So are there any plans on an updated awesomespec for houses for Sims 3?

[Quetzkotl]

My legacy family is getting pretty wealthy and I need to expand their dwelling.  I'm curious about people's thoughts regarding necessary rooms, room sizes, and any sort of security or perimeter defense in Sims 3 as opposed to Sims 2.

[Pyromaniac]

I'm pretty sure the new awesomespec is a simple shack. Since your sims can essentially get everything they need from the world around them at no cost, there really isn't a need for skilling objects and the like in your house.

[spaceface]

Some skilling is best done on community lots, JMP has pointed this out a couple of times. The One Desk does not appear so those concerns can be ignored.

Guests tend not to raid the fridge in TS3, however they may kidnap spawn. Without lockable doors there is not much you can do to prevent this except vigilance at this stage.

[Exiled]

The perimeter defense is to prevent strays from ruining your lawn.  In vanilla TS3 there is no need to be concerned about that.

[Zucabr]

Without lockable doors there is not much you can do to prevent this except vigilance at this stage.

NPCs aren't able to operate the garage doors blast doors, making it the prime choice when in need of room defenses.

[spaceface]

Oh right, I forgot about that. I will be installing blast doors in the area leading to the nursery wing in my Legacy mansion. Can't have heirs getting kidnapped.

[chaos]

I can haz raeg nao: Having to use a giant fucking garage door just to keep something from being used autonomously, or to prevent babies from being stolen, seems rather like overkill to me. Regular doors that can be locked are a much better solution. Too bad the geniuses who designed the game neglected to include them, when it would probably have been really easy to do so. I'm not going to put things that my sims actually need to use on occasion in a garage, that *I* have to open and close manually. That's just silly.

I understand that Zucabr and tngrspacecadet were, most likely, being facetious, here, but this has been suggested as an actual workaround in another thread. WTF?

[Zazazu]

I've never had a kid abducted. I've had them be held by a babysitter or guest when that babysitter or guest leaves, but they always pop to the floor.

My one suggestion would be to make sure to put a burglar alarm outside instead of inside, and make sure there is at least a clear 2-wide aisle to it. Having the alarm outside keeps your valuables from being stolen quicker than the police can get there. If a clear space isn't available, you will have major traffic jams as the family, crook, and cop all try to crowd a tiny space for the fight scene.

[chaos]

I do that, too. It's a trick I learned in TS2. The alarm goes off as soon as the burglar sets foot on the property.

[PirateFaafy]

In addition, if you grab the dining for free lifetime benefit, you won't need a kitchen, either.

...

Wait, what DOES one need other then a bed, toilet and shower? Wish-fulfilment, sure, but everything else seems rabbit-hole-able.

[rosess]

Try as you might, but my sims are still coming over to raid your gardens.

[spaceface]

I haven't noticed Legacy gardens getting raided, I do not think this is coded to be an autonomous action. It seems like any raiding of harvestables has to be player-directed.

A trashcan got kicked over but there was nothing in it.

It remains to be seen if any of this gets changed in future EPs.

[Zazazu]

In addition, if you grab the dining for free lifetime benefit, you won't need a kitchen, either.

...

Wait, what DOES one need other then a bed, toilet and shower? Wish-fulfilment, sure, but everything else seems rabbit-hole-able.

Even without the free dining benefit, you don't need a kitchen. Picking harvestables is free. You don't need a toilet or shower, either. Those are freely available at the gym. A bed is useful. Otherwise, you can find a fuck-buddy to let you sleep over all the time.

[ciane]

Yes, if you want to sleep rather than just nap, a bed on the home lot is nice. I also liked a fridge so I didn't have to take time to harvest the apples. Then, I found the fridge at the gym. So, having the plumbing, fridge, and bed on a home lot saves running somewhere else (especially for kids and teens with curfews), but YA and older Sims can survive without anything on the home lot and never need to go there. There aren't even bills to pay when you don't have anything there.

[PirateFaafy]

Homeless Legacy is my new dream. I shall begin making the family immediately.

[witch]

Just don't go rock collecting. My homeless teen and her child sister had a two bedroom bungalow by the end of the first week. I'll have to try that again. 

[Zazazu]

Starting on spawning on Day 2, gardening instead of having a job, and not moving the donor in until their first two were born helped me keep it small for a good while. They actually were still all living in one crowded room (the rest of the house was skeletal) when they had six kids. Now, at three days to elder, the five bath, four bed + nursery home is completely tricked out. That's the thing. The beginning stages are tougher with Sims3, but the earning curve is generous.

[kemowery]

Nothing is truly necessary, but putting a bed on your empty lot is really useful (since I don't think any community lots come with beds--unless you edit them in).  Everything else is available elsewhere: showers and toilets in the gym (and in other sims' homes), free food in gardens (or in trash cans if you aren't picky about quality), etc.  You can read books in the library to gain skills.

One thing that's really useful, though, is a guitar.  You can use it to build up lots of friends very quickly and then visit them and stay over in their beds.

My homeless sim started with just a guitar, and I didn't sell any of the collectibles I found.  Instead, she started gardening on her own lot, eventually joined the music career, and built a tiny shack with room for a bed, tub, and toilet inside, just so I didn't have to spend time running to community lots to use the restroom.  After a while, she married Don Lothario and built a kitchen and a proper bathroom onto the shack.  (And bought a picnic table for dining.)  Now, the third generation has just been born, and the house has expanded to a two-story, three bedroom, two bath, sprawling monstrosity with a pool, a garden, and a giant meteor in the front yard.

[Yecats]

In addition, if you grab the dining for free lifetime benefit, you won't need a kitchen, either.

My sims still can't eat out, even with the free dining perk.  A message comes up saying "Your sim cannot afford to eat here" regardless of how little cash she has on hand.

My legacy family has been consisting solely on birthday cake and harvested fruits.

Their house is a 5-bedroom 1-story house with 1.5 baths at the moment.  I'm slowly building it up.

[J. M. Pescado]

\
You can read books in the library to gain skills.

Not only does reading in a library give you skills, you are, in fact, penalized for doing so out of the library, making it purposeless to buy the books to read yourself at home, because doing so carries a penalty.

[spaceface]

The only reason for keeping sims home is if there is a 0 on the lot and you don't want to pay for a babysitter.

[witch]

I'm having to go through a bit of a game play adjustment. I've always kept my sims where I could see them and rarely bothered with community lots. Now when I zoom out to hood view, I can see my sims all over town. This makes me a little nervous and I tried to keep track of them all, zooming in and out like a maddened bee. I'm learning to relax a bit and let them  go for it, after all, it's when they are trucking around on their own that some of the funniest, most interesting things happen.

Plus with the medium length lives there's no need to frantically skill, even less so with epic I would imagine. I'm slowing down and fishbowling the sims more than I used to and finding the experience quite enjoyable.