Will points be lost for deleting a few foundation tiles from the interior, and how many points? Like to build a sunken living room tv couch?

I'm feeling stoopid (sic) ... how do you get the price to display if you have more than the base game?

And as I understand it, your SIMS can have CC ... just not the house, correct? Those eyes give me the creeps, and I stuck my default skintones in the contest hood. (They can be removed just as easily.)

Also, if I find that I have an unpainted wall (one of my common oops-es), I can fix it, right? As long as I meet the deadline?

And Maxis terrains are OK?

Now to try to beat FRAPS into submission ...

In the upper left hand corner (in build/buy mode) there should be a little info icon that will tell you the lot value

@gazania
Bodyshop content is allowed, because sims don't count..lol, Jo said she was interested in knowing/meeting your own version of each families, but you won't loose points because they wear cc.

Thank you Jo, I completely forgot about the garden. I edited it in, I hope it's ok that I had to change some of the furniture to afford it?

Gazania - I believe you can change or edit your lot and pics any time as long as it is done before the deadline

The Walters were fortunate enough to find a mid-century bungalow they could afford; but unfortunate enough that it was in Desiderata Valley! The landscaping is a bit sparse by the standards of any neighborhood but the one they're in, and they spent their deco and landscaping budget on things for the baby, to make sure they had room for toddler toys; but they have a little pond, and they like the ceiling treatments and the big windows, and by the time they have a second child to squeeze into that nursery they hope to be able to afford a better neighborhood.

Here is my entry. I'm sure I'll be editing over and over.

I might have one or two too many pictures. If so, the picture of the couple is out. And if I truly screwed up, please let me know! No CC, by the way,

Story:

"You give me the money,
I will buy a ticket
On the local lottery.
We could win the lottery.
We could go to Vegas
And be very happy".

(The Lottery Song, Harry Nilsson ... my inspiration song for this round)

Well, the lottery that the Walters won wasn't exactly enough to go to Sims Vegas, but it was enough to provide the extra amount to buy the Oldies' place in Contest Hood. The Oldies decided to travel the country in their RV, and had no desire to take care of a house, so they put the cottage on the market last week.

Terri Walter smiled as she walked into her new house. Her baby was due in about four months, and it was a rush to convert the office into a nursery. For now, the desk, bookcase, computer and chair would have to be situated outside the master bedroom. Luckily, there was enough room. The open floor plan was a must.

She sat for a quick breakfast by the bay window. The bay window sold her on the house the most. She could imagine seeing her little one (she deliberately wanted to be surprised about the baby's sex) on the side of the house while she watched from the window. She liked the kitchen best of all in this tiny house. Before Terri got married, the kitchen was a focal point in her parents' home. They had many colorful discussions at the family table. She hoped it would be the same with Bryan and their children in this place. She then settled down in the chair in the nursery. She could imagine singing her baby to sleep while cuddling the infant in the comfortable chair. She'd rather not imagine the diapers, though!

There was a sense of nurturing and relaxation throughout the house. This was not a fussy place. A little old-fashioned, but not fussy. There was lots of room for a toddler to run around, comfy sofas, and a little birdhouse in the front. She could see the need to upgrade and add items to the house. She knew she'd have to save for that easel, and she missed painting already. She and Bryan had to sell what they could to buy this house before another Sim snapped the place up, however. Some sacrifices had to be made.

Bryan missed his telescope. But with a little hard work, they could have new items soon. Right now, they were ready for what was immediately ahead.

They had dreams of expanding this house. The back porch could be turned into a second bathroom. There was plenty of room to add a second story and a staircase. A small space for Terri to plant a few tomatoes. This house had possibilities.

But right now, Terri and Bryan just wanted to sit on those comfy sofas and talk about the future. Soon they would be a family of three, and they couldn't wait to welcome their little one into their lives.

_______

I pictured this house as being nurturing, cozy and a little old-fashioned. At first, I didn't think you needed a nursery ... just a space for one ... so the office was located in the nursery room. And I did have a second bathroom, but ditched that in favor of a little porch, since a single entry in and out of house is unsafe. A second bathroom would probably be a good thing once their little one becomes a teen, though!

Also, when I do a build, a roomy kitchen is a must. I like to bake in real life.

From what I'm understanding, while skilling items are nice, they are not a must. If they are, I'll put the easel and the telescope in there ASAP!

And thank you for the help about the price!

EDIT ... Added foundation picture. If that exceeded the total, please let me know. And no ... I have no idea why that's a little crooked, but it should suffice.

Everyone has such lovely entries!

I had some trouble getting the floorplan right and the roofing. (Ugh the roofing! Of course I didn't think of the roofing while building ... oops?)
Some of the images might be smaller due to me realising after editing 3 images that they were PNGs instead of JPG.

Here's my entry:

Well I love your roofinz. It is pretty and original.

My entry for this contest:

The only thing I can think of looking at these is that I don't envy the judges. I look at one house and think, "Wow! That one will win for sure!" Then I look at another and think, "Fantastic! This will lock in all the votes!" Every one of these lots looks great. In my case, it's fun ... and I still find educational ... just entering these contests.

And roofing ... I spent hours trying to get a good roofing to accommodate the wrap-around porch and after trying all different sorts of combos and cursing mightily, went for a simpler roofing. But I told myself no matter how tempting, no auto-roofing! And boy, was I tempted.

And trying to keep the amount under or at 25,000 Simoleons was the biggest challenge. I'd constantly be juuuust over, and by the end, I was wondering what more I wanted to cut. When the amount went under the 25K, I called it a day and packaged the lot. I don't wish to go back, unless I made a mistake that I need to fix. It's too tempting to add that one more thing and overshoot the budget!

@Phaenoh I'm sorry but that is against the main rule of no deleting or adding to the foundation. So it's not allowed at all.

@gazania There is an in game button, top left when you are building, click on it to open the price.

Correct.

You can swap out your pictures up until the deadline.

You are not allowed CC in this round at all, so yes it has to be Maxis terrain.

@enebya You are allowed to change around your lot and pictures right up to the deadline.

@Peni Griffin I am really happy to say welcome to the contest I didn't think you liked building!

@gazania I love your story! The only musts are in the requirements and wants -if you want you full 5 points. I don't think I asked for skilling items. Haha I will have to go read over my own application notes. You are allowed up to 16 pictures because I like seeing plenty.

@Greenplumbbob Great to see you here, welcome to the contest. You don't have your overshot (new photo rules coming including one for the overshot)

@cowplant-simmer Welcome to the contest. You will need to make your floor plan two separate photos okay.

Since I only default replaced sim things I thought... well building could be okay to try. Now, I have never tried building a house costing under 25000 so I went not alone a bit OCD on it. I went a lot OCD on it and even came under 20000 so any sim could buy it, even an upcoming single mom!
I even got the security alarm installed!
-Mediafire is apparently not allowed that should have stood in the rules so no upload-

Note:There is actually a picture frame over the kitchen table I just didn't take a picture!
Note 2: Building this house was a lot of fun *^*
And I was surprised how low the price became. Like, I was sure when I was done floorin, walls, roofs, windows and doors that I was past 10000 but I was only on 8500! OwO'
the lot is 2x2 lot which... is a maxis default lot xD because UC...
Note 3: To those who goes: "Some flowers are missing"
no they are glitching. They will either appear in your game or go down to bottom floor and they'll appear.

16 pictures? Great! I can stick in those two I cut out.

@joandsarah77 it's edited :D

Well, here’s my entry. I also managed to reach exactly 25k (not any more, because I had to add a smoke alarm and I removed a lamp to afford it), and it was really hard to keep an eye on money and not go crazy with plants I did do some landscaping, but I couldn’t afford anything more fancy. I hope everything is fine, as this is my first entry to a contest here ever. I use Radiance Light System, which is in my game files, but I hope it still counts as a no CC lot, after all, it’s not a recolour or anything like that.

Edit: The last picture is showing the smoke alarm, because I hid it in a wall (it’s not the prettiest thing to put on a wall ).

@OnayaW Please can you remove your upload link. If you want to share your entry you will need to upload it via the upload wizard, thank you

@OnayaW well, for the price, I am impressed!

I became very OCD xD I was like. Use.no.money. xD

Karen
I just removed the link all together. It should have stood in the rules but it didn't so I couldn't know O3O

I love seeing the variety of houses. This is such a fascinating contest.

@OnayaW No, Jo does not need to state that you cannot upload via the contest as it is part of the site rules

Karen, oh the rules that 0.01% people actually read.
meh. This website is very closed. Like, no one really cares what they can do and what they can't everyone is just like, act nice. That's all. unlike others to I don't use tinypic or photobucket but sta.sh for pictures.
and honestly creating a whole 3rd account for something seems far away. Most people these days use mediafire or app.box which also does that the site rules could use an upgrade to also make it easier to use the site for those showing off their stuff.
//no I'm not blaming you, I am just generally blaming the site rules as they put a block... on a lot actually. There is huge differences between kid friendly and user friendly as well. One might be okay kids and another is also getting the site to work so people on the site can be happy as well. Finding beta testers and send them private messages is annoying when ya just wanna show everyone and be like. beta test this please but the rules are so strict at some points and outdated as well...

@OnayaW Not including links to uploads in your posts is a site rule, not a rule specifically for this contest. You will have to remove the front and back decking since no decking is allowed. You have to use the given foundation and not add to it or take away from it. There is also no need to save money, you want to make your lot look as good as possible in a contest so as to gain more points. When you have removed the decking keeping the foundation as given update your photo and post back so that I can add you to the board.

@Voeille Welcome to the contest. You didn't add to the foundation did you?

I will soon be putting up a new photo rule of showing the ground foundation level since that will be easier for the judges to check and see that the foundation is all there and the same shape.

Generally, I see many of the contest entries wind up here after the contest closes. People often clamor for the ones they like best, and with your lovely house and super-budget lot OnayaW (I had trouble enough with 20,000 Simoleons, never mind 25k!), I wouldn't be the least bit surprised that you're going to get a lot of people wanting your lot after you're done. It's not easy doing a budget house that still looks good and doesn't follow the Le Boxy format!

For me, not being able to load a lot (or if I ever do, I would have to include about 10 disclaimers in 72-point type that I'm Hug-Bugged and if you don't use proper precautions and download any of my lots, you could get Hug Bug cooties) can be a little liberating. I don't have the highest expectations for my lot-building efforts. I read the instructions, glance at a house plan or two (though because of the dimensions, those are only for inspiration), imagine what my contest family would like, listen to a song to inspire me, try to convey the words I have in my head to describe my lot as I design it and upload my pictures, and hope I don't entirely suck at all this! I can't ever upload this here, and would not feel comfortable loading it anywhere else because with my luck, someone will miss that 72-point type and NOT have No Sim Loaded on their game, so I just play to my heart's content. (And yes, I know about the Chris Hatch globe, but am not sure this is 100% effective.) I envy your able to being able to upload your lots here in the future!

So this is just a delay.