Hello fellow Sim lovers, and congrats to all the submitters here!
This contest entry is my first time participating in a building challenge. Thank you, QBuilderz, for creating this one – I was hooked as soon as I saw the post. I started building idly, with no real intention of participating. But after getting sucked into this project, there’s no way I’m letting my work of these previous 10 days go to waste. :P
Without further ado, I present the Modern Gingerbread Formal!
This moderately-sized house looks fairly modern and is in good condition. The interior is done in colors that remind you of a gingerbread house. The yard is large and looks very formal.
From this prompt I kept three main ideas: gingerbread house color theme, modern furnishings, and a formal yard. Hence the terribly original name Modern Gingerbread Formal.
Hopefully the theme(s) came across well. I tried to keep the color palette limited to the browns of gingerbread and chocolate, the white and cream of frosting and custard, and the bright colors of candy. Windows and doors had of course to be cream-colored with many window panes, just like real gingerbread houses. A pleasant challenge came from balancing frilly decorative touches (after all, some gingerbread houses are really elaborate!) with modern furniture. I tried to use furniture with “modernized” traditional shapes and materials. Outside, in the yard, a few spruce trees complete the gingerbread house theme. The white gravel in the alleyways is meant to suggest sugar. So in the end, the Modern Gingerbread Formal dwelling is more inspired by gingerbread houses rather than copying them.
Here’s a picture-heavy tour of the house, done entirely in optional pictures, starting from the dining room in the corner of the first floor.
The dining chairs show the accent colors used around the house.
A tidy kitchen sink in a corner with outer windows and inner windows!
It may be a small house, but it sure feels spacious.
The living room is super cozy.
There is a skylight next to the living room. Daylight is healthy and cheap.
I tried to make a gingerbread cookie pattern under the spiral staircase.
The bathroom is of course small, but it's pleasant. That plant’s job is to purify the air. :P
Spiral stairs lead to a rather small hallway with plenty of flowers.
The entrance to the master bedroom is framed by interior windows.
The bed and nightstands are resolutely modern-looking and the color scheme is more restrained.
Interior windows separate the dressing area from the bathroom door. Mirrors expand space. They also lead to that weird effect when you look into a mirror in Tab mode without seeing anything reflected back. Creeeeepy.
The second bedroom can host a child and a baby, or can be converted into an office.
This smaller bedroom has more pink and purple to accommodate younger spirits.
Behind the desk are the crib and ginormous, fluffy toys.
The bathroom on the second floor is accessible from the hallway and from the master bedroom. I joined the pictures because taken separately none of them conveys the bathroom properly. Hope that's ok with the No Photoshop rule.
Let's go back outside - to the porch. And a half-wall that, try as I might, remained unCASTable.
Here's the back porch, with plenty of plants. Then step down right here, into the garden...
Wide paths paved with round white pebbles invite to slow, stately strolls.
My first attempt at a real garden!
Building the garden really put me in the mind of serene owners descending to the garden to enjoy its delights. They’d never be without a glass of fine wine in their hands. In this little nook, they can enjoy both cool water and a warm fire.
The little hill provided with the lot became a more natural garden corner, for a break from all the strict lines. What’s a gingerbread house without wintry pine trees all around it? These pines also have candy-like flowers all around them.
This garden is made for walkin’. You can almost hear the gravel crunching underfoot.
Why not sit down here and watch the street, read the newspaper, or enjoy a glass of lemonade? The corners of the garden are helpfully provided with tables and chairs.
The house isn’t beautiful only by daylight...
Sunset makes all the colors vibrate, and the contrast with the calm sea is lovely.
At night, the house lights up, not unlike a Christmas tree.
The outdoor dining nook is the perfect spot to linger with a drink and nibble on a barbecued shrimp.
In this garden, everyone is welcome to stay out late.
Just don’t forget to turn off the lights after you’re done.
It was so nice to have you visit the Modern Gingerbread Formal! Come again soon!
Favorite part of Round 1: The formal yard! I usually make very... utilitarian Sim houses, shall we say, so this is my first attempt at landscaping. I am very proud of the outdoor dining nook, and of the pine trees' arrangement on the little hill. I can’t wait to hone my landscaping skill further with this challenge. I also like to place windows indoors, instead of screens or half-walls, so I went a little crazy with them, as you may have noticed. :P
Difficulties encountered in Round 1: I ran into some weird problems while building, from inexplicably vanishing floor tiles to wonky ceiling tiles to an unCASTable half wall. I gave up on decorating the ceilings at all after the moldings decided to rotate on their own for the third or fourth time. Sad panda. The bare ceilings make rooms look cold. I also didn’t pay attention to the rules when I started building (I wasn’t even thinking I’d participate), so I think I turned the lot around when placing it – the back became the front. The front of the house ended up quite close to the sidewalk, with no front yard to speak of. Lastly, I also need to learn how to take better pictures in-game.
I... have a confession to make. I’m a terrible CC hoarder. I’ve downloaded so much stuff over the years and came to rely on CC so much when building and decorating. The list of CC below is a. all jumbled up and b. not exhaustive, but it’s the best I have for now.
1. Builder’s Island DIY - armiel
2. CASTable smoke detector – CyberBob78
3. Scarlet Kitchen counters, stove – Hudy777
4. Barracuda counters - Morphead
5. Ocean’s Sun Room Microwave – Morphead
6. Kitchen Stove Hood – omegastarr82
7. Glass clock - Morphead
8. Calibri Cabinet counters and sink and decorative boxes - Morphead
9. Decorative plate of pebbles – Stylist Sims
10. Creeping Ivy - lemoncandy
11. Westinhaus Mini Slats - Morphead
12. Real Flat Mirror – Morphead
13. Mirrors - armiel
14. CASTable 3 tile paintings – sionelle
15. Chameleon Flowers - kithri
16. Matched side by side paintings (red vases) – OM for Indigo
17. Frost paintings – Lhonna 2009
18. Poster Teen Room paintings (green & orange modern) – Lhonna 2010
19. Orange rug (Modern Rug) – OM for Indigo
20. Skylight - DasMatze
21. Boxy Lady low square hedge and Decorative Egg Topiary – TheJim07
22. Rattan Outdoor Set of flower pots – JS at VitaSims
23. Small plants in pots – Lisen
24. Potted daisies - cmomoney
25. Spiral Topiary and Lollipop Topiary and Dome Bush – Porphyria at Vicarious Living
26. Barometer - Around the Sims
27. Front door (Door Single Contemporary) - Lisen
28. Cesar’s Pathway Repathed – LeeFish
29. Wall TV - Morphead
30. Ceiling halogen spot – Sim-Ometry
31. Small glass rings halogen ceiling lamp – Sim-Ometry
32. Garden Light Balls and bare light bulb on wall - ????
33. Cone light on ceiling - Morphead
34. Movement Tub - Simcredible
35. Calibri Island Shower Stall - Morphead
36. Office chair – Around the Sims
37. Smart Shoe Rack – Melissa at toolregame
38. Smoked Glass End Table – Sim-Ometry
39. Ladder shelf- OM for Indigo
40. Versatile Glass Shelves - OM
41. Cute Study Activity Table - Simpossible
42. Federal Windows and Privacy Windows – LeeFish
43. New Orleans extended windows - ashillion
44. Hair dryer from clutter set – Babayaga
45. Plate from clutter set – Cmomoney
46. Bathmats – Awesims
47. Vases on nightstands – Killc*a
48. Glass pattern, Plushy pattern and Towel pattern – Killc*a
49. Quilt pattern – aikea guinea at Garden of Shadows
50. Adjustable curtains mod – granthes
51. Add any lot size mod – velocitygrass
52. Modified cameras mods – aikea guinea and cmomoney
53. Default wood grain replacements - JaneSamborski
54. Lighting tweaks and dynamic shadows mods - dDefinder