What do you build into your houses?

[Li'l Brudder]

No, I clearly remember a "Wash Dog" interaction being clobbered by BUY.

The dog was on his way in, too.

[J. M. Pescado]

No, I clearly remember a "Wash Dog" interaction being clobbered by BUY.

The dog was on his way in, too.

I've wash-dogged just fine with BUY, so you must have done something like use an overly small bathroom. The bare 2x3 showertub/terlet/sink rig does not have enough turning space to wash dogs in. You need something with more space, or else it will routefail and drop from queue.

[Li'l Brudder]

Okay, so maybe it was a 2x2 room with just a tub.

IT WAS A STARTER HOUSE FROM MTS2!  Happy?  The Toilet was in a separate, also 2x2 room.

And how is HarderUni coming?

[kemowery]

My houses tend to be fairly basic (most start out as 2BR, 1 bath), but I make sure there's plenty of space in them.  If not for the ease of plunking down a Maxis/EA-made house, I'd never use them since they tend to be twisty mazes of narrow hallways and too small rooms.  I try to make my houses so that I can build an extra story up or down on them if I need to, which also means space for staircases.

[Liss]

hmmmm maybe I should try it again then.  It seems to me it happened a couple of times so I got sick of it and started putting a bathtub outside.  I'll try again. Good to know.

[J. M. Pescado]

The mandatory features of my housing are clearly documented under Awesomespec v5. You should build all your houses like that!

[Diala]

If there is one thing I dislike, it is extra rooms. I wouldn't be able to stand large mansions (unless the family is huge, but rarely do play such families), because there would be a ton of empty rooms that will never get used. There's another thing I dislike: decorating rooms to find out that I never have the need to use them.

I follow a few basic rules for all my houses:

-There must be a front fence to repel unwanted wildlife, especially wolves.
-I prefer large kitchens, with extra counter space. If the kitchen is too small and I can't find a way to expand it, I don't use the house.
-There is always one large training room, with all skill-building items and whatever career reward objects I may desire to use.
-The living room has the TV, and perhaps the computer. I only use the TV for watching the Cooking Channel, anyway.
-2-3 bathrooms, with enough space for maneuvering.

And depending on the Sim family's circumstances, I add these:

-Sims that will have jobs will get either a garage (if there is enough space), a driveway, or street parking (if possible). Any cars that are not placed in garages get alarms, even though I NEVER have gotten a burglar ever since I started playing.
-A nursery and a few empty rooms, for any family that I wish to breed. These rooms are large, as they will contain the important items for each life stage of that Sim until they move out or go to Uni. Babies get cribs, changing tables, and small fridges for milk. Toddlers get cribs, changing tables, tables with smart milk, toddler toilets, and all of the skill-building toys. Children get single beds, child stoves, desks and chairs for homework, whatever else I want (they usually don't get toys, as I find them useless). Teens are the same, minus child stoves. (Kinda iffy, as it has been a while since I raised some spawn.)
-For the farming family, I set aside a large area of land for the greenhouse (which will contain all fruit trees and plots) and other trees that shed leaves in the fall (good source of compost).
-The families with animals get a small pet room, where all the beds, toys, litterboxes, and pet-only bathtubs are placed. Food usually is in the kitchen, where I can keep an eye on it better.

Despite all that, I tend to be rather flexible. With premade houses, though, I am extremely picky.

[J. M. Pescado]

If there is one thing I dislike, it is extra rooms. I wouldn't be able to stand large mansions (unless the family is huge, but rarely do play such families), because there would be a ton of empty rooms that will never get used. There's another thing I dislike: decorating rooms to find out that I never have the need to use them.

Empty rooms are good. Worse is building a house and finding out you DON'T have any extra rooms next expansion with more crap you need in your house!

[Spicey]

my houses start out pretty average, then get added onto as need arises, most lately to accomodate things like lightning, rain  and hail.  the curious brother had a nice open roof-top boudoir for woohooing and slow-dancing all night long, and after i installed seasons, i had to enclose it so they didn't freeze to death dancing.  i've also been adding more garages to my houses (in the south, almost nobody uses a garage), attached all-glass bubbles to the sides of houses for stargazing (are your sims as lazy as mine?  they won't go up a third flight of stairs unless they're ready to die), and since i don't like in-house swimming pools, i have been attaching a sun/pool room to the rest of the house with an enclosed walkway.


 

[Zazazu]

2x2 or SMALLER?

Yep, I have a small assortment of 1x1 lots on my website. Even my super rich sims hardly get anything bigger than a 3x3 lot...if they're really lucky.

I can't stand basements in this game. Talk about a waste of building time. They are hardly playable and look like garbage.

Anything bigger than a 2x3 is a waste of space to me. You're going to want a second floor, anyways, if you have a big enough family to warrant the space. My current family started on a 1x2 lot which was absolutely perfect for two cats, two adults, and 2 kids. They even had a sizable flower garden and a small pool. Now, stupid progeny/heir&spouse want 6 grandkids and 6 kids respectively. I move the family each time the youngest generation becomes adults, so I'll have to do a 2x2 and I'm not pleased.

[Lorelei]

(anyone know where I can find incense?)

Chinafansims has something like this.

[ScoobyDoo]

As a side note, I've fallen in love with this site: http://www.architecturalhouseplans.com/ The floor plans are awesome inspirations to try and convert into something useable in the sims. I recently put together a 'cabin' that I'm pretty proud of.

Ohhhh thanks.... I'm going to be busy for quite some time now 

Personally I like medium sized houses with enough room to fit things nicely without being too cluttered.  Big huge mansions are fun to look at but rather boring, tiny small homes are a nightmare to make look well equiped. Gotta have some nice decorations/plants sitting around the house making it look more attractive.  Reasonably big lots with a nice sized house are the best, plenty of room for outdoor stuff (decks, pools, ponds... etc and plenty of lighting)

[Gwill]

I try to put everything sims need in their home, so they don't have to leave the house ever.  In the old days I did it because loading community lots took forever, but with my new computer I just do it because I don't like the time paradox on community lots.  My sims only leave the house for dates, and then only to get some public woohoo; once that is done they can bloody well date at home.

Also, I don't like to rotate the camera while playing.  I'm a bit ODC on that, I want to look at things from a perfectly straight angle; so my houses tend to be extremely broad, and only a room or two deep.  I also use Targa's Ascension Stairs, because I don't like the way normal stairs block my view.
So, my houses all look something like this:

The gym is rarely used, but I like having it.
There are snapdragons in the study, and a few in the sofa corner of the lounge next to the seasons book case.  The kitchen and dining room are rarely used, but fully equipped just in case.  The dining room contains an caffination corner; with 5 different kinds of coffee makers.


The Rewards Rooms were a lot more important before Seasons came along with the Bookcase of Awesomeness!  Now I's mostly a store room for career rewards.
I've got some snapdragons next to the beds, so sims always wake fully refreshed.  That's as close as I get to cheating.


Here I keep mounted fish and date boquets.  It's mostly just a place to show the headmaster.  It's also where my zombie sleeps.


Just a small unaccessable room where I keep evil Snapdragons and the Cowplant.  There's no cowplant there yet.


Trophy and reward rooms are a bit empty, because I just re-started this neigbourhood.  This is the first generation to live in the house; I usually reach 15-ish before I go bored.

[ZiggyDoodle]

I like an open floor plan and lots of glass on medium to large lots.  Open floor plans can easily be modified as family needs/income change. 

There's always a bathroom near the front and back doors.  Master bedroom has fireplace and adjacent bath.  My Sims don't pay much attention to the fireplace, but I like watching the reflection of the flames in the dark room.   I savor the visual details of the game such as the effect of the wind on the pool water as the season changes from autumn to winter, and the reflection of the stars and moon in the water.   

There is always a room next to the master bedroom which can be used for any purpose, including a nursery.  Most houses have a den/reading room.  Television, games, piano, etc. are arranged in open space.

Patio off the kitchen - that's where the grill and patio furniture go.  Kitchens are large with lots of counter space.  Adjacent dining room.  I don't like two-story homes or houses on a foundation since climbing stairs takes time and houses on a foundation are a pain to remodel, although I do use both as private Uni dorms (but those houses have very different requirements).

Bulky aspiration/career rewards (i.e.the energizer, surgical training center, biotech station, etc) are kept in the connecting garage.  Ditto for the clean bot and any litter box (used only till the cats are toilet trained).  If there's a dog on the lot, it has its own bathtub in the garage.  Pets eat in the kitchen and depending on the number of pets, may or may not have their own room.  Sometimes the dog sleeps in the kid's room.   I've yet to have a cat that will sleep in the cat condo and while I'm a dog person in real life, my Sims tend to own cats because they are less maintenance.

Each lot has a fishing pond and a greenhouse; sometimes the greenhouse is attached to the house, sometimes not.  Used to keep exercise equipment outdoors but since Seasons, my Sims are more into yoga and swimming.  Also since Seasons and all that fresh food, my elders seem to be living longer; the last one that died was 82.  Maybe they should have chips and cookies instead of veggies and fish as my hood is getting grey.

[Liss]

I forgot, I generally have a skilling room of some sort.  When I'm building houses strictly for fun, I tend to go crazy with the landscaping

[starrling]

What size lot is that, Gwill?

[diamonde]

As a side note, I've fallen in love with this site: http://www.architecturalhouseplans.com/ The floor plans are awesome inspirations to try and convert into something useable in the sims. I recently put together a 'cabin' that I'm pretty proud of.

Thanks for the link!  Houses that I build are usually boring, mildly sucky boxes, so I spent most of last night building one of their bigger houses.  (My housemate laughed at me, I had the floorplan open on my laptop next to me while I built on the desktop.)   I had to get the hang of the constrainfloorelevation cheat to get it right, but I did and it's the best-looking house in my neighbourhood.    I'm still decorating so I haven't played it yet, but it can hardly be less functional than a Maxis house and it has an awful lot more room.

[buddha pest]

Some of you all are quite structured there. I tend to throw houses together willy nilly, adding things as I go, all while trying not to make it too much of an eyesore monstrosity.

I just require lots of bathrooms, and several large bedrooms that can fit double beds.

Everything else I just make work/happen because I like playing a variety of extraordinarily different houses. I just think it's neat to have 70 jillion different types of dollhouses to pick from at any time.

I like the idea of yoga in the greenhouse though. I might do that.

I need to remember to make basements more often too to throw all the damn rewards in.

[notveryawesome]

(anyone know where I can find incense?)

Chinafansims has something like this.

Sandy at aroundthesims2.com also has incense. It can be found HERE.

[Gwill]

What size lot is that, Gwill?

Can't remember right at the moment.  It's not the biggest lot available, but it's pretty huge.

[starrling]

Thanks.  I like the layout but the largest I play with is 3x3 because of my crappy video card.  I might try something similar, though, just on a smaller scale. 

[Orikes]

My only fault with Gwill's design is that there's no bathroom on the first floor. So much time would be lost if they have to keep running upstairs to use the potty. :}

[Gwill]

So far, all my sims have been extremely active, so running for the bathroom hasn't been a problem (and with Targa's Ascension Stairs, going from one floor to another is instant).  However, I just created a zombie who lives on the lot, and wathing him lurch towards the bathroom is a pain; so I might have to add some more bathrooms around the place so he won't have to lurch quite as far.

[Orikes]

Yeah, I've had an odd mix of active/lazy sims, so I've just gotten to the point that I throw in as many bathrooms as I can and still be reasonable. I think my current legacy house has five. There's a tiny bathroom with a shower stall in the basement where the body career rewards are. There are two full bathrooms on the first floor, with both showers and tubs, or a shower tub combo. Since I have the nursery and dog stuff on the first floor, it makes getting dogs and toddlers clean easier. And then on the second floor, there's a full general bathroom and a master bedroom bathroom. It's probably a bit overkill, but at least I rarely see them fighting over the bathroom.

[kuronue]

Yeah, I've had an odd mix of active/lazy sims, so I've just gotten to the point that I throw in as many bathrooms as I can and still be reasonable. I think my current legacy house has five. There's a tiny bathroom with a shower stall in the basement where the body career rewards are. There are two full bathrooms on the first floor, with both showers and tubs, or a shower tub combo. Since I have the nursery and dog stuff on the first floor, it makes getting dogs and toddlers clean easier. And then on the second floor, there's a full general bathroom and a master bedroom bathroom. It's probably a bit overkill, but at least I rarely see them fighting over the bathroom.

I'm that way with bedrooms in my legacy.. I realized I have 6 beds in 5 bedrooms, all of which are double beds, but I make couples sleep together, so it sleeps 12.... ah well, less shoo-ing of pets needed I guess. I have the "Master Bedroom" for the current eldest heir and spouse, the "Heir Bedroom" for the next in line and spouse, then a room with 2 beds from when I had twins, and two bedrooms downstairs for childrens. I've got only 3 bathrooms though.