Sims 3 - The Official Building/Remodeling Showboat Thread

[Joria]

@ danefaith:  I want it.  I think I need to create a world that is just your builds.  A completely modern, future seeming town with people who live well and in style in the gorgeous buildings you build.  I think this particular one is my favorite so far, and mostly because of the landscaping.  Not that the entire building isn't awesome, it's just that little garden area with the hot tub struck a chord with me.  I love the loft also, but I think I'd put the stone sculpture back.  Not fond of industrial/metal stuff.

@LoveEvil:  I'd be glad to post some pictures but unfortunately the picture gallery isn't working for me.  It's all in Russian. Carl said he was going to work on fixing it when he got back from his trip.  I tried the F5 thing and that didn't help.  Why they think I'm Russian is beyond me.  It started when I went to see Naga's extra photos from 2.1.  He's in Russian too.  I just redid the dynasty mansion and made Christmas Thyme's room an Alice in Wonderland room.  I'm not totally happy with it but as time goes on I'll refine it a bit.  It's all in shades of yellow which may be part of my problem since I dislike that color.  It rather hurts my eyes to look at it even with those cute things in it.  I didn't recolor anything except the tub and blankets on the bed.

@samoht:  I feel your pain!  I hate it when I lose good files that way.  I do like the looks of your new build.  I don't mind the railings on top but maybe try a lighter style or go with a half wall?

[danefaith]

@ Samoht: *shivers and backs up his files.*  Guh, corrupt files are like horror stories.

@ Joria: I'm glad it did hit a chord!  I really wanted to tackle a more complex landscaping installment this previous works and, you know, actually use flowers for once.  

And you might have it soon enough because I'm rolling along.  today I tackled the rest of the second story.




So, one gigantic open floor plan: check.  I tasked it primarily as the den with a bit of hallway in between the stairwell to the first floor and the stairs to the loft.  Added a little fountain installment with chairs peering out the windows.  Obviously made a few changes to this area in between the first and second shot, lol.


It all leads to the den area with grand piano, nice seating and a mini-bar behind the television...


...with some reeeally nice mood lighting.  

[RubyLovesSims]

That looks great, danefaith. The pink den really pops!

[Ausette]

Thomas, I'm so sorry about your save file  . I feel your pain; my computer crashes constantly and occasionally wipes a whole save out of my game. Don't worry though; it seems like a big loss at the time, but I find that I actually do a better job on the second time round when I'm rebuilding. I'm sure you'll bounce back OK, good luck. 

I like what I see, danefaith. A man who can use pink and make it work is a man who has talent in my book  . The softer colours in the living area wouldn't have occurred to me, but it all goes so nicely with the woods and metals and it makes the space look even bigger. I love how open the whole place is, what a view!

[Pam]

@samoht04:

Did you try to recover your backup within the game?

[pallyndrome]

danefaith - wow. I love your use of colour. That subtle pink is gorgeous.

samoht - a lot of windows! Doesn't look too bad though. I like your interesting overall shape.

[Alexandria_]

May I ask what WIP stands for?
It's probably something really simple, but I've never seen the term.

Here's my dynasty house that I just finished rebuilding. I'm yet to furnish it, but this is the outside all done. I've never really tried to build a proper house before. It's usually just one big square. So this is my first attempt at a nice-looking house (at least I hope it's nice-looking ).




Edit: I recoloured the house and fixed up a few things. Here is a picture of it. I'm open for advice


And here's a picture of the outdoor area. It's fairly simple, but the reason I rebuilt the house was because it had too many items in it.

[FleurDeLune]

May I ask what WIP stands for?
It's probably something really simple, but I've never seen the term.

WIP = Work In Progress   

[Alexandria_]

WIP = Work In Progress   

Thanks Fleur

[samoht04]

@samoht04:

Did you try to recover your backup within the game?

I have just done a reinstall and stupidly didn't copy any of the back ups and so they went with the rest of the files. I know that was stupid. 

[Joria]

@danefaith:   You used my favorite colors!!!!   Now I love it even more.  Man, I can just see my Simself sitting all comfy gazing out at the scenery with a refreshing beverage close to hand.  Sigh.  It's really, really lovely.

@ Alexandria:  I love your house!  Can't wait to see the whole thing once it is completed inside.  You are going to do a bit more landscaping out front, right?

[DeNile]

So I took a deep breath and decided to share one of my latest WIP's on here. I'm not a fantastic builder, I prefer to keep things simple, but I'd like your thoughts on this one.









So this is the front, and the front yard, of what I'm working on at the moment. The inside has been built, but I'm completely redoing it. This is my first shot at some serious landscaping and I'm still working on it. Thoughts?

EDIT: As a thought, I'd love to recolor the windows, but have no idea what color they should go.

[Joria]

OMG!  This is exactly like the house I grew up in!  No kidding.  Except we had a willow tree in front.  Of course, I love it.  Wow.  Did that bring back memories.

Ok, to be more explicit.  I find the house charming and the landscaping is lovely.  For the windows if you could do some with shutters I think that would kind of pop it up a bit.  It's rather cottagey/Cape Cod looking and the shutters would be really nice and keep with the charming appearance.  I'm a sucker for picket fences by the way and it really enhances the whole look of this build.  Try putting some bark dust around the shrubs/trees and flowers.  The planting lining the path to the house needs more color and flowers.  I suggest purple pansies and white daisies or something white and rounded.  Keep the pink flowers as well.  Using the low to the ground flowers will be pretty and not make the path feel closed in.  You can put taller plants in other areas.  Or you could go with roses or banana leaf.  All in all it's well done.


On a different note.  I had mentioned I was redoing my dynasty house and needed help.  I don't want to double post the pictures so if anyone wants to take a look and give me some advice go here:
 http://www.carls-sims-3-forum.com/index.php/topic,1959.450.html

[Hosfac]

Simplicity can be beautiful all on it's own, and that house is quite charming, DeNile. 

Personally, I would stick with the brick on the garage, but I'd change the wall covering on the living area to clapboard so it matches the upstairs.  You could even use one of the siding styles with an edge-border where the brick meets the siding to add a bit of definition, although without doing it I'm not totally sure how it would look.

I think the landscaping looks really nice for a WIP, although it seems a little...puffy (I guess) by the tree outside the fence.  I would suggest possibly getting rid of the big bushes behind it, and possibly going with some shorter ground cover type flowers.  You could also use the move objects cheat to bunch the shorter flowers up to make it look like a bed, and accent the ground below it with one or more of the floral terrain paints to make it look fuller and add depth to it.

I would also suggest using the individual roof elevation adjuster to even out the roof on the second floor.  All you need to do is click the button next to the "Remove All Roofs" button, and you can "drag" individual sections like you do wall decorations.

And if you were looking for a new color for the windows, it's hard to go wrong with white.  

[DeNile]

@Joria, thanks for the advice on the landscaping! It really helped, now I'm just trying to figure out what you meant by shutters. Are they on their own or are they windows themselves??

@Hosfac, actually, I based this house on the neighborhood I live in, where second story additions are common, they're usually siding instead of the first story brick, but thanks for the advice. Puffy? Hmm, I'll see what I can do about that... I'd even out the pitch on the second floor, but when I do I get gaps or a funny pitch line of the second floor.