Thanks chobeegal.    I struggled for a long time trying to come up with something to do with it.  Being so high in the air and round didn't give us many good options.  I was also really impressed with what others came up with to do with it - some beautiful entries.

I'm really late with this, but I really wanted to start participating again.  Here is my attempt at improvement:



It's a residential lighthouse.  It has 5 bedrooms - each with its own bathroom plus an additional full bath by the nursery and 2 half baths.  The double nursery is on the second floor.  The house isn't up to Awesomespecs, but it does have some of the features.  There are a lot of doors that can be locked to keep visitors somewhat contained.  I have thoroughly playtested it for over a week, and it wasn't too bad to play with all the floors, IMO.  With a few exceptions, most of the interesting stuff should happen on the bottom two floors.  The cost is $72,195.  I have all the EPs, M&G, Celebration, and Family Fun.

I'm going to share the rest of the pics as clickable thumbnails:







Download (988.7 KB)http://www.box.net/shared/dgcff13030

Problem solved - thank you, spambi! 

I don't have ACR, but I decided to check anyway and the husband had lost his aspiration.  I was able to fix that with the orb thing, which thankfully worked.  The sim modder would not fix it, and he had no access to any aspiration rewards, but thankfully I was able to get the orb from his wife's aspiration rewards.  I had to give him a job and a secondary aspiration again as well.  So, the problem seems fixed, and hopefully it will stay fixed. 

@Faizah - I love this!  It turned out looking very elegant.  I'm downloading both versions.  With your apartments, I really like how much there is to do out in the communal areas.  Apartments I've built are more like separate houses with very little to do outside.  I look forward to trying something different.

Last night I moved a couple out of an apartment and into a house.  They stood out on the sidewalk and took turns jumping out of whatever action they tried to do.  I thought maybe the lot was corrupted, so I moved them into another house.  Unfortunately, the jumping continued.  I then checked to make sure I had no conflicting hacks, which I didn't.  I then tried playing them after taking out my downloads folder - still jumping.  Then I added back newly downloaded MATY hacks, and they are still jumping.  Since they are taking turns jumping, I'm attaching an error log from each of them.  I really hope there is a way to save these two.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I built this cottage with the restriction of not moving trees or shrubs, which was a challenge.  I plan to use it as a vacation home in the Mountain vacation area.


Front

Back

Second Floor

First Floor

Master Bedroom

Kitchen

Bedroom

Living Room

Details:
§47,993
Cleaned lot with Clean Installer
No CC
2 bedrooms
1 bathroom
Kitchen and upstairs are protected from wandering guests
Lot is stray-proof

Requires all EPs and Mansion & Garden, plus I also have Family Fun and Celebration installed.

Sorry it took me so long to get back here.  I got sick and had to go to the hospital after I posted the picture.  I'm doing a lot better now, but I just haven't had the desire to work on the house much more.  I do feel it is as done as it's going to get, so I figure before it's too late, I'll go ahead and post it.









§94,221
2 bedrooms
nursery
2 bathrooms
balcony
pond

This requires all EPs + Family Fun, Celebration & Mansion & Garden

As always, I'm loving seeing all the different and awesome houses.  I'm making one this month too, although I still have a ways to go on the inside, and maybe will do some more with the outside.  I feel like it's fairly boring in comparison to most of this month's houses, but oh well.  Here's a pic of what I've got so far:

Here is my remodeling effort. As you can see, I decided to go with a castle theme.



Here's a view of the courtyard in the back.



Here is another view from the back. Notice the moat that surrounds the property.



This is the downstairs living area.



Dining room



Upstairs there are games and creativity-building.



This is one of the two double bedrooms.



Upstairs



Main floor

Lot Details:
§358,958 (expensive, but castles are supposed to be, right?)
4 bedrooms
double nursery on main floor
3 bathrooms
pond
greenhouse
hot spring

Requires:
All EPs + Family Fun and Celebration

Custom Content:
"windkeeperian" mailbox cover and recolors used
Maxis - Missink Point Mystery Topiary
Sims 2 Store - Castle window (on the towers)

Download Here: (4.3 MB)

I've missed a few months, but I thought I'd try this month's house.  I really love what you guys have done with it, and have several awesome new houses in my bin.

Here is my attempt:



I had a lot of pictures and couldn't decide which ones to show, so I made a slideshow.

House Features:
Furnished (except for 1 bedroom)
No CC (except FreeTime preorder ballerina poster)
§179,035
5 bedrooms
3 bathrooms
daylight walkout basement
game room
pool
hot tub
greenhouse

Requires:
All EPs, Family Fun and Celebration Stuff

Some Awesomespecs:
Fenced
Kitchen with a door
One desk close to front door
Double nursery on main floor

Download Here (999.2 KB)

(click to see larger)
basement:

main floor:

upstairs:

living room:

master bedroom (in basement):

upstairs bedroom 1:

upstairs bedroom 2 facing toward balcony door:

kitchen:

dining room facing enclosed stairway:

dining room facing enclosed porch:


I fixed the non-level lot by building the house just like the original on a new, flat lot.  I decided to keep it in the desert, and although it isn't my favorite house, I thought it turned out well considering what it once was.  I tried to use awesomespecs, but I forgot to add the one desk.  I'm sure there is room to add one on the main floor somewhere. 

Lot details:

no custom content
§107K
3x2 lot
3-5 bedrooms
2.5 bathrooms
twin nurseries
enclosed porch
balcony
greenhouse
single garage
full "daylight" basement

I have all EPs through FreeTime, and I also have Family Fun and Celebration.   The Stuff Packs may not be needed (although I don't know) since I didn't use any objects from them. 

Download Here (1.3 MB)

You can fix your lot with LotAdjuster.  I just didn't figure this out until after I had rebuilt it. 

I rebuilt this house of fail on a flat lot, and I'm pretty sure than other than the non-level edges, terrain bumps, and weird splotchy terrain paint, I made it just like the stupid original.  I plan to start with my slightly-less-fail version if that's OK.  So, I can has level edges, plz?

Anyway, what an interesting challenge this house will be.  Is it possible that EAxis has ever made a worse house than this one?

This would seem to contradict his stated MO of hiding the bodies. 

I don't know if this information is useful or awesome (and I should probably have tested my theory before sharing it) but I think my sims tend to get date gifts the same night as the date if the date ends early enough to have flowers delivered before/around midnight.  Dates will sometimes come back on the lot right after bringing flowers and drop off a gift (in the early am?).  I could be wrong about the exact timing, but that seems to make a difference.  When I time dates this way, they seem to get stuff more often than they do on the second night or later.

I love all the various remade versions of this house I've seen -- all much more harmonious. 

This one was $150K -- down to §87K after the magic wand.  I tried to keep it to awesomespecs.  I have all EPs, and Family Fun and Celebrations Stuff Packs, although I tried not to use anything from the SPs, so they may not be required.  A copy of the lot was playtested, and everything seemed to work well.







main floor:


upstairs:


attic:


living/dining:


kitchen:


Here is the download link: Harmonious Haven

Yeah, they're snapdragons.  It was an "impulse buy."  When I was decorating, I saw they were available in a collection file.  This was in the wee hours when my judgment was compromised.  I generally just say no to snapdragons.   

I've really enjoyed this thread and the variety of better-looking, more functional houses.  I'm happy to have my own nice collection of 190 Sim Lanes now.

Here's my attempt:




ground floor:

upper floor:

click thumbnails to see larger pics:



Download Lot

Notes:
I have all the expansion packs, plus I have Family Fun and Celebrations.  I don't think I used any items from the stuff packs, so they may not be required.  The house's value started out at around §192K, but thanks to the magic wand, the price is now about §110K.  The house is mostly up to awesomespecs, although the nursery is upstairs because it really didn't fit anywhere else.  I also put in too many flowers and shrubs.  I realized this when my sims couldn't pay their gardener one day and he quit coming, as they had to waste a great deal of their own time watering flowers and trimming shrubs.   Other than those two details, the house is very playable, IMO.

There is a kitchen counter in one side of the nursery to hold a smart milk dispenser.  The teddy bear is on there as a placeholder to keep your sims from preparing dinner upstairs.

Thankfully, after I braindeadly patched and realized it wanted to play from the disk (and put SecuRom on my computer) I remembered System Restore.  I was able to "un-patch" and will now wait for an updated noCD.   

I tried an entire sim day at the game lot.  I was only able to have one contest come to some sort of conclusion.  My sim and the NPC that comes with the secret lot played for a long time, but no one else could join for a long time.  Finally, I "lucked out" and one sim was able to join, but he won the contest after about a second when his game was still on the loading screen. 

Everyone on the lot had serious ADHD issues when it came to the gaming contest.  The usual problem with the contest was that sims would either try to take a computer that was already occupied, or they would sit down and start a computer, only to never actually start playing and then they would get up again.  Then they would either try another computer with the same result, or they would wander off and do something else.

BTW, I only have current MATY hacks from the Free Time directory, so tight pants are not an issue.

That's definitely another reason to try it.  So does this mean that when the nanny pees on the floor my toddlers won't go and splash in it? 

Well now I know why there's a yellow pee hack.  I always thought it was a wee bit gross, but I may just have to try it out now.

I never did understand how you were able to mark pee for sale.

I have enjoyed following this thread, as I am fairly new to the idea of having anything much in the way of community lots.  Now that I have a new computer, a whole new world is opened up to me with a few seconds of loading time per lot instead of 20+ minutes.  I used to get distracted and come back to my game only to find that my sim had been on the community lot for a day or so with all their needs depleted. 

I still mostly have community lots to sell crafted items and personal electronics.  I have always loved notovny's community lots, so I usually have them in my game if they fit in with the theme. 

In my Royal Kingdom (LOTR) neighborhood I have a prison/workhouse on a residential lot run by a Mrs. Crumplebottom clone that was kind of a fun idea.  If a lower-class citizen began picking on a royal or noble sim, I would sentence them to a round in the workhouse.  There they would serve out their sentence making toys, painting, cooking & cleaning.  Aragorn and Arwen run a home venue where they eat meals and spend time with their subjects.  They are short on help now other than hired services, but someday they will get a live-in servant or two from the local Peasantry spares to cook, clean, garden and be a nanny.  Now that I have BV, I have the neighborhood dwarves mine for treasure and sell what they dig up.

In Pleasantview I have one community dancing club/bar/boxing ring where I invite and influence fighting among the various classes of NPCs for my amusement.  For example, Karen Gast is the champion fighter in the Nanny Division, and Korey Jitmakusol is the champion of the Headmaster Division.  Customers gain stars watching the fights.

I have tried Zazazu's idea of a petting zoo in a Legacy when I had a sim that wanted to raise 20 kittens or puppies.  Since all guests want to do is play with pets anyway, I built a barn in the backyard and made them buy tickets to play with cats.  I thought someday I would try it again and download pets from MTS2 that look like kangaroos, zebras, etc.

I love notveryawesome's Life Skills business idea.  That's what I thought I would do for a vocational school.

Attached is my long list of awesomeness that I currently have.  Some of these get taken out temporarily for some neighborhoods or challenges.

Awesome, thanks for the information.  Yes, the fix in vampwerefixes makes a great deal of sense. I remember the days before the hack when they would react to the sun in the basement.  I think that's why I was confused that I could leave them doing something all day long with no motive decay.