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Living in comfort - A minimalist guide
geekgirl101
Posts: 401 Member
I couldn't see any topics on this so I thought I'd share design ideas for those who want small homes but aren't sure how small they can go.
Using foundations will require you to have a square in front of each door leading outside and steps leading up to that square, so if tight for space stick to grass level.
Bedroom sizes depend on how many people you will have sleeping in that room and if you'll be adding additional furnishings such as a dresser or a bedside table. Bedside tables can go right up towards the bed as can a dresser, but the dresser drawers must have at least a full square gap between them and the bed if the drawers are facing towards the bed. In a single bed room the minimal size is 3x3 with a dresser or 2x3 with no other furnishings. If you are using a double bed then you need an extra row of squares below the bed to allow the 2nd person to walk to the other side of the bed so this extends the room to 5x4 with a dresser or 4x4 with no additional furnishings.
Bathrooms can be as small as 1x2 if you intend on just having a toilet in there, or 2x2 with a sink. Adding a shower or a bath extends this to a 3x2 room.
Other rooms can be as big or as small as you want them but you need to make sure that when making a kitchen you have enough work surfaces to be able to cook your dinner on. At least 1 unused counter must be free for cooking on. Wall TVs make great space savers in the living room instead of the bulky TVs that require a surface to be placed on.
For even tighter minimalist rooms you can simply design the room specifically to fit the furnishings. L-shaped rooms are an excellent way to enclose furnishings you want to fit in without having excess unused space.
All houses must have a large bin for permanent disposal of items. Small bins only contain a limited amount of items before they get full and need emptying so you can manage without having a small bin, they are only there for convenience so your sim isn't having to walk a marathon each time to and from the large bin.
If the budget is really tight you can get away with having no tables and chairs to eat your dinner on and you can also get away without having a sofa too as your sim will sit on the bed to eat their food, watch TV and converse with other sims, and you can wash your hands and your pots in the same sink removing the need for both a bathroom and kitchen sink. In fact if you can get your handiness high enough to upgrade a sink you won't even need a bath or a shower and can just wash your hands until fully clean (ewww!)
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The reason I decided to write this little guide is when today I was extending a starter house to host more rooms for a growing family. In doing this I had to shrink the size of the living room and bedroom to fit in with the design. The bedroom was for 2 sims so it had a double bed and a dresser. When I shrank the size of the bedroom it fit a 4x4 area the dresser was able to fit in against the bed with no trouble at all, however when it came to sending the sims to bed it was then I noticed that one of the sims was unable to walk to the far side of the bed due to the dresser being in his way and I had to improvise in extending the bedroom to allow enough of a gap for the sims to walk around the bed. That's when I decided to make this little guide so that others who are making new homes for the first time don't fall into the same trap of making their rooms a little too small or cramped that sims can't move around in it.
Using foundations will require you to have a square in front of each door leading outside and steps leading up to that square, so if tight for space stick to grass level.
Bedroom sizes depend on how many people you will have sleeping in that room and if you'll be adding additional furnishings such as a dresser or a bedside table. Bedside tables can go right up towards the bed as can a dresser, but the dresser drawers must have at least a full square gap between them and the bed if the drawers are facing towards the bed. In a single bed room the minimal size is 3x3 with a dresser or 2x3 with no other furnishings. If you are using a double bed then you need an extra row of squares below the bed to allow the 2nd person to walk to the other side of the bed so this extends the room to 5x4 with a dresser or 4x4 with no additional furnishings.
Bathrooms can be as small as 1x2 if you intend on just having a toilet in there, or 2x2 with a sink. Adding a shower or a bath extends this to a 3x2 room.
Other rooms can be as big or as small as you want them but you need to make sure that when making a kitchen you have enough work surfaces to be able to cook your dinner on. At least 1 unused counter must be free for cooking on. Wall TVs make great space savers in the living room instead of the bulky TVs that require a surface to be placed on.
For even tighter minimalist rooms you can simply design the room specifically to fit the furnishings. L-shaped rooms are an excellent way to enclose furnishings you want to fit in without having excess unused space.
All houses must have a large bin for permanent disposal of items. Small bins only contain a limited amount of items before they get full and need emptying so you can manage without having a small bin, they are only there for convenience so your sim isn't having to walk a marathon each time to and from the large bin.
If the budget is really tight you can get away with having no tables and chairs to eat your dinner on and you can also get away without having a sofa too as your sim will sit on the bed to eat their food, watch TV and converse with other sims, and you can wash your hands and your pots in the same sink removing the need for both a bathroom and kitchen sink. In fact if you can get your handiness high enough to upgrade a sink you won't even need a bath or a shower and can just wash your hands until fully clean (ewww!)
--
The reason I decided to write this little guide is when today I was extending a starter house to host more rooms for a growing family. In doing this I had to shrink the size of the living room and bedroom to fit in with the design. The bedroom was for 2 sims so it had a double bed and a dresser. When I shrank the size of the bedroom it fit a 4x4 area the dresser was able to fit in against the bed with no trouble at all, however when it came to sending the sims to bed it was then I noticed that one of the sims was unable to walk to the far side of the bed due to the dresser being in his way and I had to improvise in extending the bedroom to allow enough of a gap for the sims to walk around the bed. That's when I decided to make this little guide so that others who are making new homes for the first time don't fall into the same trap of making their rooms a little too small or cramped that sims can't move around in it.
3
Comments
Thankyou for your thoughtfulness and kindness in writing this guide. It is very helpful! It will help many simmers when designing and furnishing their builds.
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/817478/hello-come-and-introduce-yourself
http://tinyurl.com/OneRoomOneWeek
http://tinyurl.com/rosemow
My Showcase thread https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/948861/rosemow-s-rooms-showcase