EAxis House of Fail: July

[Emma]

I dunno about the changing the walls thing-you haven't actually moved them have you? Mind you that could mean we could change exterior walls to half walls. Cheaty. So...hmm. I would say no. Your house looks bigger than everyone else's entries-must be the open plan I think this would be good for a Plantsim!

[Strangel]

What I need is for someone to transplant each plan (EAxis, not the redesigns) that gets used onto a FLATness lot. lol Then I could actually use what I was designing (as well as others designs) without fear of Borken Landscape Syndrome.

[Emma]

Yeah, that is the only trouble with these EAxis lots. Ideally, you need to place them exactly where they were built

[Eleonora]

Using the LotExpander, wouldn't it be possible to expand the lot, flatten it, then shrink it back to it's original size? That would be decidedly easier than rebuilding the whole thing onto a new, flat lot.

[jolrei]

I haven't uploaded this yet because, honestly, I'm not quite sure how, or where. But, if it's a requirement, I can figure something out.

Well, I'd be interested in it, if you wanted to share.  I use 4shared.com for filesharing - possibly not the best, but it gets the job done with a minimum of fuss.

It's a very nice house - I like the solarium look particularly.

[Zazazu]

Using the LotExpander, wouldn't it be possible to expand the lot, flatten it, then shrink it back to it's original size? That would be decidedly easier than rebuilding the whole thing onto a new, flat lot.

Yup. I actually do that a lot since I borked Teardrop Isle in my game. Cascading effect of placing an incredibly unlevel lot at the beginning. Using the LotAdjuster, I've been able to flatten unbuilt areas and fit lots where they wouldn't go before, just by expanding a lot over the road and then shrinking it back so that it's on the other side from where it started.

I dunno about the changing the walls thing-you haven't actually moved them have you? Mind you that could mean we could change exterior walls to half walls. Cheaty. So...hmm. I would say no. Your house looks bigger than everyone else's entries-must be the open plan I think this would be good for a Plantsim!

Well, a couple of us *looks at self* already used floorconstraints to shrink weird first floors into foundations, and other higher floors into dummy levels. This doesn't seem much different. Plus, the greenhouse look can be achieved by using similar windows all along the walls. The game doesn't see a difference.

My take with the rules is that if it's not expressly disallowed, it is fair game, and finding ways to do what you want while keeping to the rules is both creative and keeps everyone improving their rebuilds.

[Emma]

Yeah, I suppose. We could just add 'no substituting real walls with half-walls' in the rules.

[Faizah]

I dunno about the changing the walls thing-you haven't actually moved them have you? Mind you that could mean we could change exterior walls to half walls. Cheaty. So...hmm. I would say no. Your house looks bigger than everyone else's entries-must be the open plan I think this would be good for a Plantsim!

All I can see of mine is the crowded upstairs 'bedroom' level. It's the same size, I didn't move the walls, I just changed them. The third story is new, but built on top of the others. (It overhangs the second slightly, but not the first.)

I haven't uploaded this yet because, honestly, I'm not quite sure how, or where. But, if it's a requirement, I can figure something out.

Well, I'd be interested in it, if you wanted to share.  I use 4shared.com for filesharing - possibly not the best, but it gets the job done with a minimum of fuss.

It's a very nice house - I like the solarium look particularly.

Alright, here it is: http://www.4shared.com/file/57203210/995f5955/July-FaizahsHaven.html

I have all EPs, most SPs (all but Teen Style and Ikea) and the exclusive EA Store items. The lot value is between 80 and 90 k, but this can be lowered by waving the magic wand. (I forgot.)

[Yecats]

In just in time!


My 3rd house for this month.



The back of my castle. The front is similar, just has a bridge and a door.  Lol.


 Top Floor.  Full of skilling objects and family stuff.



Bedrooms.  The babies are in their own crib-pods.  3 bathrooms, 4 bedrooms.  You can figure out who shares.



Ground floor and entry-way.


Slideshow of internal pics:


Download from here:
http://www.4shared.com/file/57229842/12ccfaee/Yecats_Castle_Haven.html

All EP's, No SP's.

The moat is fishable.  Stairs lock in each level so guests can go right to the top and use the telescopes or sit around the kitchen area.  They can't get to the bedrooms but CAN get to the skilling objects.

One desk is present, as is guest bathroom.  I think its pretty much awesomespec.  Fridge and shelf in baby room for bottles and storage.

I didn't move ANY of the original walls, just built around it. 

Not quite how I wanted it to turn out, but I was lacking in time and brain-power.  Thank you Emma for the tutorials on the bridges. That really helped.

Enjoy!

[Roux]

Now THAT is a horse of a different color... excellent, Yecats!

[HomeschooledByTards]

Ooh! Castle's are cool. Mine always come out looking stupid.

I like the layout of the bedrooms. There's plenty of room for sharing with additional siblings.

[Emma]

Ooh! A castle! That looks great, I will grab it later

[jolrei]

I like.  Possibly a good spot for a vampire and family.  Following Terry Pratchett, I could call it 'Don't-go-near-the Castle'.  I'd let simDarkPescado move in there, but he already has a nice concrete fortress.  Will yoink later.

[Hecubus]

Well done. There's only one thing missing from your castle - alligators in the moat.

[J. M. Pescado]

I like.  Possibly a good spot for a vampire and family.  Following Terry Pratchett, I could call it 'Don't-go-near-the Castle'.  I'd let simDarkPescado move in there, but he already has a nice concrete fortress.  Will yoink later.

With all those windows? Surely you jest. The sun, it BURNS!

[Liz]

Once again, I've finally finished my entry on the 1st of the month, server time. Curse you, procrastination!! But having spent far more time on this than I should have, I'm finally posting my entry for July...

Full Frontal shot:


Rear View:


Downstairs Floor Plan:


Upstairs Floor Plan:


More Shots:
Full Downstairs View
Main Room & Kitchen
Full Upstairs View
Master Bedroom
Reading/Study Room & Master Bath
Child's Room & Upstairs Bathroom
Nursery (& Upstairs Bathroom)
Red Room

And my favourite room, the downstairs bathroom:


Made with everything except TSS. Oh, and K&B and IKEA. Okay, made with mostything. Only one or two Celebration items, so it's not really needed.
This house is my 2nd attempted Awesomespec, so it has front fencing, last-placed desk near the entrance, and lockable kitchen & stairs. Upstairs central room has lots of space for skilling/reward items. End table near the mailbox in lieu of windkeeper cc. Sad lack of playtesting, but I hope to do some of that a little later today.

House furnished, boxed up and ready to go, HERE.

ETA: This house's original retail price is §193,157. Wanded to §103,017.
Having playtested a little bit, I've found two bits worth mentioning. One is that I forgot to place an upstairs phone. D'oh, but easy enough to remedy. Second, the rose bushes in the Red Room should be "unpenned" if you need to access them. Since I play with alwaysperfectplants in, I wasn't worried about that when I placed them, but it's a simple matter to nix the floor divider.

[leaths]

Late or not, Liz, I like it a lot. My hood needs more modern looking houses. Will be yoinking soon.

[witch]

Choice yecats, well thought out and really colourful! Bet you had fun making it, it looks like a playful lot.

Liz, I can see why this lot took a long time! I particularly liked, in no particular order  ;
   The blue entrance way downstairs.
   The downstairs bathroom, I can see why it's your favourite.
   Children's wallpaper featuring castles and dragons. Loved it.

[Yecats]

There are heaps of windows because I couldn't for the life of me figure out if sunlight would filter through the external ones and into the internal ones.  Since I built AROUND the main house, I was reluctant to remove walls.

[Liz]

Yecats, I really like the fact that while it's a big, imposing castle, the floor plan still allows for so many open, windowed spaces. Special like for the tandem baths on the bedroom floor and the flooring around the crafting tables.

leaths and witch, thank you both! I designed this house for a social family that likes to throw parties. Its first tenant is an outgoing, Popularity CAS sim whose OTH turned out to be Nature, which, bonus! Just fertilizing the greenhouse with bagged dirt netted him §700 from the garden club. Thinking I may ignore this guy's LTW (media magnate like the rest of the world) and have him live off of his paintings and the occasional garden club proceeds. Not like he needs to save up for a house or anything. 

Thanks also for the comments, witch. Was lucky to spot that rug and the coordinating carpet colours for the entry room. And I'd never, ever used the castle theme stuff from FFS before, but I was surprised at how they all came together there. May end up using that set more often. Something else that surprised me while I was kitting out this house was that I *never* use screens in my houses, but somehow I wound up using 3 in one house.

I think it's really interesting, the different choices we find outselves making when we're limited to EAxis content. Off to see August's maison de phail!

[witch]

Something else that surprised me while I was kitting out this house was that I *never* use screens in my houses, but somehow I wound up using 3 in one house.

I noticed that, I often want to use screens but never seem to find the right places. Plus they take up space instead of slotting in behind couches or whatever.

[Liz]

I love the idea of screens, but you're right - they usually just take up space and never seem to *fit* where you want them to do. I could probably moveobjects and snapfalse 'em in where I want them to go, but they main problem I have with them is that, well, they're screens. As in, they pretty much exist to block part of the room, and that's something I generally like to avoid when I'm building a house. Hard to find convenient spots to let them fulfill their purpose in life.

That's something I'm actually dreading about TS3, the whole "You'll play the lots we tell you to!" thing. Usually my houses tend to be a bit boxy because I like to avoid that awkward "half a wall sticking up in your way" thing that happens when the room won't drop evenly, and pretty much every single house in the TS3 L&P shots looks like it's going to be lousy with these giant sections of non-drop walls. It's the main reason I went with so many windows on the front of July's house: I wanted to be able to see through those non-dropping walls while playing that big front room.

This post was brought to you by the number 666... and the letter upsilon.

[J. M. Pescado]

I doubt that it'll actually be a "you'll play the lots we tell you to". At least, not more so than TS1, where you were fully empowered to raze all the preexisting lots to the ground and build new ones.

[Liz]

You're probably right, but I'll feel a lot better when we get some more details about Build/Buy.