EAxis House of Phail: September 2009

[chobeegal]

When I started playing around with this house I really had no clue as to any direction to take it. Then it just kind of seemed to take over and go its own direction. I am honestly very surprised at the end result. It looks nothing like anything I have ever done before. It just seemed to have a will of its own and came out looking like a sort of Asian, sort of Polynesian crossbreed (in my opinion at any rate). It has 4 bedrooms and 4 1/2 baths, a large livingroom/diningroom, small kitchen, and 4 large verandahs. The pond (enlarged to extend partially beneath the house) should be fishable at the back. I never have my Sims fish, so I'm not completely sure of that. I did move the Palm Tree back into the corner of the lot because the roof extended into it in its original site and looked weird. So here in all its glory I present "Chobee Oriented"



Slideshow: http://s694.photobucket.com/albums/vv302/chobeegal_photos/Chobee%20Oriented/?albumview=slideshow
Download: http://www.box.net/shared/480535bonb

[Mootilda]

chobeegal, nice and unique; hard to believe that it's the same house.

[Sipu_von_Sapu]

Hi everybody!
Some exciting entries here so far! I made this house right after the September house was announced but have been keeping it in case I come up with something better. Now I'm giving up as this octagonal shape (or whatever it's called) just doesn't inspire me much. So here's my version. One bedroom & one bathroom but lots of space for entertaining guests. There's also a small guest toilet.
I was experimenting with a landing so the house turned out a bit weird, I suppose, but it's meant for a fun loving single sim or a couple with no kids  
Anyway, all critique is welcome!


Through the windows you should see stairs to a landing (not very well though).



Here you can see the landing with the one desk and stairs to second floor.


Living/dining room with fireplace


Another shot towards the entrance hall


Kitchen is at the back of the house with a door to patio and grilling area


The one bedroom



Downstairs



Upstairs





The pond is fishable.


The rubbish bin is at this side

The house is playtested. Download
Oh, and that mailbox override you see in the picturs is not included in the download package.

Edit: I knew I had forgotten something. I've got all EP's and all SP's except Family Fun Stuff.

[Prosthetics]

I made a third, and I definitely like this one better (though the angles are still driving me bananas.) Well, here it is: Marsden Manse




2 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms around 65,000 simoleons.

There is one piece of CC in this house, and it's an extracted television from Apartment Life. Downloadable right here from MATY.

I uninstalled Apartment Life (again) so theres no ceilings. Sorry :/








The two bathrooms on the second floor are nearly identical in design, the only difference is the shower curtain on shower/tub combo.
There's a half bath on the first floor, behind the stairs. Picture angles were being difficult, so I didn't get any shots of it.




Built with Nightlife, University, Bon Voyage, IKEA Stuff, and Teen Style Stuff.
Uploaded to Megaupload because the file was a whole 11 kb too big.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZT277K6D


*edited to add information and link.

[yibble]

Night Racer:  Attractive.  Can't say much more than that, not having TS3.

Minena, your house is gorgeous in almost every detail.  That living room floor, however, is so bad that at first I couldn't see the elegance of everything else.

Cianne, I like your layout from a technical point of view but the style leaves something to be desired.  The downstairs is fine, but the exterior is bland and the upstairs looks like you just phoned it in.   Too much of the original walls and floors can be seen in your design, in my opinion.

Prosthetics, your second house feels somewhat uninspired to me.  I like what there is, I just don't feel like there's enough of it.  My personal preference is for more ornamentation.  I liked your first roof better -- I think you didn't give that attempt enough credit.  A bit plain, but structurally it was good, and the color palette was much nicer.  Your third house blew me away.  Love at first sight. Much better work, and more cohesive in ambience.

Chobeegal, truly stunning interior.  The exterior seems a little plain in back, but only in comparison to the exquisite detail of the interior.  I have some concerns about the layout, but if it works it's quite a clever way of fitting so much into the house.

Sipu, your entry is quite lovely -- clean and airy.  Clever use of space.

[Erry]

Finally got around to reinstalling TS2 on my laptop again, and will now start working on my entry.

[ciane]

Cianne, I like your layout from a technical point of view but the style leaves something to be desired.  The downstairs is fine, but the exterior is bland and the upstairs looks like you just phoned it in.   Too much of the original walls and floors can be seen in your design, in my opinion.

Yeah, I want the house to look like the original. I like to make a realistic home make-over with just the minimal changes and basics added. I want it to still be a Maxis/EA home when I'm done, but without the traffic jams and inconvenient hikes upstairs to use the bathroom.

Sipu, I really like the new look and that railing.

Prosthetics, I too like that third house best. I love that roof fencing and the new look to the front. I also really like that you didn't make a lot of structural changes. It looks very playable.

Chobeegal, It certainly doesn't look like the same house. I like that roof and all the columns.

Yibble, I liked the way the new addition was included. I love the creamy colors and stone floor. I do think that the glass and metal fencing on the upper rails would look nicer in wood and/or brick and stone to match the exterior better.

[floopyboo]

A minimalist 2 bedroom, 1 bath home with an Arabic feel. Ileila Ein attempts to keep the feel of the original building, yet remaining livable. With a reshuffle of furniture, this spacious dwelling will grow with your sim family.

I have no idea how much it costs, I didn't check. I have all eps & sps.

Downloadable here.

Exterior



Roof


Level 1


Ground Floor


Lounge



Kitchen




Bathroom



Inside Stairwell



Master Bedroom




Bedroom




Deck

[haifen]

Wow you weren't kidding with that minimalism were you? Even the color is minimalist

[floopyboo]

Less is more, and carefully considered hints of colour will do more to open a room than clutter (She says as she looks around at the crap surrounding her)

Art school. This is how I use it.

[haifen]

In the spirit of moar fight (I guess) one could argue that that's basic high school art 1-2 learnings ha. Still I'd go with something of a err bland pattern for the bedsheets cos they look like untextured meshes being so eerily white even in the beigeiness (the touches of color seem to come from the occasional rug and tree outside)

[floopyboo]

You have caught on to my creative genius. And yes, high school art DOES teach minimalism. If they are teaching at all, and if one can tear the students' attentions away from eating paste and moulding grotesquely misshapen phalluses out of clay.

You don't have to like my lot if you don't want to. I'm not going to point a gun to your head and force you to like it. I do like it though, because it avoids the pitfall of other lots in this comp that decided to struggle against the original lot's shape rather than using it as a feature.  In this case, the archetecture would have been lost with the clutter you seem so determined to cling to, so my preference for simplicity, elegance and clean lines won out.

I am waiting around to see if the awesome lot designers are still playing this game, or if they have moved on with the new shiny that is TS3. Witch, Salix Tree, Emma, et al, are you guys still playing this game?

[haifen]

I'm just err constructively criticizing? My main "beef" (lol) is the textures of the beds - they look like meshes without any textures (and I mean that in a video game context, not so much a design one) which I think is distracting.

Like I see what you're getting at here but compare the cushion and frame of the couch with that of the beds and you can see how the former "syncs" better with your design aesthetic whereas the latter simply looks like you greyscaled that piece of furniture in photobooth. But design is inherently subjective so what looks jarring to one... isn't for another?

Also, I don't remember bringing up anything about clutter ... just that there's a difference between minimalism and openhouse decor.

[Jorganza]

At first, I really disliked this floor plan, and was thinking about not entering this month at all. However, after I started to
play with some ideas and rejected many, I went with a middle eastern design and came up with this mosque. I never
stepped into a mosque, so I had to go by what I saw in pictures, and use the limiting,original game objects. So if
anyone has been to a mosque, please feel free to give some constructive criticism on how I can improve it.


The front view. The mosque has a "gold" dome with a single minaret.


Back view.


I seen an outside pic of a room with arches like these, but I couldn't see the inside so I made it like a cool, relaxing sitting room.


A pool/pond area with couches.


Second view of the pool


The prayer room. I went a lot on my memory for the room and some on the pictures I seen. I seen a picture
with people I think praying with a opulent chair in front of them, so that's why the chair is there. I need a lot
of help in this room, so I would be grateful if someone has any comments or pics to improve this sad looking room.


The neighborhood view, I thought it looked pretty cool from this view.

 

[chobeegal]

Errr...floopyboo, not to nit-pick and only quoting Pes...

Is that DIAGONAL MULTITILE SIMS 2 FURNITURE I see? Don't do that, that borks the multitiledness and causes the object to bug out.

Jorganza...it looks pretty authentic to me, though it's been years since I went to a mosque with my (then) boyfriend.

[Yecats]

Lets see if I can churn something out in 2 weeks.

Haven't entered one of these in a while - should be fun.

[Pandaah]

Errr...floopyboo, not to nit-pick and only quoting Pes...

Is that DIAGONAL MULTITILE SIMS 2 FURNITURE I see? Don't do that, that borks the multitiledness and causes the object to bug out.

That's right but only multitile objects. Single beds or chairs for instance are save. At least the animation works.

[Batelle]

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

[floopyboo]

Jorganza's lot is the only lot to go with a more open, airy floorplan thus far aside from mine. The architecture is simple and the furnishings elegant and well-themed.

I don't really like the roof, but knowing the trouble I had trying to find something that even remotely worked, I'll lay the blame in the game for that one.



Back to my lot. It's amusing seeing people get all bent out of shape over it. The genius comment was tongue in cheek, however my criticism of 'too cramped, too cluttered' remains for the rest of you. It's a tiny space, for crying out loud, expand it, don't make it smaller!

[haifen]

Oh Batelle you used one of my favorite contrasts! Light green on raspberry - i like the combo cos it can only be pulled off if the person knows what they're doing. It's a very tricky pair but you it works here.

[Tarlia]

That's right but only multitile objects. Single beds or chairs for instance are save. At least the animation works.

But single beds are three tiles...

Really like your house, Batelle, it's got such nice decoration and just the right amount of clutter.

[Prosthetics]

however my criticism of 'too cramped, too cluttered' remains for the rest of you. It's a tiny space, for crying out loud, expand it, don't make it smaller!

Okay, so you're saying to put the bare minimum furnishings and the lot would be near perfect? Awesome. I think I'll use your minimalist tactics from now on. 
Constructively, your house felt as stale as my first submission.

As an aside,

Night Racer: very nice Sims 3 rebuild, but as it only looks beautiful and I don't own TS3, I can't say much else.

Minena: once again, a very stunning home. But I'm a sucker for gardens, and the outdoors, so the landscaping is probably my favorite feature. I can't really get past the carpet you used in the living room though...I've never been a fan of the print carpet, but you did sort of manage to pull it off.

ciane: Not really sure what to say at the moment. I can't find anything I don't like, but I can't find much that I like either. A response to this house may take me longer than expected.

yibble: nice job, but it seems to me that if I had two adults, a child, and a toddler living in that house they'd be stomping and screaming about blocked paths, but who's to know? I certainly haven't playtested your lot. (don't have glamour life installed...or pets....or FFS XD)

chobeegal: I really like the roof. Especially because I've never been able to pull off those oriental roofs very well. Bon Voyage is not my friend once more, not sure how one of your lots would react to my laptop, but it looks nice enough.

Sipu_von_Sapu: it feels, to me anyway, that the exterior stucco and brick aren't really...meshing...well. I've never been really good at landings, but you seem to have pulled yours off well enough. Your house seems like it would be more comfy on a bigger lot (but I suppose many of them would :p)

Jorganza: great job on the roof of your mosque, personally I've never been to one...but it looks as about authentic as you can get without CC.

Batelle: I also love the raspberry and green color scheme. You've managed to pull that off very well, or at least better than I ever could 


And thanks to cianne and yibble for the kind comments on my third submission. :3

[ciane]

floppyboo, I like the roof shape over the original part of the house, but the connecting roof line is not as inspiring. The connecting wall corner at the top of the stairs looks ackward to me. I think it would look nicer if the wall for small bedroom was moved back one space.

I also would like to see the tree remain outside on a patio. I think that a wall coming straight off the corner of the inside hallway square would work well. It would add outside light to the stairway and create an area close to the dining room for patio cooking. The upstairs patio could be reshaped with an interesting diagonal edge to avoid enclosing the palm tree.

Jorganza, I think you did a great job on the Mosque look. I like the new exterior look and additional potted palms. I do think that the structured swimming pool look in the fenced patio conflicts with the unstructured pond look outside the fenced area. I also think the front fence would look better if it was only on the left side of the front walk as it just stops at the right side. It is as if you ignored the original pond instead of making it part of the new design.

Batelle, I love the way you kept the original shape and merely added a bathroom unto the ground floor. The spiral stairs and adjustments to the room layouts are great. I particularly like the diagonal bath shapes upstairs and the improved bedroom spaces.

The M&G roof is also one of my favorites. Adding the attic gives the Sims plenty of room for their hobbies and other interests. Nice job!

[chobeegal]

That's right but only multitile objects. Single beds or chairs for instance are save. At least the animation works.

But single beds are three tiles...

Yeah, Tarlia, that was kinda the point. Pandaah seemed to completely miss it. Thanks for having clarified it to him.

however my criticism of 'too cramped, too cluttered' remains for the rest of you. It's a tiny space, for crying out loud, expand it, don't make it smaller!

Okay, so you're saying to put the bare minimum furnishings and the lot would be near perfect? Awesome. I think I'll use your minimalist tactics from now on.   Constructively, your house felt as stale as my first submission.

Prosthetics, your use of subtle (or maybe not so subtle) sarcasm is perfect! I was thinking about posting something similar but everything I started to say seemed too caustic so I decided to let it lie with the rest of the sleeping dogs.
Prosthetics, I'll just talk about all of your houses here in a single section.
#1 looks to have good potential. However I think removing the second story front porch was a mistake. Your house front looks too "nekkid" (as we Southerners say) without it. Also those two empty squares could now be opened and used for doors onto the balcony. I would expand the second floor bath (especially so since it has to serve both bedrooms) into some of that unused space upstairs and that would give it room for a tub/shower and a sink, while the rest of the space could be turned into a sort of office/study area. You have a great rooftop patio area on the second floor, but no (visible) means for your Sims to access it. Stairs at the back or side would solve that problem well. I also have no idea why there need to be two "guest" baths on the first floor. I suggest removing the front one, moving the front Kitchen wall back three squares (add the little "corner" piece where the bathroom was) and make the "addition" either into a single car garage or (better) an "eat-in" Kitchen. The remaining "guest" bath could actually also be expanded one tile left which would give room for an outside entry and a shower to turn it into a "sand room" (as opposed to "mud room" since it is a beach house). The overlarge Living Room could be broken up by adding half-walls for an "entry" as well as half-walls to define the stair area. Also move stairs one tile back and you can expand the "small" bedroom to a more usable space. Then add some plants to the pond, add a back door from the Kitchen (as well as a small paved area outside the kitchen and "sand room"), add landscaping, and voila!
#2 Well I do like the two story stairwell to the "loft" bedroom, but I can't get any real "feel" for the interior layout from your pictures. The exterior definitely is even more "unfinished" looking and "nekkid" than #1. The landscaping is quite attractive though. I believe I would add some railings and some stairs at the back and utilize the roof area as an entertainment area. And change that boring exterior paint job.
#3 Yeah, this is definitely your best effort of the three. Front is not "nekkid" like the others. The roof, though flat and not utilized (I always like to make use of the extra space a flat roof provides), looks "finished" and not just stuck there to cover the house. While it is compact (small), it makes good use of the space so it doesn't have a "cramped" feel.

Night Racer, as I don't own TS3, I can't say much except that it looks beautiful rebuilt as a Sims 3 house.

Minena, I think the landscaping of your lot is quite stunning; I think though that the living room carpet you used belongs in either a much larger room or a much smaller one, and I would have used bright orange furniture to play up the orange in the carpet rather than seemingly trying to downplay it. If you are going with something that bold, you need to work with it not against it. I don't really care for the kind of drab carpet in the entry and hall, but some bright "rugs" could make all the difference and tie it into the living room as well. The layout appears pretty workable and I quite like the fact that you managed the whole remake without any additions to the structure at all. I don't however like the two "chimneys" on the front of the house at all. They look "tacked on" and seem to overbalance the house. I understand why you did them, but they just don't look right, imho. Maybe if you made them shorter they'd work.

Ciane, it's really kind of bland on the outside; the inside too. Reminds me of some of the "furnished" weekend beach rentals I've seen here in Florida. Expensive as hell, minimally furnished, and not someplace you'd want to spend much time in (but that's the point; you're renting it to have beach access, right?). There's nothing really wrong with it, it just doesn't have a comfortable, homey "feel" to it. Add some clutter (sorry, floopy, I like some "clutter") and a few "rugs" and some landscaping and that might change the "feel" totally.

Yibble, I don't know about a "desert" lot, perhaps it is, but it looks more like what I've seen in single family houses on small city lots. Maybe it's for a desert city? LA? Las Vegas? Tahoe? Phoenix?

Sipu, my only real criticism is that the bricks on the left in front look out of place. Rather than giving a balanced look, they actually just look kind of stuck on. Maybe if you had added bricks to the roof fronts and to the white strip on the right making a "frame" around the windows and door it would work better aesthetically.

Floopyboo, while I like your house in general and would never criticize minimalism as "barren" in looks (as is the opinion of many), I do find your "elitist" attitude quite annoying. Just because you don't like what you term "clutter" does not mean everyone else shares your opinion nor does it make your opinion necessarily correct and everyone else wrong. When you've lived a little longer and gotten over your teenaged "I know it all" stage of life and actually acquired some true wisdom, you will know this. I have tried to be tactful here, but sometimes tact is not my strong suite.

Jorganza, really good job on your mosque, it looks quite accurate; and to think all done without CC.
On another vein of thought; Jorganza, are you going to post a download link? I really like your Mosque interpretation. As to floopyboo's "artistically sophisticated" critique of the roof; hey floopy, what else would you use on a mosque?
Have you ever actually seen a (traditional) mosque, floopy? They have round roofs and soaring minarets.

Batelle, I have also done unique color combinations like this that you would think would not work but they do. I like this lot a lot.

[Prosthetics]

Yeah, the first two weren't exactly my proudest works, and even I don't like them very much. By the time I got to the third one, I actually had some inspiration from the other builders, after seeing what some of you did with the lot. My first two houses were just done to have them done. But thank you for the in depth analysis. :]

ETA:

Here is my fourth house. Gotta furnish it and get some interior pics, but that should be done by the evening: the Crafty Cabin



I was going for authentic, so wood interior, etc. It's pretty much modeled after a few houses in the mountains here, except for the octagon. And yes, the palm tree is still in it's place. Though I really wanted to ged rid of it >_<