Greenlea Thats a very good rollercoaster .My scores were 49,52,65.5 I hope i do better in Round 4...Nice house Waterstar ^__^.Very cozy .

Well you definitely went up each time. I hope I get a good one for R4 lol

Mine have gone 60, 67and 68.5 though to be honest the third was sooooo much better than the first and that doesn't really show you how much. Anyway - I want to beat 70 this round!

I'd like to as well but I rather doubt I will lol

I beat a score of 70?! Wow! That's certainly the best landscaping score I've had all contest. I must be getting better. I hope at least.

Here's my entry for Foundation 4 contest:


Grandma's Blue Cottage


For most of the town's residents, Grandma Jones and her little blue cottage seem to have been part of the town forever. Grandma knows better, of course. In fact the cottage was built by her late sculptor husband Paulie as their retirement home when all their kids have grown up and moved out. Of course even that was a long time ago. Grandma Jones is very old, you see, well over one hundred years old, easily the oldest person in town. In fact, she has outlived all of her children, and grandchildren! Sadly, none of her offspring seem to have been blessed with her long life.

Grandma Jones now lived alone in her little cottage. Townies come by once a day to check on her and help her with errands, but Grandma Jones is still in good health. She still gardens in her small backyard garden, and she still fishes occasionally in the pond behind her home. Her husband is an avid fisherman, in fact he chooses this lot to build the cottage because of the pond. She took up the hobby when her husband passed away.

Grandma Jones now lives happily in her little cottage, enjoying her blessing of long and good life, and waiting for the time she will finally meet her husband Paulie again, and all her children, and grandchildren...



The View from the Street

The car out front belongs to her husband Paulie. Grandma Jones can't drive anymore, she lost her license right about the time she turned one hundred. Even if she still have it, with her failing eyesight she would be a menace on the road! But she had a local teenage boy, Alvin, keep it in tip-top shape, in exchange of his occasional use. She has promised him he can have the car when she's gone, so that's an excellent motivation for the boy to take care of the car! The boy's an avid surfer, the surf board sticking out the back is his.


Living Room


This is where Grandma likes to relax, watch TV, reading, or just listening to that old gramophone.


Kitchen/Dining

Grandma's other passion besides gardening is cooking. Nothing like cooking using all the fresh and high quality produces from her garden and lovely, plump fishes from her pond! The kitchen is quite large in such a small cottage because of this. One reason why townies keep appearing at her doorstep to help her with small errands is because they can then enjoy Grandma's delicious cookings!


Bedroom

The cottage has just one bedroom, and it's a small one. The 'tower' right on top of it gives it a spacious and airy feeling despite of its small size.


Layout: Roof

This is a helicopter, or high-resolution satellite, view of Grandma's cottage, showing her lovely garden, pond, and little garden shed. The garden shed houses the washing machine and some logs for her fireplace. The pond is stocked with delicious fishes just waiting for Grandma's expert hand at catching and preparing them.


Layout: Upper Floor

The top floor houses the fireplace and a small reading area, the cottage's only bathroom, and the bedroom. You can also see the cottage's L-stairs clearly here.


Layout: Ground Floor

The ground floor has a sitting room with TV and gramophone, kitchen and dining room, and Paulie's sculpting equipment, which has sat unused ever since he died.


Bonus Pictures

Backside

This is the view from the back of the cottage, showing the lush garden, the small shed partially hiding the pond, and of course Paulie's woody wagon.

Side View

From this side of the cottage you can see the pond with its small fountain more clearly, and the cottage's little tower.

The L-stairs

As you enter through the cottage's front door, you can immediately see the L-stairs, the walkway connecting the reading area and bathroom on one side of the upper level to the bedroom on the other side, and Paulie's sculpting station.



No CCs used! Does use items from expansion packs and EA store.

The above definitely beat me. Awesome houses!

Greenlea thanks .I've learned from my mistakes .

TheNubbyPeanut Those colours,that landscaping that house,I'm in heaven .Amazing house .

BGatot i see you took my fence advise,I love the finished result,especially the backyard and the bedroom .

Yes! I need to thank everyone that has helped me (in chat thread) with wonderful suggestions in the refining of my entry. It wouldn't look as good without your advices!

I just love your garden, BGatot. Looks like I'm not the only one to have thought of it. And I love your story. Grandma Jones sounds like a character.

Ditto this! Grandma Jones is a great character. Would definitely love to see your version of her as a Sim, BGatot. And the house is so cute!

Thank you!

I've actually created a Grandma Jones character for this house. Is there a way to assign skills and stuff to sims without actually having to play it? I mean, certainly a person that old would've had some skills already! Most notably gardening, fishing & cooking skills! I know in Sims 2 we have to use outside tools to do this (made by Delphy, I think), is there a similar tool available for Sims 3?

Twallan's Super Computer is what I use to boost their skills up. I don't know about any other mods that would do it. I'm sure there are others, though.

I know that I'd love to have a Grandma Jones there for when I download the house (you will be uploading it, right? I'd love to play it), but I don't know of anything to boost their skills. I'm not one to make Sims for others' use.

Thanks Fragglerocks! Twallan's master controller (replacement for super computer) looks like the tools I wanted! I will definitely give it a try. Hopefully it won't mess up my game! :D

I will upload this house with Grandma Jones in it when the contest is over.

Aww, HP showed the low-poly version of the trophy, here's a better pic:


Also, it gives you a "beautifully decorated" moodlet.
Good luck everybody!

I've never tried Twallan's master controller so don't know what it does but I can thoroughly recommend Treeag's book of talent: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=383662 It lets you set any skill to any level instantly, all you have to do is buy the book of talent from buy mode and click on it with the selected sim

Awesomeness

Valley Construction has added a new home to their catalog, The Solena and is holding the first open house for this small, but well appointed home.

This 2 bedroom, 1 bath home features a detached garage that accommodates 2 cars and extra space for the storage of your lawn equipment. The exterior of the home features numerous surprises, to start, a beautiful handcrafted fountain surrounded by cute cherubs in the front yard as well as a small old fashioned water pump slightly hidden beneath full grown trees. In the back yard, not only is there a relaxing BBQ area with a table and lounge chairs, but also a pergola covered swing and secluded bench in each of the back corners of the lot. As you can see the house has covered porches on the front and back. The living room might be small, but it provides a nice spot to read those skill books you bought. The kitchen and dining area has an open inclusive feel and tucked in an alcove created by the custom staircase is a drafting table for the budding architect or fashionista. The second floor contain the bath with upgraded tile and fixtures along with the 2 bedrooms.

With quality like this why not place your order today for the newest addition to the Valley Construction catalog. It is guaranteed to feel like home from day one.

Furnished: $67,628 (not including cars)
Unfurnished: $47,796
No CC used – does have some store content Base, WA & AMB

Street View


Layout


Living Room


Kitchen


Second Bedroom


[b]Bonus Pictures]/b]

Excellent color scheme inside and out, Sookielee! Just a very pleasing combination that involves a variety of different colors (red, green yellow, brown), not just one or two... You definitely have the eyes for color. If I started to mix and match more than two colors, the result is often rather eye-watering! :P

TheNubbyPeanut's house from last page also have a very pleasing color combination, especially inside.

Nice house Sookielee,I love the backyard and the bedroom,and who knew that molch and the red foundation wall could look so good .

Anyway,here's my entry.I saw that most of the houses were run down looking or old time looking so i wanted to do something a little different from everyone else.Its unfinished because my pc crashed and i lost my ambitions disc so these are some old pics (which i'm not proud about )Heres my entry.I present to you....

Life's A Beach

Tired of the boring and hard life in the countryside of Riverview,Britney and her husband knew that they needed a vacation,a permanent vacation!They went and purchaced a small lot of land in Sunset Valley and made it into the dream home that they desire and deserve.This house features an open floorplan with a living room,dining room and a study area,1 bathroom,1 bedroom and 3 balconies.

Front View

Outside is very Countryish,they just couldn't let the country out of their heart



Livingroom



Study Area



Kitchen



Dining



Bedroom



Bonus Pics

Aerial View



Side View



Back view



Floorplans

First Floor



Second Floor



Roof



No CC Used ,Only Base Game and Ambitions

Furnished : $68,901
Unfurnished : $42,877

Enjoy

Time for my final entry. Thanks for the great fun guys, I have learned so much from this contest! I've seen great houses, some brilliantly build, others with awesome imagination and yet others that had both! So thanks HP for running this contest and the judges for their insanely difficult task and ofcourse all the contestants. It's been (and still is) great fun!

Anywho without further ado here is my final entry, goodluck everyone!


Hansel and Gretel, the true story!

Once upon a time there was a nice little old lady that lived at the edge of the woods. At least that is how the story of Hansel and Gretel should have started. We have all heard the story of the poor children that got cast out by their parents, left deep in the forest to rot. What we don't know however is why their parents came to such an evil deed or what turned that nice little old lady into the nasty hag we all love to hate. It's that poor old woman that was the first outside the parents to find out first hand that they had good cause for doing what they did!

However before I tell you the story you have to see for yourself how the little cottage looked back in those days. The following pictures were taken by John Ferdinand Gropel last week as he took yet another trip in his brandnew timemachine. Thanks John for giving some extra color to this story, it is much appreciated!








As you can see it was not the house made of food we were told about, but just a nice little old cottage in the woods. It is clear that the old woman loved her house and garden. I like how you captured that waterfall John!

Time to get back to the story however.

Ever since Hansel and Gretel were born the life of their parents had turned into a nightmare. You may think that I am exaggerating here, but you would be dead wrong in thinking that. The children were born under a cold moon in december and soon after it was clear that their hearts were as cold as the water outside. "Their eyes! There is no soul in their eyes!", the poor father shouted in a drunken haze. A state people found him in more and more often after the children were born. When asked what was wrong he just kept repeating those words over and over again untill he lost his bearings in the ale. Nobody knew why a father could say such terrible things about his own children. Nobody knew...except his wife.

What exactly happened to Hansel and Gretel's parents is unknown still. Sadly John didn't manage to find the parents able to tell the story. He did however see first hand what happened to the little old lady in the forest and it shook him up in a terrible fashion. I hope to hear the full story once he gets out of the mental institution he got admitted into shortly after his trip. The inability to help the old woman seemingly did him in!

I did manage to find some pictures he shot from the happenings in the cottage however and it shows how close John came to the actual events! If only timetravel let him intervene! I will show you the pictures now, sadly without a story to go with them since John is still unable to utter more than some incomprehensible words. I have placed them in the order they were taken though and can only imagine the story behind them. One thing is clear though, just by looking at Gretel's eyes: their father was correct when he stated the words: "Their eyes! There is no soul in their eyes!"...






Get well soon John, we miss you.

*****************
Custom content used: none
The clothes of Hansel and Gretel are CC however, made by Tiara24 and found on this site.

@Gabrielorie: Hey, great name for your house! It is just a perfect name for what it is! :D


@Fyendiar, once again, a fantastically atmospheric home! You're a master at this. And the landscaping is just incredible, with two-level pond and small waterfall and wooden bridges... astounding all around. Might just get ya another perfect score!

@gabrielorie Wow that is definitely my favorite house you've done so far. Great job and I love the colors, they're my favorites lol

@Fyendiar I agree with BGatot you do amazing work and I always enjoy seeing your screenshots. If I could just be half that good I'd be proud of myself lol