Sims 3 - The Official Building/Remodeling Showboat Thread

[sunshine_2406]

I've been working on the house for my Random Town Jump, and I was wondering what everyone thinks. Let me know if I can improve anywhere, oh and it's in Isla Paradiso so that's the feel I was going for.

Front of the house:



Bird's eye view:



Top Floor:



Ground floor:



Pool area:



And my two favourite rooms, The study and main bedroom:

[FireRaye93]

@sunshine_2406

I love that house! I really like the different colors that you used though the pink seems really bright in comparison to everything else. I also like the print on the study wall. Which one is it?

[sunshine_2406]

Thanks so much the rooms are decorated according to favourite colours, the bright room is hot pink.

The pattern is one of Chuckles' which can be found here.

[saltpastillen]

I have been working on a build together with another simmer at the official forum. It has been a blast and we have been sending the file back and forth adding, recoloring, changing, tweaking and so on for a couple of weeks. Today we posted and uploaded our lot to the exchange and since I can't upload it here (because my friend isn't active on this forum) I decided to show off some pictures of this fun build.

The lot is called Santa's Lost Village and Mr. and Mrs. Clause are supposedly buried somewhere on the lot. After their death Santa's Village was abandoned until some enterprising sims decided to open it as a community lot - all visitors allowed

The "village" in the night time - all the "houses" are interconnected.


The village during the day - The pond is large enough to skate on.


The greenhouse has a barrista and is perfect for relaxing.


There is a nectar cellar where you can buy nectar and relics.


A secret alchemy room.


A lodge where you can kick back and relax in front of the fire.


The room Santa and his wife used to spend time in.


A restaurant with formal dining.


A lot of shopping to be done (Savvy Seller items, toy maker, comics register, alchemy register, consignment register)


Not to mention the spa of course.



There is also many, many other things to do. If you want to see more you can check out this link.

[bubbles]

I know I'm a bit late on this, but your village is amazing, Salt! I love how cozy and fun it looks!

Anyway, I need some advice on a build. I've been trying to make the Sunset Valley School. Not a shell, but a fully equipped and functional building with the rabbit hole in the basement. I think it's gone really well and I'm satisfied with most of it now. The only part I'm not happy with really is the exterior walls. The golden brick looks too yellow and I don't like the stone bit.



As you can see, I have put a few things out front. I've got a snack place from Seasons and some picnic benches. I might move the snack place if I can find a spot. But it's the wallpaper that's bugging me. What do you guys think?

Also, what do you think about the floorplan? Are there anymore classes I can squeeze in?



Clockwise from Top Left: Maths, ICT, Art(Painting), Music(Guitar, Piano, Bass), Cafeteria, Entrance, Front Office, Toilets, English, Drama (Charisma)



Clockwise from Top Left: Design (Painting), Sculpting, Biology (Science), Chemistry (Logic), Headmaster's Office, Library, Inventing

Could I get rid of one of the sculpting classes and put something else in it's place? I could add another storey but the rabbit hole only has two floors and I'm trying to replicate that as closely as possible.

Also, I know this isn't the best place to ask this but I need some child and teen sims so I can use this in an interlude for my immortal dynasty and I need them for screenshots when I upload. I need more child boys than anything else. If you can help, can you PM me? I don't care what they look like, as long as they look like a normal child in normal clothes.

As a summary of what I need. Do I need to change the exterior walls? Do I need that extra sculpting room? Are there any more rooms I can add? Should a make another floor? Can you help me with teenage and child sims, especially child boys?

[FireRaye93]

@Bubbles

What a wonderful idea! I love it already.

As for your questions, I do think your library needs to be bigger. It might be better to build a third floor and make the library take up half of that space. A library really should have lots of bookshelves, tables and sitting areas which you current one doesn't have any room for.

The current library could be turned into a recreation/trophy room and I think your school needs a gym too. Other than that, I really like what you've done so far.

On another note, here is a house I've been working on.



I kind of gave up when I was fiddling with the roof and just used the stage tool instead of putting an actual roof like I originally planned. Also, that line of trees bothers me. Any advice on what to do with it would be greatly appreciated.



Here's a picture of the entrance up close. It's kind of bare, but I think some landscaping will help that out.



Here's a shot of the backyard. I forgot to recolor the fence!

I would love any advice/comments since I'm kind of stuck with the exterior.

[bubbles]

Thanks FireRaye! I did wonder about the library. I'll try another floor and/or putting the library where the sculpting rooms are and the sculpting rooms where the library is. I did have a gym but I switched it out for the dinner hall. Maybe I could combine the maths and English classrooms, take out the drama room and put a gym on three quarters of it and a little empty area with mirrors.

I love your house! I like the complex use of foundations to create a modern shape. I think you need a bit more landscaping at the front and maybe you could colour the outside of the house a lighter colour (Maybe white?) or see what stone/brick looks like. Apart from that, I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

[mandamouse123]

Bubbles--  I have some interior suggestions for you, especially the computer room.  Most computer labs I've been in for children are in a U shape, where all the monitors face the center of the room.  That way the teacher can see what they're doing at all times.  Also, I think a lot of your classrooms have a bit too many desks.  Have you checked for routing, especially with multiple sims?  You might to do better to remove 1-2 desks or skilling items from some of your more cramped rooms so you have more spacious pathways.

I agree with FireRaye that you would do better to have a gym and bigger library.  Another idea would be to have an auditorium as well.



FireRaye-- I like the line of trees!  Maybe adding those square reflection ponds (from WA?) on the top of the brick part would make it look better?  I also think that if you added some hedges on the sides of your house would help fill it out your empty space.  And you could use some bigger trees that look similar to the small ones you used.  And where/what are those trees from?!

[bubbles]

I had the computer room in a U shape but I couldn't decide which layout I like best. I found I had lots of gaps so routing would work and they looked a bit strange. I've checked routing for all the more cramped classrooms. They work a long as the sims take the seats closest to the window. I can try different layouts in the classrooms. The only classrooms with this problem are the computer room, the maths room and the English room. The only room that might have issues that hasn't been checked is the design room which I am going to test with teens. I did the original testing with children (Thanks to intl_incident, ladybug53 and chetanhaobojam for allowing me to use their sims for the testing and screenshotting of this build) so I will do teens tomorrow. I don't have Showtime, so an auditorium might be hard. However, I could do an assembly hall so the headmaster can speak. When testing this, I found the kids could order meals if they were too lazy to go to the food synthesizer to get food! A waiter even came into school!

[mandamouse123]

Super awesome!  I liked that you have the counter and the waiter bit is a nice touch.  If you have university, you could even add some vending machines.  Also, a teacher's lounge would be super awesome.  A vending machine would go great in there!

[bubbles]

Super awesome!  I liked that you have the counter and the waiter bit is a nice touch.  If you have university, you could even add some vending machines.  Also, a teacher's lounge would be super awesome.  A vending machine would go great in there!

Those are brilliant ideas, I didn't think of those!

[Shewolf13]

Wow... all I can say is just... wow... I spent the last few days going through this entire topic because I just couldn't stop looking.  There are so many talented builders on here.  I would name them all, but the list just keeps going.  Just wanted to pop in to say that.  While I know I can't hope to compete with anyone in here, I do have one place that I'm proud of, though I know there is room for improvement.  Here's the Swap Shop link since it's been up for a bit and the pics are already there.

Sidhe Mound Estate

[ragz1332]

Greettings everyone,

I've been browsing the guide and forums ever since I started playing The Sims 3, but now I wanted to share a bit of hard work, and also get some feedback because I am kinda stuck at the moment. It is nowhere near complete, and I would like to add more elements outside where you see there is quite some space left, and inside where no interior design has been done what-so-ever, and with 2 unused rooms.

I present to you my most recent build, which could be called Richmont Estate.


I designed it to be able to house a large amount of sims, and be a great place to host parties. There is also a heavy focus on gardening and nectar making, with large gardens and nectary installations to turn these perfect fruits into the sweet drink sims love so much (especially snob ones!).



From the front on your left are the living quarters, where the bedrooms are. There is a direct access to the courtyard in case your sim got out of bed late for work!
On the right there is a 2-doors garage, which can fit 3 cars.
The main building contains the kitchen and dining room, seating areas, an open entrance area spanning on 2 floors, and a large common room on the first floor. Bathrooms and laundry room are also located there, and there is 2 unused rooms.



In the back, you can see the large gardens, in the open (because I disabled winter and my gardener has the Love the outdoors trait!), and on each side there are installations for nectar making. The middle gazebo has a firepit, in which sims can enjoy a cozy fire eating marshmallows surrounded by nature's harvest!
On the left you have the pool and spa are, with a small bathroom for emergencies!



Side view of the pool area.



There is a lot of unused space on this side, I was thinking on a pond or something, to be able to have a supply of deathfish for Ambrosia.



Roof Layout



First floor layout (Common room)



(Above) Main floor layout
(Below) Foundations layout



That's it for now guys, I didn't take any pics of the inside because it is ugly, really, but if you guys want to see more i'll try to upload more as the development continues. Its not on the Exchage or Swap Shop yet, but if you guys want it I could manage to put it there.

Also, I would like to have some feedback and suggestions, as there is a few things I would like to add but need some more inspiration. Here is a quick list:
-Nectar Cellar(priority)
-Pond area
-Trophy room
-Art gallery (Although I thought of using the entrance area for this)
-Ideas for the 2 unused rooms
-Ideas for the common room layout
-Anything else you guys can think of!

Anyway thanks for reading, as I previewed it I realised how large a post it is. Hope you enjoyed it!

Edit: Removed a confusing sentence at the beginning. Also corrected some typos.

[Janna]

If your aren't sure what to put in the post, to give some info, I'm pretty sure there is a guide that can help you with that.  What to put in a post.  It seems there is a guide for about everything, which is great for someone like me who gets confused easy in what, where or how to do something.

I'm not sure if you were asking for that, my mind doesn't seem to want to work right today, probably because I think I am getting the start of a migraine. 

If you can create basement that would be a great place to have a trophy room, your nectar storage area, even the art gallery.

As for the empty rooms, do you  have a sitting room?  I love to have a small room in my homes at the entrance, small area that has a couch, or some chairs and a coffee table. 
I always think of those old parlors, or sitting rooms where a visitor/caller sits and wait to see if the someone is free for a visit.  Kids selling candy bars for the band and they sit there while you get some money.

Looks nice from what I can see.  Others with more knowledge can give better feedback.

And time for me to get off the computer to give my eyes a break, stop the migraine before it gets a chance to start.

[ragz1332]

@Janna:

If your aren't sure what to put in the post, to give some info, I'm pretty sure there is a guide that can help you with that.  What to put in a post.  It seems there is a guide for about everything, which is great for someone like me who gets confused easy in what, where or how to do something.

I'm not sure if you were asking for that, my mind doesn't seem to want to work right today, probably because I think I am getting the start of a migraine. 

Sorry about the confusion. I edited my post to make it clearer.

If you can create basement that would be a great place to have a trophy room, your nectar storage area, even the art gallery.

That is my goal, knowing that nectar ages better in basements (thank you Carl's Guide!), but I didn't like the way my staircase looked, so I removed them for the time being. I set myself to reread the stairs and basements tutorials to get some more ideas, and I'm working on a new layout right now. I will post more pics when I'm comfortable with it and also some closer look at the floor plans so you guys get a better idea of the rooms as they are now.

Edit:

Here are some more picture of the cellar:

Front view, with the stairs landing in front of the trophy room, with a bar on the right and a seating area on the left. Paintings will be hanged in here when my painter gets to do better ones. The middle bookcase is actually a hidden door leading to the nectar racks. Perfect to keep kleptos away from the high value stuff!


Back view, where you can see the trophy stands.


A top down view of the staircase through the foundation, a trick I learned in the Basement and Multistory tutorial of Carl's guide!


Here is the main floor view of the center of the house. you can see the two doors leading to the staircases in the two empty rooms on each side of the center hallway.


Here you can see with walls down, how the stairs go down in the foundation, then to the basement.