Sim Housing

[tiemytiepleese]

I was just curious about how others deal with their Sims' housing, what your preferences are.
I almost always build my own houses. I can't stand most of the ready-made houses; they just don't make much sense, and are just too darned ugly to start with. Usually I either am inspired by a house I've been in before or get some crazy "what if" (like, what if I make a house with four rooms surrounding a garden, each connected by a narrow hallway...)... I usually make them have wood floors and warm colors (reds, yellows, etc). And the outside is usually some colorful stucco, with a low, red roof. I prefer large, one-story houses, but occasionally I will add a second floor. I love huge windows, especially when they're facing the ocean. Sometimes I put too many windows so that I have no room for artwork or anything else...
Your turn! :)

[RoseCity]

When I started playing Sims 3 I was into building my own houses, but I don't do that much lately. Now I usually take an EA house and tweak it. My favorite house of the moment is called I think, the Classy Crib - it came with Ambitions and has 3 floors. I put it in Sunset Valley on the corner lot next to the Working Friends house with the pool. I added a small addition on the back for a downstairs bathroom and back entrance. My favorite bathroom set is Zen Again. And I also enjoy making (or trying to make) wallpaper with the CAP tool.
But I also like the Bridgeport apartments. There's something nice and simple about apartment life. And I also have houses I love that I downloaded from MTS.

[NickeyElysse]

When I played sims 2, I would always build houses on inspiration. My friends and families houses, or even random city architecture. Where I live all the school and official buildings are in the Edwardian style, and that's really awesome looking on sims.

I stopped building as much on sims 3. It was too time consuming. Too many options, and I wasn't used to it yet. Now I too just tweak the pre-made houses. I'm not very creative anyway. So I'd need inspiration, and I haven't had much of that lately. I've been meaning to build my apartment, but it just doesn't seem worth it yet.

[ani_]

I build alot (unfortunately), I really don't enjoy it but I've never found a perfect house yet. Any time I build something, I'm usually copying something I've seen. Like last weekend I rebuild this (http://linna.modthesims.info/download.php?t=422033) house. It's incredibly pretty, but I wanted it on a smaller lot and without the foundation.
Also when I build my poor people's apartment building, I used this (http://linna.modthesims.info/download.php?t=424420) house as inspiration (I build the apartment building that's on the far left), but without the foundation.

My preferences when it comes to housing is:
- no foundation
- small lots
- wooden floor
- bathrooms have to in the back (I usually always play a house from one direction and bathrooms are very good in blocking the view because of showers).
- elevated floor cheat. I love how the stairs look using that cheat, but I can't stand how the walls behind them get broken.

The biggest reason I end up building my own houses, is because all the house builders love foundation and big lots. Sure they look good, but I find playing a house with foundation annoying, specially if sims are visiting and you are trying to get them to greet each other.

[DizzySim]

I build. Always have. I used to love drawing out floor plans on graph paper when i was younger and always wished I could find a computer program where i could build them for real, was soo excited when i found TS2. I could build my drawings with a few slight changes due to the game's limitations, but it was still pretty awesome. So of course when TS3 came out i continued building my own houses. The ready made ones in game always seemed so odd with weird layouts.

I like both one story and two story house, and both houses with and with out foundations. Most always my houses have hardwood floors, mostly because i really like that look in real life and is what i grew up with. I too like houses with like garden courtyards, kinda in a Mediterranean style. I also like making little wood cottages and Victorian style homes. I just really like building and tend to do it too much.

[lisfyre]

I build. I hate EA houses as a general rule and if I HAVE to move a sim into one of them, I do a makeover and move them out as soon as I can build them a better house :) Before I got the hang of building, I downloaded houses. That was when I started playing Sims 2, after a few months, and lots of practising, my building skills got better so I stopped downloading and just custom built all my sims houses. Now that I'm in Sims 3, I've not downloaded a house.

I usually design houses on the fly. Depending on my sims traits and interests. I also use floor plans and search online for them all the time. I like building small - medium homes. I've built large houses too but I prefer to play with small/medium homes. I'm a terrible landscaper though but I'm working on it :)

[NickeyElysse]

Oh yeah me too. I can build houses that are functional, just not pretty. I don't really have a sense of decoration.

The same holds true for me in real life. All my decorations are functional. My pretty blankets and comforters, my rug, cute ottoman and a scarf I drape over my bookshelf to hide the dents and bangs at the top. Other than that it's all dingy white walls and white linoleum and fake marble tile. (I live in a tiny apartment).

Is willing to take tips. But in reality I care about decorating even less than on sims. I like the idea of it, but actually going out of my way to do it. . . .Noo. Not worth it.

[heartbreak]

I'll either modify an in game house, or download one from here. All the ones I make are too big - heck even some of the in-game houses are too large so I edit them down as much as it's willing to go.

[Bchbch Walk]

It depends if I'm in the mood for building...sometimes I'm just not. When I do build, I make the whole house follow two/three colors, with different shades of the colors. I almost never do one floor houses.

[pirate_wolf_12]

Throughout the series I always used the game primarily as an architecture program. Houses, shops, malls and even fake 'sets' like schools and hospitals in the Sims 2.

I've never really stuck to a certain style though. I've always found that a lot of my houses, even the elegant mansions, are more narrow. I was never one for making homes with large, wide rooms. But in terms of design types, I do a mixture. From tudors to cottages, tract homes to McMansions. It depends on the neighbourhood/town they're to be placed in.

I also (foolishly) try and make houses I've seen in films and TV shows. If you've ever done this then you'll know nearly 95% of the external views and layouts don't match the internal ones, so a lot has to be changed.

[NickeyElysse]

I've done that only once. It wasn't a copy so much as inspiration. I saw a big white house that was surrounding a huge pool on all four sides. I had to make it.

[lisfyre]

Oh yeah me too. I can build houses that are functional, just not pretty. I don't really have a sense of decoration.

The same holds true for me in real life. All my decorations are functional. My pretty blankets and comforters, my rug, cute ottoman and a scarf I drape over my bookshelf to hide the dents and bangs at the top. Other than that it's all dingy white walls and white linoleum and fake marble tile. (I live in a tiny apartment).

Is willing to take tips. But in reality I care about decorating even less than on sims. I like the idea of it, but actually going out of my way to do it. . . .Noo. Not worth it.

I love to decorate my sims houses and clutter it up and really make it look lived in. In RL, I'm like you Nickey, functional. I can't stand to have something just gathering dust for the sake of looking pretty or homey or whatever. My sense of style is very spartan, almost Scandinavian really. I hate clutter and hubby just loves to clutter. Sigh. It's an ongoing battle in my house!! :rofl:

I also (foolishly) try and make houses I've seen in films and TV shows. If you've ever done this then you'll know nearly 95% of the external views and layouts don't match the internal ones, so a lot has to be changed.

I've tried that a couple of times in Sims 3, not Sims 2 and after you've built the exterior, it's trying to put THAT room in that house just sometimes doesn't make sense because of the proportions. So frustrating sometimes. That's why I like to do them from plans because you can always alter that extra closet into something else.

[WooHoo31]

I usually just use the in-game houses or houses I find on MTS. I suck at building and decorating. I guess I'm just not creative enough. :(

[NickeyElysse]

I love to decorate my sims houses and clutter it up and really make it look lived in. In RL, I'm like you Nickey, functional. I can't stand to have something just gathering dust for the sake of looking pretty or homey or whatever. My sense of style is very spartan, almost Scandinavian really. I hate clutter and hubby just loves to clutter. Sigh. It's an ongoing battle in my house!! :rofl:


I wouldn't say I lack clutter. Clutter I got in the form of clothes and dishes and other random stuff EVERYWHERE.
Ex: right now there is exactly 13 packets of ketchup on my desk. Long story. I randomly go on a cleaning spree, but mostly I just live in my clutter. I'm sure it drives my roommate nuts, but she's not said anything as of yet.

And I would decorate, I think. If inspired. But now I'm broke. And it's not worth it cuz I move every three to six months. When I settle down and get some extra cash I would like to decorate with pictures, and statues of fairies. I don't much care for little trinkets. Too clumsy.

[tiemytiepleese]

I think my personal style is reflected in the way I decorate my Sims houses. I rarely make rooms that I wouldn't want to live in myself, but I try to be mindful of the personalities of my sims. For example, artsy sims get to live in more modern, quirky houses, but I might have a businessman live in a more traditional house. As many of you said, I also prefer smaller houses...and bathrooms in the back, please!
Right now, in my game, everytime I choose a new person to continue playing I build them a new house. I really enjoy taking the time at first to make everything look great, it creates a mood for their "life". But I think I may have the next generation move into an old house that I built but redecorate it according to them.
I like clutter...I really miss the bowl of fruit from TS2. But then again there's tons of other clutter to make up for it. IRL I don't like clutter very much. And I'm fighting against something I believe runs in my family - pack rat syndrome. :P
Do you guys usually create houses based on the angle that you play? Do you have just one angle that you usually stick to or do you move around a lot?
When I build, I usually move the camera around a lot in order to decorate places that I probably won't even view very often. I usually play from one corner of the house, facing the back.

[Srikandi]

I rarely build houses, but I love to renovate ;) I'll happily rip out walls, add floors and basements and so on... but I like the constraint of working with something that's already there. Always according to the activities, interests and personalities of the sims I'm playing at the time, though... the goal is to make both sims and houses as individual and non-generic as possible.