Look, I know it's been done. The number of mid-century modern homes that fill MTS and other Sims 3 sites is, well, overwhelming.

My building ability, on the otherhand, is completely underwhelming. But, I've come across some original/authentic plans/advertisements from the period, and figured what the fork. I'm shooting for layout and design that's as true to the original as possible -- as well as the period. I might do a variation with a reworked floor plan and something a bit more modern/open as an alternate, but for now I'm stuck in bygone era.

First Up: Design C 1237, a middle-class design that features 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a family room and several semi-private terraces. It's built on a 30x30 lot, which seems like a bit of a cop-out, but I struggled to fit it on anything smaller. There's still a bit of room for add-ons or additional background activities, but not much.

Inspiration:



Work in Progress:

I've finished the exterior design, and this was my first time using CFE in a connected floorplan. I tried to stick to basegame + EPs, but the fencing from Lukcy Palms made it in this incarnation. I'll likely swap it out for something else to avoid store content/CC if this seems likely to get released.

Exterior:

Front


Rear


Interior (Unfurnished):

I always think it is so fun to work from real house plans. I have done that with Sears houses and Victorians. I think you have a really good start here. The only things I might change are the flooring which looks like too large of a scale. And too hospital-ish? Maybe a medium hue wooden floor? Can we see some furniture in the dining and living areas? That dining area looks really narrow. Can you fit a table and chairs in there? 4 tiles wide with the fireplace may be too small? To keep the horizontal look, maybe use a half wall to box in the chimney and put the top in there with MOO? And lastly, the stray windows look a tad odd. I would have to check the game to check alternatives. I know I have ones that are more like in the real house, but they may be CC. I am not sure if we have some simple double sliders from EA or not?

I think this is looking very good and look forward to seeing more.

Some quick updates to the exterior and texturing, with some added roof/platform definition. Also an interior peak with placeholder furniture to make sure it's accessible/routeable.





Still lots of work to do. Ended up demolishing most of the walls, since I'm still trying to get a handle on CFE (and keeping wall heights as consistent as possible). I'm also experimenting a bit with different columns.

I think it is coming along well. I like the wooden floor much better than the other one, and the half wall in front looks much nicer than the brick one. Maybe do the white in more of an earth tone to blend more with the wood? Many of the MCM houses were done in those colors. With lots of plants, and even indoor atriums. I am claustrophobic so would feel very boxed in in that dining area. If my real house I would have the full wall stop at the range then do a 2 tile half wall without the counter extending into the dining area. Make it more open. In the real house there is just the back wall and the wall behind the range. And that would match the length of the wall adjoining the fireplace, giving more balance.

I really like the stonework for the patio areas. And I like it better with the cement fences gone. A simple high perimeter wood fence would have been typical for these houses. I know them well as live in California.

Good work! Keep going!

I will definitely look at outdoor atriums in the Eichler style in future builds. For this one, I'm trying to stay as close as possible to the floor plan. For the dining room, and center "full-height" walls, I'm messing around with adding windows on the upper level, as is a pretty common on this design:



Although lighting and play ability may make this problematic.

I've mostly got the main rooms done design wise, although I few more store objects found their way in than I'd like. I tried to keep the main living + dining rooms as entertaining spaces. Large conversational sofa, bar, and hi-fi stereo are the main items. The family room is more, well, family oriented. I initially wanted to put some sort of tile in here, but I didn't see anything I really liked. So, I went the other way with some space-age themed pattern. Looking at it too long makes me car sick, so I'll change it out at some point to something a bit more neutral.



Integrating the storage/TV area was also a bit of a challenge, and I can't decide if I like the idea of the bookcases over the built-in cabinets.

Finally, huge thank you and hugs to @cutsocks who has been a godsend via PM.

It is really coming to life! I like it a lot!

Maybe I'm getting close to done? There are a few artifacts here and there that I'm working on cleaning up, and I'll add a few more trees/shrub work outside, but I feel like I'm 98% there. Some store content did make it in to the decor, but I tried to limit to the same pack (Mid Century). Updated screencaps:

Exterior:


Floor Plan:


Living Room and Entry Hall:


Dining Room and Kitchen:


Family Room:


Bedrooms 2, 3 + Main Bathroom:


Master Suite:

I think it is coming along really well. Almost done. Can we see some night pics? It looks like more exterior lights are needed. Maybe add more rugs, such as in the master bedroom, and more plants, such as in the living room? And you will need to decide about curtains. I leave them out of some houses and do them in some.

Looking good!

Good point about the plants. I'll add a bit of greenery in that room. I also need to do some CASt work and a bit of redo in the master.

Lighting was a bit tricky, because of the CFE, but I think it looks generally okay (although the seam interior walls probably should have some furniture/tall plants to hide the shoody paintwork). I used a bunch of the debug area lights to get lighting detail. I need to add more to the interior main room, too.



More!

Few more. I intended this to be middle-upper class, but it's running a cool 90k furnished. Since that's Lincoln Continental money, I added one (just for show). Also reworked the master bedroom, tweaked some of the CFE lighting, and greened up the main living area.



Living room:

Master bedroom:


Reworked "upper" lighting:

I think it looks great. The only thing I would change is that wimpy rug in the master bedroom (! LOL) and use carpet to make a rug and CASt as wanted. The house looks lived in now. And love the Continental. My uncle had one just like that.

Here's the final. Play tested for several sim days and checked and rechecked everything. Attaching .zip file here (with .sims3pack and .package formats) for anyone who is interested.



EP/SP Item items used/required:

- World Adventures (terrace flooring)
- ITF (Decor)
- Showtime (Sectional sofa, decor)
- Supernatural (Kitchen appliances, decor)
- Generations (Electronics)
- Ambitions (Dining Room table)
- University Life (accent tables)
- 70s, 80s, 90s Stuff Pack (Master Bedroom Lounge chair only)

Store items used, not required but recommended (should replace):

- Mid Century Bedroom (furnishing)
- Mid Century Fantasy (furnishing)
- Roaring Heights (art work)

YAY! It is always nice when a project is completed.

One thing I definitely need to fix is the bookshelves over the cabinets in the family room. On high free-will, sims seems to prefer grabbing a book from those shelves over all others, and – surprise – they cant reach them. I think I'll just nix the counters.

Great job! Amazing, isn't it, that you can have bunches of bookcases around and they will always go for the one on which you used MOO and throw a fit when they can't access it? I think, though, that it is frowned upon to "upload" the project here. Better to submit it under Create > Creator Forums > Upload. Looking forward to seeing it posted!

Thanks for the heads up. Just wanted to share here before I submitted in case anyone had any other feedback/concerns. I'm going to clean up the bookcase issue, and look for a few suitable furniture replacements to limit the SP/EP requirements and submit.

You DO NOT suck at building simb0t. This lot is great- really creative. I especially love the shelves in the living room with the rock background! I have two tiny comments. I like the tile in the master bath, but I have never seen matching tile on the walls and the floor in a home, unless it is simple white. Maybe switch one or the other out with something similar but not the same? Also, I like your pictures that are taken at a normal angle, rather than with the distortions that TAB sometimes gives. Remember to play test it.

I am sure I will be seeing this is the download section soon!

Well, this thread hasn't had a reply in 54 months, which means that's about when I "finished" this house. So, nearly 5 years later, I've finally submitted this to the downloads section!

Big thanks to @cutsocks for their help on CFE way-way-way-back when I started this journey!

Imagine how good I'd be at building by now if I had wasted all those years on TS4!