EAxis House of Phail: June 2009

[chobeegal]

Something much smaller. I think a lot of people were put off by the size and scale of this house. The people who entered this month did a good job, but it was the kind of house you really have to work on for awhile. Perhaps we could do something from Veronaville, as there are some interesting houses there. Although Desiderata Valley is chock full of houses of phail.

And how about doing one for The Sims 3? I loathe building in the game, as they make it so horrible to control and annoying. However, I wouldn't mind redoing a house.

Smaller is better. This one drove me mad being so big.

I do not think Sims3 should go in this thread though. Start a new one for it. I don't have it yet and don't know when (or if) I will get it. Not that anxious for it even if I was not currently too impecunious to afford it. Can't Arrr it either (even if I were so inclined) as I no longer have high speed.

[HomeschooledByTards]

Feel free to suggest specific lots at any point. 

I have no objection to redoing TS3 lots, but I think there's still a lot of potential in redoing TS2 lots as well.

Suggest a lot in TS3 that you would like to redo, and if there is enough interest in it, we can have two challenges next month.

[ciane]

In TS3, the Broke lot with three old trailers needs to be remodelled.

[J. M. Pescado]

In TS3, there doesn't seem to be any truly FAIL examples of housing anymore, mostly because housing is now optional and you can make a perfectly serviceable full-featured house consisting solely of a bedroom and a kitchen.

[MadameUgly]

Something much smaller. I think a lot of people were put off by the size and scale of this house. The people who entered this month did a good job, but it was the kind of house you really have to work on for awhile. Perhaps we could do something from Veronaville, as there are some interesting houses there. Although Desiderata Valley is chock full of houses of phail.

And how about doing one for The Sims 3? I loathe building in the game, as they make it so horrible to control and annoying. However, I wouldn't mind redoing a house.

I like the smaller lots, too.  This lot just didn't appeal to me (even after I realized I was using it in my story neighborhood).

I'm not sure if it's been done, but I like the lots in Veronaville that have the two houses on them.

Also, I assume "house of phail" is only limited to houses.  If not, some of the community lots might be fun to re-make.

[Faizah]

I'd rather stick with Sims 2 lots, even seeing how quiet it's been in here. (I am actually working on this one, should have it up before the month is out, if all goes well.)

I wouldn't mind also poking around at some Sims 3 lots now and then, though. (And eventually we're going to run out of TS2 lots...)

Have we done any of the lot-binned houses that came with Nightlife yet? Those are pretty small.

[Alex]

That sounds like a nice set to do. But which one? There's four different ones IIRC.

Incidently, here's a list of all the houses we have done, just so we don't lose track.
190 Sim Lane (Pleasantview)
Harmonious Haven (Lots and Houses Bin)
73 Road to Nowhere (Strangetown)
105 Sim Lane (Pleasantview)
Curious (Strangetown)
130 Sim Lane (Pleasantview)
111 Stratford Strip (Veronaville)
1097 West Dreaming Drive (Desiderata Valley)
10 Oak Street (Pleasantview)
74 Gondola Way (Bluewater Village)
25 Toboggan Way (Bluewater Village)
4 Danish Drive (Academie Le Tour)
407 Edgewater Parkway (Bluewater Village)

[Faizah]

It's been a while since I looked closely at them (probably about when I got Nightlife) but I plopped them down in my building hood to take a look. I think maybe one of the two-story ones?

The darker one with the high foundation I can remember playing, and disliking, but the white one has a more interesting set of exterior walls.


Inside, it's actually not that bad. The rear walls are simple right-angles, a fairly box-shaped house, if not for those windows on the front. I can take floorplan screenshots later if people want, but it's pretty simple.









Possibly with keeping the front stairs as a rule?

The interior on this one could use some work, which is the point of this challenge, but it's not impossibly cramped or anything. I can't honestly remember now why I hated these.

[jim]

I did Edgewater Apartments right at the start of the month, and they've been lying empty ever since, thanks to TS3. In the spirit of 'I've started, so I'll finish', I finally got round to testing them and posting them.

Edgewater Apartments



I haven't really changed the original building much at all, just tarted up the garden and converted the house to flats. That seems to be what happens to most of these big old houses in the end. There are three flats.

Ground floor: The ground floor flat is quite small, just a lounge, bathroom and double bedroom (rent $862).



Middle floor: The middle flat has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a lounge, and kitchen/diner (rent $2019).



Penthouse: The penthouse flat is also small, just a lounge bathroom and double bedroom, but it does have a large terrace with hot tub and barbecue. It still seems a ripoff at $2533.



The communal facilities are reasonably good. There's a comfortable lounge, with EA's overswagged curtains and mismatched woods, completely obscuring the art deco style of the house. It seemed in keeping with the kind of makeover these period houses suffer when financial considerations win out over regard for original features. That's just a handy excuse, though. If there'd been matching woods, and decent curtains, I'd have used them.

The problematic communal kitchen



As there is a communal kitchen, the two small flats do not have private kitchens. It led to some bizarre eating manoeuvres, particularly in the penthouse. My test sim would make lunch in the kitchen, completely ignore the handy dining table nearby and trail up to the penthouse, where there was no table, to eat lunch on her knees, and be completely bewildered by the problem of what to do with the dirty plate. Hence the introduction of a dishwasher on the terrace, and a table and chairs. The sim with his own kitchen, on the other hand, would make lunch in his kitchen, interrupt his serving routine to dish up lunch downstairs to some complete stranger in the communal kitchen, then revert to normal service upstairs. I obviously fail to understand the way communal kitchens work in apartments. I always use the macrotastics 'eat' function, and that works fine. If that's not your playing style, you might not want to try out these apartments, unless you do know a workround, or you enjoy watching sims devising extraordinary solutions to ordinary situations.

Skilling (apart from book learning, and music) takes place outdoors. That's where the workout equipment is, near the pool and showers. I thought the sims might be coy about showering in the garden, but they don't mind at all. There's a big greenhouse with fruit trees, and a fishing pond, to keep the fridge stocked. The children have playground equipment, and the adults have goalie practice. There's a woohoo hammock under the willow tree, and a telescope behind the willow, for close encouters of another kind.

Slideshow: http://tinyurl.com/n8lv3w.
(Apologies for even worse quality images than usual, though they do get a bit better 10 frames in. I forgot I'd turned all my graphics settings to the minimum, worried about how the card would cope with TS3.)

Download: http://tinyurl.com/lt55tt

I have all EPs and M&G SP.

[allon_midbar]

Jim, I like the overall idea. You're right that the art deco theme is a bit obscured, but it still turns out nicely.

I obviously fail to understand the way communal kitchens work in apartments.

I'm not sure that apartment lots are supposed to have communal kitchens. It's not something I've tried, anyway, because it seemed like it would produce the problems you've encountered.

[lizbeth]

Well I have been lurking for a long while and yoinked many houses from this challenge so I figured I should contribute at some point (I hope this challenge doesn't die because of TS3, which I don't own nor do I plan on buying).  Here's my submission:

Features: 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, Living/Skilling area, Eat-in Kitchen, Office, Pool, Pond, Solar Energy.  There is room for greenhouses and orchard trees on the right hand side of the property, but I already spent enough time on the house this month!  It's only been lightly playtested but I haven't found anything wrong with it yet.  This is the lot as it appears in my hood... I *think* the edges are flat.

Costs: 221,700

I have all EPs and SPs except Family Fun Stuff.  There is CC in some of the pictures mainly the upper cabinets from Well Dressed Sim and some items from the Sims2Store.  I have included a link for both the non-CC version, and the CC version.  I hope you enjoy!

407 Edgewater Parkway Redesign

Front View of the house


First Floor Plan


Second Floor Plan


Third Floor Plan


some of my favorite highlights:

Kitchen (1st floor)


Painter's Nook (1st floor)


Master Bedroom (2nd floor)


A Bedroom for your misunderstood Teen (2nd floor)


Princess Bedroom (3rd floor)


Office (3rd floor)


Back view of the house


Pool area


Nighttime view



View more pictures with the slideshow

Download (no CC)

Download (w/ CC)

[J. M. Pescado]

It's been a while since I looked closely at them (probably about when I got Nightlife) but I plopped them down in my building hood to take a look. I think maybe one of the two-story ones?

Those basically have nothing really WRONG with them. Even the kitchens are nicely prepared for full enclosure, right down to the dividing lines carved on the floor for the job. They convert to AwesomeSpec Lite very easily.

[Faizah]

It's been a while since I looked closely at them (probably about when I got Nightlife) but I plopped them down in my building hood to take a look. I think maybe one of the two-story ones?

Those basically have nothing really WRONG with them. Even the kitchens are nicely prepared for full enclosure, right down to the dividing lines carved on the floor for the job. They convert to AwesomeSpec Lite very easily.

Yeah, like I said, last time I actually looked at these was around Nightlife. I had no idea what I was doing back then.

[chobeegal]

I did Edgewater Apartments right at the start of the month, and they've been lying empty ever since, thanks to TS3. In the spirit of 'I've started, so I'll finish', I finally got round to testing them and posting them.

Edgewater Apartments

Slideshow: http://tinyurl.com/n8lv3w.
(Apologies for even worse quality images than usual, though they do get a bit better 10 frames in. I forgot I'd turned all my graphics settings to the minimum, worried about how the card would cope with TS3.)

Download: http://tinyurl.com/lt55tt

I have all EPs and M&G SP.

Sorry, won't download.

[allon_midbar]

Sorry, won't download.

Try this.

[jim]

Sorry, won't download.

I tried downloading it myself, and it worked ok. So, I've just left it as it is for now.

[chobeegal]

allon's link to it worked. The other one did not with either ie or firefox. Gave same type error message with both.

[allon_midbar]

allon's link to it worked. The other one did not with either ie or firefox. Gave same type error message with both.

I've noticed that tinyurl causes problems for some people. Not sure why, works just fine for me. Glad I was able to help.

[Liveangel]

This one took me a while to do. Here goes nothing:

407 Edgewater Mall
Click on the thumbnails to preview.















Download as zip

[Dark Trepie]

It's been a while since I looked closely at them (probably about when I got Nightlife) but I plopped them down in my building hood to take a look. I think maybe one of the two-story ones?

Those basically have nothing really WRONG with them. Even the kitchens are nicely prepared for full enclosure, right down to the dividing lines carved on the floor for the job. They convert to AwesomeSpec Lite very easily.

Yeah, like I said, last time I actually looked at these was around Nightlife. I had no idea what I was doing back then.

I've used the one with the white walls multiple times myself.  The open bottom floor works nicely for a home business.

[Erry]

Floor plan:




It's unfurnished, yes, I am a lazy fuck, thank you.

It comes at 58,606 simoleons, which is surprising for an unfurnished home. DAMN YOU EA.

Download: Click me!

[SalixTree]

Erry, that's impressive! I almost thought it was a different house. I like!

[allon_midbar]

I nominate these two for July:

196 Main Street (Desiderata Valley)


319 Bella Park Road (Belladonna Cove)

[HomeschooledByTards]

I vote for this one: 319 Bella Park Road (Belladonna Cove)

Bonus challenge ideas, keep the tree or the porch.

[simsrocks]

That's not fair, my computer can't run Freetime and there's no way to make it base game compatible, short of rebuilding it.
Don't alienate those who computer's are crap and can't run the latest EPs