LOT SIZE, ADDRESS & FINAL COST: 40x40 Lot, no address, $124,999
LOT DESCRIPTION & DETAILS:
A commune that takes advantage of all that modern eco-research has to offer. Solar panels, wind power, water collection and radiant thermal windows along with ecofriendly materials like hempcrete and cork flooring all work together to minimize the eco footprint of this lot.
Built deep in the hills of Los Aniegos, the only means of accessing this property is by foot. Offering 360 degree views of the surrounding hills, this commune is isolated away from the “visible cancer of materialistic excess of the bourgeois”. With a lot of something for everyone.
Each private residence has a loft bed accessible from both sides via ladder and a private sitting area each decorated with a unique flair to suite our eclectic and eccentric future occupants.
The communal building holds a shared living room with built ins for collection display; an oversized kitchen made for group meal prep, harvestable clean up and canning and cooking; bench seating dining under a custom low energy, high character light display; and, finally, the communal bathroom with double vanity and prep area, three toilet stalls, two shower heads and a natural spring bath; upstairs is a flex space which holds a small work station for aspiring authors and one for aspiring artists, let the 270 degree views take your artistic works to new heights and fill up the full length book shelf and wall space with your own works.
The grounds hold an inviting array of activities, from the natural spring swim area, to the bon fire, extensive gardens, elevated patio with wood fire oven and musician performance area to clothes line. Chickens, bees, wildlife and full landscaping fill out the space.
This commune is ready for Essence and co’ to make it their forever home far, far away from my office. Seriously, natural soap exists dude. Apply it.
I'm glad you found your inspiration. I love your window choices! Nice way to give them all separate spaces while maintaining continuity. Very eclectic! All hippies should love it there.
LOT SIZE, ADDRESS & FINAL COST: 64X54 - Stoney Falls, 57 Waterfall Way, Sunset Valley - final cost: 114,717
LOT DESCRIPTION & DETAILS: At first I was going to build on the lot next to Stoney Falls, but then the idea of showering using the waterfall was just too cool!
This lot is built on top of Stoney Falls, revitalizing the old Stoney Mill there beside the waterfall. The walkways criss-cross the pond, giving adequate access to all corners of the lot while keeping the center open to appreciate the beauty of nature.
The first small building one comes to is the bike shed, with the mail box and garbage and recycle bins. Near that is the covered firepit for roasting marshmallows and telling ghost stories!
There are three cabins for private spaces -
The first (labeled Cabin A) is the largest with two floors for Sky and his kid sister Sparrow. He is a natural cook who loves to swim, is quite handy, neat, and eco-friendly. His favorites are green, mushroom omelette, and Chinese music. He keeps his room on the main floor very tidy, with the view from his bed overlooking the area of the pond where it's easy to swim.
Sparrow is on the second floor, with a nook for all her collectible items. She's a teen who is very adventurous, loves the outdoors, gathers and is eco-friendly. Her favorites are yellow, parfait, and Egyptian music.
Cabin B is where Raven and her wife and artistic partner Lavender live. It is the smallest cabin, but that is how they like it. Cozy and comfortable, with just enough space for their things. Raven has two easels, one indoor and one outdoor depending on her mood. She is artistic, dramatic, a perfectionist, vegetarian, and eco-friendly. Her favorites are blue (but really, she's an artist, she loves all colors!), mushroom omelette, and classical music.
Lavender has her laptop and desk where she can write beside the window which overlooks the pond. She is also artistic, vegetarian, perfectionist, and eco-friendly, and is also a bookworm. Her favorites are white, falafel and indie music.\
The third Cabin, C, is for Storm and Essence. It has a grand wrap porch with space to relax and watch the chickens peck around the garden. Essence has three guitars and loves to play his favorite indie music. His other favorites are red and dim sum. He is absent minded, avant garden, artistic, a virtuoso, and eco-friendly.
Storm loves his garden and wanted it to be close by, and keeps indoor plants as well. His favorite color is of course green, and he loves autumn salad and roots music. He is absent minded, loves the outdoors, is a night owl, eco-friendly, and definitely has a green thumb. He enjoys fishing late into the night.
While their respective cabins offer some private space when needed, in general they don't treat any space as off-limits to anyone. The old Mill was revitalized into the commons - where the kitchen, living and dining areas, games loft and a greenhouse can be found. There is a fireplace and plenty of seating for everyone to enjoy hanging out with one another, reading, listening to music, or trying their hand in the kitchen. There is even a canning station for keeping the produce for year-round enjoyment. The old water wheel provides most of the electricity needed for the lot.
The outhouse building has 4 toilet stalls, two sinks, and shelves for all those spare necessities like extra toilet paper! The shower area is right under the waterfall, and has a sauna for extra relaxation.
Every corner was designed to be eclectic, a jumble of styles, patterns, and colors pulled together from thrift stores and handed-down items. Even so, comfort was paramount - the spaces had to feel welcoming and bright without hurting the eyes or being overwhelming. And, of course, the individual preferences of those living in the spaces were taken into consideration.
This lot puts the "aqua" in Aquarius, the pond being central both literally and as a focus for the covered porches off the private cabins.
@creativemetaphor I LOVE that outdoor shower/sauna!!! I'm stealing it. The rest of the lot is amazing too, but I suddenly have a driving need to have that shower area in my town.
@ElleDaes Your commune is so bright and cheery! I thought it was clever how you clipped the woodpile through by the fireplace, it looks really to make that awesome rustic woodcut look. I love the open kitchen and the sleek bathroom, The lofted bedrooms were a really creative way to share the space but give them the feeling of privacy. The picnic platform overlooking the whole area looks just dreamy. Great job!
@creativemetaphor I thought you did a fantastic job blending the commune into the surrounds, great idea using the existing waterfall in Sunset Valley but expanding it into a water feature for your lot. I like the individuality of all the little buildings, it looks like a tiny logging town for overhead. I love your landscaping, it looks natural and really relaxed. All the rooms are decorated with so much personality.
Great job everyone, I'm hope everyone who wanted to do this one made it in time. Thanks for uploading yours @Ciane I'm sure it'll get a lot of use.
“I can’t believe it’s been three months since I met Ms Hawthorne” You think to yourself as you open the email from The Hawthorne Legacy on your laptop. You still had Rose sitting in the foyer being her ultra efficient self, now, the foyer looks a little like a bomb site, with papers and folio’s littering most of the surfaces.
“I really miss Rose. She's only been on holiday a week and it's like she was never here!.” You ruminate on this as you read the email.
Hi, my name is Karl Hedges, I saw a flyer for the Hawthorne Project and had to email in for my sister, Julia. She is new to the area and is stuck in a small one room apartment in a shady area of town. It’s a shame she’s so much of a loner, she barely leaves her apartment. She deserves better than this, I would love to help her myself, but my husband was recently made redundant and we have three wonderful children to support. She moved here to be closer to us and I feel just awful that things haven’t turned out as planned. We were planning on building an annex to our home for her to live in, so that I could return to work as a Personal Assistant. Julia is a nanny, she is so family oriented, we were going to provide room and board for her services. I have attached a link to her Simpinterest account so that you can see the sort of decor ideas she has.
You click the link and you are taken to a page that shows a real love of shabby chic, lots of baby pinks and blues and creams. This girl has taste you think to yourself. As you continue to browse Julia’s Pins you notice that there are lots of Yoga poses and clothing, as well as healthy recipes. You continue to read the rest of Karl’s email.
She doesn’t know that I am doing this for her, she is quite proud and would hate to think that she was being given ‘charity’, but I want her to be safe and have a home she can love. Everyone deserves at least that. She is so cheerful about her situation, insisting that something will turn up.
Thanks for taking the time to read this email and I really hope to hear from you soon.
Regards.
Karl Hedges
This is perfect, you think to yourself, you start up your design programme and start beavering away on ideas for your new project.
Brief
§30,000 budget
A 1 or 2 bedroom home, you have free reign on how the house is built, landscaped, laid out etc.
Must include: a computer, a vegetable garden, a chess table, an easel, at least one musical instrument, at least one piece of fitness equipment and a book case.
Optional challenge:
Create Julia and include 3 pictures of her enjoying her new home.
A reminder to use the entry form as is. If you are adding any pictures, please limit them to two per entry post and place them at the bottom of the entry form.
@Jessabeans@ElleDaes Thank you both I don't know what it was about this challenge, I guess I over-thought it too much or something, but it really was hard to get my feet under me and get this done. I'm actually quite happy with the result, though a few extra days would have been nice
All these builds are so creative and unique! Everyone had such wonderful ideas. From composting toilets, varies water collections, reclaimed wood, tents, the water wheel for electric and chickens! Love them all!
Question on this month's - if we make a fully functional (all required rooms like kitchen and bath etc) addition, can we build it as an addition to the envisioned brother's house? So it would be like a mother-in-law apartment sort of thing? The addition would need to keep to the budget, obv. but is that an option?
So, if I understand what you're saying, you would build the brother's house, check the cost, then build the addition Karl originally envisioned for §30,000? I think that would work as long as it's more of a guest house on the same property. Otherwise, you could potentially get a small budget advantage over other builders based on any shared walls between the two structures.
So, a separated guest house on the same property would work, but an actual addition to the brother's house would not.
If you go the guest house route, please save and a share a link to the brother's house BEFORE the challenge addition so that we can verify the net cost of the guest house portion of the build.
@BuildnShare I admit, I did not expect a yes on that! I actually started laying out a build already so what I think I'll do is just build the brother's house on the next door lot, just for fun. Thanks for considering it, though!
So I started building a cute little 2 bedroom cottage for this challenge and with only the kitchen semi-furnished I'm already at 22k
I don't know how y'all do this as I seriously cannot build on a budget! Back to the drawing board!
Anyway, I have a question... @BuildnShare what exactly qualifies as fitness equipment? Is it merely just the treadmills, pull-up bars, etc? Or is it anything that increases the athletic skill (not a tv or radio... but any other object)?
So I started building a cute little 2 bedroom cottage for this challenge and with only the kitchen semi-furnished I'm already at 22k
I don't know how y'all do this as I seriously cannot build on a budget! Back to the drawing board!
Anyway, I have a question... @BuildnShare what exactly qualifies as fitness equipment? Is it merely just the treadmills, pull-up bars, etc? Or is it anything that increases the athletic skill (not a tv or radio... but any other object)?
@Kesminlix - yep, building to a tight budget is very challenging!! As for fitness, you got it, anything that increases the athletic skill that is not a TV or radio
So I started building a cute little 2 bedroom cottage for this challenge and with only the kitchen semi-furnished I'm already at 22k
I don't know how y'all do this as I seriously cannot build on a budget! Back to the drawing board!
Ooh ooh! I know the answer to this one
Some of my tricks for getting cheaper houses:
If you know how to use the constrainfloorelevation cheat, you can use foundation walls to make thick exterior walls for a cottage (like old stone cottage walls). Foundation pieces are like 4 each and walls are 70 so you can get a lot of house for a lot less than you'd think. You can even sneak in some "free" basement space with them!
Another note on foundation pieces - the default brick is very expensive!!! The first thing you should do when you lay a foundation is delete out the interior (which will make the price shoot up) and then recolor all the interior surfaces with free wall coverings. If it fits your design, recolor the exterior with cheaper wall coverings. This can take a 2000 cost foundation down to a 200 cost foundation just by changing the default brick!
I know all those shiny expensive pieces are so tempting, but especially with counter tops, try to limit yourself in both quantity and cost. Kitchens can kill a small budget so easily! The smallest functional kitchen only requires four spaces - fridge, stove, sink, and one free counter to prepare food on. You can use shelves or even an end table for additional 'decor' space instead of using an expensive counter piece.
Use the free or 3 simolean pool wall everywhere you can and redesign for a variety of patterns. This won't always be the most appealing option but you really can get quite an array of effects just using CASt.
Use roof pieces to build attic walls! If you have an attic tucked into your roof, don't build the attic and then put the roof in around it. That uses expensive wall pieces and you still have to add wall covering!! If you put a full gable over your build, then put in half gables on both sides (so the rooves overlap) the half gables will auto-put in walls around their perimeter! Presto - you have an attic without having to spend any money on walls and the best part is wall coverings on auto-placed roof ends don't cost anything, so you can splurge with the expensive wall coverings up there!
Another cheat of 'desperation' can be recoloring free wood floors tiles to make throw rugs. It's annoying because the underlying wood texture remains, but some CASt options hide the lines fairly well.
Using the cheap carpet tiles and CASting them is also another way to get very cheap but not quite free rugs, but also stone, masonry, etc floors without the expensive floor coverings.
You may have known most of this already but just in case there is a lurker out there who didn't know - now you know!
@Kesminlix There is also buydebug - great for lighting and specializing your mailbox - and, if you set your build to commercial no-visitors, you can use some of the free commercial items in build mode to help populate your decorations. There's a really nice free brick wall, you can recolor for different brick finishes. Also, you can delete interior foundation pieces, like a real house, they usually only have exterior brick, that will save you $4 per square foot of your house's footprint. Also, if you put all the walls, doors and windows up and it costs you more than 30% of your budget, it's too big, you have to edit. Good luck!
Comments
Store Install
Unlocked Stencils
random legacy
NAME: ElleDaes
LINK TO LOT: https://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=9205150
LINK TO MEDIA: https://www.facebook.com/pg/ElleDaes/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2036015719972033
OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: n/a
LEVEL: intermediate
LOT SIZE, ADDRESS & FINAL COST: 40x40 Lot, no address, $124,999
LOT DESCRIPTION & DETAILS:
A commune that takes advantage of all that modern eco-research has to offer. Solar panels, wind power, water collection and radiant thermal windows along with ecofriendly materials like hempcrete and cork flooring all work together to minimize the eco footprint of this lot.
Built deep in the hills of Los Aniegos, the only means of accessing this property is by foot. Offering 360 degree views of the surrounding hills, this commune is isolated away from the “visible cancer of materialistic excess of the bourgeois”. With a lot of something for everyone.
Each private residence has a loft bed accessible from both sides via ladder and a private sitting area each decorated with a unique flair to suite our eclectic and eccentric future occupants.
The communal building holds a shared living room with built ins for collection display; an oversized kitchen made for group meal prep, harvestable clean up and canning and cooking; bench seating dining under a custom low energy, high character light display; and, finally, the communal bathroom with double vanity and prep area, three toilet stalls, two shower heads and a natural spring bath; upstairs is a flex space which holds a small work station for aspiring authors and one for aspiring artists, let the 270 degree views take your artistic works to new heights and fill up the full length book shelf and wall space with your own works.
The grounds hold an inviting array of activities, from the natural spring swim area, to the bon fire, extensive gardens, elevated patio with wood fire oven and musician performance area to clothes line. Chickens, bees, wildlife and full landscaping fill out the space.
This commune is ready for Essence and co’ to make it their forever home far, far away from my office. Seriously, natural soap exists dude. Apply it.
CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM: Yes
CREDIT TO SIMMERS FOR CUSTOM CONTENT USED: n/a
SPACE FOR PICTURES:
Store Install
Unlocked Stencils
random legacy
NAME: creativemetaphor
LINK TO LOT: not uploaded
LINK TO MEDIA: Commune of Aquarius
OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: included in above
LEVEL: advanced
LOT SIZE, ADDRESS & FINAL COST: 64X54 - Stoney Falls, 57 Waterfall Way, Sunset Valley - final cost: 114,717
LOT DESCRIPTION & DETAILS: At first I was going to build on the lot next to Stoney Falls, but then the idea of showering using the waterfall was just too cool!
This lot is built on top of Stoney Falls, revitalizing the old Stoney Mill there beside the waterfall. The walkways criss-cross the pond, giving adequate access to all corners of the lot while keeping the center open to appreciate the beauty of nature.
The first small building one comes to is the bike shed, with the mail box and garbage and recycle bins. Near that is the covered firepit for roasting marshmallows and telling ghost stories!
There are three cabins for private spaces -
The first (labeled Cabin A) is the largest with two floors for Sky and his kid sister Sparrow. He is a natural cook who loves to swim, is quite handy, neat, and eco-friendly. His favorites are green, mushroom omelette, and Chinese music. He keeps his room on the main floor very tidy, with the view from his bed overlooking the area of the pond where it's easy to swim.
Sparrow is on the second floor, with a nook for all her collectible items. She's a teen who is very adventurous, loves the outdoors, gathers and is eco-friendly. Her favorites are yellow, parfait, and Egyptian music.
Cabin B is where Raven and her wife and artistic partner Lavender live. It is the smallest cabin, but that is how they like it. Cozy and comfortable, with just enough space for their things. Raven has two easels, one indoor and one outdoor depending on her mood. She is artistic, dramatic, a perfectionist, vegetarian, and eco-friendly. Her favorites are blue (but really, she's an artist, she loves all colors!), mushroom omelette, and classical music.
Lavender has her laptop and desk where she can write beside the window which overlooks the pond. She is also artistic, vegetarian, perfectionist, and eco-friendly, and is also a bookworm. Her favorites are white, falafel and indie music.\
The third Cabin, C, is for Storm and Essence. It has a grand wrap porch with space to relax and watch the chickens peck around the garden. Essence has three guitars and loves to play his favorite indie music. His other favorites are red and dim sum. He is absent minded, avant garden, artistic, a virtuoso, and eco-friendly.
Storm loves his garden and wanted it to be close by, and keeps indoor plants as well. His favorite color is of course green, and he loves autumn salad and roots music. He is absent minded, loves the outdoors, is a night owl, eco-friendly, and definitely has a green thumb. He enjoys fishing late into the night.
While their respective cabins offer some private space when needed, in general they don't treat any space as off-limits to anyone. The old Mill was revitalized into the commons - where the kitchen, living and dining areas, games loft and a greenhouse can be found. There is a fireplace and plenty of seating for everyone to enjoy hanging out with one another, reading, listening to music, or trying their hand in the kitchen. There is even a canning station for keeping the produce for year-round enjoyment. The old water wheel provides most of the electricity needed for the lot.
The outhouse building has 4 toilet stalls, two sinks, and shelves for all those spare necessities like extra toilet paper! The shower area is right under the waterfall, and has a sauna for extra relaxation.
Every corner was designed to be eclectic, a jumble of styles, patterns, and colors pulled together from thrift stores and handed-down items. Even so, comfort was paramount - the spaces had to feel welcoming and bright without hurting the eyes or being overwhelming. And, of course, the individual preferences of those living in the spaces were taken into consideration.
This lot puts the "aqua" in Aquarius, the pond being central both literally and as a focus for the covered porches off the private cabins.
CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM: yes, please
CREDIT TO SIMMERS FOR CUSTOM CONTENT USED: n/a
SPACE FOR PICTURES:
Hippie Haven: https://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=9205007
Store Install
Unlocked Stencils
random legacy
Great job everyone, I'm hope everyone who wanted to do this one made it in time. Thanks for uploading yours @Ciane I'm sure it'll get a lot of use.
Happy Easter!
Also results and comments for all entrants in #BnS199 are available on Winner's Circle.
“I can’t believe it’s been three months since I met Ms Hawthorne” You think to yourself as you open the email from The Hawthorne Legacy on your laptop. You still had Rose sitting in the foyer being her ultra efficient self, now, the foyer looks a little like a bomb site, with papers and folio’s littering most of the surfaces.
“I really miss Rose. She's only been on holiday a week and it's like she was never here!.” You ruminate on this as you read the email.
Hi, my name is Karl Hedges, I saw a flyer for the Hawthorne Project and had to email in for my sister, Julia. She is new to the area and is stuck in a small one room apartment in a shady area of town. It’s a shame she’s so much of a loner, she barely leaves her apartment. She deserves better than this, I would love to help her myself, but my husband was recently made redundant and we have three wonderful children to support. She moved here to be closer to us and I feel just awful that things haven’t turned out as planned. We were planning on building an annex to our home for her to live in, so that I could return to work as a Personal Assistant. Julia is a nanny, she is so family oriented, we were going to provide room and board for her services. I have attached a link to her Simpinterest account so that you can see the sort of decor ideas she has.
You click the link and you are taken to a page that shows a real love of shabby chic, lots of baby pinks and blues and creams. This girl has taste you think to yourself. As you continue to browse Julia’s Pins you notice that there are lots of Yoga poses and clothing, as well as healthy recipes. You continue to read the rest of Karl’s email.
She doesn’t know that I am doing this for her, she is quite proud and would hate to think that she was being given ‘charity’, but I want her to be safe and have a home she can love. Everyone deserves at least that. She is so cheerful about her situation, insisting that something will turn up.
Thanks for taking the time to read this email and I really hope to hear from you soon.
Regards.
Karl Hedges
This is perfect, you think to yourself, you start up your design programme and start beavering away on ideas for your new project.
Brief
Optional challenge:
Create Julia and include 3 pictures of her enjoying her new home.
A reminder to use the entry form as is. If you are adding any pictures, please limit them to two per entry post and place them at the bottom of the entry form.
The deadline for this challenge is 1st May 2018
I'm very glad you both enjoyed it!
♥♥♥ My TS3 DNA Thread ♥♥♥
Rose is on holiday..... (that is all
So, if I understand what you're saying, you would build the brother's house, check the cost, then build the addition Karl originally envisioned for §30,000? I think that would work as long as it's more of a guest house on the same property. Otherwise, you could potentially get a small budget advantage over other builders based on any shared walls between the two structures.
So, a separated guest house on the same property would work, but an actual addition to the brother's house would not.
If you go the guest house route, please save and a share a link to the brother's house BEFORE the challenge addition so that we can verify the net cost of the guest house portion of the build.
I don't know how y'all do this as I seriously cannot build on a budget! Back to the drawing board!
Anyway, I have a question... @BuildnShare what exactly qualifies as fitness equipment? Is it merely just the treadmills, pull-up bars, etc? Or is it anything that increases the athletic skill (not a tv or radio... but any other object)?
Ooh ooh! I know the answer to this one
Some of my tricks for getting cheaper houses:
If you know how to use the constrainfloorelevation cheat, you can use foundation walls to make thick exterior walls for a cottage (like old stone cottage walls). Foundation pieces are like 4 each and walls are 70 so you can get a lot of house for a lot less than you'd think. You can even sneak in some "free" basement space with them!
Another note on foundation pieces - the default brick is very expensive!!! The first thing you should do when you lay a foundation is delete out the interior (which will make the price shoot up) and then recolor all the interior surfaces with free wall coverings. If it fits your design, recolor the exterior with cheaper wall coverings. This can take a 2000 cost foundation down to a 200 cost foundation just by changing the default brick!
I know all those shiny expensive pieces are so tempting, but especially with counter tops, try to limit yourself in both quantity and cost. Kitchens can kill a small budget so easily! The smallest functional kitchen only requires four spaces - fridge, stove, sink, and one free counter to prepare food on. You can use shelves or even an end table for additional 'decor' space instead of using an expensive counter piece.
Use the free or 3 simolean pool wall everywhere you can and redesign for a variety of patterns. This won't always be the most appealing option but you really can get quite an array of effects just using CASt.
Use roof pieces to build attic walls! If you have an attic tucked into your roof, don't build the attic and then put the roof in around it. That uses expensive wall pieces and you still have to add wall covering!! If you put a full gable over your build, then put in half gables on both sides (so the rooves overlap) the half gables will auto-put in walls around their perimeter! Presto - you have an attic without having to spend any money on walls and the best part is wall coverings on auto-placed roof ends don't cost anything, so you can splurge with the expensive wall coverings up there!
Another cheat of 'desperation' can be recoloring free wood floors tiles to make throw rugs. It's annoying because the underlying wood texture remains, but some CASt options hide the lines fairly well.
Using the cheap carpet tiles and CASting them is also another way to get very cheap but not quite free rugs, but also stone, masonry, etc floors without the expensive floor coverings.
You may have known most of this already but just in case there is a lurker out there who didn't know - now you know!
Your results are now available here.