out into your yard and giving children a plaything. Sometimes a swing set on its own just doesn't fit in with your Victorian or old time cottagey home. You need something dressier or something more old fashioned. See what you can come up with now that you've learned a bit about what works and the placement of what works. Post some pictures for us! Re-coloring and new textures will tie all the pieces together and as always, that is the real secret to good MOOing. We will do another version of a MOOed swing a little later on too.
Back to the Victorian home. Here is a simple pool, but see how you can place it smack up against your foundation? Because my terrain is higher, in the front, due to the front retaining wall, my foundation is higher in the back too. I blended he terrain back from the front of the lot, in a low slope to the back. This gives me a higher foundation wall than normal. I had room to blast out a couple of pieces of the foundation, and tuck some plants under the porch for a focal point in the pool. Then I could MOO in some fountain pieces. It's a simple, but dressy effect. It can be a beautiful, space efficient way to add a pool. And what fun for parents to be able to sit on the porch directly above and keep an eye on the children or guests. I kept the flowers very balanced and formal for this build, just repeating them. The fountains are simple, and formal too. The fence is the same as the front to tie the front and back of the lot together.
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Now for something we can do to a flat lot that always adds dimension and character to the lot. (For you real life homeowners and landscapers, you can use the same ideas for your yard.) I painted in what will become a large, sweeping corner flower bed. But....It is flat. Boring.
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So let's create a "berm" by adding soil and mounding it. This adds height and coziness to the landscape by giving you the feeling of being enclosed; secluded if you will.
Start using the "Raise" terrain tool and pulling up sections.
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Carefully positioning your Raise Terrain tool will keep you from raising terrain you don't want raised. I am using the large circle so that I can keep within my curved flower bed.
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Work your way around the bed, pulling up sections. I want my center section to be the highest section for this flower bed. It is fine if it looks very rough to begin with.
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Now Use the "Soften Terrain" tool to smooth into a gentle slope. I want some height on this, but just enough to give the yard a gentle swell. I do not want a huge hill. Just a berm.
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I painted in a light dirt paint to the very edge, to add a little shading and a border to my flowerbed.
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Then I went back to my mulch paint and painted over it a little bit, because my dirt line was too heavy and not natural enough.
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To start adding plants, I start with my trees. - Landscaper's Tip: One tall focal point tree, and the clusters of the small spruce tree. For some reason, In landscaping and decor, odd numbers are more interesting to the human eye than even numbers. This is a good tip to remember.
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Next I added clusters of rocks. Can you see my "odd numbers" theory going into effect already?
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I am adding my greenery in now. The game will give you random sizes of plants in many/most cases. For this effect, I wanted the smallest of these bushes to MOO in-between my rocks and make it look like they are growing right in between the stones. Any of the bushes that were too big got thrown out on the lawn to delete later. You can choose the size of your plants this way. MOO a bunch of them on the lawn, pick and choose the correct sizes..delete the extras.
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Continue adding plants. - Landscapers tip- use the same plant in clusters around your flower bed and lot. This keeps your eye moving along in the bed as it spots the same color. In real life, the same plant will bloom at the same time, and this keeps your flower beds from having holes where nothing is blooming. Odd number theory is again considered as I plant. - True story- I was hired to design a very large flower bed in the front of a lot. I worked with a neighbor of mine, a surgeon, who had seen my work, liked my style, and wanted a 3 season -something-always-blooming garden. He didn't really want a drawn out, pre-planned design. He trusted me to know what plants would grow in our area and when they would bloom and what plants would go well with which plants and keep steady color all of our short growing season. He really loves plants, and he wanted to help pick them out and learn along the way. And so we went to nurseries to pick out plants. I told him to pick out what he liked, I would advise and guide, already knowing many of the plants I definitely would want, and I would set them all out and make sure they looked good. He wanted to do all the actual planting himself, and he was very interested in learning about the plants along the way. So we jumped in the truck and spent the day going to different nurseries, loading up the truck, taking the plants home, and repeating the process. After nursery number 1, he quickly caught on to the "Odd Number" theory. Whenever he'd find a plant he'd like, he'd ask me if it would grow, bloom, be a good choice and when I'd say yes to all he'd ask "how many? my answer would be 3, 5, 7, 9... He soon caught on and would just say, "odd number?" When we finally got home, I spent a couple of hours setting the plants in place on top of the flower bed, moving, adjusting, considering. We watered them thoroughly and he planted them all the next day. It is gorgeous and they love the constant bloom and change of colors that happen from spring- fall.
So the gist of this long story is...plant in odd numbers...repeat the same plant throughout ...cluster the plant.
More of the same principal in planting. (the yellow daffodils will naturalize and start to spread out on their own so I mimicked this look) I also added the fairy light as an accent with a little stone patch leading to it. I have MOO on here, to tuck my plants together but there is something I want you to notice and always keep in mind when planting with MOO. The circled pink rhododendron plant is actually out of the lot's boundary. Placing if out of bounds can cause trouble if you plan on uploading. It may not let you upload, at all. And after it is placed, it may even be really hard to remove. Keep an eye on your plants and keep them within your boundary grid.
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More plants, planted in drifts, and a close-up of the fairy light and path.
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Finished view of our large "bermed bed"...with an extra lavender plant ready to go in!
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Another landscaping tip that I always think look nice is to pull a tree out into the yard. This makes it look like it has always been there, and that you worked around it and incorporated it into your landscape design. I placed the large tree to the left just outside my flowerbed. It gives a feeling of "age" to the landscape. It adds depth.
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Then I added a little bench. This gives you a reason to come out to the flower bed. A nice place to sit, read, relax, or visit.
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-continued-
For the second part of this lesson, let's go back to a home from lesson 1. It's a big 64x64 lot and we need to fill up the empty spaces with landscaping. I know this is something that everyone struggles with. "I have this nice home, but the lot is so big...What do I do with it?"
This is the home that I think has nice potential.
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It isn't a big home, so it isn't going to fill up the space to make it look complete. And maybe you think it IS done. I mean, there's quite a bit of landscaping already! If so, then this lesson will help you see more potential in your own lots. And it will help you take your lots further both visually and practically by giving your Sims more opportunities to use their outdoor space. It will add to your home's "Wow factor" too, by giving your downloaders more see and more to play with.
We will raise and play with the terrain to really tie the whole lot together. On the left of the lot, we have this very high and hilly area. On the right, it's just utterly flat. It doesn't quite make sense. You'd think, in nature, if the land was that hilly and rough, that the rest of the lot would reflect that and have some dimension and contouring too. We have the space to do more with this lot and we have the space for a pond! So let's begin there.
I'm going to make a water feature, a small pond, because that will really take up some space! But I also want to give my Sims a reason to go outside and enjoy their large lot.
So I made a very loose, pond with a section set aside for an island of sorts. I trickled it towards the front of the house to create a starting or ending point of sorts. What I had in mind was a natural looking dry river bed.
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I want to make a little pathway to connect the main part of the lot to my island. To do this with a winding curved path, I need a level area to start with.
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I experimented with some path shapes by painting them on until I had one that I was happy with. I like gentle curves in landscaping, not twisty-turny-super-bendy ones.
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Using the pond tool, carefully cut away the extra land around your path. Keep the edge of the circle of the pond tool against the side of your path.
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Swing around and cut away the opposite side.
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Here's what I have left. It's a little rough.
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I painted the rough edges with the shale paint.
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The edges of my pond get paint too.
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Now carefully level your path. You will have to do this one or two squares at a time to keep your curve.
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Even though my path is a little jagged now, the surface is more level. I can bring in plants and rocks and camouflage the jagged areas a little. I start with the rocks.
Turn MoveObjects On and hold the ALT button and sink them right into your terrain to make them look natural.
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<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1109-Copy_zps0641d09a.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1109-Copy_zps0641d09a.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1109-Copy_zps0641d09a.jpg"/></a>
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Now to do the same thing with the greenery:
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<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1117-Copy_zps16422dc0.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1117-Copy_zps16422dc0.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1117-Copy_zps16422dc0.jpg"/></a>
Adding more plants and greenery:
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If you look closely you will see not only more plants, but you will see how a painted little sprinklings of flowers along the path too. Yellow flowers for the areas of yellow plants; purple flowers for where purple plants will be. It looks pretty and delicate, as if little ground cover plants are trailing along the ground.
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Here I am adding purple pansies to wind in and out of my rock path and soften the look of all those rocks!
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A pretty little path to the island:
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1125-Copy_zps42435888.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1125-Copy_zps42435888.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1125-Copy_zps42435888.jpg"/></a>
Now to create an island that our Simmies will want to come out to this part of the yard and relax or play. I need to make it bigger, so I must level up more island space.
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1129_zpse3cfeece.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1129_zpse3cfeece.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1129_zpse3cfeece.jpg"/></a>
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I want to make a dock that can be fished from:
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A little more land is needed for me to make a gazebo:
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1133_zpsa755c934.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1133_zpsa755c934.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1133_zpsa755c934.jpg"/></a>
The beginning of an octagonal gazebo:
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1134_zps3be2b71d.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1134_zps3be2b71d.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1134_zps3be2b71d.jpg"/></a>
Filling in the diagonal corners:
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1135_zpsea54ec41.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1135_zpsea54ec41.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1135_zpsea54ec41.jpg"/></a>
Now I have my gazebo shape, but my dock is too long, so I am making it shorter:
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1137_zps79d819b6.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1137_zps79d819b6.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1137_zps79d819b6.jpg"/></a>
In the same way you can lower terrain from foundations, you can lower water away. Here I am using the pond tool to expose more of the foundation:
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Here I am adding the pond back in now that I have my gazebo shape.
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1139_zps745d623f.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1139_zps745d623f.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1139_zps745d623f.jpg"/></a>
Steps!
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I think this is a very woodsy lot, so my gazebo is going to reflect that with my rail and post choices. Twist and turn the tree-like pillars to make them look different as you MOO them into your rails. I even MOOed two pillars into each other to really vary the shapes.
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Re-colored to become a woodsy gazebo! And roofed!
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1146_zpse4a85d6f.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1146_zpse4a85d6f.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1146_zpse4a85d6f.jpg"/></a>
Using the cheats
TestingCheatsEnabled on
and
BuyDebug on
I can stock my pond with fish so that my Sims really can fish from the dock!
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1147_zpsa1e5c490.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1147_zpsa1e5c490.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1147_zpsa1e5c490.jpg"/></a>
I added the cute little boat from BuyDebug mode and added a picnic table and BBQ so my Sims have some activities on the island. I also decided I need more space for other activities, so I leveled some extra space.
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1148_zpsbf3b3e40.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1148_zpsbf3b3e40.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1148_zpsbf3b3e40.jpg"/></a>
Remember how I mentioned that since we have such a rocky, raised area around the house, it would only be natural to have more of the same type of terrain throughout? Here we have the perfect place to do just that. I randomly start to raise my terrain along the back corner of the lot.
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1149_zps5f840cd4.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1149_zps5f840cd4.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1149_zps5f840cd4.jpg"/></a>
Next, smooth it all back out:
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1153_zpsd6b022e8.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1153_zpsd6b022e8.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1153_zpsd6b022e8.jpg"/></a>
What can I add to draw my Sims out to the island? A swing! But a swing needs a level space in order to place it.
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1154_zpsf0ced635.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1154_zpsf0ced635.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1154_zpsf0ced635.jpg"/></a>
Level out an area big enough to add a swing!
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1156_zpsc68ce18b.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1156_zpsc68ce18b.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1156_zpsc68ce18b.jpg"/></a>
Once your swing is in place, you actually can raise the terrain a little bit more.
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Smooth...
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You can Now MOO some trees right into your swing set. Slide the trees carefully into the legs of the swing, keeping them more towards the outside of the swing's legs. Twist and turn your tree's branches to blend and disguise the very square, blocky frame of the swing.
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Now add the same tree around your island to make it look very natural, organic and real. Real trees would plant themselves randomly in a grove. So create your own grove-like effect. This little birch tree even has a "clumping" version. So you can MOO 2 or 3 trees together, twisting them, and create a new, clumping birch tree. The aspen tree would do this too.
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Here is a wide shot of the island.
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Re-color the swing set to blend in with the tree trunk color. I actually used a pattern on the swing set, so that I could add some taupes, grays and blacks.
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Now adjust your tree trunks slightly, again, turning the branches to disguise your swing set.
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Time to bring in our tester! Taryn tests the walkway...all clear!
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Testing the MOOed swing....Yay! It worked the first time!
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And testing my fishing dock:
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Now to pretty the whole island with paints and plants.
Adding a painted path to the gazebo:
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Painting the entire edge of the pond. I used shale here:
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I also mixed in some areas of gravel along the pond's edge. I erased areas a little. Instead of a uniform line of paint, create more natural shaped by adding paints, erasing paints. Use them as if you were an artist creating a painting. Then I painted the tops of my mounded terrain a lighter shade of grass to show dry areas and highlight the rounded shapes.
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Add paints where the ground would naturally get trampled and worn.
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Or add dry grass to simulate areas that are burnt by the hot sun
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If you feel like the paint you chose is looking unnatural, try over spraying it with another. Use the sheerest setting on your paint tool, slid all the way to the right. Then just give your mouse a light tap instead of holding the button down. This is "light soil" on top of "dry grass". Underneath the picnic table.
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This area is so far away from the house, I worried about trash from the BBQ area. Soooo....I MOOed a trash can into this stump. I painted the area and added a dandelion weed. Notice all the different paint colors.
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Under the swing, I scuffed up the ground. I painted dry grass and light dirt under the swing where I think it would naturally be worn. I added some rocks and plants around the swing to naturalize it into the scenery too.
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More plants...more paint...
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I added more natural flowers. I have the camera pulled closer in this photo, which made the trees disappear for a moment. Remember to keep your plants and flowers clear of the swing's legs.
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Remember what I told you about MOOing plants outside of the lot's boundary? This can cause your lot to not upload for you. This is a potential huge problem. Keep them inside the lot's boundary!
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I chose a smaller plant.
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Now I am working my way down the lot with plants and paints. This is the dry river-bed area towards the front of the lot. I think the cattails in the water look nice and natural!
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Grasses, rushes, and cattails look wonderful on ponds and wild areas of large lots.
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I raised the terrain on the front edge of my lot....then smoothed it back down.
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You can see here where I've added trees, grasses and plants all along my pond. I also raised the terrain on the front edge of the lot to build it up and match the height of the house's area.
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Paint and highlight the tops of your hills:
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Add paints, plants, and trees. (NOTE this is a wacky lot in Appaloosa Plains. It is actually a community park that I made residential, but the street around it looks odd!)
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Paints to make this look like a dry river bed, or a stream that has trickled away:
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This looks very natural now, with paints, rocks, trees and plants. To think this lot was once a flat green square!
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Furnish your gazebo...recolor...I even added a toy box to entice children to play in the gazebo. I also changed the color of the lights wrapped around my branchy pillars to a soft white. Fairy Taryn must have felt very relaxed, because she took a nap!
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**If you have been wondering how I did the roof of the gazebo, I used the cheat
PlaceFriezes on
and stacked two friezes.
The first frieze:
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The second frieze is directly on top of the first:
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The roofs:
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Here is the long shot of the house and the pond. They blend perfectly together and make the lot interesting and pretty! The home, terrain, plants and gazebo all blend together and have the same style.
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Now to finish the lot. (No, we're not done yet!)
Now let's finish this lot. What would we want if we were Sims and lived on this lot? A pool! A pool as woodsy and natural as our home and the pond next to it.
Remember this back yard space of this lot from lesson one? I think this would be the perfect place for a pool. Right off the back deck, but close to the pond. We can even make it look like an extension of the pond.
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I quickly see I'm going to need more room. So I remove the plants and rocks with one mighty sweep of my hammer, I level back some extra room, and begin to make my pool. I don't quite have the right shape here, but it's a good start in using my space.
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Before I go too far, I realized I had plenty of space on this little hill to do something with. I want to utilize this space, so I need to set it aside just for its potential.
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I flattened a small area for....something. A future seating area, I decided. Maybe with a fire pit.
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Leveling out the base for the steps and pathway.
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I decided I wanted another reason to enjoy the pond, But I wanted it to serve a different purpose. So I made an entertaining deck.
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I liked the little planter box I made between the steps, so I added two more. This will let me bring some greenery and plant life up onto the deck. I also took advantage of the fish that I'd already stocked and made a little fishing deck. I also fixed that weird little jig in my pool and made a better, smoother pool shape.
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Then I decided to make this dock look different than the gazebo dock.
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I set out furnishings...
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Because I wanted an umbrella on my bar height table, I had to MOO one in. See?
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I also wanted a little built in bench, So I MOOed one into the rail between the planter boxes.
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Slide the bench into the rails a little. You will know the best placement when you see it. Recolor it to match the deck so it all looks like one piece.
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1289_zpscfec3ebb.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1289_zpscfec3ebb.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1289_zpscfec3ebb.jpg"/></a>
Here is a photo of everything re-colored.
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1290_zpsa77e2956.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1290_zpsa77e2956.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1290_zpsa77e2956.jpg"/></a>
I re-colored the pool to resemble the pond. This helps it all look like one big space.
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1291_zps02504262.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1291_zps02504262.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1291_zps02504262.jpg"/></a>
Let's go back and finish the pool in a natural way and create a focal point.
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1292_zps9ab5f2a1.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1292_zps9ab5f2a1.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1292_zps9ab5f2a1.jpg"/></a>
I'm going to raise the terrain really closely to the pool edge.
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1293_zps20a5b153.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1293_zps20a5b153.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1293_zps20a5b153.jpg"/></a>
Soften and smooth:
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1295_zps42fcc97d.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1295_zps42fcc97d.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1295_zps42fcc97d.jpg"/></a>
Then paint in a rocky edge, highlight the grass in a lighter shade where the light would hit it:
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1296_zpsda9f0c4e.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1296_zpsda9f0c4e.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1296_zpsda9f0c4e.jpg"/></a>
Now I'm beginning to MOO in my rocks. Slide them right into the rocky terrain:
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1298_zpsca51292c.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1298_zpsca51292c.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1298_zpsca51292c.jpg"/></a>
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1300_zpsddf69bc9.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1300_zpsddf69bc9.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1300_zpsddf69bc9.jpg"/></a>
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1301-Copy_zpsa800ecfe.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1301-Copy_zpsa800ecfe.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1301-Copy_zpsa800ecfe.jpg"/></a>
Add the greenery next, MOOing it right into the rocks to ramble and look natural:
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1306-Copy_zpse5e77c65.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1306-Copy_zpse5e77c65.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1306-Copy_zpse5e77c65.jpg"/></a>
Add your flowers next, again, holding down the ALT button and sliding them into place. Whatever looks natural.
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1307_zpsebc58d90.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1307_zpsebc58d90.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1307_zpsebc58d90.jpg"/></a>
Once you have a good balance of rocks, greenery and plants, Zoom out and see how you like it.
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1309_zpsf4af738d.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1309_zpsf4af738d.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1309_zpsf4af738d.jpg"/></a>
Now let's make a little water feature. I am using the small double fountain:
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1310_zps6ecb15a4.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1310_zps6ecb15a4.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1310_zps6ecb15a4.jpg"/></a>
You can MOO this right into the rocks:
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1312_zps583d368b.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1312_zps583d368b.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1312_zps583d368b.jpg"/></a>
I pulled this fountain pretty deep into the rocks, so it looks like it is just dripping.
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1313_zpsf9aea8d0.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1313_zpsf9aea8d0.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1313_zpsf9aea8d0.jpg"/></a>
I am adding another, moving it around, trying to get a natural effect:
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1314_zpsaba68bf4.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1314_zpsaba68bf4.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1314_zpsaba68bf4.jpg"/></a>
Here is a third fountain:
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1315_zps9472daa9.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1315_zps9472daa9.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1315_zps9472daa9.jpg"/></a>
I added another of the small double fountains, higher, so it looks like the water is flowing down the rockery. Then to add more of a splash effect in my pool I am going to MOO this small single spray style. I want the splash effect of this one on the same level as the pool water.
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I ended up adding three single sprays at the base of my rocks. Each of the fountains have splash effects, so layering them helps to sort of disguise a splash effect that is actually above your pool water.
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I added another small double fountain to the right, MOOing it deep into the rock to just have a light weeping effect.
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1320_zps78b022f1.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1320_zps78b022f1.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1320_zps78b022f1.jpg"/></a>
Now that I have my waterfall effect done, I will add the last of my flowers to tie this pool area in with the whole lot.
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1321_zps19aafd6a.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1321_zps19aafd6a.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1321_zps19aafd6a.jpg"/></a>
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1322_zpsf5a1ea53.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1322_zpsf5a1ea53.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1322_zpsf5a1ea53.jpg"/></a>
Now it's time to add the decking around the pool. If I try to use a floor tile, it just doesn't flow around my curving pool shape, and it alters the terrain into flat straight, level lines. I don't like it.
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Instead, I think I'll use the same terrain paint as I use on the driveway:
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1326_zps55c03453.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1326_zps55c03453.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1326_zps55c03453.jpg"/></a>
I think this will look so much better:
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1327_zpsf61294f6.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1327_zpsf61294f6.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1327_zpsf61294f6.jpg"/></a>
I had been thinking a nectar bar would be nice right by my party deck:
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1328_zps7892b661.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1328_zps7892b661.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1328_zps7892b661.jpg"/></a>
So I need a little more terrain leveled out to have a flat surface to place it on.
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1331_zps7e00323b.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1331_zps7e00323b.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1331_zps7e00323b.jpg"/></a>
I still want this to all blend in though and look natural:
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1333_zps43af57c6.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1333_zps43af57c6.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1333_zps43af57c6.jpg"/></a>
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1334_zpsdc613598.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1334_zpsdc613598.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1334_zpsdc613598.jpg"/></a>
So I've added rocks, greenery, flowers in the same style as I've used throughout the lot. Then I furnished the pool deck with relaxing furniture.
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1336_zps0c8c57fe.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1336_zps0c8c57fe.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1336_zps0c8c57fe.jpg"/></a>
Here is the pool area from the back of the lot:
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1337_zpsf453f879.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1337_zpsf453f879.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1337_zpsf453f879.jpg"/></a>
Now to do "something" with that obscure area I set aside with the steps. I like the way it looks to create a rock border. And now, after Lesson 1, we've also discover it helps guide our Simmies to use the stairs.
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1340_zpsbcf92b02.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1340_zpsbcf92b02.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1340_zpsbcf92b02.jpg"/></a>
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1341_zps4fc9b8bd.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1341_zps4fc9b8bd.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1341_zps4fc9b8bd.jpg"/></a>
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1343_zps5acab15d.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1343_zps5acab15d.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1343_zps5acab15d.jpg"/></a>
You can see how I am adding the same types of plants I've used n the Pool display. And no, the flower in the water did not stay in the water! It just got caught in the screenshot as I MOOved it.
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1342_zps9e410655.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1342_zps9e410655.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1342_zps9e410655.jpg"/></a>
Recolor your steps into a pattern that you feel blends in with your stonework and your pool decking.
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1345_zps7a2cacb6.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1345_zps7a2cacb6.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1345_zps7a2cacb6.jpg"/></a>
This is how it's looking from the back. Pretty!
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1346_zps635cd3a6.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1346_zps635cd3a6.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1346_zps635cd3a6.jpg"/></a>
I decided to make a fire pit and seating area up here, because wouldn't that be a nice place to sit and warm up from the pool? But we have a little work to do.
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1352-Copy-Copy_zps4ca9507c.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1352-Copy-Copy_zps4ca9507c.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1352-Copy-Copy_zps4ca9507c.jpg"/></a>
I smoothed out the sharp edges of the side to create more of a slope or a low hill.
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1347-Copy-Copy_zpsc4525c4e.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1347-Copy-Copy_zpsc4525c4e.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1347-Copy-Copy_zpsc4525c4e.jpg"/></a>
And then that meant I had to re-paint to make it look like a hill again.
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1350-Copy-Copy_zps623d49e1.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1350-Copy-Copy_zps623d49e1.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1350-Copy-Copy_zps623d49e1.jpg"/></a>
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1351-Copy-Copy_zps9d24c877.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1351-Copy-Copy_zps9d24c877.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1351-Copy-Copy_zps9d24c877.jpg"/></a>
I am adding another rock border to look like it is holding back the terrain:
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1355-Copy-Copy_zpsa373f33c.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1355-Copy-Copy_zpsa373f33c.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1355-Copy-Copy_zpsa373f33c.jpg"/></a>
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1356-Copy-Copy_zps02024baa.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1356-Copy-Copy_zps02024baa.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1356-Copy-Copy_zps02024baa.jpg"/></a>
Then again, I blended in all my plants. They really do soften the harsh rocks and help blend in everything.
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1357-Copy-Copy_zps867c969e.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1357-Copy-Copy_zps867c969e.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1357-Copy-Copy_zps867c969e.jpg"/></a>
I painted in a little flag stone, then added my fire pit.
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1362-Copy-Copy_zps7dff5f81.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1362-Copy-Copy_zps7dff5f81.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1362-Copy-Copy_zps7dff5f81.jpg"/></a>
See the little light sitting on the ground? I colored it in a stone color because I am going to MOO it right into my rocks and plants so they really light up at night.
<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1365-Copy-Copy_zps14125420.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/taryntempestwind032/Screenshot-1365-Copy-Copy_zps14125420.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-1365-Copy-Copy_zps14125420.jpg"/></a>
Here you can see all my sneaky light MOOing in effect. I MOOed lights into the waterfall area, and around my steps..anywhere I thought it looked pretty.
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Then I added lights to the party deck. And I remembered the new string of lights in the store's Bohemian set. I love them. I added two pillars to make them look like I strung my lights from them, then MOOed 2 strings of lights in between them, over the bench. They are so cute! I used the wall lights, so I could slide them up or down into position.
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Testing my deck:
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Testing the second fishing dock on the part deck:
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And now for pictures of the entire lot!
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It surely must have been a relaxing and inviting lot, because fairy Taryn did this all on her own. She had been testing the Victorian house swings from part one of lesson two, and she came home to sunbathe, all on her own. Cute...That was very rewarding for me as the lot builder.
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Now let's just consider a few pictures and talk about how they were done. This is just to give you ideas or inspiration. These builds are all in my studio, and I'm not showing you them seeking compliments, or rec's or downloads, thus I will not post links to them, but more to show you examples without having to create new builds and tutorials. So look at the pictures, not for the homes, but for Terrain Manipulation or paint. Concentrate on how the terrain was moved rather than the homes. Consider though, how the style of home looks with the landscaping and terrain work around it.
This Victorian is an example of a 3/4 above street level, 1/4th below. The steps above = 12, then the slope down to the garage being the missing 4 steps. See the little winding path to the house like we learned about in Lesson 1? See the little pink flower paint that is under the rhododendrons. The grass is highlighted and the rocky areas are defined by the rocky shale paint. Can you see how the gazebo is semi attached? From the front porch, there are four steps down from the foundation, then the little half wall....then 4 steps down to the gazebo. Then there are 8 steps down to finally reach the guest room and garage level below.
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Here is the side where you can see the sloped drive and the gazebo steps.
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The pool is 1/4 below street level, just like the garage. This meant I had to blend the lot on the sides. See the 1/2 wall that is acting as retaining walls? The right side of the lot is higher then the left.
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The slope also gave me a neat opportunity to raise this formal garden behind the pool. It acts almost as a secret garden; a special area that you have to go out to appreciate.
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Believe it or not, the 🐸🐸🐸🐸 Cart lot is built on a flat lot. All the terrain manipulation is done on top of the street level. I think 1/2 of the charm of this lot is from terrain, paint and landscaping. It's snuggled into the lot because I've raised the terrain around it.
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Just adding the little bit of a slope by the fence adds character and a certain rustic charm because the fence isn't straight.
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In this picture, look at the road to the 🐸🐸🐸🐸 cart. There are several layers of paint to form the tracks. The center of the road is raised slightly to simulate the grooves that would be cut into the ground by the wheels. Then to really cozy up the 🐸🐸🐸🐸 cart, the terrain is raised around it, which makes it feels secluded. You could make a little road like this on your country or farm lots to lead to the barn, for example.
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This is the build that actually started the inquiry for a terrain class. And you all can blame SuePea, because she asked, "How much planning did you need for this house and wouldn't that kind of thing make a good ZOO U class" or something to that effect. Somewhere in my showcase thread is real proof of this and I'll post it if I have to! I told her I'd pass the message to Zoo and without missing a beat, Zoo asked if I would teach it. ( I think she didn't want to and so she happily passed the buck and *forced* me into it...threatened me, beat me, bribed me with candy and hunky firemen) So I think we can all safely blame all homework and frustration on SuePea and Zoo! Remember that!) This build is raised above street level by 8 steps. When I began my random vision, as I do...I knew I wanted to set this home higher than street level to give it an impressive front from the street, and I wanted my driveway to slope up and around, for a grand feel.
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Here is another path that cuts between the pond, just like we did, only longer.
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This home was a DNA request, and having a pool wasn't really necessary to the requester. I added this one more as a reflecting pool, but it is swimmable too. The step down leading to it and the retaining wall give it a very formal and private feel. It also took up a lot of space in this 64x64 lot!
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With a Victorian house like this, I just couldn't place a modern swing set. So here is a MOOed version, just like we learned about. I think it fits the style of this old home better.
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In this Christmassy home, doesn't having it raised look nice in the snow?
The snow looks so pretty in its drifts. Doesn't it give you the feeling of a mountain home? This home is raised a full wall height above the street.
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Now this home is built at street level, but has a surprising back.
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Another DNA request home, my requester wanted a "man cave" basement. She also wanted pasture land for a horse. So how could I give her a nice pool area, but keep it separate from a pasture? I kept getting this feeling of a wanting a special pool area away from a messy pasture. But how to do that?
So here is my solution. This is the back of the house with a walkout basement to the pool, It is completely recessed one floor level into the ground.
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This retaining wall is made the same way we did the low foundation retaining wall in Lesson 2 part 2, only this one is a full wall high.
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This quirky little house dangles precariously right over the water! I wanted to make a rather "Weasley House", something very Harry Potterish. Doesn't it look like it could just tip right over and is maybe being held up by magic? This is a flat lot, but the porch is set right into the water with the pier like foundation.
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This may be my favorite home. I think the whole charm of this home came from the high retaining walls with arch insets and the moat. It makes it extra intimating. Not only is this house raised a full wall height, it's raised even more to step up to the foundation. Wouldn't it be neat to be walking along the street and have to look waaaaay up to see the house? Wouldn't it make you feel small?
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There is a water feature on the back:
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These two shots shows you all sorts of terrain work that really makes this lot feel imposing. This was such a fun lot to build... I was so excited as it all came together, because to me, this lot was very special. It was something I hadn't seen before.
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There is a lot of MOOing, plants and hidden lights,- see how the trees are lit?- to give this house its eerie nighttime appearance.
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This mansion is raised just 4 steps from street level -just enough to add some drama and a sloped drive to the garage.
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You can always raise an area in a flat lot to create a cute seating area
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This stone cottage rises way above street level.
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This home does have a basement, but it is not a walkout one. But the whole feel of the house benefits from a higher foundation:
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The Pool is next to the pond and there are levels to the yard. It has little interesting spaces for your Sim to go all around the winding pond.
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Here's an interesting Craftsman style home:
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Here is a beach cottage that is raised to allow for these "breakaway" walls in case of an ocean storm.
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This barn style home gets a lift from raising the terrain enough to create a rustic feel with plants and rocks.
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This beach home was a total "wing it" , but I loved the way it turned out. I knew I wanted my driveway to slope down, but I didn't set levels.
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<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/user/taryntempestwind/media/Screenshot-13.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/taryntempestwind/Screenshot-13.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Screenshot-13.jpg"/></a>
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Another spooky lot that really benefits from terrain work and hidden lighting
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The driveway is raised, creating a sort of bridge between the two sides of the pond.
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A swimmable pond effect that also leads to a hidden garden:
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Wouldn't this home lose a lot of what makes it special if it wasn't raised?
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I feel like the back levels really add to this home:
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This home is the most downloaded and rec'd in my studio. But I think 50% of its spooky factor comes from the terrain work and landscaping. It helps it to look intimidating from the street. When I start to build, I do try and imagine myself as a Sim and how the house will look from the street. Just imagine having to walk by this house after dark! It would certainly make you walk faster! It's so high! Imagine having to crane your head up, up, up to see the top!
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So in studying the terrain on all these examples -and thanks for hanging in there for all the pictures- Did you get some ideas of what you can do? Of a new kind of house on a new style of lot? Because that is your homework.
(shocked looks of doom from the entire class at the mention of "homework")
Your homework...and do remember to blame SuePea and Zoo, because THEY STARTED IT!....Is to create a new house on a new lot and really stretch yourself with your terrain work, landscaping and paint. Take your landscaping further than you ever have. Create little areas in the landscape for your Sims to go out and enjoy. Even if you are beginning builder and you simply "berm" your flower beds, that makes a really nice difference. A flat lot is a boring lot. Show us something that is new for you and a building stretch for you...no matter your skill level..the goal is to stretch yourself and grow as a builder.
***Extra credit for you is to MOO a swing!***
Thank you for having me back as a guest professor. I thoroughly enjoy seeing your progress! Thank you for the friends requests too! I am so proud of you all for being so willing to learn, and for all the screenshots of beautiful builds I have seen from you here and on your Black Cat builder's threads!
Thank you again!
Taryn
Come one, Come all!
(rings the school bell!)
And for our awesome instructor Taryn:
Okay, jumping into the lesson now!
Quick question: The house I first posted as my work on part 1 of the class, I might have decided to scrap (temporarily!), because I had a feeling that the one I managed to put in an actual Blackcat Builders Homework thread would suit our assignments for part 2 MUCH better!
And it turned out I was right. So, can I continue with this build:
http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/751152.page
rather than this build?:
http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/150/651285.page#11991724
Just asking, to make sure that my preferred build does qualify as a NEW build on a NEW lot .
PS: I brought cookies for eeeeveryone!
ok this
looks a lot like what I want for my new legacy home... not completly but the style.... now I jsut need to figure out how to make it...
http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/2370/498746.page#11777595
Thank you soooo very much for spending all that time to put together such a vast amount of information and giving us all the opportunity to make our builds more interesting and improve our building skills.
A shower of 'Sour Babies' coming your way ... guaranteed not to have been pre-licked for better stickiness to teachers
Hip Hip Hooray for Taryn the supreme MOOve Your Grass MOOing Master!!! x x x
Hi Hidehi! Thank you!
Just for curiosity, have you heard of Castle Hill Inn on Rhode Island? If not, try to google it and have a peek at all the pictures of it. That place looks like heaven and I personally can just imagine what you'd do with the place, if you got your hands on it .
Dolphine, those cookies look delicious! *partakes of the yummy goodness of teh emmie-em cookehs!*
*between bites* just wanted to share something kinda funny with ya'll: I'm so used to seeing "MOO" for "moveobjects on/off" now, when I start to enter the code, I automatically start typing "mooveobjects on/of"
I'm doing the lesson step by step, but I have scrolled through an looked at all of the amazing pictures. Taryn, you are one awesome and creative lady! Can't wait to do all these things!
Okay, back to work now. (hard to call it work when it's so much fun! )
And this is me after scrolling quickly through the lesson:
I can't wait to tear into this one!!!!
My cat was yelling in the bedroom, for the umpteenth time today. So I walked inthere, looked at him and then said "If I MOO the plant more to the right, will you STOP yelling at it?"
... yeah. Uhm. I got nothing. No defence. Bed it is :oops:.
Hi SuePea! Hi Leota!
Dolphine...Get your Grass to bed!
Origin ID: Tiki5872