Sims 3 - The Official Building/Remodeling Showboat Thread

[FireRaye93]

That's a very cute salon Agneza!

[Hosfac]

After a short hiatus, I came back to the Sims and starting building something.  And boy, was I on a serious roll!  I even did...wait for it...landscaping!  *gasp!*  I know!  I couldn't believe it myself.  I was possessed by the spirits of Samoht04 and Danefaith...which is really odd, seeing as how both of them are still alive and well as far as I am aware.  But regardless, it happened.

After you've all picked yourselves up off the floor, you can see what I've done and tell me what you think.  And perhaps give me an idea or two, since my possession ended before I finished.  A note before any suggestions are made:  I'm using exclusively base game and High End Loft Stuff items for this build, so many of the landscaping items are not available for this.

After a bit of landscaping, I zoomed out and gaped in amazement at what I saw:



Literally my best landscaping effort to date.  Here's a closeup of the flowerbed in front of the house:



Nice and full, and I think it looks beautiful, although I'm planning on putting some ground cover flowers under the rosebushes to fill it up some more.  On the side, I had a bit of waste space under the balcony that goes from the loft to the front of the house, so I filled it up:



There's a flower bed that runs along the other side of the house, that I did pretty much the same thing with (only there are no pillars in it).  Then I experiemented with the pool a little bit, and for the first time used the rounded corners of the pool tool:



Yeah, it's still rectangular for the most part, but it's a start lol.  Baby steps...

I was on fire, and you might ask yourself "where could the wheels possibly fall off this guy's wagon?"  Well, cue the screeching tires and a loud crash:



I have absolutely no idea what to do with this area.  The whole "swing set/jungle gym/slide" thing is far too obvious, and has been done to death by me.  I need some ideas on how to use this space, but I know it want it to utilize that fire pit that's in the picture.  What else should I put there?

The interior is completely furnished and "done," but I really need to get over this particular hurdle.  I still may change some interior decor, so I'm not going to post images just yet.

[ZapKid]

I was on fire, and you might ask yourself "where could the wheels possibly fall off this guy's wagon?"  Well, cue the screeching tires and a loud crash:



I have absolutely no idea what to do with this area.  The whole "swing set/jungle gym/slide" thing is far too obvious, and has been done to death by me.  I need some ideas on how to use this space, but I know it want it to utilize that fire pit that's in the picture.  What else should I put there?

If you could send me a download, I could see what I could do with it.
Or I could just build a similar area and test it. I'm not that good at landscaping either...

[Hosfac]

This is for a project, so I kind of need to do this myself.  I just need some kind of idea what sort fixtures I could put in the area.  I was thinking a small pond, but the area is a bit small and doesn't really fit in with the retro/modern theme I been working with.

[Gogowars329]

You could have an outdoor kitchen using the base game counters and fridge or just a small dining or maybe a party area.

EDIT: Forgot to say, looks amazing!

[Chuckles_82]

Perhaps sand, rocks, and long zigzaggy fountains?

[FireRaye93]

Hmmmm...Maybe a separate fire pit area. Like kind of secluded towards (but not in) the lower corner. Or just a bench or two with a fountain and some flowers around it.

[cndneh]

Maybe a covered car park idea, or zen garden, or a rock garden, or fountain, or rock garden/fountain, or extend the pool fence over to include it in the patio and add a hot tub/bar area.

Just ideas.  Nice build.

[Anushka]

@ Agneza, it is wonderful! Simply wonderful!

@ Hosfac, I love how the "possesion" turns out! Using 2 colors and 2 hights of flowers did the trick! You can use more terrain paint under trees, and in fire pit area too - add 2 chairs and a fenced area with birch tree and flowers you already used - maybe add flowerless bush or cattail in the combination, and maybe a rock and fontain - but then without flowers - you show you can find the balance so trust yourself:) Also, I don't think you need to add flowerbeds under roses, they naturally don't have anything under then and it doesn't  look empty to me. You can use R.Kennedy and check around UC for ideas too

[Hosfac]

I played around with it some more while I was waiting on replies.  I added some flowers, and decided to stick in a grill and a picnic table.  Of course...I always do that, and when when I was finished it looked pretty good, but I still went "blah" with the whole over-done cookout theme.  So I saved it and decided to start with the old save where nothing was done yet.

I checked back, and said "wow, fountain!"    I messed around with that for a while, but didn't have enough room to make what I envisioned in my mind happen.  So I gave up on it and decided to save that for my next build.  I looked through some other threads (specifically Samoht04's garden thread) when inspiration struck!  I already had the start of a garden in the works!  So I loaded up that save with the picnic table and went to town.

Here's an aerial shot of what it looks like now:



A close up of the fire pit area (note that it looks more enclosed when the trees aren't completely faded):



And here's a better shot of the cookout area that has now been converted to a garden:



The grill was in the area now occupied by the far bench, and the picnic table was sitting in the area in front of the near bench.  All I really had to do to it in order to get it to look like this was incorporate the semi-secluded fire pit area, a few more azalea and daisy bushes, and the aspen trees.  I will admit that it was an extreme challenge throughout almost all of this build to stray from my obsessive desire for symmetry. Just put me out to the curb on garbage day...

It's not totally perfect yet, but this is a very spectacular start in a decent direction in my opinion.

[Anushka]

Oh it IS perfect Hosfac! You did fantastic job with it! Now you have no excuse to say you are not good in landscaping

[Gogowars329]

Looks great Hosfac!

[grimsoul]

The landscaping looks great Hosfac. Two thumbs up.

[samoht04]

I was possessed by the spirits of Samoht04 and Danefaith...which is really odd, seeing as how both of them are still alive and well as far as I am aware.  But regardless, it happened.

Last time I checked I was still alive and well - just freezing!  It looks great Hosfac! What you did with the fire pit was just on the lines I was going to suggest until I saw you did i ton the next page. I think next you need to start practising with different terrain paints, so different shades of grass and dirt to add details and shadows. 

[FireRaye93]

Looks wonderful Hosfac! I love the fire pit area.