Melrose- A home designed with a family of crafty (in an artsy sense) women in mind.




Disclaimers:   I have all EP's, SP's, store items and freebies.  I don't think I used any pre-order items, but don't know for certain.  I have briefly playtested with a family of four and didn't encounter many issues (and I fixed the ones I did).

Yard: Small greenhouse and logic area. 


First floor:  Kitchen with eat-in dining area, bathroom and living room.




Second floor:   Bathroom, double/twin bedroom and master bedroom with attached bath. 




Attic: Open!  I loaded it with all kinds of crafting and skilling items, but it can be adapted for anything.


All this will run you $67, 141 (wanded)!

Download: Melrose.rar

I was wondering why my first gen legacy family suddenly had $110,569 after I added on a nursery (when I started, they had $6,569).  Awesome glitch, if you can justify the sudden windfall. I couldn't and floor-tiled my funds down to where the should have been.

I need a glitch that makes training toddlers faster.

I missed most of the clothing and hair.  Holy shit, there's $135 worth of clothes alone!  I think, I just counted up the number of and multiplied by 75.  I'm not even going to get into the hair, since they're selling the same style for different age groups separately from one another.

I understand that online stores and the like are the "way of the future" for gaming, but I can get three mini-expansions for Fallout 3 for $30 (well, I'll be able to when they release it for PS3 ).  

It's definitely cheaper to buy the sets whole rather than piece by piece, but I think you're looking at the price given per item in the set listing (which is the price for subsets) rather than the a la carte menu.  A la carte everything seems to be between 25 and 100 points each.

So, if I'm figuring correctly, it would cost $80 ($79.75) to buy everything up on the Sims 3 Store right now.  For the cost of 2 regular Sims 2 EP's you get 142 items, 16 outfits and 11 hairs and 0 new features. Fuck EA.

On the plus side, once someone figures out a way to get shared Store Stuff into the game, we only need 8 people to volunteer their $10 pre-order incentive.

Let's pretend Kyuss was flipped by the same designer that did It's Apartments, my submission from last month.  The two lots share tons of physical and stylistic similarities and would look good as neighbors, but Kyuss is a single family residence.




Pod-style and fully furnished from the first floor up, wiith three bedrooms, five bathrooms, a pool/hot tub area and huge unfinished basement, this lot will run your sims $77,000 (wanded down from $141,770).


Grounds: There is minimal landscaping as this is a house designed for the young at heart who have better things to do than garden or weed.



First floor: Foyer with desk, large living/fun room with a corner arcade. The kitchen/dining room decor is condiment inspired and there is a small bonus room off of the kitchen that can easily function as a nursery. Sims can cut through the greenhouse section to go directly from the front porch to the back porch.




Second floor: Master bathroom with attached bath, small single with attached bath (and the only room that can't be accessed from inside the house) and a double-single with a lounge and private bath. I grew up in a bungalow with no doors between rooms (save the bathroom) so I love the idea of having the bedrooms be almost like their own private clubhouses.




No CC was used in the making of this house.  I have all EP's, SP's, Store Stuffs and Pre-order items.  While not AwesomeSpecs, Kyuss was, as usual, briefly tested by a family of five.  There were some stupid routing decisions, mostly due to the exterior staircase (I recommended nuking that thing) but otherwise everything seems to be accessible.

Download:  Kyuss

It's Apartments!



Notes: Tested-  the landing for the penthouse was easily congested due to move-in excitement (landlord, new neighbors, gypsy, Mr. Humble...).  I included a download for the residential version so you can fiddle with the lay-out without having to use cheats, if you so desire.  I have all EP's, SP's Pre-Orders and Store Stuffs.

Lot View:


Penthouse:  3 Bed/2 Bath, nursery and enclosed porch. 
Rent:  $2,541




1A: 3 Bed (2 Bed/1 Nursery)/2 Bath, space in lower level for crafting stations/aspiration rewards and an open porch.
Rent: $2,494





1B: 3 Bed (2 Bed/1 Nursery)/2 Bath, space in lower level for crafting stations/aspiration rewards and an open porch
Rent: $2,396





Garage: 1 Bed/1Bath
Rent: $809



Common Areas: Pool/Gym with access to large veranda, Basketball court and playground.





Download: 
It's Apartments! Apartments
It's Apartments! Residential

That looks great, witch! 

I'm trying not to look too closely at the pictures, to save myself from inadvertantly copying someone else's entry.  Hoever, I think everyone is doing a great job with the exteriors and verandas (I adore the walls and windows on mistyk's). devilsrope, that community lot is amazing!

After struggling for weeks to make anything remotely aesthetically pleasing, I have two versions of the same(ish) house for this month's challenge. I apologize for the lack of interior shots, the decor is standard issue quaint/country.

At $40,380 wanded, Violet Lane is neither a starter nor a full-on family home. 




Lot Overview: I tested it with a CAS family consisting of an elder couple, one adult, one child and a large dog and didn't encounter issues.  It has three bedrooms (one double), 2 and a half baths, a lockable stairwell, front fence with gate and a small garden out back. I may have broken the rules by replacing a portion of the original walls with half-walls, but it didn't change the dimensions or usefulness of the space one way or another.  I just wanted it to feel more open. 







After finishing Violet Lane, I was disappointed by the lack of space for a family to grow, so I went ahead and added some square footage, threw in a room for babies and a full bathroom on the first floor.  Then I decided to upload it, too.



Violet Lane Plus is $44,094 and has everything that Violet Lane does plus a nursery and full bath on the first floor and a large single bedroom on the second floor.  The basement also has open space for career rewards/aspiration objects.






Both lots are CC free. I have all EP's, SP's. 
Download: Violet Lane
Download: Violet Lane Plus

I think this month's title is a misnomer, I don't know how phail a house can be when it inspires so much beautiful work.  Anyway, here is the first of two remodels that I've done.  The second version, which is actually the first one I started on, needs to be furnished and playtested before I upload it.

1097 Stars Boulevard




Third Floor/Attic:  Finished sewing/craft room, half bath and unfinished space that is currently being used as a makeshift game room/ballet studio. 


Second Floor:   Master bedroom with attached bath, common bathroom, teen room, child's room and small double twin room for guests or sims who don't deserve their own bedroom.  There is also a central common area with television and stereo.  The space above the first floor living area is open, but can easily be closed off into another room.



First Floor: The open entry has the One Desk, piano and the main living/reading area.  There is also a nursery with attached bath, a large kitchen/dining area and an enclosed porch for skilling/storage.





Yard:   Fishable pond, space for a small orchard or garden, and plenty of flowers to keep a nature sim happy (and sweaty) for hours. 



Disclaimer:   I playtested it a bit with a large family, and fixed all the issues that they turned up, but I know I forgot the burglar alarm.  I have all EP's, SP's and most of the store items. 

The way I did the roofing makes the lot look like total crap in the neighborhood view, just in case that's something that you look for in a house.

Download Link:   1097 Stars Boulevard Wanded to $67,998

After about three days of trying to get this darn thing uploaded without losing all my pictures, here is Mannered Manor, an ode to the Apartment Life bohemian collection. Comments and criticism welcome!


(the bench on the far left is gone, and the hack making my garbage can invisible was removed before uploading)


Disclaimer:  I have all the EPs, SPs and store stuffs.  The only thing packed with the house that will have a cc star is the Spooky Stuff gargoyle. Quick stats-  3 bed, four bath, one nursery and a partially furnished basement that can easily fit at least two more bedrooms.  

Grounds and Features: Orchard, soccer net, small, fishable pond, playground area and parking for one.  More flora than I usually use, but playtesting yielded no access issues.

(an alternative name for the lot was "Two Guardians")

Third Floor/Attic and Features: Seasonal storage, reading and craft areas with access to sekkrit room (perfect for undercover witches and/or hiding from the kids).  



Second Floor and Features: Master bedroom with balcony and bath, double single and single single bedrooms, common bath, skill room (that can be converted to a bedroom) and skilling areas.



First Floor and Features: Entry way with One Desk, sitting room, dining room, kitchen, nursery with easy access to kitchen and a bathroom with tub (something I always forget, so I end up with temporary tubs in the hallway).  I'm playing a legacy with three cats, so I threw in a small pet room.  




Basement and Features: Full bath and sports themed television room.  The rest is free for aspiration/career rewards or expansion of living areas.  


Download:
Furnished- Wanded to $126,416
Unfurnished-  Wanded to 62, 026

I love so many of the houses in this thread!  I need to go on a downloading rampage in the very near future.  Comments on some:

I dig the dollhouse feel of faizah's house and love the use of color in Lana B's- nicely implemented without being garish.

jim uses combinations of Eaxis buildmode items in a way that makes me see them in a whole new light.  I especially love the windows.

Emma-  Wood!  You are almost unfairly good at turning these fugmo houses into something beautiful.  The landscaping is gorgeous, too!

leaths-  I love houses that have such a unified feel inside and out, the fact that it's so well done doesn't hurt.  I think I'm going to turn it into a small dorm for my tudor-style university.

tryclyn-  If that were a real house, I would sell a kidney to live there.  I'm a sucker for big, slightly eccentric looking homes with porches and lots of green.  I would probably want the dining area to be closer to the kitchen, though. 

Likes:

The clothes, objects and community lot points-of-interest are almost uniformly cool.  There are some lazy textures (the swanky living room set) and an overabundance of thigh-high boots, but for the most part it's all nice.

The social groups add a little personality to the background of the community lots.  I did think it was strange to see a socialite shopping in the bad paet of town.

The witch effects are nifty, but they do cause some lag.  I wanted to get a picture of Julien Cooke huggling the Most Evil Witch's familiar, and it took me about a minute to pan through the sparklies for a close-up.

Dislikes:

My evil witches don't change color and my good witches don't get sparkle skin.  It's more than likely because of my default replacement skins, but if it's just an overlay, why should it matter?  Vampires don't have these issues. Grrr. Argh.

The apartments that come with the game are almost uniformly fug and annoyingly laid out.  I hate having the wardrobes stand between the main living space and the bedrooms.

I don't like the ceilings.  They're too low and it makes the rooms feel claustrophobic, especially when used with stages.   

All I can think, when I see that hidden lot, is of the witch Baba Yaga and her hut with chicken legs.  That must be what they were going for, they even added the lame-o chicken feet scratches in the dirt.

I'm bummed about the beach lots, I made some really cute beach condos. 

For those who have played apartment lots, how nonsensical is the routing? 

I thought the extra moneys only happened if someone moves out of an existing household?  So a CAS family of 8 would have 20,000 but if, for whatever reason, half the family moved out then they would get the 20,000 +.  I don't really pay enough attention to family funds to know how move outs work now.

I decided to check out some of the story offerings on Live Journal and, within minutes, discovered The Housekeepers Chronicle.  What it lacks in gruesomely detailed sex scenes and incest it makes up for in hilariously cliched characterization and plot*, incompetent photography** and the blandest narrator to ever be caught up in a completely unrealistic 12-penned soap opera***.  The whole thing is more More Mediocre than You. than More Awful than You!, but since she made the effort to post it to the internet, I thought I'd make the effort to openly mock it. 

* The Pretty Perfect Template 1 Narrator loves her sweet, eccentric, artisy employer and hates his bitchy, undermining wife who can't even appreciate her husband's beautiful soul. She's just so mean!  I love the smell of casual sexism in the morning.

**



*** "I had a breakdown yesterday while working for the Sampson's. I think I'm just so overwhelmed with everything going on. I don't know how I'm going to take care of this baby. I really don't. I think it was the thought that I might have to give him up for adoption is what sent me over the edge. I can't stand the thought of not having my Edmund. (That's what I'm going to name him!)"

I guess that's more realistic than spontaneous combustion due to hot tubbing, but it's still ridiculous. 

Thanks for the compliments, guys.  The interior is based on my own house- pine walls in every room and a few brick accents.


I knew that and I still kept pushing in back against the wall "for flow".    I hate when I miss stuff like that.

All the houses look great so far.  I'm partial to those who kept the lot "in the desert".  I love the modern design elements and use of stucco in Yecats, Emma, Goggalor and Annan's houses.  I'm definitely going to use Eleonora's house for one of my custom universities- besides being gorgeous, it matches the other buildings perfectly and it's a good size for a larger generation of Young Adults. 

This is my third attempt at redesigning a monthly EAxis House of Fail. The previous two were deleted during fits of petulance over EA's inability to make a complete matching set of anything, and this one nearly went the same way. On Friday night my sister asked me to design a house for when she gets a new computer that can run EP's beyond Pets, preferably one that has space for hobby and or crafty stuff. With that goal in mind, Erin Dreams (2.0) was finished.




Notes: This lot does have even edges.  I have everything and anything that EA has put out under Sims 2.  I always try to keep AwesomeSpecs in mind when I build, but I deviate.  I'm a boring interior designer who has a tendency to get repetitive (Exhibit A: The excess of pine in this house, Exhibit B: The identically designed bathrooms) and I apologize.  I did test with a family of 6- two adults, one teen, two kids and a toddler, and found it to be playable.  If the front gate and narrow-entrance door are locked to non-family, there are few routing issues.  I expect pile-ups when the kids get home from school, but I forgot to play that long.  Oops.

Second Floor: Master bedroom with attached bath, teen room with attached bath, two kids' rooms, freestanding bath, small craft room (you can have two people in there at the same time) and large deck.




First Floor: Sitting/reading area, two empty endtables for mail and/or thinking caps, the One Desk, full bath, small nursery, kitchen, separate dining area (only accessible through kitchen) and separate stairs room. 



Basement: Windows! Reading area, movie corner, poker room, hobby space with barre, radio and electric train.  Full bathroom with shower. Note: The awning on the deck obscures the back left corner if you play with walls up.



Yard: Driveway, garden area, open activity area, fenced in pool and seating area.  Some far-flung shrubberies, but nothing too excessive.


 

Furnished:  $84,959 (wanded down from about $150,000) DOWNLOAD
Unfurnished: $34,865 DOWNLOAD

God, yes. Since I unfortunately live in the land where bad fashion trends go to retire but never die, I still see it everywhere and it is so fug.

Having barely scratched the surface of what is surely a bottemless vat of suck at the TSR, I've already found two terrible lipstick sets.

Entry One combines two things I hate in real life- lipliner that is darker than the lip it lines (especially in brown shades  ) and a finish that reminds me of nothing so much as wood paneling. 


Entry Two is noteworthy only because the light reflections on the lower lip is weirdly suggestive of some type of white organic substance (to say nothing of the ugly black line that makes the upper lip look about half as wide as it should).

Every time I play a beach lot I'm astonished at how beautiful it is.  With the new neighborhood objects for the water, you can make a secluded cove that feels realistic.  The objects for the ruins are cool, as is the Pirate Ship and all the decorative objects.  The fact that you can make a game out of collecting the vacation icons, or you can just play the way you normally would, is refreshing.  I love all of the vacation destinations, for different reasons.  I think Takemizu Village is my favorite- for the Legend and the learning to teleport (I could live without the reactions other sims have when someone teleports).  They definitely managed to infuse each destination with its own energy and vibe (even beyond the gestures and dances).  Even with the small annoyances, this is a very satisfying EP.

When my sims visited Three Lakes the main hood was at the end of its second season (Fall).  When they arrived at Three Lakes, it was also at the end of its second season (Fall) and it transitioned to Winter while they were there (which annoyed me, because I usually don't play winter due to snow lag/general uselessness).  So I'm thinking that the season at the vacation lot lines up with whatever point in the cycle they were on when they left the main hood.  It's possible that I am completely wrong.  I haven't paid close attention during their second trip.

Brandi and Jem (my Bon Voyage test couple) returned home from Three Lakes without incident and then rolled up wants to go to Takemizu Village.  I'd say that the objects there are less entertaining (though prettier) than those at Three Lakes and there is a definite need for a "no autonomous tai chi" hack.  However, their visit to the secret lot there was one of my favourite game playing experiences ever.  It's so peaceful, no music, no townies/tourist swarming.  The way that they depict The Legend is probably the neatest effect I've seen in this game. Tt was quite unexpected.

No problem.  I've been on other boards this morning and almost all of the people complaining about problems still have their old hacks in and they seem really resistant to removing them, choosing to kvetch about Eaxis instead, which confuses what is and is not actually a bug. 

I did do that the first two times I loaded it. I played around in CAS and visited my Seasons test lot before restarting the game with CC (default replacement skins and eyes and a few BV DC hacks) in the game and then enabled.  I think my honeymoon glitch was a result of the want being locked before BV was installed and, with the inevitable reset, it went a bit wonky.  I don't know what the deal is with the local spawning, though.