Blenderized to Pieces
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#476 Old 21st Oct 2016 at 5:49 AM
wow! You sure are fast campy!



... is curious about what we're turning the Victorians into...
Scholar
#477 Old 21st Oct 2016 at 3:22 PM
Quote: Originally posted by porkypine
wow! You sure are fast campy!



... is curious about what we're turning the Victorians into...


I have no life. :-) My guess is a set of office suites or a daycare/school.
Mad Poster
#478 Old 21st Oct 2016 at 3:52 PM
ForeverCamp, how about a fermented fruit juice then? What I know about Painted Ladies and Victorian houses are dangerous. I actually cannot find one in South Africa - will search again later (looks like cute doll houses to me, and very unpractical! How long does it take to repaint those - or is a team used - when needed? Remembering the insurance taking 5 days to repaint my plain and cream house once after a cyclone. And they still skipped some window frames. And who cleans all those outside trims? But I will do my best - after a couple of fermented fruit juice drinks )
Mad Poster
#479 Old 22nd Oct 2016 at 3:34 PM
Sorry for double posting again (seems to become a habit when I want to post a WIP )

Here is my offering - I probably will change the floor plan a bit still, but not too much. (And found that the only painted ladies in my country - except for women - are butterflies
Screenshots
Doing all the things, and *mostly* not failing.
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Original Poster
#480 Old 23rd Oct 2016 at 5:46 AM
Petro, not a bad first try, especially if this isn't a style you've grown accustomed to seeing often. The Victorian style house is pretty iconic in most American cities and towns.

I think your biggest stumbling block is that you actually have too much space. Your house technically has 4 floors, the top floor would have been tucked into the roof, meaning the floor level that also has the roof. That will just help with the appearance of the outside, since you didn't actually use that top floor. While the diagonal walls look nice for turrets, they make for terrible headaches with the roof line, you might consider just using straight walls instead, but with interesting full tile relief cutouts here and there. The main turret at the front is good, but you don't want to over do it. Your porch is missing it's roof, these houses all have at least a small amount of porch covering the front door, and often more of the front. The main roof wouldn't overhang to cover it, they'd do a proper porch roof instead.

The other thing that might help is if you try to give the home more of a back private garden. The entire house is just too large, so by removing your staircase area in the back, you'll have to condense just a little. As for parking, these houses tended to have separate carriage houses in the back, like a small barn for just the sleighs and carriages, rather than a covered but not enclosed parking area. Having two stairs nearly side by side doesn't make any sense, even if one is meant for the family, and the other for the servants. The family's staircase would have been much more to the front.

My last suggestion for you is to use two or three of those silly pastel colored scalloped wallpapers instead of what you've chosen, then pair it with a similar or contrasting horizontal siding. Then for the roof pick another bright and contrasting color. If you have M&G, go to town with all of those architectural features, they are all perfect for this style. The columns, the windows, the roofs, also those weird ceiling edging things at the tops of the walls, all of it. The thing with Painted Ladies, they painted every single bit of trim in as many colors as they could. Your house is mostly yellow. This is an extreme example, but not actually all that uncommon for the style: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.co...c8beb651afc.jpg
Mad Poster
#481 Old 23rd Oct 2016 at 9:00 AM
Thank you; I really appreciate the info (and you patience) here - I will take it all I was not sure about the wall papers (actually, I used only two) and the roof - I had no idea that that would be an extra floor. I use the Ultimate Collection, so M&G is included (off I go trying to paint another lady then).
Mad Poster
#482 Old 23rd Oct 2016 at 2:15 PM
Posting double again Sorry!

This attempt is not completely done, I still have to add windows, trimmings, probably other wall paint and floors - but before that, I'd like to know if the outside shell and the floor plan is better now.

There are Victorian buildings and houses in my country, since we were ruled by the British once (or twice), and some very pretty ones too, but none of these tiny painted lady things. Since we were once (or twice) ruled by the Dutch as well, it seems as if our builders prefer the Dutch to the British in more ways than one and you will have no problem finding gabled roofs here. My son-in-law told me he believed that he did see one here, in a toy shop once Again, I learned something (actually a lot of things) by taking part in a building competition
Screenshots
Forum Resident
#483 Old 23rd Oct 2016 at 2:41 PM
Hi guys! I arrived in PH in one piece as the typhoon was far off north and didn't reach our path. Unfortunately my luggage was opened and some of my stuff were stolen. I passed through 3 countries and airports and anyone couldve been the culprit. I reported to all three plus the airlines but didn't get a useful response. No wonder people don't report airport theft as much. It's all useless and a waste of time.



Oh well. It aint my time to die in a plane crash just yet but it sure is my time to get robbed lmao
Field Researcher
#484 Old 23rd Oct 2016 at 3:39 PM
I won't post anything until probably next Saturday. I have Geology and Math tests this week, so I won't have much time left to build. Luckily for me, this round only started Wednesday (I'm assuming it ends on the Wednesday after next weekend, did I understand it right?).
Mad Poster
#485 Old 23rd Oct 2016 at 11:04 PM
Default Official Entry - R1 Cathedral Reno to Clothier Shop

I am excited to present to you: BLUE ~ the clothier for you!
And our gourmet restaurant the BLUE Bistro, which will be opening soon. Reservations are being taken now!

We hope you will once again enjoy this historic property

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Original Poster
#486 Old 24th Oct 2016 at 4:27 PM
Petro, that looks much better! A few more notes, your front porch is crazy deep, maybe shave off one tile from the front? It's making the flat roof look odd. Your master bedrooms and sitting rooms are reversed, you'd enter the sitting room from the hall and then go into the bedroom. You could rearrange a few of the walls to make the first part smaller, but it's looking really good. Thirdly, that awesome turret bedroom would not have gone to the nanny, she would have gotten a smaller one in the back and that fabulous front one probably was for the oldest children. These houses generally did not have spiral stairs, and the staircases usually stacked. There are quite a few 'open underneath' CC stairs that would help you out with that, and the servant stairs can be pushed all the way to the outside wall and fully enclosed. That will give you two more tiles work with it in the main house area.

Kanzen, I'm glad you have landed safe, that's too bad about your stuff though. I hate checking bags so I always do carry-ons, but if you are moving via airplane, I'm not really sure what else you could do. Church renos are due on Wednesday, any chance you'll have time to get that done, or do you think you'll need a few more days, or did you want to just skip that reno?

PanAm, thanks for letting us know, and good luck on your tests! Next Wednesday, Nov 2, is correct.

CatherineTCJD, I love your reno! I want to point a few things out while you still have a chance to change them if you want to. I noticed you added two walls deep to your upper floor, and added floor tiles in your balcony. I'm not sure yet if this would be a ding against using the original shell (3pts) (you didn't keep those walls and you built outside them) or if it's a ding against the building envelope by adding extra floor tiles (1-5) or both. Either way, it's probably going to be a pretty steep price to pay for the balcony. You can change it or leave it, I just didn't want to blindside you with it. My other concern is your delivery entrance. All those stairs! Usually these entrances have a parking spot near the door for the truck and then it's either floor level or a ramp to get into the building so boxes can be wheeled in on dollies. You could convert your seventh parking space into a driveway back there and grade the slope as you go so you'd be at the right level once there, or keep the trees and maybe just grade the path so at least there aren't stairs at the end of it? I think worst case the judges might take one point from your exterior score for this, so it's a pretty minor issue. All in all, I absolutely love what you've done with the place, and again glad that I decided not to make myself a judge. Everything is just so pretty, and I love all your employee areas. I kinda have a soft spot for offices and breakrooms, as we discovered in the Build A Business contest. Everything is just so chill feeling in the Bistro, can I make a reservation for 9 o'clock?
Mad Poster
#487 Old 24th Oct 2016 at 6:41 PM
Res is made - thanks, Phae!
Hubs and I worked in a place very similar to this while he was at seminary in Kentucky (actually, just before we moved to this church.) They had taken a huge old brick school building and put an antiques store in upstairs (where I worked) and a gourmet restaurant in the basement, called the "Glitz" - at the time the restaurant had a very cavernous dark feeling, with bubble lights strung all along the ceiling. I see they still have the lights - but the atmosphere has lightened up a bit
I've hauled lots of boxes up stairs like the ones to the stockroom - and I like the trees - so, I'll take whatever hit it incurs there. But, the balcony... I didn't think I removed any important walls? ...and I thought we could add floor tiles? I'll go check things out, and see about changing it. *sigh* Thanks for the heads-up

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Mad Poster
#488 Old 24th Oct 2016 at 7:43 PM
Thank you, Phaenoh - I think - Eureka, I got it! Off to the fermented juice bar first (nice orange drinks tonight, Cat - special cocktails by me)!
Mad Poster
#489 Old 24th Oct 2016 at 8:52 PM
@Phaenoh - Does this help see what I did? I can add it to my Entry posting, if it does...
I didn't remove any 'yellow' walls; I added 15 floor tiles connecting the two areas of balcony. And, the spiral stairs - since they needed replacing anyway (the Fire Marshall said the wooden ones were not safe for public traffic!) - they were turned 90 degrees to better suit traffic flow. I hope that was OK?
Screenshots

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retired moderator
#490 Old 25th Oct 2016 at 12:11 AM
@Phaenoh I hope I did all the judging required at the moment? I'm having internet issues and can barely get a picture to show.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#491 Old 25th Oct 2016 at 12:58 AM
How's this - for a Victorian start?
Screenshots

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#492 Old 25th Oct 2016 at 2:58 AM
@Phaenoh
Thanks for the reminder :3 I'll unpack my PC tonight and have a go. I'll aim for passing on time so no worries <3
Blenderized to Pieces
retired moderator
#493 Old 25th Oct 2016 at 4:41 AM Last edited by porkypine : 25th Oct 2016 at 11:50 PM.
Hi Catherine Good start. I'd recommend that you make a couple of changes to the floor plans. The servants didn't need long halls, Just a back stairway, usually into the dressing area near the baths. They'd walk in the hall if they needed to do so. Usually they'd go into the master suites via the bathroom/dressing area and leave that way with whatever they were carrying. (laundry/clothing/cleaning materials.) If they were serving food, they'd lift it up via the dumb waiter and carry the platter with tea/food down the regular hall. These rich Victorians had kitchen staff who stayed in the kitchen, upstairs servants who cleaned the rooms and attended the owners upstairs. (upstairs staff and downstairs staff.) The nanny usually stayed in a small cot off the nursery up in the attic so she could attend to the children as needed. The butler stayed in back rooms on the main level near the front entry but off the kitchen so HE could answer the door, Invite visitors to the parlor, then he'd go to the kitchens through his 'butler's door to the kitchen and order refreshments which the wait staff would bring out. The butler also attended the 'man' of the house. (Remember how Lurch in the Addam's Family would pop out that door near the front door? He was coming from the Butler's room.)

Out back they had stable staff who attended the carriages and horses and gardeners. Mostly the staff rooms had just enough room for a cot and a dresser. The grounds people often bunked in the carriage house or stable.

Most rooms were rather square or rectangular, except for the bay windows and protruding tower elements. That rounded master suite you have in the middle of the floor is not true to style. That would be ok if it was in a turret room.

Saying all that, I think you you have a great start. It just needs tweaking to make it excellent.

(As far as me giving advice, you can tell me to jump in a lake. I'm fussing with CFE and the carriage cover by the side entry. One of these days I may get something going. Oh! You CAN throw in a basement for the laundry and furnace and wine cellar. )

My problem is I don't have 'peeling' siding suitable for an old Victorian. meh
Scholar
#494 Old 25th Oct 2016 at 5:28 AM
Quote: Originally posted by porkypine
My problem is I don't have 'peeling' siding suitable for an old Victorian. meh


Seconded. I could have sworn part of my Pixelhate stash included wooden/vinyl type siding, but no... Might go check out Garden of Shadows tomorrow night after the doctors.

(Hurray for being a paranoid inner-city/new-immigrant-area** elementary school teacher whose university campus has had an outbreak of the mumps? When I went to double-check at my doctors' office, she informs me that actually, according to my medical records, it doesn't appear that I received a second dose of the mumps portion of the MMR vaccine as a child. DANG IT... Now they have to go test my blood for the antibodies to see if I actually need the booster or not. And I'm feeling cold-like and stiff and achy, and I probably only have a cold but now I'm paranoid that I have the mumps.)

**Context: I'm actually more concerned that lot of my students may not have had a structured immunization schedule (if immunized at all in their infancy/early childhood), given that large portions of them are refugees. Really, it's more about them than about me.
Doing all the things, and *mostly* not failing.
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Original Poster
#495 Old 25th Oct 2016 at 8:29 AM
Cat re Retail, I'll need to see an outside shot showing the side of the building. If the ceiling was already there that is good, but the exterior walls also needed to be existing. If both of those were there and all you did was add a small amount of tiles to connect the two sides I'll let that go. You prolly already have them posted, just give me the links. The staircase swap is also fine as it did not change location just direction.

Jo, yes your judging sheet is complete. I'm just waiting on @AdonisPluto now. He hasn't logged into MTS in over a week, we might need to call in our EJ.

Cat re House, it's a great start! Since the house is already so small, I wouldn't worry about making servant passageways. Servants are allowed to be seen, they just don't use the front door or the main stairs. I'll let you get away with only having one set of stairs up to the third floor if you make them a bit more accessible. Grander houses would have had full sets for both, but a smaller house like this would not have. The 'little masters' are going to be doing those stairs twice a day, so they shouldn't be shut away in a dark closet. Don't forget to have enough bedrooms up there!

Porky, great tips! For you and Campy I have these and these.
Forum Resident
#496 Old 25th Oct 2016 at 1:12 PM Last edited by kanzen : 25th Oct 2016 at 2:52 PM.
I'm finally starting on my church reno woot woot~

edit: I have no idea what I'm doing )
Blenderized to Pieces
retired moderator
#497 Old 25th Oct 2016 at 7:06 PM Last edited by porkypine : 25th Oct 2016 at 7:17 PM.
Thanks Phae! I really needed those peeling walls.

Forevercamp! You don't need to wait for test results to get a booster. It's used to be a sugar pill. (I'm dating myself. lol ) hmm. wait a minute. That might have been polio vaccine... Get the shot. Don't wait. Mumps is bad for adults. You also need to watch out for measles, chicken pox, etc. with kids. Get your flu shots. Wash hands frequently,etc.

I work at a university and the young darlings LOVE to share whatever cooties are going around. Wash hands, avoid doorknobs, don't breathe around sneezing people etc.
Mad Poster
#498 Old 25th Oct 2016 at 7:12 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Phaenoh
Cat re Retail, I'll need to see an outside shot showing the side of the building... You prolly already have them posted, just give me the links...

https://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/...6_RightSide.jpg
https://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/...277-03_Side.jpg
Will those work? Thanks I'm off to enlargify my Victorian...

Please ~ support my TS2 habit! Shop at my Etsy shops:
CatherinesJewelry ~ Artisan Jewelry
Catherine's MOUSE ~ Up/Recycled Jewelry
and Vintage Stuffeths
Blenderized to Pieces
retired moderator
#499 Old 25th Oct 2016 at 7:19 PM
Quote: Originally posted by CatherineTCJD
https://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/...6_RightSide.jpg
https://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/...277-03_Side.jpg
Will those work? Thanks I'm off to enlargify my Victorian...


Funny! (The bench was stolen... )
Doing all the things, and *mostly* not failing.
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Original Poster
#500 Old 25th Oct 2016 at 8:11 PM
Cat, yup you are good. Thanks for helping clarify it!
 
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