OK so i really love those old houses with the hidden rooms, passageways, stairways. I think it is very neat. =3 I also really like playing around with split levels and doing weird things with my houses lol
I am trying to brainstorm ideas for this house, and i'll play around with it on graph paper till i find a fun layout to make it work =3 (basically I make the rooms and ideas i want, cut them out, and refit them how i can, before making it on the sims game)
My style of furniture and things is very classy and tradition. family home feels. However, the layout of the house is modern feel, open concepts, weird levels. They don't work so well for playing... not that they don't work, they do, but the cameras and what you see of the house looks weird with the split levels, high ceiling, low ceiling, sunken room on both levels example, i make a heightened room below so the level above is a bit higher than it would be, then for another room below it would be normal ceiling (i like making my kitchens normal height ceiling) so the room above that i make sunken in compared to the rest of the second story floor. Like I said. Weird levels. Looks weird when playing... but meh its still really cool I think =3
This is what the level system will look like for the house.
The main level will be 2 squares up (a normal wall is 4 squares) and another 2 squares up (for split level and trick effects) One more square up and down for sunken rooms, and one more square up for heightened ceilings.
these are some of my cool ideas so far that i want to have.
-hidden hallway i call "peek a boo" basically a hallway that is hidden but your sim can see above. It will be on the upper split level (the 2 square up) and will have a half wall. it will be a hallway. now seeing a incomplete wall, a wall that you see the top of but can't see a reason for, looks odd, so I need a way of hiding it... one way mirror glass over the half wall? or a way to make it look natural in the house, maybe just a portion of it being visible would be an option? Maybe not a half wall, but a full wall, and just put a window (without glass, a cut out?) in for the sim to look through and be like boo! ... details and brainstorming on how to make this work are still in progress. I want it peekaboo to the entryway, or the living room. Either or. or both if i can manage it right.
- double loft but no stairs to them. One will be a music room, the other (on opposite end) will be a sitting area, with a fireplace. I also want one to be sunken, so they are slightly different levels. I want the two loft areas from above looking out over the entryway, but I don't want stairs to them from the entryway. the open loft areas will be their own rooms, connected by a hallway that is not open concept. that side of the house will be closed rooms mostly, and the stairs will be found on this end.
- "bridge to terabithia" is what i call this idea. the lower level will be a porch area, 4 by 4, connecting the house to the garage (both the "bridge" and the garage will be diagonal to the house and the lot). directly above this, 2 "1 by 4" square roofs on the edges of the roof. removing the wall and having it a high ceiling part, since on the second floor that will be the main height. Second floor will have ceiling to floor windows, and the roof parts on either side, will come right up to the start of the floor, so all you see is roof and window, and from inside you just look right over. Also, i want to add some custom content ivy and ivy flowers around here so the windowed hallway is covered in flowers and greenery. =3 This is more a pretty idea than a trick, but i really like it, ^__^ i think it fits anyhow into my trick house.
- I also want 2 stairways, one large one, and one small "service" one that is in the kitchen. the large one not sure where to put yet...
-hidden rooftop garden. I want a attic bedroom, and i want a sliding door out onto a rooftop patio surrounded by high roof walls, except for the one overlooking the backyard, that will be about the same height up as a half wall, small enough for your sim to look out over, and big enough to be safe and hide the patio from street level. above the patio, wooden beam awning no higher than the roofing around it. This will make the roofing very tricky to work with.
-telescope balcony, small balcony that is half in, half out, of the house, and accessible by the peekaboo hallway. =3 so it kind of pops out at an odd level compared to the other windows and porches. needless to say, it has a telescope =3
-study with hidden door, to the peekaboo hallway.
-dining room with small open to below areas on either side of the fireplace (these areas are enclosed by half wall, half glass, so they are not actually open to below, for safety reasons, since the area below will be an atrium for birds). connected to kitchen.
-sunken tv room (by one or two squares, haven't decided yet), railing from main level so you can see into it, also the stairs to the basement from this room. the railing from main level may be from the kitchen or study. (study or kitchen looks out onto tv room)
yeah these are my ideas so far, and the basic layout of how i want it to be, but i want to add more "tricks" and odd things to the build. I am looking for brainstorming ideas. Anyone have any? or saw something they thought was neat on another build? I wanna hear them =3
-entranceway is connected to a huge closet, that has a door to "mud room" (laundry room!) that has the door to the porch path to the garage. mudroom also connects to the pantry that goes to the kitchen.
-below the dining room, an atrium. the open to below areas are opposite full two story windows. when i get the into the future expansion i plan on putting indoor gardening area here. tree stuff for the birds. ^_^ also i think the patterns the flame makes above will look pretty late at night, the light playing over the plants below.
