Spring Gifts To: Bookworm742 (Picture Heavy) «12...Next Go

KaytayRoall

@Bookworm742

Hi buddy!

Before we get to your first present, I'm going to make you wait while I ramble a bit. First of all, I want to thank you. Your letter was so inspiring. It gave me so many ideas, I didn't even know where to start! Once I got going, I had so much fun creating your gifts for you and learned some new things in the process.

One of the first bits of information from your letter to stand out to me were your appreciation of craftsman style homes and also your Barnacle Bay rebuild inspired by Greencats. I'm a big fan of craftsman style myself and also a follower of Greencats' work. She's one of the builders who inspired me to improve my building skills! So what I ended up with is a bit of a fusion of cape cod and craftsman styles. I may not be half the builder GC is (seriously, the things she does with CFE!), but I did my best to draw from that inspiration.

So without further ado, I present to you...

Seafoam Haven

From the front...


And the back...


The entryway is simple and open.


Leading straight into the living room.


The living room is open to the floor above, which you can just barely see at the top of the picture.


The living room leads right into the dining room.


Which, of course, opens on to the kitchen.



Complete with breakfast nook for cozy family meals.


The kitchen also has an entry back into the front hallway. Across from which is the study.



Also on the first floor is the master bedroom.


With ensuite bathroom.



The final stop on the first floor tour is the garage. Not much to see, but I tried to not leave it entirely barren.


Here's an overview of the first floor to show the layout. It also shows the second bathroom on that floor, which was too small to get a good picture of.


At the top of the stairs is a small family area with entertainment center.


This is where the balcony overlooks the living room below.


This first bedroom on this floor is a nursery. I tried to keep it simple and relatively gender-neutral.



The second bedroom is a children's bedroom. Again, I tried to make it somewhat flexible in terms of gender.



And finally the second floor layout. This floor also has a small bathroom that I didn't get a picture of.

KaytayRoall

The Shelley-Hunt Household



Fynn was a classic lone wolf. He kept to himself, fishing the peaceful waters, so he wouldn't end up hurting anyone as a result of his short temper and subsequent shifting. Until the day he reeled in a bigger catch than he'd ever imagined: Liya, an adventurous but accident-prone mermaid, lost and injured in a storm. Fynn cared for her as she recovered, while she broke through his prickly demeanor with her kindness and ready sense of humor. The couple are unusual, but very much in love.

KaytayRoall

Hau'oli Luau

Aloha! Welcome to the Hau'oli Luau, themed performance venue.



Order a meal from the chef, or make your own on the hibachi grills.



Get a drink from the open air bar.



Take in a live performance or dance the night away by firelight.



Behind the scenes, there is a dressing room for performers.



And the kitchen, of course.



There's plenty of fun to be had at this luau any day.


*Disclaimer: Staged picture*

This gift would not have been possible without all the help I received from @tanubanue, @cmbaker16 and @Catdog123. They were a tremendous help with playtesting and research, which brings me to a little bit of a warning I need to give you. If a singer performs at the venue, the tables for watching the show will disappear, seemingly so sims can stand and dance in those places as an audience. While playtesting, this was rather alarming to discover, but Tanu found out that the tables will come back after the venue closes (3am), so don't worry.

And finally... Who is that on the stage, you ask?

KaytayRoall

The Keahi Acrobats



These two islander brothers have been trained in traditional fire-based acrobatics since they were children and are skilled acrobats despite their young age. Inoke is friendly, with a love of the ocean to match the fire of his act, calling himself Fluid Flame on the stage. Aolani loves to party and the attention he gets from the ladies when he shows off his tricks, performing under the name Heartblaze.







My plan for these two was that you could drop them into any town with the luau venue and hopefully catch the occasional show that they perform there. Or maybe introduce some new genetics. Of course, they are all yours and you can play them however you want.

That's all from me. I hope I have been able to bring you some new fun and a bit of variety for your game. Thank you so much for your inspiring letter and for being my buddy, I truly had so much fun making all of your gifts!

KaytayRoall

That should do... This thread is now open!

SjappielovePaul

One word: no not sufficient, need more...

Wow Kaytay it's lovely! Like seriously, wow... I'm at the same time speachless and trying to not use to many words lol. Don't sell yourself short on GC, you're one of my favourite builders

KaytayRoall

SjappielovePaul wrote: »

One word: no not sufficient, need more...

Wow Kaytay it's lovely! Like seriously, wow... I'm at the same time speachless and trying to not use to many words lol. Don't sell yourself short on GC, you're one of my favourite builders

D'awww! SJ! That is so incredibly sweet! Thank you so much!

ciane

Awesomesauce does not begin to describe this lovely home! I LOVE all the jut outs that are each different with a nice complement of varying rooflines and construction type. The gray brick is perfect with the other textures and oh my, I LOVE that zigzag pattern that way on top! The colors are great! I love them alot. The soft wood tones are perfect! Your entertainment center is awesome and that bathtub MOO is just... WOW! You have surpassed all expections here! I will be playing your house in my game!

Kgaff

What can I say, I love this house!

cmbaker16

Nice job! I the house, really like the simple look to it and love the colors inside and out! only one word to describe it SIMTASTIC!!!

MsPrissy88

...... to infinity


Does that count as a comment?? lol WOW! @Kaytay.... This is -- I agree with @Cm. SIMTASTIC!! REC'd and (obviously) Favorite(d).

KaytayRoall

@ciane @Kgaff @cmbaker16 Thank you all so much for the lovely compliments! I'm really happy with how this house came out myself and am looking forward to having it in my own game!

KaytayRoall

I'll accept that as a comment, @MsPrissy88 lol Thank you!

Bookworm742

O_O Seafoam Haven is gorgeous!! I *love* the combination of exteriors you used...and such great colors! And speaking of colors...those tile walls and floors are fantastic! Really love the way the purple and green work in that bathroom! And the blue tones in the bedroom are so soothing. Looks like a great relaxing space! Really like how the study is so neutral...not too masculine, but not feminine either. Love the sailboat touches, too. And great choices on the furnishings, they really suit the overall feel of the house.


Flynn and Liya are great! A werewolf fisherman and a clumsy mermaid, love it! XD And I *really* love some of the clothing recolors for Liya! Great choices! They're going to be a blast to play.

MsPrissy88

@Kaytay - HOW did you get the kitchen counters to work like that?!?? Sure, once I have this house in my game I will check it out for myself, but........ SPILL. Inquiring minds NEED TO KNOW your secret!!


Just REC'd Flynn & Liya! And of course, Seafoam Haven.

SjappielovePaul

MsPrissy88 wrote: »

@Kaytay - HOW did you get the kitchen counters to work like that?!?? Sure, once I have this house in my game I will check it out for myself, but........ SPILL. Inquiring minds NEED TO KNOW your secret!!


Just wRECked Flynn & Liya! And of course, Seafoam Haven.

My guess is MOO to put the counters 'in' each other, but it's a wild guess!

Also Kaytay Finn and Liya look adorable I love their story! Guess one of my own traits is Hopeless Romantic haha!

Also as Prissy started it, I have a question how come you can see the top floor from downstairs? If I build like that, you know open around the stairs and all, I can never see furniture from another floor level and when looking up, my game shows the sky instead of the top floor level. So if that's understandable (lol :') ) I'd love to know how I can accomplish that!

tanubanue

I love the color you chose for the house

KaytayRoall

@Bookworm742 Yay! I could not be happier that you like the house so much. Especially the colors! I was a bit worried I neglected your favorite purple too much because that blue and all the white went so nicely together, they sort of took over the color scheme! I like to try making my builds all around neutral, so that they can be used over and over with just a bit of tweaking. As for Fynn and Liya, I love to make supernatural sims, but especially if I can give them sort of odd quirk or fun backstory. I'm glad you like them and the clothing recolors! I guess those are sort of a bonus gift when you get sims!

Bookworm742

KaytayRoall wrote: »

@Bookworm742 Yay! I could not be happier that you like the house so much. Especially the colors! I was a bit worried I neglected your favorite purple too much because that blue and all the white went so nicely together, they sort of took over the color scheme! I like to try making my builds all around neutral, so that they can be used over and over with just a bit of tweaking. As for Fynn and Liya, I love to make supernatural sims, but especially if I can give them sort of odd quirk or fun backstory. I'm glad you like them and the clothing recolors! I guess those are sort of a bonus gift when you get sims!

Blue and white do go great together! And they really do go perfectly in the house! Now I just have to go find the perfect place to *put* it, lol. The neutral build idea is a good one...the less you have to do when you start a new game to make the world "playable" the better, right? (Seriously, I've been known to spend an entire afternoon in edit world before even starting to play before, just adding/moving expansion lots and more housing and populating the town with more interesting genetics!) Craftsman houses have the added benefit of fitting in perfectly in lots of worlds, too.

And supernatural sims are some of my favorites to create, too. So much potential for fun with them, I feel....more so than with human sims, since it just feels weird to me to create a human sim with, say, green skin. But it works great for a fairy or genie!

KaytayRoall

@MsPrissy88 lol SJ is right, it's mostly the cheat "moveobjects on", but I think you also need "disablesnappingtoslotsonalt on" to move them freely when they are next to other counters. And I wish I could claim it was my secret, but I stole the idea from one of @GreenCats builds. Well, she was serving as my primary inspiration for this. That said, I do love the kitchen and definitely plan on having a sim who focuses on cooking living in this house at some point. It's the reason Liya is a natural cook! Just in case Bookworm decides to play that family in that house.

@SjappielovePaul Thanks! I'm a sucker for a bit of romance myself, so... As for your question, it's mostly not about building, but picture-taking, actually. To show upper floors, before taking pictures I hit the "page up" button a bunch so that all the levels and roofs are up, then hit "tab" to go into cameraman mode. The movement in that mode allows you to pass through walls and floors, so even though you have the uppermost floor selected, you can take pictures on lower levels. BUT there is a drawback to this, sometimes it will turn the ceiling black, so that has to be looked out for. I hope that makes sense. If it doesn't, let me know and I'll try to explain it a different way.

@tanubanue Thank you! Once I started decorating the inside, the outside became obvious.

SjappielovePaul

KaytayRoall wrote: »

@MsPrissy88 lol SJ is right, it's mostly the cheat "moveobjects on", but I think you also need "disablesnappingtoslotsonalt on" to move them freely when they are next to other counters. And I wish I could claim it was my secret, but I stole the idea from one of @GreenCats builds. Well, she was serving as my primary inspiration for this. That said, I do love the kitchen and definitely plan on having a sim who focuses on cooking living in this house at some point. It's the reason Liya is a natural cook! Just in case Bookworm decides to play that family in that house.

@SjappielovePaul Thanks! I'm a sucker for a bit of romance myself, so... As for your question, it's mostly not about building, but picture-taking, actually. To show upper floors, before taking pictures I hit the "page up" button a bunch so that all the levels and roofs are up, then hit "tab" to go into cameraman mode. The movement in that mode allows you to pass through walls and floors, so even though you have the uppermost floor selected, you can take pictures on lower levels. BUT there is a drawback to this, sometimes it will turn the ceiling black, so that has to be looked out for. I hope that makes sense. If it doesn't, let me know and I'll try to explain it a different way.

@tanubanue Thank you! Once I started decorating the inside, the outside became obvious.

Hah, I never knew I could go through floors in Tab! which key do I have to use to get lower or higher? The arrows are only to go forward/backward/left/right and my mousepad for turning the angle. Pretty much all commands I know in Tab.

Thanks for answering so quickly I've been annoyed by that detail for so long! I can even get some better pics for one of my last gifts already it's great to know I can finally be really satisfied with my pictures

KaytayRoall

@Bookworm742 Oh! I forgot to tell you! It was built at 617 Trawler Cliffs in BB. Of course, you don't have to place it there if you don't want to. One of the reasons I picked a 30x30 lot is because it could also be placed on a 30x40 lot, which there are a fair number of in BB, if you wanted a bit more outside space, but this way it was also still fairly small if you didn't have a larger lot available. I've definitely done the same, spending a whole day setting up for a game before actually settling in to play!

I agree about Craftsman houses being very versatile that way! I'll let you in on a secret. When I was first building this one for you, the original plan was for it to be suitable for placement in either Hidden Springs OR Barnacle Bay, but I couldn't come up with a color scheme that worked really well in both. Then I started decorating it, ended up going with a sort of nautical theme because it just felt right and decided to go with the BB version of it. If you're interested, I'd be happy to tweak it a bit and upload a second version in different exterior colors to fit better in HS. The interior and exterior just won't match up quite as nicely in the second version.

@SjappielovePaul Um... *has to pop in game to check controls* Q and E control altitude. W and S move you forward and back, A and D side to side. Z and X zoom in and out, but be careful with those inside or you'll end up with fishbowl pictures. And you're very welcome! I'm happy I could help you with your gift presentation and that you happened to catch me while I was online commenting so I could respond quickly.

SjappielovePaul

I'm soo enthusiastic right now I usually zoom by scrolling and had indeed some funny effects at times lol.

But now I'm just the happiest person ever! I can finally get rid of the 'holes in the ceiling that show the sky' while there's another floor level

XxHannelorexX

@KaytayRoall Seafoam Haven is beautiful The colour scheme is so soothing.

And your Shelley-Hunt family look like fun to play!

Rec'd

Shannen

@KaytayRoall Wow! I adore Seafoam Haven, it's really pretty. I really like the layout and the colour schemes go very nicely together. Awww the sim couple are so cute, I love the picture of them

suzses

@KaytayRoall Ah, how I love the exterior of Seafoam Haven. I can imagine it many places in my games, but yes, it's perfect for Barnacle Bay. You've done some really clever things with the built-ins in the interior - the kitchen, the tv/entertainment center, and the built-in bathroom tub. I need to steal some of these ideas! I love the subtle colors, especially liking the office.

Fynn and Liya are really interesting sims, and I love how you put them together. A werewolf and a mermaid - who would have ever thought!