@Phaenoh the last round of this contest will be a community lot I hope for unlimited budget, or at least a very high one However, I decided to use CC for the last round, so I can manage a decent garden without spending so much money, because CC plants are cheaper.
Incidentally, I want to upload my round 1-4 houses as a no CC bundle. Would it be fine to do so before the contest finishes? The community lot couldn’t go to a no CC bundle if I’m going to use some anyway.

@Voeille Yes, do go ahead and upload your entries. Phae has already uploaded a couple of hers.

I don't think I'll be able to get my entry up quite on time. It'll probably only be a matter of hours. My sister graduates today. Originally Dad was coming down for lunch, then we'd go to the graduation, but now we're doing to diner after, so I probably wont be home till about an hour before it's due. Just letting you know that I will post my entry, just possibly not in time

How did I miss this? I thought this was a 4 round contest. Did this get added? (btws, I love this, it's just that usually I don't miss stuff this big...)

Back - finding that you really cleared out the bar while I've been gone! No worries, I am restocking....

@justJones - it is just one point, please submit your entry (Made a bet in the fermented fruit juice bar while highly fermented ) - but enjoy the special occasion with the family!

I tend to agree with @Voeille about greenery under plants, various groundcovers grow very well in the shade in various shades of green.

@franfeliano that is a lovely, lovely lot!

Welcome back, @gazania Here are still wood floors in kitchens, especially in older houses. Vinyl that looks like wood is popular here and there (nice, these, very thick, feels almost like a carpet). Cape Dutch here has only wood floors all through. (They are also perfectly symmetrical, since an engineer rather than an architect designed the first ones here).

@AndrewGloria - I find that dad carrying his toddler all the way to the tree house really funny!

Strongs to the judges, I do not envy them at all. Seems as if everyone has really upped their game, even those who would have found it hard to up a very upped game already!

The Lamberts wanted a bigger house for their family, but this was the largest that fit in their budget. The girls grudgingly accepted sharing a room, but only since they each had their own private nook. In exchange for the smallest bedroom, they boys demanded - and received - a treehouse. They also worked together to create the artwork (the required Wanderfall picture) that distracts their younger siblings during diaper changes.

It's not visible in the screenshots, but their is another potty chair in the first floor bathroom.

Oh I will submit it @Justpetro, I was just saying it'll more than likely be late

Good to know I can upload earlier, I will do so after the 4th round finishes

@Mordant17 I like the idea of rooms separated by a curtain.

Good news as far as the contest goes, bad news for me though. Dad's not going to be able to make it down. His "good leg" is bothering him really bad from over compensating for his bad leg. So a 4 hr round trip car ride is just out of the question. He's super disappointed But that means I'll be back sooner from the graduation and should be able to have my entry in on time.

Because my schedule is up in the air, my policy is to just put SOMETHING up before I have to go out of town, just in case I can't make it back by the deadline or will be too exhausted to go back to the entry. In the case of the next round, I could be losing two or more points if I don't put my entry up on June 2nd. I need to pack on June 3rd, since if the federal court system does give me a postponement on jury duty (hopefully, they consider my time-imperative legal and moving reasons adequate ... I won't know until I get their decision), I won't be back until much later in the next week. If the foundation goes up on May 24th (3 days after the round closes), that would mean the next round will end on June 7th.

I think if you have the option, you'll have to decide whether you want to go with late points or put something up just in case. I went with the latter this time, and will go with that option in the next round.

Oh shoot! That's a good idea, Phaenoh. I'll go take a peek and see what the guidelines are. Thank you!

Community lots are my favorite things to do! I find I have much more freedom and can be silly if I like. I can use flat roofs and not be the least concerned about roofing.

I have no idea what sort of community lot our Esteemed Host will stipulate, but here are some tips since if I'm reading this correctly, we'll be able to use CC:

1. Remember to include at least a single bathroom. Don't laugh. I've forgotten them!
2. Make sure there is plenty of space around the cash registers.
3. This might be the time to explore OMSPs now, if you haven't. There are quite a few out there, such as this one: http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=325570
4. Move_objects may also be your friend with the shelves.
5. A good mod to have: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=137561. You may find yourself with an issue involving stocking ... I believe Numenor's comments mention a fix. It's not hard. Just annoying.
6. If you have a restaurant, make sure the right stove is in there (Tempest Cookstove by Cuas, or something like that), and you might want to consider this mod to make sure that Sim customer pests stay OUT of the kitchen: http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/s...hp?topic=7707.0. It looks like a burglar alarm and with a little bit of cheaty magic, you can hide it.
7. Make sure the door isn't too close to the chef, and your waiters can move freely. Ditto for the podium with the host. And don't do what I keep doing when I'm not paying attention, and put the podum in the wrong direction!
8. If you use LotAdjuster to shrink a community restaurant lot (to make it part of a strip mall, for instance), please be aware that might affect your kitchen area. I like to put my kitchens more toward the middle of the lot if I shrink it. For some reason, if I shrink a lot then try putting a kitchen on one of the sides, my chef doesn't show up!
9. If you don't have OFB or just the base game ... no problem. I wouldn't be surprised if joandsarah77 allows non-business community lots, such as museums, parks, etc. You still need bathrooms, though. Really. You do!

I can confirm that one can forget a (various) bathroom on a (various) community lots at times...(Oh, @#$%, maxmotives, remember to squeeze in a bathroom before sending a Sim there again)!

In total agreement about community lots being a lot of fun (it may not be a business, since Jo says a community lot for all to enjoy - oh, the suspense is killing me...

One family left - I really wanted to do the hippies and the huge family - I guess I am going to have to choose or to settle for the would be champ then. (Jo, I hope you did not accidentally make a typo with the budget in this round ) #runningofftothefermentedfruitjuicebar

End of the round party in 3 hours!

Orange cocktails for the judges (they are going to need the Vitamin C, aren't they?)

Springbokkies for everyone else (South African drink consisting of peppermint liqueur, topped with a layer of Amarula liqueur, creamy thing made from the wild marula fruit, which is native to SA, and the fruit has to literally fall off the trees before it is edible/usable. Anyone can go and pick them up and sell them to the liqueur makers, or to anybody who wants to make something from it, because it makes a nice jam (I think some call it jelly) too).

See you there

Morning. 1 1/2 hour left on the clock. Just reminding those not in that it is -1 point per day over, so please don't worry too much if you are a little late.

@Phaenoh 5 rounds. Four are residential and one community.

@Mordant17 thank you for your entry.

Just 3 people left.

Round 3 - The Evans Family

No CC
Required object: Measure of a Sim - 2nd and 3rd pic (under extras)
All three exercise pieces are in the same room, 6th pic (under extras), 2 machines and radio with "yoga mat" (rug)

Thanks Jones.

I'm not going to make it. I had to spend time tonight with my mother. (Amongst other things I have my Sim Andrew telling me that he loves his mum more than I love mine. So I've got to spend time with mine to prove that I love my mum too!) Well the lot's finished, and all the FRAPS pictures are converted to JPEG, but it will be some time tomorrow when I get my play-along entry post finished. So I suppose I'll lose an imaginary point! There's no way I can finish it in an hour and ten minutes -- in fact it would be far more sensible to go to bed and get some sleep. If only I could use SetHour (as I so often do!).

So, I'll see you some time tomorrow.

Play alongs don't have to worry Andrew, you guys just post when you can. Just post later or if you miss a round, that's okay too.

Thanks Jo, but it would be a shame to miss the round when I've got the family created, the lot built, and the pictures taken. I'll post as soon as I'm able to. I've done the Lamberts in this round, so I'm sure this will be the hardest round for me. I've never played a family this big with two toddlers before -- and they really are quite hard work to play. And, if it's hard for me, it's even harder for the two parents and the teenage sisters! The two girls are playing a big part in looking after the little ones.

For me it's hard work but it's fun too. I'm not so sure if the girls would agree about it being fun!

Round 3 Lamberts, with CC (lots and lots of it)
Random Object, Wanderfall kids picture: In the last picture, the one of the tree house

Wow, I'm really down to the wire here--I hope this post is on time! I was lacking for inspiration during the first half of this round, then this week I was a little too busy to work on it after I came home. I did some outlines in my spare time at work, and that helped some, but I still got stuck because by the time I finished the basic structure of the house and the tree house, I only had about $14,000. So to really decorate the way I wanted, I knew I was going to need to use some cc. I tried without it, but too many things got left out and I was hating my bathroom options. As is, I had to delete the pool and get cheaper windows and doors. So cc it was, and once I made that decision I got a renewed burst of energy. I downloaded some new stuff and scoured my old folder to find cool things to use. Turns out I had some shutters and whoever made them decided they should be free, so I was even able to keep the basic design aesthetic of the outside!

I designed the house like I would playing any other family of mine and hopefully that goes over well. It was a bit tough designing the girls' room, coming up with something both types could be happy with, but I'm ok with how it turned out. And I also have some new awesome cc out of all this, so that's good too. I originally had planned to make a family to go with this, to playtest the lot, and to fill up the walls of the house with family photos but, after updating my drivers, my game decided to throw a bunch of graphical errors at me. For about two hours. Then, after that, in the middle of making the Lamberts (with three sims to go, too) my game crashed. So I officially give up that dream in an effort to post on time. THEN, after all that, my screen capture program decided not to work and I couldn't figure out how to use the replacement program I downloaded. For some reason the programs aren't recognizing the game as something to take a picture of, despite the fact that I just took a few screenshots a couple of hours ago. Lesson learned: don't update your drivers. Anyway, I had to take pictures one by one, with print screen and Paint. If something looks missing or unplayable, c'est la vie.

Here ya go:


Not too much description, since I'm a little miffed/stressed right now, but I will say that if the yard seems to have patches of emptiness, it's cuz some OFB toys were going to go there. And the driveway has drawings all over it because the parents let the kids use it as a shared canvas (as opposed to the walls) until their car loan gets approved. Oh, and the columns are on CFE walls. I left the inside unpainted in the hopes that the judges can verify that for themselves in the foundation pic. I don't nearly have enough pics to show this round but I'll try. Please let me know if I went over the picture count.

ETA: The reason there's a cork board in the kitchen was because I was going to have the toddlers draw some pictures and hang them up. Like how some families put up their kids' work up on the fridge. But, for reasons mentioned above, that didn't happen. Just in case anyone was wondering.

Rounded ended! Thanks PK.

@cowplant-simmer I hope you still get an entry in. If you can get it to me over the next 24 hours you only lose 1 point.

Judges you now have 3 days head start. Updating the clock to show when round 4 foundation will be posted.

Judges can you check in. I should have your sheets out in a couple of hours.
@Charmful
@CatherineTCJD
@Karen Lorraine

Wait .... I was looking back at the entries, and I now find that I NEEDED a roof-down picture? I thought it was optional. I followed the basic requirements ... front, back, foundation, each floor. price. You get a pretty good idea of my roofing, though, since I did have to take the pictures at a much higher angle because of the canopy and the CFE stuff ... and you also have to go pretty darn high to also avoid floating columns. Perhaps my arching the roof and those kinda-Ionic porch columns on the house might have saved me in this case.

I don't think you need a roof-down picture. It's not in the requirements. Obviously the judges need to be able to see your roof clearly to judge it, but that doesn't have to be from directly above. I try to take my front and rear pictures from slightly above so you can see the roof clearly. The price picture can help too.

Please try not to worry so much, gazania! You'll be ok!

I'm so amazed at all the entries but I often don't get to post before the thread moves on, so I'll do it now, before I forget.


















I guess that's enough gushing for now, but anyone I didn't mention, rest assured, I go back, look, read, and find something to love about all of them. Even when the thread moves fast and I get a few pages behind, I like to go back and read what I missed (and give out loves, helpfuls, and funnys. Kinda makes me miss benes, actually. I wonder who's older enough/been playing long enough to get that one. )

Oh, and @gazania, We did need a roof picture at first, but then when the foundation picture was added to the rules, it became unclear whether it was still needed. I included one just in case. I guess @joandsarah77 can tell us whether or not it's still required.
About the bathrooms, though, I don't usually forget the entire bathroom when building community lots, but sometimes I forget the sinks after I put in the counters. I usually try to put in showers too. I don't know how many times my sims have spent hours hanging out downtown only to finally find someone interesting to chat up when it's time to go home to fix his/her needs. So I like to have my bases covered. Oh and this is the OMSP I use. The standard ones are simple and give me lots of range and the angled ones are fun to use for an apocalypse/disaster lot. I recommend doing that at least once; it was loads of fun:

@gazania I originally had a roof down picture but changed that to foundation down and a back picture.