I hear you about things being simpler back in the day! But fun about your memories of designing dream home floor plans! I’ll still occasionally pull out a graph notebook to draw up floor plans to better visualize and organize my build ideas. I mostly wing it now, but when I know I’m not going to get in game anytime soon I’ll sketch a plan so I don’t forget what I wanted to do—somehow, I always have more project ideas than I do game time.
Applying RL floor plans to Sim houses can be tricky because real measurements don’t translate well to the build grid. Some people use ratios like 2-3’ per square, whereas others simply base their metrics visually, by considering the space needed for standard game objects. Both methods are useful. But recreating Sim houses in game, as you’re doing now, is a good place to start. Using the pre-made homes in various worlds, those from the Library bin and other simmer’s builds are all excellent sources for inspiration and experience. You may find the blueprint mode that came with patch 1.42 to be valuable in putting a build together as well. And you’re most welcome; I’m glad you’ve found my screenshots helpful.
CASt is an amazing feature; that’s great you’re enjoying it! I love TS2 for the animations, attention to simulation detail, rotational play and EPs like OFB, but TS3 has so much to offer as far as creativity, customization and control, in addition to a massive amount of content. And like you mentioned, mods allow even more possibilities to help make the game truly your own. Gardening and nectar-making are actually some of my favorite things to do, and having farms with horses go perfectly with those activities. I hope your legacy family gets to experience all these things! That is, once there’s a solid roof over heads again.
@starguru I have been working on the house again this weekend (been a RL month now) and have finally gotten MOST of the walls up and some of it painted. I'll probably lose my sanity when I start working on the roof. My Sims are still in suspended animation standing out by the greenhouse. *laughs* Boy are they in for a surprise when they "wake up"! They will also be a bit surprised that their cushy bank account is pretty well wiped out...
EDIT: I'm going to keep editing this post as I'm getting the family's furniture moved in and adding pieces.
* I'm curious how you did the 2nd floor patio roof. It looks like slats or something.
* In the living room, I'm seeing what looks like shelves under the TV. How were those done?
* I see a laundry room but I'm not seeing laundry baskets in the bedrooms/bathrooms. Have you done your decorator magic and hid them?
@starguru I have been working on the house again this weekend (been a RL month now) and have finally gotten MOST of the walls up and some of it painted. I'll probably lose my sanity when I start working on the roof. My Sims are still in suspended animation standing out by the greenhouse. *laughs* Boy are they in for a surprise when they "wake up"! They will also be a bit surprised that their cushy bank account is pretty well wiped out...
EDIT: I'm going to keep editing this post as I'm getting the family's furniture moved in and adding pieces.
* I'm curious how you did the 2nd floor patio roof. It looks like slats or something.
* In the living room, I'm seeing what looks like shelves under the TV. How were those done?
* I see a laundry room but I'm not seeing laundry baskets in the bedrooms/bathrooms. Have you done your decorator magic and hid them?
Yays for progress! Roofs can be tricky, but if getting them to blend makes you too crazy, you could try using the autoroof feature and then adjusting from there. Hopefully your Sims funds won’t be too horribly depleted, lol.
Which home are you using to model yours after? I can be more specific with my answers knowing that. But generally speaking:
*An open patio roof that looks like it’s made up of slats (resembling a pergola) in any of my builds is designed using short base game fencing.
*Depending on the build, it may be the shelves from Generations EP. I often use those when creating things like custom entertainment stands around a wall mounted TV. I don’t remember doing that for any of the example homes I linked, but can look into it when I know what build plans/pictures you’re following.
*I usually do place laundry hampers in bedrooms and bathrooms, and tend not to hide them so Sims can access them without routing difficulty. It’s possible they may not be visible from the angles I took the pictures from.
Yays for progress! Roofs can be tricky, but if getting them to blend makes you too crazy, you could try using the autoroof feature and then adjusting from there. Hopefully your Sims funds won’t be too horribly depleted, lol.
Which home are you using to model yours after? I can be more specific with my answers knowing that. But generally speaking:
*An open patio roof that looks like it’s made up of slats (resembling a pergola) in any of my builds is designed using short base game fencing.
*Depending on the build, it may be the shelves from Generations EP. I often use those when creating things like custom entertainment stands around a wall mounted TV. I don’t remember doing that for any of the example homes I linked, but can look into it when I know what build plans/pictures you’re following.
*I usually do place laundry hampers in bedrooms and bathrooms, and tend not to hide them so Sims can access them without routing difficulty. It’s possible they may not be visible from the angles I took the pictures from.
Thanks for the reply!
I can’t use the auto roofs because I did a custom flat roof on my greenhouse to be able to put those really cool special greenhouse windows on top of it. So I have to manually do the roof on the main house. To be honest I don’t care how it looks because I actually don’t see it with the walls down while I’m playing so it’s not that big of a deal. I just need to make sure that I have a roof over the entire house I don’t have any snow getting in!
The house that I am designing is based off of this one of yours:
You have so much detail in your house, it would be hard for me to see those laundry baskets. I’m going to put them here and there because I hate it when my Sims leave clothes all over the house. Once they get their funds up again, I think I’m going to hire a butler instead of having a maid. The house is so big it will take a full-time person to keep it clean!
So far I have gone through close to $150,000 with this build. I knew it would be expensive and that’s OK. My Sims tend to get to Rich after a few generations and doing something like this helps them stay humble! I think they are down to about $65,000 and I decided to wait on painting and decorating the third floor which I don’t think they will use much for a while. I also haven’t built the gardens and the beautiful walkways, etc. I think maybe tomorrow they will get to move in and we will see how it all goes.
Another question came to mind. Hopefully you can see the link I posted of the house you built. Many of the bedrooms have a very tiny room connected to them. It looks like it’s one by three and all of them have a door. I could only really see that they have a light fixture. What are you using these little rooms for?
@Rhiannon58 Ah, no wonder I was confused! That build isn’t mine. It was created by @Sandraelle. She’s still active here and may be able to assist you further. Hopefully she’ll get the notification so she can read your lovely comments about her work. If not, you could message her directly on her page.
I can see the pix in the link though, and from what I can tell of this build in regards to your previous questions:
*The short monorail fencing was used for the open patio/pergola roof.
*In the living room behind the TV there are the Generation shelves at the bottom, and what appear to be the shelves from the Aurora Skies world behind it.
*I am seeing a few hampers in some of the bedrooms and bathrooms, so the rest are probably just not visible given the angles in the rooms and from the distance in the overviews.
*I would assume the 1x3 rooms are bedroom closets, included for realism and/or from following a RL floor plan.
Also, I’m not sure that trying autoroof would necessarily affect your greenhouse, assuming the greenhouse roof pieces already cover the area. And if you truly aren’t concerned with the roof appearance but have too much difficulty with a manual roof, you could just place floor tiles and create a flat roof. Best of luck!
Sorry for the confusion @starguru! I've seen some of your designs too and reading back on this particular thread, I'm not sure how I assumed this one was yours. It might have been the screenshots of some of your gorgeous homes that are equally as beautiful as the one I selected to try from Sandraelle. Regardless, your input has helped me tremendously.
Those hampers must be recolored which makes perfect sense (I STILL couldn't see more than a couple today when I looked - old eyes). I think I will have some fun adding them to my Sims' rooms today as well as recolor some things I've missed, finish furnishing the rooms I'll be using and making sure all of the house is completely covered with the roof. Testing it yesterday, I'm glad it was snowing so I could see where I've missed a few spots. Hopefully by the end of the day, my family will be back to work refilling their bank. Once that's done, I'll be working on the yard and gardens. I have a large greenhouse so they can grow things year round but to make it look nice, I thought a garden might be fun to create. I'm sure glad my generational challenge required buying the largest lot in the city. This house took up a TON of the lot.
EDIT: Oh my gosh. This will entertain you awesome builders. So I unfroze my family and sent them into the house to do various tasks. I am trying to keep an eye on seven people, one who just went to work at the fire station. I thought I'd send my musician to the "music room" which really hasn't been setup yet except with a drum set. I figured I'd have him play his guitar there. Much to my surprise, he was showing a routing issue. So I took a closer look: the music room has no door.
Thanks, @Rhiannon58! And that’s alright; I’m glad to have been of some help regardless. Plus, this thread has been helpful/inspiring to me due to your original post seeking a large one story home. It made me realize that in all these years I’ve never built one in TS3! I always enjoy trying out “new” ideas in my builds, so that will be another good project to add to my list.
You are correct; the hampers I noticed were recolored. I see one in the 6 shower bathroom next to the sink, one in the nursery left of the changing table, and I believe there’s one in the laundry room to the left of the dryer. I can’t be certain about the other rooms, but it looks like there is space enough to place them as you wish. If not, you could eliminate the closets in the rooms that have them, which would give you the space needed for hampers or other objects.
And yes, this home is huge and was built on a 64x64 lot, which makes it ideal for a legacy family. Very good choice! It also sounds like you’re making good progress with the build and will be able to play your family again soon. Have fun!
@Rhiannon58 , so sorry I'm a bit late in chiming in here, but I missed seeing the notifications that I was mentioned in this thread, oops. My friend @soocoolsim alerted me, so hi everyone! I'm so happy that you found one of my houses to re-create. That was so long ago that I built this one and haven't looked at these pics in a while, lol. (It was actually one of my first creations as a DNA team member.)
And thank you to everyone who helped out answering her questions or provided her with the various links (@SPARKY1922, @starguru , @suzses, @Springfairy556 , @korset , @Karritz ) and I appreciate all the nice comments about my builds, you are all so nice! BTW Star, those are some beautiful lots you posted, love them all.
Yes starguru was totally correct about everything you asked about, in regards to the hampers, the two-toned wall, the shelving etc. (thank you again Star for all your help!).
I don't blame you for skipping the attached garage; for a long time I steered away from CFE because I messed it up when I'd go to try it so just avoided it, lol. And I also didn't like making basements under foundations as you have to plan ahead to make it work right. But with all the tutorials out there, it just takes some practice.
I always put hampers in every bedroom and/or bathroom and they're usually in a closet, as I try to stay realistic when I build, but since Sims don't need closets, it's just a matter of preference. (Speaking of closets, you should check out the 2-story closet I made for my most recent DNA request....my requester posted inspiration pictures so they wanted a huge closet. It's in this build if you want to take a look.)
I had to chuckle when you said you hadn't been in CASt much and that you spent 30 mins trying to get one color right, haha. That is so me!! LOL I'm addicted to that color wheel and would not be happy building without it. I almost always change the color or patterns on most every object I place, as most of the pre-colored/pre-patterned game items I don't like, lol. You will not regret learning how to use it. I always copy and paste the hex code for a color when I'm recoloring things with the same color scheme so I get the match right.
Oh and if you're planning on making the pergola over the upper deck, you'll discover that you have to place walls or columns first in order for the monorail fencing to stretch across the area.
I'm glad you are making progress on your build and would love to see pictures when you're done. If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to bring it up, I'd be happy to help. Happy building!
@Rhiannon58 , so sorry I'm a bit late in chiming in here, but I missed seeing the notifications that I was mentioned in this thread, oops. My friend @soocoolsim alerted me, so hi everyone! I'm so happy that you found one of my houses to re-create. That was so long ago that I built this one and haven't looked at these pics in a while, lol. (It was actually one of my first creations as a DNA team member.)
I'm honored to be in the presence of TS3 design royalty! *bow*
I don't blame you for skipping the attached garage; for a long time I steered away from CFE because I messed it up when I'd go to try it so just avoided it, lol. And I also didn't like making basements under foundations as you have to plan ahead to make it work right. But with all the tutorials out there, it just takes some practice.
I read some of the tutorials and quickly determined that I didn't want to leave my family in suspended animation (non-animation?) for many RL years. Thus, detached garage. The basement is another story. I could NOT get the stairs to work seeing as I had already built the entire first floor with a foundation. I even tried spiral stairs that SEEMED to have worked but my Sims couldn't go down them. I finally gave up and made an outside entrance. In my mind, it's like a cellar (yes, I'm old enough to have been in a few).
I always put hampers in every bedroom and/or bathroom and they're usually in a closet, as I try to stay realistic when I build, but since Sims don't need closets, it's just a matter of preference. (Speaking of closets, you should check out the 2-story closet I made for my most recent DNA request....my requester posted inspiration pictures so they wanted a huge closet. It's in this build if you want to take a look.)
I wondered what was in those little closets that I couldn't see. I have put hampers in every bathroom and bedroom and there are a few places my Sims still drop their clothes. They keep my butler constantly busy picking it up. Another amazing home you built there. WOW.
I had to chuckle when you said you hadn't been in CASt much and that you spent 30 mins trying to get one color right, haha. That is so me!! LOL I'm addicted to that color wheel and would not be happy building without it. I almost always change the color or patterns on most every object I place, as most of the pre-colored/pre-patterned game items I don't like, lol. You will not regret learning how to use it. I always copy and paste the hex code for a color when I'm recoloring things with the same color scheme so I get the match right.
One thing that has always driven me crazy is that I couldn't get all the furniture I wanted to match with decor and visa versa. We're talking a lifetime of playing Sims. I recolored a bed to match wall paper the other day and it was awesome. I suspect I will be a recoloring fool now. Great tip on copying the hex code. I've spent a good amount of time trying to match a certain color to another object.
Oh and if you're planning on making the pergola over the upper deck, you'll discover that you have to place walls or columns first in order for the monorail fencing to stretch across the area.
I did figure that out by looking very closely at your design and was able to recreate it. Looks awesome!
I'm glad you are making progress on your build and would love to see pictures when you're done. If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to bring it up, I'd be happy to help. Happy building!
I had gotten it about 85% done and stopped designing so my Sims could get back to work making simolias. I also wanted to try out the space and make sure everything worked (that's how I found out the basement stairs didn't work). I've been delighted with the ease at which my family is functioning in such a large house. I was hesitant to do a large multi-story home like this but it's working very well. Now that my family has recouped about half the money they spent on the house, I'm thinking about continuing the design. I painted (read that: recolored) the 3rd floor rooms, used one of the empty rooms to create an exercise room during my last play time. So the house is very close to being done. Now I need to work on the outside. I have a two-story greenhouse that I've done a little decorating in. I need to design a garden around the outside so it doesn't look out of place.
One question that came to mind: how did you get those small rocks along the walkways to fit close together? The small rocks I'm using take up a square and I can't seem to overlap them.
I've never posted pictures of my game - at all. But I'll have to make an exception and give you major kudos for your design, posting the floor plan and helping those of us who want amazing houses but lack the skill to do it on our own. It will be a while though. There is a ton of work to be done.
Not sure if you know this part or the above link shows this, but when one of your color channels is selected, you can grab it with your cursor (where it turns into a hand icon) and drag it on to whatever item you're wanting to recolor. This is useful when you are matching items with the same patterns/colors, it saves a lot of time. And you can also grab the little tab area just to the left of the first color channel, and it will grab all four of the colors at once so you can move it onto a similar object you want replicated. For instance, if you are recoloring a window, and you already have all of your windows placed and you change the colors of the first window, then you can just grab the whole color channel and move it onto each window and repeat. Saves you from having to do each window separately.
You can also click on the little "-" or "+" button that shows up on the bottom, to collapse color channels that are the same, that way you don't have to do each one over, if that makes sense.
One question that came to mind: how did you get those small rocks along the walkways to fit close together? The small rocks I'm using take up a square and I can't seem to overlap them.
I'm not sure if you've ever used the cheats, but for the rocks, I just turn on the cheats, "moveobjects on" and "disableSnappingToSlotsOnAlt on" to allow me to place things off the grids. Once this cheat is on, you hold down the "alt" key on your keyboard when grabbing the item to move. This is great for placing plants or moving furniture pieces closer together, but you have to be careful that you are not moving things in the way where your sim will have a routing issue, so you'll need to test areas at times. There are lots of cheats lists out there if you don't have a list, you can just google it. To bring up the cheat bar, you tap on the "ctrl shift c" on your keyboard (hold down all at the same time) and then you can type in the cheat commands.
@Sandraelle and all: it was requested that I post screen shots when I finished my house. First off, it took literal RL months before I was barely happy with it. It has a lot of issues still and isn't very photogenic. But I wanted to try to post a few shots (my first EVER screen shots of any Sims game). I finally stetup an IMGUR account for this purpose. So sorry for the lousy quality and excuse "the mess" of my neophyte building but here it is (note that I might edit this post a few times as I figure out how to imbed images). (also note that I'm playing around with this during the week and I never play during the week. So I didn't want to wait around until daylight to get better shots. Perhaps this weekend):
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Note that much of the home isn't being used very much right now. I just recently turned an empty room into a possible exercise room that I'll add more equipment and decorate. But it has given my large wealthy family a worthy home for them to live and expand in. Eventually I plan to add a pool and stables. I will likely also redo the greenhouse.
I didn't show the basement level. I never could get the inside stairs right and my Sim has to go outside to access her nectar making area.
Anyway, my first ever house I built that wasn't just a square box and my first ever use of CAS. Thanks to all that helped me with this and will continue to help I'm sure!
@Rhiannon58 , thanks so much for sharing your pictures with us. And kudos to you for your first time posting and sharing pics and first time using CASt! Yes, that would be great to see some daytime pictures whenever you get around to it. Have fun finishing it up.
That was my original post actually GraceyManor. I've been playing Sims since #1 and all of my houses have been boxes. I originally posted about how to have a one level home that was nice and functional. That got me to a page where I found a lovely home Sandraelle had created. She did top down pictures where I could easily copy the design and ended up with my first house I'm proud of. It's got problems for sure but it's the nicest home I've ever had in my Sims games.
Read back in the thread to find the link I eventually ended up on. I have limited play time only playing a few hours on the weekends usually and it took me literal months to create that house. My legacy family was in suspended (non)animation out in the yard. *laughs*
Your house is really Good.
Is it 8 bedrooms? Wow! I never made anything that big. Bravo for making it yourself and doing it so well.
I hardly ever play large houses (large lots, yes) then your post popped up and challenged me to make a 5 bedroom, single story house. So thank you for this.
At first I made the rooms too large (for my play style) but I made them a bit smaller. It's on a 30x40 lot.
I added dormers because the roof line was boring, without them (if you don't mind me showing pictures) -
That house is amazing Rflong7! If/when I ever finish with this legacy challenge, I'll likely move on to other things and will need to make more houses. This big one level is wonderful.
My house is actually six bedrooms if you count the nursery. There are also two offices, a workout room, music room and a kids' playroom. Lots of those extra rooms just haven't been decorated or used yet. I also have a tiny room for the live-in butler. It's a HUGE house. Way more than my family will need. But I loved Sandraelle's house so much, I figured what the heck. Let's do it. It will be a house I likely will work on for years. I keep finding rooms and hallways that have no paint. *laughs* And eventually the family will want to add a big pool and BBQ area. And then a horse stable (there is a unicorn that keeps popping up across the street at a pond there and I think one of my sims will likely want that as a pet).
Generation 5 just got born. Unfortunately he's a boy so I need to have more babies to get a girl (matriarch legacy). Looks like lots of watermelon will be eaten soon! Also unfortunately, the house is full. I have a couple of pets that are nearing the end of their life but I'm thinking my heir's brother might need to go find a place of his own soon...
So I finally got around to doing some screen caps of the house during the day. I'm still not sure the best way to get images from Imgur on here that look nice like other's do but here it is. My building skills are so elementary, I'll never get this house right. But at least my Sims have a large house to last for many generations to come.
I seriously can't take ANY credit for this house and it has so many problems, I'm sure @Sandraelle is like "that can't possibly be my house". *laughs* But it sure beats 100% of all the houses I've built in the nearly 18 years I've been enjoying the Sims. I have eventual plans to move and expand the garden, add a pool, possibly stables, a large outside garden in the back around the pool, TREES. Years of work. But the house is working for my family and while I originally wanted a one level house, this one is very functional for what I need.
I want to again thank all of those who helped me with my original post. I learned SO much and got addicted to CASt which I had never used. This whole process has made me appreciate TS3 so much more as well as this community that is going strong after 10 years (I know so many of you have been around the Sims since the beginning).
Geez @GraceyManor! Your first house is WAAAY better than any of my houses (with the possible exception of the one above). All of mine have been completely square boxes with windows. At least you have a front porch! And a driveway! And a lovely little balcony on the second floor!
I absolutely adore one storey houses as they are so easy to play in especially when I have a large sim family and I am sure @Sandraelle would be gracious enough to understand players having a go at being creative, heck if it was not for other creative players/builders on these forums I would never have had a lot to play in because I am one terrible builder so anyone with the confidence to give it a go like @GraceyManor and yourself has my 100% support as I admit all my years of playing should have had me trying to do something similar but I have not so in my mind you are brave and more creative than I might ever be
I absolutely adore one storey houses as they are so easy to play in especially when I have a large sim family and I am sure @Sandraelle would be gracious enough to understand players having a go at being creative, heck if it was not for other creative players/builders on these forums I would never have had a lot to play in because I am one terrible builder so anyone with the confidence to give it a go like @GraceyManor and yourself has my 100% support as I admit all my years of playing should have had me trying to do something similar but I have not so in my mind you are brave and more creative than I might ever be
@Rhiannon58, Looks like you're making good progress on your build and it's looking great. The fun thing about building is that you can put your own stamp on it now that you have the basics done.
Picture taking and posting can be tricky but it just takes practice. I don't use the image insertion on the post, I just go to images on imgur, click on your picture and you will get several options to the right. I just go the BBCode one and hit the copy button and paste it right in to your post. That way you don't have that extra text in your post, like this:
Comments
I hear you about things being simpler back in the day! But fun about your memories of designing dream home floor plans! I’ll still occasionally pull out a graph notebook to draw up floor plans to better visualize and organize my build ideas. I mostly wing it now, but when I know I’m not going to get in game anytime soon I’ll sketch a plan so I don’t forget what I wanted to do—somehow, I always have more project ideas than I do game time.
Applying RL floor plans to Sim houses can be tricky because real measurements don’t translate well to the build grid. Some people use ratios like 2-3’ per square, whereas others simply base their metrics visually, by considering the space needed for standard game objects. Both methods are useful. But recreating Sim houses in game, as you’re doing now, is a good place to start. Using the pre-made homes in various worlds, those from the Library bin and other simmer’s builds are all excellent sources for inspiration and experience. You may find the blueprint mode that came with patch 1.42 to be valuable in putting a build together as well. And you’re most welcome; I’m glad you’ve found my screenshots helpful.
CASt is an amazing feature; that’s great you’re enjoying it! I love TS2 for the animations, attention to simulation detail, rotational play and EPs like OFB, but TS3 has so much to offer as far as creativity, customization and control, in addition to a massive amount of content. And like you mentioned, mods allow even more possibilities to help make the game truly your own. Gardening and nectar-making are actually some of my favorite things to do, and having farms with horses go perfectly with those activities. I hope your legacy family gets to experience all these things! That is, once there’s a solid roof over heads again.
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EDIT: I'm going to keep editing this post as I'm getting the family's furniture moved in and adding pieces.
* I'm curious how you did the 2nd floor patio roof. It looks like slats or something.
* In the living room, I'm seeing what looks like shelves under the TV. How were those done?
* I see a laundry room but I'm not seeing laundry baskets in the bedrooms/bathrooms. Have you done your decorator magic and hid them?
Which home are you using to model yours after? I can be more specific with my answers knowing that. But generally speaking:
*An open patio roof that looks like it’s made up of slats (resembling a pergola) in any of my builds is designed using short base game fencing.
*Depending on the build, it may be the shelves from Generations EP. I often use those when creating things like custom entertainment stands around a wall mounted TV. I don’t remember doing that for any of the example homes I linked, but can look into it when I know what build plans/pictures you’re following.
*I usually do place laundry hampers in bedrooms and bathrooms, and tend not to hide them so Sims can access them without routing difficulty. It’s possible they may not be visible from the angles I took the pictures from.
Thanks for the reply!
I can’t use the auto roofs because I did a custom flat roof on my greenhouse to be able to put those really cool special greenhouse windows on top of it. So I have to manually do the roof on the main house. To be honest I don’t care how it looks because I actually don’t see it with the walls down while I’m playing so it’s not that big of a deal. I just need to make sure that I have a roof over the entire house I don’t have any snow getting in!
The house that I am designing is based off of this one of yours:
https://m.imgur.com/a/hTwrF
The house is called Southern comfort
You have so much detail in your house, it would be hard for me to see those laundry baskets. I’m going to put them here and there because I hate it when my Sims leave clothes all over the house. Once they get their funds up again, I think I’m going to hire a butler instead of having a maid. The house is so big it will take a full-time person to keep it clean!
So far I have gone through close to $150,000 with this build. I knew it would be expensive and that’s OK. My Sims tend to get to Rich after a few generations and doing something like this helps them stay humble! I think they are down to about $65,000 and I decided to wait on painting and decorating the third floor which I don’t think they will use much for a while. I also haven’t built the gardens and the beautiful walkways, etc. I think maybe tomorrow they will get to move in and we will see how it all goes.
Another question came to mind. Hopefully you can see the link I posted of the house you built. Many of the bedrooms have a very tiny room connected to them. It looks like it’s one by three and all of them have a door. I could only really see that they have a light fixture. What are you using these little rooms for?
I can see the pix in the link though, and from what I can tell of this build in regards to your previous questions:
*The short monorail fencing was used for the open patio/pergola roof.
*In the living room behind the TV there are the Generation shelves at the bottom, and what appear to be the shelves from the Aurora Skies world behind it.
*I am seeing a few hampers in some of the bedrooms and bathrooms, so the rest are probably just not visible given the angles in the rooms and from the distance in the overviews.
*I would assume the 1x3 rooms are bedroom closets, included for realism and/or from following a RL floor plan.
Also, I’m not sure that trying autoroof would necessarily affect your greenhouse, assuming the greenhouse roof pieces already cover the area. And if you truly aren’t concerned with the roof appearance but have too much difficulty with a manual roof, you could just place floor tiles and create a flat roof. Best of luck!
Those hampers must be recolored which makes perfect sense (I STILL couldn't see more than a couple today when I looked - old eyes). I think I will have some fun adding them to my Sims' rooms today as well as recolor some things I've missed, finish furnishing the rooms I'll be using and making sure all of the house is completely covered with the roof. Testing it yesterday, I'm glad it was snowing so I could see where I've missed a few spots. Hopefully by the end of the day, my family will be back to work refilling their bank. Once that's done, I'll be working on the yard and gardens. I have a large greenhouse so they can grow things year round but to make it look nice, I thought a garden might be fun to create. I'm sure glad my generational challenge required buying the largest lot in the city. This house took up a TON of the lot.
EDIT: Oh my gosh. This will entertain you awesome builders. So I unfroze my family and sent them into the house to do various tasks. I am trying to keep an eye on seven people, one who just went to work at the fire station. I thought I'd send my musician to the "music room" which really hasn't been setup yet except with a drum set. I figured I'd have him play his guitar there. Much to my surprise, he was showing a routing issue. So I took a closer look: the music room has no door.
You are correct; the hampers I noticed were recolored. I see one in the 6 shower bathroom next to the sink, one in the nursery left of the changing table, and I believe there’s one in the laundry room to the left of the dryer. I can’t be certain about the other rooms, but it looks like there is space enough to place them as you wish. If not, you could eliminate the closets in the rooms that have them, which would give you the space needed for hampers or other objects.
And yes, this home is huge and was built on a 64x64 lot, which makes it ideal for a legacy family. Very good choice! It also sounds like you’re making good progress with the build and will be able to play your family again soon.
And thank you to everyone who helped out answering her questions or provided her with the various links (@SPARKY1922, @starguru , @suzses, @Springfairy556 , @korset , @Karritz ) and I appreciate all the nice comments about my builds, you are all so nice! BTW Star, those are some beautiful lots you posted, love them all.
Yes starguru was totally correct about everything you asked about, in regards to the hampers, the two-toned wall, the shelving etc. (thank you again Star for all your help!).
I don't blame you for skipping the attached garage; for a long time I steered away from CFE because I messed it up when I'd go to try it so just avoided it, lol. And I also didn't like making basements under foundations as you have to plan ahead to make it work right. But with all the tutorials out there, it just takes some practice.
I always put hampers in every bedroom and/or bathroom and they're usually in a closet, as I try to stay realistic when I build, but since Sims don't need closets, it's just a matter of preference. (Speaking of closets, you should check out the 2-story closet I made for my most recent DNA request....my requester posted inspiration pictures so they wanted a huge closet. It's in this build if you want to take a look.)
I had to chuckle when you said you hadn't been in CASt much and that you spent 30 mins trying to get one color right, haha. That is so me!! LOL I'm addicted to that color wheel and would not be happy building without it. I almost always change the color or patterns on most every object I place, as most of the pre-colored/pre-patterned game items I don't like, lol. You will not regret learning how to use it. I always copy and paste the hex code for a color when I'm recoloring things with the same color scheme so I get the match right.
Oh and if you're planning on making the pergola over the upper deck, you'll discover that you have to place walls or columns first in order for the monorail fencing to stretch across the area.
I'm glad you are making progress on your build and would love to see pictures when you're done. If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to bring it up, I'd be happy to help. Happy building!
* My Studio *
I'm honored to be in the presence of TS3 design royalty! *bow*
I read some of the tutorials and quickly determined that I didn't want to leave my family in suspended animation (non-animation?) for many RL years. Thus, detached garage. The basement is another story. I could NOT get the stairs to work seeing as I had already built the entire first floor with a foundation. I even tried spiral stairs that SEEMED to have worked but my Sims couldn't go down them. I finally gave up and made an outside entrance. In my mind, it's like a cellar (yes, I'm old enough to have been in a few).
I wondered what was in those little closets that I couldn't see. I have put hampers in every bathroom and bedroom and there are a few places my Sims still drop their clothes. They keep my butler constantly busy picking it up. Another amazing home you built there. WOW.
One thing that has always driven me crazy is that I couldn't get all the furniture I wanted to match with decor and visa versa. We're talking a lifetime of playing Sims. I recolored a bed to match wall paper the other day and it was awesome. I suspect I will be a recoloring fool now. Great tip on copying the hex code. I've spent a good amount of time trying to match a certain color to another object.
I did figure that out by looking very closely at your design and was able to recreate it. Looks awesome!
I had gotten it about 85% done and stopped designing so my Sims could get back to work making simolias. I also wanted to try out the space and make sure everything worked (that's how I found out the basement stairs didn't work). I've been delighted with the ease at which my family is functioning in such a large house. I was hesitant to do a large multi-story home like this but it's working very well. Now that my family has recouped about half the money they spent on the house, I'm thinking about continuing the design. I painted (read that: recolored) the 3rd floor rooms, used one of the empty rooms to create an exercise room during my last play time. So the house is very close to being done. Now I need to work on the outside. I have a two-story greenhouse that I've done a little decorating in. I need to design a garden around the outside so it doesn't look out of place.
One question that came to mind: how did you get those small rocks along the walkways to fit close together? The small rocks I'm using take up a square and I can't seem to overlap them.
I've never posted pictures of my game - at all. But I'll have to make an exception and give you major kudos for your design, posting the floor plan and helping those of us who want amazing houses but lack the skill to do it on our own. It will be a while though. There is a ton of work to be done.
Here's a help guide on it: https://www.carls-sims-3-guide.com/info/create-a-style.php
Not sure if you know this part or the above link shows this, but when one of your color channels is selected, you can grab it with your cursor (where it turns into a hand icon) and drag it on to whatever item you're wanting to recolor. This is useful when you are matching items with the same patterns/colors, it saves a lot of time. And you can also grab the little tab area just to the left of the first color channel, and it will grab all four of the colors at once so you can move it onto a similar object you want replicated. For instance, if you are recoloring a window, and you already have all of your windows placed and you change the colors of the first window, then you can just grab the whole color channel and move it onto each window and repeat. Saves you from having to do each window separately.
You can also click on the little "-" or "+" button that shows up on the bottom, to collapse color channels that are the same, that way you don't have to do each one over, if that makes sense.
I'm not sure if you've ever used the cheats, but for the rocks, I just turn on the cheats, "moveobjects on" and "disableSnappingToSlotsOnAlt on" to allow me to place things off the grids. Once this cheat is on, you hold down the "alt" key on your keyboard when grabbing the item to move. This is great for placing plants or moving furniture pieces closer together, but you have to be careful that you are not moving things in the way where your sim will have a routing issue, so you'll need to test areas at times. There are lots of cheats lists out there if you don't have a list, you can just google it. To bring up the cheat bar, you tap on the "ctrl shift c" on your keyboard (hold down all at the same time) and then you can type in the cheat commands.
Hope this helps.
* My Studio *
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Note that much of the home isn't being used very much right now. I just recently turned an empty room into a possible exercise room that I'll add more equipment and decorate. But it has given my large wealthy family a worthy home for them to live and expand in. Eventually I plan to add a pool and stables. I will likely also redo the greenhouse.
I didn't show the basement level. I never could get the inside stairs right and my Sim has to go outside to access her nectar making area.
Anyway, my first ever house I built that wasn't just a square box and my first ever use of CAS. Thanks to all that helped me with this and will continue to help I'm sure!
* My Studio *
I wish I could build like that! My homes come out looking like boxes.
https://graceymanorsims3.tumblr.com/
Read back in the thread to find the link I eventually ended up on. I have limited play time only playing a few hours on the weekends usually and it took me literal months to create that house. My legacy family was in suspended (non)animation out in the yard. *laughs*
Your house is really Good.
Is it 8 bedrooms? Wow! I never made anything that big. Bravo for making it yourself and doing it so well.
I hardly ever play large houses (large lots, yes) then your post popped up and challenged me to make a 5 bedroom, single story house. So thank you for this.
At first I made the rooms too large (for my play style) but I made them a bit smaller. It's on a 30x40 lot.
I added dormers because the roof line was boring, without them (if you don't mind me showing pictures) -
My house is actually six bedrooms if you count the nursery. There are also two offices, a workout room, music room and a kids' playroom. Lots of those extra rooms just haven't been decorated or used yet. I also have a tiny room for the live-in butler. It's a HUGE house. Way more than my family will need. But I loved Sandraelle's house so much, I figured what the heck. Let's do it. It will be a house I likely will work on for years. I keep finding rooms and hallways that have no paint. *laughs* And eventually the family will want to add a big pool and BBQ area. And then a horse stable (there is a unicorn that keeps popping up across the street at a pond there and I think one of my sims will likely want that as a pet).
Generation 5 just got born. Unfortunately he's a boy so I need to have more babies to get a girl (matriarch legacy). Looks like lots of watermelon will be eaten soon! Also unfortunately, the house is full. I have a couple of pets that are nearing the end of their life but I'm thinking my heir's brother might need to go find a place of his own soon...
Ground floor showing the garage and garden bottom level:
[url="[img]https://i.imgur.com/6aolkc0.jpg[/img]"]
First floor showing some of the bedrooms, living areas, kitchen:
[url="[img]https://i.imgur.com/Au9TEME.jpg[/img]"]
Second floor showing more bedrooms, an office, nursery, kids playroom:
[url="[img]https://i.imgur.com/pblUcuH.jpg[/img]"]
Third floor showing mostly unfinished exercise room, music room, another unused office for awards:
[url="[img]https://i.imgur.com/eb30SNW.jpg[/img]"]
Outside:
[url="[img]https://i.imgur.com/RjE3eUW.jpg[/img]"]
I seriously can't take ANY credit for this house and it has so many problems, I'm sure @Sandraelle is like "that can't possibly be my house". *laughs* But it sure beats 100% of all the houses I've built in the nearly 18 years I've been enjoying the Sims. I have eventual plans to move and expand the garden, add a pool, possibly stables, a large outside garden in the back around the pool, TREES. Years of work. But the house is working for my family and while I originally wanted a one level house, this one is very functional for what I need.
I want to again thank all of those who helped me with my original post. I learned SO much and got addicted to CASt which I had never used. This whole process has made me appreciate TS3 so much more as well as this community that is going strong after 10 years (I know so many of you have been around the Sims since the beginning).
That is better than anything I could do!
For laughs here's my very first house.
https://graceymanorsims3.tumblr.com/
I absolutely adore one storey houses as they are so easy to play in especially when I have a large sim family and I am sure @Sandraelle would be gracious enough to understand players having a go at being creative, heck if it was not for other creative players/builders on these forums I would never have had a lot to play in because I am one terrible builder so anyone with the confidence to give it a go like @GraceyManor and yourself has my 100% support as I admit all my years of playing should have had me trying to do something similar but I have not so in my mind you are brave and more creative than I might ever be
* My Studio *
Picture taking and posting can be tricky but it just takes practice. I don't use the image insertion on the post, I just go to images on imgur, click on your picture and you will get several options to the right. I just go the BBCode one and hit the copy button and paste it right in to your post. That way you don't have that extra text in your post, like this:
[url="[img]https://i.imgur.com/eb30SNW.jpg[/img]"][/url]
* My Studio *
Any chance of you uploading that lovely one storey house you have there anytime soon? I have had a quick glance at your studio but cannot see it