@Rosebine

You may want to update your entry because you say you built this round for the Newman family but the Newman's wants/requirements are completely different:



I think you meant to build for the Lamberts

That's a good question, Sweet Mystre. I believe Store items are CC, since those were not open to everyone (at least not officially!) but are the free promo downloads?

As I understand it though, if it came with the game, you're good, which is why working in a fresh clean test hood is a good idea. Some exceptions: lighting mods are OK, neighborhood camera mods are OK, etc. CC on your Sims themselves are fine. The main thing is that the build and buy items are Maxis-only. Oh, and Photoshopping is probably frowned upon.

I think with different families and 21 contestants, there will be overlap, and no doubt, we'll be seeing many fine lots for the Newmans. I am definitely not a Pet People expert! Oh boy, am I not. Hope you're having a far easier time than I am! Though actually, whether my lot is good, bad or mediocre, just getting the menagerie settled comfortably is a feat, I think!

And if I see I'm over by 500 Simoleons or less one more time, I'll sic my yappy game's Schanuzer on someone! (Like Schnauzers, had one as a child and teen, and I loved her very much; hence, one is a Newman in my game!)

I really like the layout of your house and the treehouse, Rosebine. Very clever!

Oh! Thank you Charmful! ahah!..oops, wrong name. will edit.
Thank you very much, Karen.

ROUND 2, RHODES with CC

Ladies and gents and everybody in between, I present to you the greatest house I've ever built.

No, I can explain! This is the hippy dwelling of Thunder and Country Rhodes. They used to live in an old house trailer in a commune, but when it dissolved they had to find a new place, and they discovered a derelict cabin with one wall missing. So they mounted the trailer on cinderblocks, built a connecting section out of salvaged barn panels and whatnot, and then they had themselves a little house with a large studio! Crooked Beach is a small community on a barrier island, so the soil is sandy, but the cabin's old outhouse/pigsty/midden had composted down nicely and they were able to plant an orange, an apple, and a lemon tree and plant a decent garden in the enriched space. They also haul in seaweed from the beach to supplement their compost. People kept coming to crash with them, so after awhile they added a second bedroom upstairs, scrounging windows from a boat shed that was being torn down and grabbing some more barn panels. The downstairs doesn't need curtains - privacy windows in the trailer, and the more natural light in the studio the better - but the boat shed windows are so big, they hit yard sales for fabric and got enough to make sufficient window treatments to feel cozy. No two sets of curtains match, but so what? Some of their light fixtures are made from cast deer antlers found lying around, and most of the furnishings were either bought at flea markets, abandoned by friends who shared space for awhile, or scrounged from dumps and derelict buildings.

That's right - the entire house is recycled!

Normally the studio is crowded with paintings, pots, and fabric arts, but they just got back from their annual circuit of craft shows, having sold or traded their entire stock. So it's time to plant and start producing again. Their old bus would normally be parked in the big sandy area between the cabin and the garden, too, but they left it at the garage for a tune-up.

Note that the floors and ceilings in the section built to connect the trailer to the cabin can be distinguished from the two main structures, where Thunder and Country couldn't quite make things match up.

Yes, it's a mess. That's why I love it and don't in the least mind losing aesthetic points on it. I've been in houses like this, is the thing. Jerry-rigged architecture is where rednecks and hippies meet on common ground. Architect? Who can afford a stinking architect? We'll nail this bit to that bit, seal it up with a bit of putty, and Mike at the machine shop owes us a favor and can do the wiring. I'm a bit disappointed that I couldn't make a bathtub planter work, but it was driving the cost up anyhow.

After having my accidental CC use pointed out to me, I decided I didn't have enough energy to do a full redecorate and retake all the pictures, so this is neither CC-free, nor as chockfull of obviously recycled CC as it would have been if I'd decided to use it in the first place. (That's also why some of the pictures still have gridlines. If it costs me, it costs me.) In actual play, however, this house will get lots of milk crate furniture. Possibly the Newsons will move in (free labor, y'know, the girls aren't as young as they were) and the twins will sleep in boxes. And now I have to hunt down a car that's a schoolbus, though I suppose a minibus will do in a pinch.

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Excellent work, Rosebine That is a very nice house even without the treehouse

Gazania, if something is not in the vanilla game, then it is cc. The career rewards, eg. are found in game. Store Edition stuff is all cc, anything you have downloaded from anywhere is cc.

I have not even decided on a family yet! Tend to think I must just do them in the order Jo typed them.

Phaenoh, that is really lovely a....ap....apar.... building

Have a good weekend, everyone. I am back home on Monday.

Oh I love the look Peni!! Ahah! grunge & recycled. The feel is perfect! :0)

So, since Jo said we could add crafted items, and items that are already in the game are allowed, am I correct to assume that maxis items made buyable are ok as well? I think we already said the career rewards were kosher, so I'm guessing other similar things are fine too?

Well, I have a house built and mostly furnished. However, I think I had better see the judges' scores and comments for the first round before posting. I might have a lot of redesigning to do!

Anybody know how I can get butterflies to appear without having to wait around for them to arrive of their own accord? I'm trying to take toddler pictures of the child from the Elliot family with butterflies...

Flowers = butterflies. if you can afford a flower bush or 2..you'll have them.
But if you meant instantaneously?..No idea.

http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=487978

@gazania - Normally it would work, making a clean save folder, but I put the maxis downloads in my Program files. I always forget about them because I don't think of them as CC. I will now.

I remember reading that houses shouldn't be shared once a Sim lives in them which makes me hesitant on having them in the house to add crafted items; which said crafted items still cost money and will add to the cost of the house. While said builder is having spending issues already.

My laptop mouse died- not battery related- and that's where I'm building. For some strange reason I uninstalled the UC from my desktop to make the Poverty Challenge and the Starving Artist Challenges harder (only Stuff and Seasons). So,... I have to build on the laptop, which is annoying because of the size and controls. Dang mouse.

Thanks, Phae. I did it by putting out loads of flowers and waiting in the end, but this would've made it quicker!

My lot is almost ready. I'm just trying to find places for all the crafted items and family photos I've got now...

Easy. When your house is all done and ready for your sims, before you move in your family, move your house to the lot bin.
It will save a clean copy for you in there, that you'll be able to choose as many times you want.. Then take that clean copy, and place it back down in your Hood. here you go.

Wait... so crafted items DON"T add to the house value? O.O

(thinks about getting a new mouse now) XD

Thank you for the suggestion @Rosebine But then how do I use the crafted/pictures and Sim made items for this contest? I wouldn't be the same lot.
(Lol- again posting fast, you are) XD

Oh! Sorry..i think I misunderstood you...yeah, they need to be in the house to craft them huh..
maybe you could refer to Phaenoh's post...though @joandsarah77 did not reply yet, to say if these were ok to use, and not considered CC..
Posting fast, sometimes, me is.

Well I’m in approximately at 1/4 of building (I haven’t done enough to say I’m in the middle), and I know already I will have a lot of trouble with money... I hope the next rounds will let me build a more expensive house so I can go crazy with plants

Edit: And when I added the pond... I miss my water mod, I got so used to it and now the Maxis pond seems really strange

Dances wildly!

I finished the Newman house! It's under 35,000 Simoleons by 50 (I'll take it), and SO FAR, Paul, Joanne (no, they don't resemble the actors at all), Pavanne, Gigue, Allemande and Gavotte are scampering around. No issues so far. The cages are stocked, there are fish in the tank, the animals aren't paying the slightest attention to their sleeping areas (but that is often the case in real life), and the cats are destroying the furniture even as I write this. I found a few bare walls that I fixed, and am looking for more oopses. Right next to the occupied house is the empty house. I packaged it before moving in the Newman clan in the one copy, and they sit side by side. The Walters even came by and the eight of them had no routing problems. I even see one extraneous item that I could delete and replace with something else, if desired. It's not a whole lot of money, but I might be able to decorate a certain area a little better.

Maybe I should see the judges' scores. I hope we are in agreement about the cons of my other lot. I think I noticed at least a couple and fixed them this time. I hope. But we do have the opportunity to revise our pictures before the two weeks are up, so I am not terribly worried. If I need to fix something, I need to fix something. I just hope it's not a structural issue ... that could be a bummer. I just become so obsessed with building that after so many hours of working on a lot (way, way too many over the last day), I need a break. I want to get the lot out and take a breather. So does the rest of my family. They want me back!

it's not quite like certain houses in the first round. You will probably not respond with amazement at my lot building. But unlike my two previous attempts at this lot, I don't believe this house design stinks like the dead skunk in the middle of the road (at least, and yes, that's a song quote ... and no, that's not the song with the lot), everyone can move around OK, and it's under budget. And that is quite enough for me! I'll post it later after the initial testing and revisions are completed. I missed a silly detail the last time because I didn't test thoroughly (hopefully not one that deleted points ... it was more of an annoying oops than a detriment, I think) , and I'm not about to do it this time!

A musical interlude ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu5hzc2Mei4. Warning: the humor is a little dark on this one.

As previously stated, I had a good old try at using the Lamberts, but I just couldn't keep it under buget. So, instead, I went with the Elliotts.

I love your path with a flower border! Nice idea. And those family photos add SO much! I love this

@Sweet Mystre You cannot upload a house that has been lived in so you would not be able to upload it with the craftables that had been crafted by the family but you can probably find them for download somewhere

@NatteryakToad Love your house and the story is lovely too

Holey Cheese, Natteryak! You worked at that! All those personalized pictures, including photobooth ones - wow. And in such a short time. Wow. Just...wow.

I have my two lots. One is inhabited. The other is my empty lot. Same lot ... or so I thought.

While I'm readying the lot, I made a few fixes, switching back and forth. I must have changed one or two tiny details on the inhabited lot. That one is 34,987. The uninhabited one is 34,984. I'm guessing I changed a few walls that were one Simoleon more, but I simply cannot see which ones! I'm getting a headache trying to find the differences. I think if you see them, you'll guess why!

We CAN use use just our inhabited lots for the contest, correct? I'll try to stick the Newmans somewhere else for a photo or two without them. I'd rather go with one lot or the other than try switching around, only to see in plain sight what I can't see at all right now after a half hour to an hour of going from one lot to the other and staring at every single wall over and over and over again. I'll try to give it a look later when I've taken a long break. This reminds me of those "what is different between the two pictures" games when you have one picture with a small strand of hair cropped.

Last time I'll do something stupid like this!

Natteryak ... that house looks so cute and cozy, and I liked the story!

This contest is NOT about uploading a lot. Or, building something specific to upload.
It is about having fun managing the foundation and budget allotted for each round; and building something that suits the different families.
If you think you may want to upload your lot, then make a copy of it BEFORE adding your family. You can swap personal items out for in-game items before uploading - or include CC - and the price isn't something you need to be concerned with when uploading. Have fun building