What do you build into your houses?

[SnootCB]

I usually follow the 1 bathroom per 2 sims rule, as well as having closets and/or sheds for wardrobes and reward objects.

I rarely have any kind of gym or workout equipment, as I really prefer the pool- your sim gains fun, doesn't lose hygiene, and of course gains body skill.  Plus with the Marco Polo game from Seasons, they get social.

Then I usually build a meditation area for elders, pregnant sims, and sims due for promotion or age transition.  I used to put these on the roof so the ghosts couldn't get at them (no stairs, must teleport) and if they were accidentally knocked out of meditation they wouldn't wander off, but with Seasons I've found that I have to build actual rooms.  Meh.

I generally don't like building from scratch, but I enjoy playing challenges that often require the sim(s) to start off on an empty lot, so I've gotten decent at it.  I prefer to remodel Maxis homes or downloaded homes.

[Zazazu]

I haven't tried experimenting with basements / split levels / stages yet.

I used to do a lot of split levels and basements before we got the inside stage (Pets?). I don't like how high the stage tool makes the raised area as everything looks scrunched, and doing it the old fashioned way with liberal use of the constrain cheat generally looks better, but lighting can be a problem. Basements....eh. When I first got the game almost every lot had a basement because I'm from the midwest and the thought of a house without a basement is just...weird. However, camera angles can be difficult with basements unless you design it so that the basement can be a walk-out and then basically sit the camera in one direction. Personal taste, I guess, but I use the foundation for hiding cheat objects like the debugger, sim modder baby, and pet baby-maker (pre Lonny Lon, the neighborhood mime who lives in a telephone booth and seems oddly linked to the growing grilled cheese zombie epidemic).

I almost always have balconies and a patio, but rarely have front porches. I sock hack type objects and stuff into attics.

Again, maybe it's a midwestern thing, but people hanging out on their front porch looks trashy to me. Front porches are used only for design, and generally are only about 2 squares deep and hold no objects.

I prefer enclosed garages (usually make them on the longer side, so I can put a few workout items in there as well), and most newer buildings after Seasons have a wishing well and greenhouse and a fishin' hole.

Generally I do a revised carport as they take less room and look more modern. They are mostly covered and form a C around the driveway. But then usually my simmies don't get a car. If I can't have one, neither can they.

I prefer boxy modern houses, because I get tired of curtains and blinds not working on 45-angle walls, and because I tend to like mod furniture with clean lines and stainless steel appliances in kitchens. I like solid-colour walls and floors as well. The result is that paintings, Sims, bedding patterns, and knick-knacks/counter clutter items tend to draw more attention that way. I also like big windows.

Same here. I'm tending towards single-level adobes

and multi-level Californian type homes.

 Mostly flat roofs, sometimes multi-level decorative flat roofing, or at the most I'll do a 25 degree roof. My college (University Land) is kind of a weird traditional-modern hybrid (I'm not sure of the actual style name) like this:

Sheesh, I adore that dorm.

[Khaki]

My houses usually vary from project to project... but some of the things I usually do are -

Not have too many bathrooms, though I know it makes for easier play, it just seems unrealistic to have too many. And I'm a real stickler for having my bathroom placements be sensible... meaning, in real homes, because the piping is run thru the walls in certain spots you'll usually see bathrooms built back to back, or in the same location on the different levels of the house (on top of each other is a way to phrase it I suppose). Sort of silly maybe, but I can't help myself.

Use a lot of curtains, because it fills up a room nicely, without cluttering up the usable space.

Have double staircases, and often a single staircase and then a double one in a different location of the house if it's a large floorplan.

2 single doors on Master bedrooms so parents can lock the children out.

Decorations made from the OFB stuffs, i.e. flowers, kites, water wigglers. I especially love the snapdragons for their motive boosting (or busting) potential...

In my yards I like lots of custom low greens that don't need upkeep and that allow intersection... they look so much more realistic than little perfectly round bushes, and then I can put the occasional bush that needs upkeep sprinkled thru the greens...

I like sideways or backwards garages, just because I hate the look of driveways right out front...

That's all I can think of at the moment. 

[Count Four]

Screw the One Desk.  If I ever use a desk, I put a computer and a vase of flowers on it or something. It's easier to find the homework, particularly in a multi-offspring house, if they just drop it on the floor. 

With large families (three or more children) I put a basement in and put toilet stalls and showers down there. (It'll look like a basement, too; cement walls and floor and everything) The parents will have the master bath with two lockable doors so the kids can't clog it up when they need to get ready for work.

For something different, I sometimes put a house sideways on the lot--the 'front' of the house doesn't face the street. In this case, a nice big porch with stairs on the mailbox end provides access to the street.  If you do it right, they don't have to walk any farther than usual to take out trash or get mail. I usually put the kitchen on the driveway/garage end of the house, with the 'back door' in the kitchen.

I don't put toys, skill stuff or anything in bedrooms. I don't have Seasons (yet), so the easel, chess board and toy box often go out on the deck instead. Everything else gets stuffed into living areas until my sims get rich enough to afford extra rooms for study and skilling. They usually don't even get a separate dining room until they're half-way through their career tracks.

I use attic space a lot. Just a floor up there, with no stairs. The God of the Big Blue Arrow stashes Aspiration rewards up there when they're not being used, so I don't have to page through all that stuff in the inventory.

I hardly ever put in a hot tub or pool. The pool doesn't get used enough to justify the expense and the hot tub gets used too damned much.

I try to put at least one decor item in every room, even for poor sims, to help environment score a little bit. Outdoors, poor sims get tree and shrubs as they can afford them. When they can reasonably afford a gardener, they get flowerbeds. Sometimes really elaborate gardens.

I build a lot of salt-box-farmhouse-type houses these days, with white clapboard siding and red tin roof. Also Victoian corner towers. I like the towers. Anybody know where I can get siding with gingerbread trim?

[KatEnigma]

Screw the One Desk.  If I ever use a desk, I put a computer and a vase of flowers on it or something. It's easier to find the homework, particularly in a multi-offspring house, if they just drop it on the floor. 



I build a lot of salt-box-farmhouse-type houses these days, with white clapboard siding and red tin roof. Also Victoian corner towers. I like the towers. Anybody know where I can get siding with gingerbread trim?

If you have a One Desk they drop their homework on the desk or on the floor next to it.  If there's no One Desk, they drop their homework anywhere.  No thanks! LOL

For Victorian sidings, I use c_literati's various sets and shtinky00's Tulip Grove and Pickett Lane sets Neither of them are an FA, so they are free, but if you see something you'd like but don't want to register, PM me with your requests, and I'll shoot them over to you.

[Count Four]

Hm. Mine almost always drop homework in the front room or on the porch. I keep having issues with a kid standing by a desk and gesticulating wildly that they can't get to their homework, even though they managed to put it on the desk just fine. Wtf?

Thank you, these are just the thing. I'm registered but thanks for the offer, too.

[jolrei]

I use the Homework Sometimes hack, which reduces the amount of homework (more realistic, or at least it appeals to the part of me that feels that homework is bad for kids anyway).  They seem to drop the homework in the room with the desk in any case, either on the desk or on the floor beside.  I had one house where the teens would consistently get distracted when getting off the bus and drop their homework on the front walk.  This led to 9:00pm sessions of homework outside.  Eventually, I installed outdoor lighting for them so they could do it more conveniently.

[rosenshyne]

At about noon everyday i cancel out the school icon. When they get home they drop their homework next to the mailbox and go about their business. I put a couple outdoor lights right in front, and they can do their homework there.

[Kyna]

I take it you don't have Seasons?  In my game I had young Zander Roth sitting hip-deep in snow by the letterbox, doing his homework.

[Zazazu]

I take it you don't have Seasons?  In my game I had young Zander Roth sitting hip-deep in snow by the letterbox, doing his homework.

Considering that my father had to walk uphill through the snow both ways to school every day (true, my family is from West Virginia originally on both sides), my simmies can do their homework in the snow.

I do the same cancel-out, but typically once they drop it I go into buy mode, move it into the living room, go back into play mode and que up some actions to get their motives homework-ready, then let them do it in the living room. The C generation had to do it in the front yard in all seasons because they had too many kids for the house and I don't do rebuilds. Plus it was funny.

[Count Four]

I take it you don't have Seasons?  In my game I had young Zander Roth sitting hip-deep in snow by the letterbox, doing his homework.

Considering that my father had to walk uphill through the snow both ways to school every day (true, my family is from West Virginia originally on both sides), my simmies can do their homework in the snow.

West-by-god-Virginia. Always nice to meet a fellow hillbilly mountaineer.

[rohina]

At about noon everyday i cancel out the school icon. When they get home they drop their homework next to the mailbox and go about their business. I put a couple outdoor lights right in front, and they can do their homework there.

I do this too, because in the Legacy household it means that kids who dawdle over doing their homework are at risk of being scared by their dead ancestors. Mwah ha ha ha!

[notveryawesome]

I use various homework-related hacks, including one that causes the sim kids/teens to put homework in their bedroom(s). If there is a desk in the bedroom, they put it there. Otherwise it goes on the floor. I believe the hack was made by our own dizzy2, and can be found at MTS2. I also use Monique's 'auto do homework' mod (also at MTS2), which causes kids/teens to automatically do their homework at 7pm (the reasoning behind it is that, by then, they'll have had time to raise their motives). If a kid needs to ask for homework help, I just cancel the 'do homework' action, and have the kid ask for help.

These two mods have made my life much easier. I'm not sure if they are compatible with Seasons, however.