The Mini-Stuart (Festival House)Lot Size: 20x15
Bedrooms: 1 (double bed)
Bathrooms: 1
Cost: 132,898
Cost unfurnished: 32,770
Requires expansion/Sims 3 store content: All expansions to University, Master Suite (bathroom), Outdoor Living (decorative candle holder only - house is easily playable without this stuff pack)
Long before he achieved stardom, this house was the original testing and development home of Martin Stuart, famed lifestyle designer, TV host, and author of "The Obsession of Decorating and Hosting: You're Not Doing it Right Unless You're Doing it Perfectly." Designed around a young, fresh lifestyle full of parties, friends, and patios, this home comes with prototype features of the iconic Stuart brand known today.
A kitchen for every seasonThis house is a
festival house. It uses the festival lot marker to rotate through four different interiors and exteriors based on the season. As such it is item intensive for such a small size, and any changes to the interior will need the 'testingcheatsenabled' and 'buydebug' cheats.
There's very few items in the Common mode - the bathroom fixtures and overhead light, the washer/dryer, and the large kitchen appliances, counters, and track lighting. Everything else changes every season.
Changing exteriorEven the gardens change. In spring there's flowers (lavender, wonderpetal, etc) and flower barrels, in summer there's herbs (basil, peppermint, etc) and tropical fronds, in fall there's vegetables (tomatoes, onions, pumpkins) and gnomes, and in winter there's red flamingos and evergreens. Plants that require tending go dormant during their off season, so it's only ever three or four plants to tend at a time. If you'd prefer none, simply have your sim dispose of the plants when the season changes - once they're removed, they won't come back. The plant/fence arrangement means deer can't eat them, which is great, but zombies are sim size and can access them, so keep that in mind!
There are two deciduous trees on the lot, which means sims can enjoy changing colours and playing in leaves.
There's an outdoor seasonal activity for each season. Spring has outdoor easels and a putting green, summer has a water slide, fall has a horseshoe court, and winter has a telescope.
The backyard patio also changes each season. Spring has a picnic table with picnic basket (keep an eye on it, or it'll wind up in a sim's inventory), summer has patio tables, a grill, and a regular bar, fall has lounge chairs, and winter has a barista bar and outdoor table for enjoying hot drinks and sweet treats.
SummerSummer's decor is full of tropical touches and bright, warm florals. The TV in the living room triggers dynamic lighting (everything other than one dim light turns off when the TV is on, all the lights turn on when the TV is turned off). There's a stereo in the living room/kitchen and one on the patio. A snowcone machine is in the kitchen. There's plenty of seating in summer and lots of room for dancing, making it a great time for hosting pool parties.
Because there's a video game system in the house, sims will always be able to play video games on a TV in any season, even if the game machine isn't present in that version of the home. It's a neat quirk of the festival lot feature!
Spring
Spring art studio (living room)Spring does not have a TV. It does have a laptop, and it also has easels plus a sculpting station. Artwork that isn't finished by summer will disappear until next spring, when it will return in the exact same state. The stereo triggers dynamic lighting on the sculpture in the living room.
FallFall is full of rustic autumn colours and retro fabrics. There's a large table ideal for feast parties and a large comfortable sofa to collapse on when stuffed. Sims can even "watch the big game" (play sports game) from the table! There's a bookshelf perfect for finding a book to curl up with on a cold night. A jukebox with warm flame patterning provides tunes and a great substitute for a fireplace.
WinterWinter has enough floor space to easily host gift giving parties. It also has a 'Trees of Light' festive wall hanging set up right where the present pile goes (this uses the Outdoor Living candle holders, but regular wall candles could be substituted for a similar effect).
Winter bedroomEach season has an entirely unique bedroom. While the washer and dryer remain the same, there is a chance laundry from one basket to the next will disappear until the season comes back into rotation. During testing this didn't appear to cause any problems with collecting or washing the laundry, either by household members or maids/butlers.
The bathroom also changes each season, though not as dramatically as the other rooms. Curtains, towels, rugs, and some decorative items will come and go to fit the theme of each season.
Winter living roomWinter has a TV and a bookshelf for keeping busy on cold nights. There's a stereo tucked under the side table between the two armchairs. The TV triggers the same dynamic lighting (all but one dim light off for watching, all lights on when the TV is off). The lot is definitely large enough for snowmen, probably large enough for some snow angels if the snowmen aren't built first, but unfortunately not large enough for an igloo.
Caveats: Since this lot uses the festival marker some quirks will be present. For example, trying to place a bouquet of picked flowers on what appears to be an empty counter space might not be possible because there is an invisible something already there (like the snow cone machine). Sims you don't control might use or sit on furniture that isn't present (doesn't happen often, but it can happen).
I've done limited testing with placing inventory objects around the house (diplomas, flowers, etc) and while it seems to work and the house will move them if they get in the way of something in the next season, I don't recommend placing many, if any, just in case. The safest objects to put items on seem to be flat surfaces (bedside tables, coffee tables, dining room table), and if something must be hung on the wall I'd recommend cycling through the seasons and placing diplomas or photos only where nothing else ever appears.
Let me know if you have any questions about the home, or if anything extra quirky happens. Feel free to use it, re-decorate it, use it in stories or in screenshots. Enjoy!
Here's a
guide for using the seasonal lot marker. Even though the tutorial is on a community lot the same techniques are used for editing the house.
