EAxis House of Phail: August 2009

[Honeywell]

chobeegal -  + 10  for color and creativity.   - 15 for choking that poor house with plants, shrubs and trees.

OK, Honeywell, so I guess you don't like plants/flowers/shrubs/trees.
Are you like those people who go and buy a beautiful wooded lot (which because of the trees costs a lot more than the barren lot next to it) and then bulldoze them all out? If I had my way, those kind of people would be prosecuted for stupidity. If you want a "naked" lot then buy the one that already is. Don't pay extra money to get the one with trees and then murder them.
Personally I love to have lots of trees and greenery surrounding me and where I live. Rather than "choking" anything, they add a sense of freshness, "breathability", and yet privacy to a home. My one great complaint w/ Sims2 is that if I actually put as much "landscaping" into a Sims lot as I would like to have in RL, it makes the house totally unplayable.

Oops.  I didn't realize you were crazy.  I meant to say +15 for wrapping that house in the loving embrace of plants, shrubs and trees. 

[Prosthetics]

hey hey, guys, let's just all chill out. They're just houses. :/

OH! I figured out what was wrong. See that black line where the two roofs interesect on the first story? Yeah, I fixed that. There isn't a black line anymore. ^_^

I've reattached the file to my second post. :]

[chobeegal]

Oops. I didn't realize you were crazy.  I meant to say +15 for wrapping that house in the loving embrace of plants, shrubs and trees.

OK, now I've learned something entirely new. Anyone who likes or appreciates plants in their surroundings is crazy. Thank-you, Honeywell, for adding to my limited education. I mean I do only have a MA in Education. I assume you are a qualified Psychiatrist (or at least Psychologist) to diagnose my mental illness?

[Mootilda]

I agree with Prosthetics; chill out!

chobeegal & Honeywell, couldn't you take your argument to RetardoLand and leave this thread for houses and comments on the houses?  Whether people like plants in real life is irrelevant to TS2:

My one great complaint w/ Sims2 is that if I actually put as much "landscaping" into a Sims lot as I would like to have in RL, it makes the house totally unplayable.

[lizbeth]

Here is my submission this month (I had one for last month too but my computer was on the fritz... might still upload it though).  This will be in your lots bin as 118 GoldTone Road because that's the address of the house in my neighborhood.

Front View:


First Floor Plan:


Second Floor Plan:



Slideshow: http://s455.photobucket.com/albums/qq274/lizbeth131/?action=view&current=34690538.pbw

Download Here

[chobeegal]

OK here is my second remake for this one, 'Chobee Gardens Fine Dining. I did a Community lot; my first one ever I believe. No appreciable amount of CC, just maybe some "fixes" and recolors. I would suggest that it probably needs one of the "Perfect plants" hacks though since there is no way for a gardner to access most of the plants.










Download here: http://www.box.net/shared/poa7974vqt

[Prosthetics]

@ lizbeth - your house has inspired me for a few other projects, it's very nice ^_^

@ chobeegal - it's very pretty, and colorful. Though it seems a tad cluttered. Or maybe I'm just anti-a-lot-of-stuff-on-lots because I run TS2 on a laptop...but it's still very nice!

[Honeywell]

Prosthetics - Nice job comming up with a roof, or six, for your house and I like the color as well.  Since chobeegal asked, the grass is a bit too patchy for my tastes but the palm tree was a nice touch.  

lizbeth -  I really like the exterior of your house.  The red windows and doors look great with the neutral siding and brick.  I like the floor plan as well.  

chobeegal - Wow!  That's crazy good!

I thought I'd try a house this month because the Cozy Co-Op was small and didn't look to intimidating.  Four or five hours later I managed to come up with an unfurmished starter. My hat's off to all of you who do this every month!  

Comfortable Co-Op
$17,459 (depreciated)
2 Bedrooms
2 Bathrooms
Phone & Alarms
All Expansion & Stuff Packs

There's easily enough open floor space to add a third bathroom or bedroom.  And the kitchen and stairs can be walled off if coraling guests is your thing.
Exterior


Interior



Layout


Lot Bin

Download:
http://www.mediafire.com/?janjef0jjzz

[chobeegal]

I have to fix the lot edges and test it some more, so I might have the file uploaded by tomorrow.

Jorganza, did you ever finish your lot? If so, when might we see it uploaded?

I moved the house to the sea side

Minena, I really like your house, but there is no download link. Are you going to make it available?

I spent the day making the house into a Sims 3 starter. I reoriented the bathroom and added a tile for the toilet. I moved one wall to make the bedroom smaller and I added a wall to enclose the kitchen. Even with expensive paintings, the place only costs 37.5K on a cheap 20x30 lot.

ciane, I really like this . I think you should think about uploading it for those who have Sims3 (I don't have it and don't plan to get it).

yibble, I don't quite know about your house. I don't dislike it, but I would say it seems kind of rigid and unforgiving, sort of like a spinster aunt who doesn't approve of modern "foolishness". Actually when I look at it I am reminded of New England Puritans or a Rectory, Nunnery, or Monestery.

Sipu, I really like the exterior archetecture of your house. I know there are benefits to being able to lock visitors out of certain areas of the house, and I compliment you for allowing this in your house, but I always find that putting an actual door into the kitchen disrups the "flow" of the house in play. Also, the kitchen does seem a bit "galley-ish" for a house of that size. I found a workable solution for keeping visitors out of the kitchen without "closing it off" from the rest of the house. I used half walls and a "lockable" gate (the wrought iron one looks nice and there is actually an invisible recolor over on MTS).

@ chobeegal - it's very pretty, and colorful. Though it seems a tad cluttered. Or maybe I'm just anti-a-lot-of-stuff-on-lots because I run TS2 on a laptop...but it's still very nice!

Yeah, I'm not sure how well it would run on a laptop. Being that I was making a "Garden Restaurant" there is an abundance of "clutter" mostly in the form of plants. It runs smoothly enough on my PC, but I do have a huge amount of RAM (8+gigs).

chobeegal - Wow!  That's crazy good!

Thank-you. I quite like your one too, especially the front facade which keeps it from being bland and boring. The interior layout is nice and roomy too. Also, it's nice to see that you aren't totally anti-plant after all. LOL

[Prosthetics]

I'm not saying I don't like it, because I do. In Sims 1 I used to play lots like that all the time. But I never actually got the opportunity in TS2  

I was going for woodsy in this one:
But now I kind of feel like I copied Honeywell  
I mean with the stone front, and all.



I'm not so sure about the color scheme atm, because I'm trying to stick to the no CC rule, but Maxis doesn't really give me good wood options in the EP's and SP's that I do have. :/

Edit: Attached the lot to the post.

This lot was made with ALL EP's, excluding Bon Voyage and [Glamour Life Stuff, H&M Fashion Stuff, IKEA Home Stuff, Teen Style Stuff, and Celebration Stuff]

[Minena]

I moved the house to the sea side

Minena, I really like your house, but there is no download link. Are you going to make it available?

I forgot all about it lol. I will get it packaged

[Jorganza]

I have to fix the lot edges and test it some more, so I might have the file uploaded by tomorrow.

Jorganza, did you ever finish your lot? If so, when might we see it uploaded?

Sorry for taking so long. Check my post on the first page to download it.


Here's my second house for the month. I couldn't think of anyway to extend the house, so I simply kept it one story
with a sunroom added to it.


Front View



Living room with pool table


Kitchen



Bedroom with an attached sunroom to relax.



Outdoors dining area.




 

[ciane]

Okay, I stuck in a link to my Sims 3 Family Fun house.

I like that wavy look to the roof, Jorganza.

Honeywell, I love that rocky brick and creme color combination.

Choobeegal, I liked that wavy glass roof of yours too, but I loved look of the blue and gold color scheme and M&G roof more.

[chobeegal]

Here's my second house for the month. I couldn't think of anyway to extend the house, so I simply kept it one story
with a sunroom added to it.

I really like this house a lot. I agree with ciane on that unique wave to the roof edges. It's really quite attractive. I've done some experimenting with the roofs but never thought to do that. I'll probably use it on some I do after this. When might we see this up for downloading?

[Jorganza]

Here's my second house for the month. I couldn't think of anyway to extend the house, so I simply kept it one story
with a sunroom added to it.

I really like this house a lot. I agree with ciane on that unique wave to the roof edges. It's really quite attractive. I've done some experimenting with the roofs but never thought to do that. I'll probably use it on some I do after this. When might we see this up for downloading?

Thanks, I was trying to make the roof not look boring, and I tried this and thought it looked pretty cool.
Let me use the LotAdjuster real quick to flatten the lot and I'll get it uploaded soon.

[chobeegal]

...(I had one for last month too but my computer was on the fritz... might still upload it though)...

lizbeth, I'd love to see it uploaded, I did mine late last month because of not having DSL. It's not like there's a penalty imposed for late submissions, you just don't get the feedback that you do if on time.

[Jorganza]

Could someone critique my garden and give me some tips on how I can improve it? Landscaping is usually the hardest part of decorating a house, and it's almost always a challenge to make a believable garden. Here's some pics of the gardening I added around the house.

Here's the right side of the house. It's a continuation from the bedroom's sunroom with a private eating/wining area.



Here's the back of the house, behind the outdoors dining area.



And here's the corridor on the right side of the house.

[Honeywell]

Honestly, Joragnaza, there really isn't anything to critique.  I think your gardens fit perfectly with the homey, cottage style house; especially the yard you used the terrain with the flower petals.  There's a nice mix of plants and deco objects and nothing is rigidly lined up or over done.   

Maybe a hint of a thin line of lighter grass around the planters would add some realism?  The solid green grass maybe looks a little too solid on the one side.  Not very helpful, I know, but I think the landscaping compliments the house beautifully.

[Alex]

chobeegal -  + 10  for color and creativity.   - 15 for choking that poor house with plants, shrubs and trees.

OK, Honeywell, so I guess you don't like plants/flowers/shrubs/trees.
Are you like those people who go and buy a beautiful wooded lot (which because of the trees costs a lot more than the barren lot next to it) and then bulldoze them all out? If I had my way, those kind of people would be prosecuted for stupidity. If you want a "naked" lot then buy the one that already is. Don't pay extra money to get the one with trees and then murder them.
Personally I love to have lots of trees and greenery surrounding me and where I live. Rather than "choking" anything, they add a sense of freshness, "breathability", and yet privacy to a home. My one great complaint w/ Sims2 is that if I actually put as much "landscaping" into a Sims lot as I would like to have in RL, it makes the house totally unplayable.

Sorry, but hundreds of trees in a straight line and clipping through each other is not a good look. I have to agree with Honeywell that it's a shame, because the house itself really does look nice.

Some nice houses this month. The house for this month is much more versatile than the last one. I might give this one a shot.

[chobeegal]

...hundreds of trees in a straight line and clipping through each other is not a good look.

Hundreds? Where? Even Pre-K kids know that three is not "hundreds".
The only clipping through each other the "trees" do is what would occur in a RL planting situation.
A more serious issue IMHO is that Maxis walls and windows are not "solid" as in RL and allow plants, bushes and trees to cut through into the house. Some strategic turning of the plants as well as using the snap objects cheat can only partially remedy that problem.
The snap cheat also is necessary to realisticly "corner" a chair or bed in a house or the back will cut into the wall.
Also, even though Maxis bins the Midbiscus as a "tree", a Hibiscus is actually a bush (albeit a very large bush on occasion) and professional landscapers (which my father, who I worked with, happened to be) frequently plant bushes in rows.
If you are referring to the rooftop "plantings", those are not trees either. They are the Trellis/Planter boxes, and I purposely overlapped them to give the impression of a continuous planter box/trellis as a privacy screen, something that is also commonly done by RL decorators and landscapers. And I'm very sorry that placing it in a straight line aestheticly offends your sense of artistic ambiance, but that's just how most trellises and planters are made.

[Mootilda]

chobeegal, please stop responding so defensively.  You have agreed to take constructive criticism.  If you are not willing to do this, then you should not be participating in this challenge.

2. By entering this challenge, you agree to take constructive criticism.  If you wish to judge someone else's entry, you should be respectful but honest.

[Erry]

Download here.

[Prosthetics]

chobeegal, please stop responding so defensively.  You have agreed to take constructive criticism.  If you are not willing to do this, then you should not be participating in this challenge.

2. By entering this challenge, you agree to take constructive criticism.  If you wish to judge someone else's entry, you should be respectful but honest.

Concur.

Can we try to keep it nice and peaceful in here for more than a few posts?

@Erry - I really like your house! But it seems to not really deviate from the original design (besides adding a second floor) The colorrs selected for the shrubbery and whatnot don't clash with the exterior paint or anything, which is nice, but the house could be easily interchanged with the original :/ The inside is rather nice, however, and the minimal furnishings keep it from feeling clogged.

[Erry]

Heh, I was just building for fun, I don't really like adding anymore things, just like changing it and keeping it simple. 

[chobeegal]

Cozy 'Chobee Co-Op Cottage

















Download: http://www.box.net/shared/73qc17kg3y