What do you build into your houses?

[ElfPuddle]

But not until the fourth or fifth expansion pack...so it'll be okay.

[Zazazu]

But not until the fourth or fifth expansion pack...so it'll be okay.

Yes, but it will be the feature they market most before game debut, and be featured in all teaser videos. Then, immediately after release, they will state that sadly they weren't able to implement the feature because the smells were pervasive over the entire neighborhood.

[Flamingo]

I really wouldn't want to smell my Sims when they fart after eating, or when they get sprayed by the skunk, thank you.

[witch]

Or when they have green clouds of stink trailing them...

[Sagana]

Sorry Sad don't know where I got the clothes on a pole...I think it was in a house I downloaded somewhere.

There's http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=112110 and http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=112249 -- but I tried those a long, long time ago, and I think they're borked.  (Don't remember the details, but I had some kind of trouble with them and ended up deleting them.)

It's something I would very much like to have a working version of.

I have these and they work fine:

http://www.thesimsresource.com/downloads/sims2/SetID_203859/

[sara_dippity]

Yay! Clothes poles!

[gjam]

::grumble:: 

I've sucessfully avoided TSR for 2 1/2 years.  But I want closet rods!

::mutter::

I guess I'll have to do it.

[KatEnigma]

::grumble:: 

I've sucessfully avoided TSR for 2 1/2 years.  But I want closet rods!

::mutter::

I guess I'll have to do it.

Darn, and PMBD doesn't have them up.

You know, I have them, and can't say that I've ever used them once.  Which is very strange since I've put armoires into little nooks. Sometimes, I don't know what I'm thinking. LOL

[gjam]

Yeah, I've got the closet nooks already built into a number of houses--with dressers in them.

[Zazazu]

He's a select artist now, not featured or whatever, so they should be downloadable. However, you do have to start a free account. I know, it makes you feel dirty....but I still have a paid sub with them for the next 23 days, so I'm up to my eyelashes in filthyness.

[starrling]

I've got closet rods.  Who wants them?  PM me

Edited because I just realized they're the MTS2 rods.  Damn.  Sorry.

ETA:  shit, they ARE the TSR files.... I'm attaching.

[starrling]

Don't fuss with me about double posting - the attachment restriction made me do it

Here's the second .rar file.

[KatEnigma]

He's a select artist now, not featured or whatever, so they should be downloadable. However, you do have to start a free account. I know, it makes you feel dirty....but I still have a paid sub with them for the next 23 days, so I'm up to my eyelashes in filthyness.

Oh don't worry, you're not the only one.  I hate to admit it, but there you are. Mainly because it's just easier to find things there. To use PMBD, I end up with one tab open to TSR and another to PMBD.

[dragoness]

Thanks for the closet rods! (Or should I say BAAAH?) I was really not wanting to deal with TSR. I've managed to avoid it so far!

[gjam]

I've got closet rods.  Who wants them?  PM me

Edited because I just realized they're the MTS2 rods.  Damn.  Sorry.

ETA:  shit, they ARE the TSR files.... I'm attaching.

Hmmph.  I should have known someone would if I just waited.

(Went and registered at TSR to get them, grumble, grumble.)

[starrling]

Sowwy.   

[eaglezero]

bathrooms n-2 sims

So if you have just one sim, you have -1 bathrooms? This is not logical.

[jolrei]

I personally like to start on a large lot and lately have been building "impossible" houses.  I'm experimenting with floating houses that stand on one pillar, with a pool under the house.  Since I don't have Seasons installed, there's no problem with leaving exercise machines, hot tubs, etc. outside on a large deck (usually bridging a scenic gorge of some sort).

Houses themselves tend to be built around a central bathroom and kitchen structure with dining, living/entertainment, bedrooms etc. radiating out from there.  I try to make things so the Simmies can wander around the house easily without spending the entire time walking.

If I get seasons, I'll have to add exercise rooms and enclose the hot tub, I guess.

[notveryawesome]

I build and decorate sim houses based on general feng shui principles (not the specific ones that IRL require knowing a person's birth month and year, as that would be impossible given that sim 'years' are so much shorter than human ones). These include not building a bathroom above a kitchen, having a bed face the doorway, but not be aligned with it (same with desks), not placing mirrors or other reflective surfaces in bedrooms, not placing furniture in such a way that a sim's back is against a window, etc. I know that the sims couldn't care less about these things, but it makes me feel better to have them that way.

[skandelouslala]

Hmm I am apparently stupid b/c besides the obvious I have never really thought of building specific rooms for things outside of the traditional kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, living room(s)...and then gee..I wonder why I can never organize the house properly.  I guess IRL most people don't have their treadmills and weight machines plopped in the middle of their living rooms or outside either *L*

[Zazazu]

Actually, growing up, we always had our treadmill in the livingroom. 

As my spin on my current near-endless challenge has me building a new home, community lot, and college lot (dorm, townhouse, or fake class building) every generation, I've had tons and tons of building experience lately. I absolutely love it, and it's been forcing me out of the rut of having every house be basically the same set up. My current home (a behemoth and quite pricey due to the need to spend the family's accumulating cash) has a library downstairs complete with the One Desk (I normally make them go deskless), a grand piano, and a fireside nook for reading. The kitchen is actually upstairs and is accessible by stairs outside the home and an internal set in the hall. There's also a wrap-around upper deck that goes around approximately half the house, and the necessary hidden garbage can that can still be used but no knocked down.

[J. M. Pescado]

having a bed face the doorway, but not be aligned with it

Actually, sims DO care about that. If the bed is facing the doorway, but not aligned with it, since sims approach the bed from the side, it'll be a straight-shot course to the docking bay. If you had aligned the bed with the door, then the sim would have to turn around the bed to reach the docking bay.

As for what *I* build into my houses, see Awesomespec v5.

[KatEnigma]

My stationary bike is in my living room now. 

My OneDesk is never more than 2 tiles away from the front door. Sometimes that places it in the living room, sometimes an entryway, but I don't give them any options.  I don't know WHY Maxis couldn't have coded the homework like they did for Uni.

[J. M. Pescado]

My stationary bike is in my living room now. 

Why not move it into your computer room and hook it up to the computer? Then it could be useful.

[Lorelei]

I like the feng shui concept. I haven't consciously designed that way, but, upon reflection, must have absorbed some of the lessons, as I follow most of them. The one I fail most often is with desks, as my studies tend to be smaller, so I place them against walls, and occasionally have doors that would open on a Sims' back.

Let's see...I tend to prefer large houses, not necessarily so I can cram them full of stuff, but so the floor plans look spacious.

I typically have families of two or four. Either a couple, two friends, or an unrelated group. I have two sets of 8 students, but haven't played Uni in a while.

I haven't tried experimenting with basements / split levels / stages yet.

I like foyers, where I typically put a table or console so Sims will put their mail there (if I don't use the mailbox covers with shelves).

I prefer larger kitchens, both for efficiency and because I have some decorative countertop items I like to use. Typically I enclose this with doors and walls, but two or three of my houses have archways leading to dining room and "den" / TV area.

I almost always have balconies and a patio, but rarely have front porches. I sock hack type objects and stuff into attics.

I always have full bathrooms, and they are usually larger. They all have a sink, terlet, and shower stall (I like the corner one) or shower/tub combo. I have at least one large loo per floor.

I prefer enclosed garages (usually make them on the longer side, so I can put a few workout items in there as well), and most newer buildings after Seasons have a wishing well and greenhouse and a fishin' hole.

I typically assign one personal room per Sim, unless it is a married or committed couple, as they share a room. I rarely use single beds, even for kids Sims. It's easier to design around a larger bed for when they become teens and adults...though I haven't let any of my three kids or the default game kids (except Daisy Greenman) age up yet. I occasionally make a spare bedroom.

I usually have an office / study with bookshelves, desk(s), a reading chair, a chess table, an easel, maybe a small sofa. I use a lot of bookshelves, perhaps because I am personally accustomed to being surrounded by books all the time. Some larger bathrooms even have little "magazine racks".

A few houses have a small room near the kitchen for pet crap like beds, boxes, bowls, scratch posts. Other houses incorporate pet crap into dens or family rooms.

One house has a basement (actually, a first floor) rec room, and the only TV in the house is down there with a poker table and jukebox and other toys and games (like Myshuno). One house has an indoor lap pool and an artist's studio. I typically do not have more than one TV per house. I may, on the other hand, have a stereo in each bedroom. I wouldn't do this is I weren't a micromanager. I prefer hottubs to pools, but have some houses with both, and some with neither.

I prefer boxy modern houses, because I get tired of curtains and blinds not working on 45-angle walls, and because I tend to like mod furniture with clean lines and stainless steel appliances in kitchens. I like solid-colour walls and floors as well. The result is that paintings, Sims, bedding patterns, and knick-knacks/counter clutter items tend to draw more attention that way. I also like big windows.

On occasion I develop gardens, but usually I am satisfied with a few accent trees and flowers. I have a lot of great downloads, and I keep meaning to use them to build Japanese koi ponds with bridges and manicured garden areas, but I get caught up in playing the families before finishing the gardens most of the times. I do usually put a gazebo or swing set or patio furniture out.

My dining tables tend to seat a minimum of six Sims, whatever the size of the family.

Since I use modern furnishings most often, some of my fave houses have "raw" walls, like brick, inside. A few have three-tile wall-to-ceiling mirror in smaller rooms to visually expand them (and to help with getting photos of Sims in tight spots).

I also typically have at least one musical instrument in a house. Two have in-home studios, only one of which is actually used or relevant, and two have a piano in the dining room.

I like enclosing lots with fencing, which is supposed to cut down on random strays flooding the lot (it is only partially effective, thanks to telekinetic dogs and cats who can open doors and gates purely through the power of their minds (or something) and let themselves in.