Share some of your general building strategies!

lupusrex180

I'm forever trying to build houses that look natural and lived-in. It's hard! I have a very long way to go but I think I'm slowly getting better. For the benefit of me and the Simmer community, share a few of the things that are on your mind when you build a house or community lot. Aesthetic considerations, tricks to help pathing, quirky habits like something unusual you put in every house, anything. I'm hoping we will all learn or try something new from this thread.

I'll start:

* I put in all the walls on every story before adding any floors or roofs. This keeps your design space illuminated without having to choose all the lights until later.

* You can stack metal ingots together on tables or shelves by dragging them from the inventory. Make a treasure vault to fill with gems and metals, or display your fat loots all over the place to make guests envious!

* I'm no good at selecting decor/art objects, so beyond a few starting knick knacks, I decorate my houses entirely with free celebrity items and gifts that show up in the mailbox.

Ravager619

If you have a large family or living room (6x6), you can make the room look smaller by moving the furniture in half a space rather than have it up against the wall. It will also allow you room to place statues or large plants in the corners if you wish to decorate the room with them.

I always place a dogwood vase by the front door. It's like my signature whenever I create a home.

Light colored wood flooring will always brighten a room, and dark woods will put the focus on the walls.

Since I have Seasons, I think it's imperative the living room is the first thing you see when entering a home. And it must have enough open space for gift giving parties.

I usually play single Sims, but I always create two or three-bedrooms homes. One for sleeping. One for hobbies. One for a work space if they're a self-employed Sim.

In general, I don't love ranch house exteriors, but I love how simple the layout is within them. I always try to incorporate that in my builds so Sims can navigate the home with ease.

In a room, it's okay to have one wall painted a different color or texture. Feature walls are cool if they are the focus of a room.

I always use stainless steel refrigerators and ovens. If the style I want doesn't come that way, I'll recolor it so it does.

Kawaiidulce

Start with little boxes. Add archways in lieu of doors, then add details to get the house you want put together. Each box should represent a room.

Recolor, recolor, recolor. Can't stress that one enough!

Potted plants can go behind furniture for balanced look.

Fireplaces are best for living rooms, not bedrooms or a foyer.

Add small windows to a bathroom.

xkaylanicolex

Separate fences off in sections. Like drag it three spaces and stop then three more.

Dirt under trees and bushes

put in the invisible lights from buydebug

paneinger

If you're wanting a lived in, family-home look, I use warm colors.

I like dark-ish wood/tile floors, and a neutral wall with lots and lots of color pops in the wallart. And lots of wallart too

I always make the main part of the house an open kitchen/office/living room, with access to a bathroom. Usually all the bedrooms are upstairs and the dining room is off by itself, usually in a sunroom.

Behind the kitchen cabinets, I always use stone or brick that ties into the color theme.

Lots and lots of windows!! But not so many that the house loses its appeal.

Lots and lots of clutter too, especially in the kitchen. It makes the house look lived in.

I use fireplaces a lot. The current house that I'm working on has a fireplace in the living area, dining room, master bedroom, two in the master bathroom, one in each of the kids' bedrooms, and one in each of the kids' bathrooms. The hallways and bathroom/laundry room are literally the only rooms without fireplaces.

For lots of fireplaces, make sure that your sim has the lifetime reward of "fireproof homestead," and that they upgrade the fireplaces to autolight. And remove all the ugly brick chimneys. Otherwise the whole "fireplaces everywhere!" idea won't work out.

I love using stages and split levels. It can break up a really big room, or showcase a certain part of the room.

If you use buydebug, the invisible lighting is amazing! Then you can just use little lamps that fit the decor, but your rooms will still be lit well.

If I was at home, I'd get some pics from my current house to show you what I mean, but hopefully you can understand the concepts

lupusrex180

Big thanks to everyone who's posted so far. I never knew about the invisible lights, that's awesome! No more ugly grid of ceiling lights all over the house just for enough illumination. 8)

Most people seem to like fireplaces, so do I. At least some of them have all of the upgrades (auto light, fireproof, flame color) pre-installed. Fancy Time Firebox (extra fancy edition) is the one I almost always use for this reason.

My "signature" is a Sun Disk in the master bedroom.

xXPlagueXRatXx

I'm not that great at building houses, but I do have some advice that may or may nt be helpful. Some things you should always put in a house (unless you're making a home that you want be burned or robbed) is both a fire alarm next to the stove and a burglar alarm next to the main door. Trust me, these are both pretty handy.

Rflong7

Hi

Lighting- click on the lights and you can brighten them or dim them or change their color. A nice softer light with flame color can give some atmosphere to a bedroom or den. Can have a colorful light in a kids room- one for fun.