Building Contest 5, 2011 - A Family Farm - Open for Comments

[samoht04]

Schipperke, Loved your house, it was just adorable!

SassySimmer, This is kind of ironic but I saw your other Farm you were considering entering and I prefered that one to the one you entered (Typical Eh?) I agree that the Lars Farm was a bit boxy, it would have looked better if the Windows had been alligned, I liked the inside though, it had that family feel throughout it.

Agneza, What can I say? That must have been a lot of effort and it really showed off! I knew your House was going to score high and it did, Second! So close! You're doing really well, you won the previous Contest and came second in this one.

Joria, Loved the House but it lost me at the Stable Area. I think that the Training Pen needed some more terrain paint work, maybe blending or just some dirt instead of grass, I don't know what it was but something is needed. Also I think the basement was a waste of money since you didn't really use it.

ZapKid, I liked the Lot but I didn't feel that the House looked very Farmy or Country like, it seemed more like a Town Building. I know the style you were aiming for but I don't think you quite hit it on the head, so to speak?

Twinmum, I would have liked a Day Shot of the Lot instead of at night. I couldn't really make out what the front of the lot looked like but other than that it was great.

Lynley, Wow, I really just saw Family Home in that, it looked like a House you'd see in a Film about going home to see the family for some event (I mean that as a compliment) since in Films they create this atmosphere that makes you feel the family influnce etc. I could have possibly wanted a picture of the entire lot in general? To be able to know where things were located/placed etc?

I missed the deadline for uploading, Lol. I had it all finished. Went downstairs to watch some TV by the fire, at 6pm this is. Woke up at 9:30pm and was exhausted and didn't remember falling asleep and I just couldn't stay awake to upload my entry to meet the deadline which ended that night. Serves me right for leaving it so late!

[Twinmum]

I really did enjoy having my sim walk through these houses.
For what it's worth here are my thoughts on some so far. Of course, what I think is moot, because it all comes down to what we ourselves think of our builds and who is to say what is right and wrong. What I think is wonderful, you might hate lol

@ Schipperke Overall I thought your house was lovely. I particularly liked the use of the stonework and siding on the exterior. While I like open areas, I felt the living area was perhaps a little too big, the area nearest the bedrooms looked a little bare.. but then we all had a budget and extra furnishings can always be added later.

@ZapKid  The house was very nice, with an overall country feel except the area at the top of the stairs. That area looked and felt more like a city loft with the open area below. There were also a few pathing issues. The shower in the upstairs bathroom off the room with the bunks could not be used because of the toilet placed in front of it. In the kitchen, the two garbage bins are facing each other in that little nook, but sims can’t get in there to use them.  Also the blender in the kitchen can’t be used due to the overhead cabinets. Just little things that can be corrected by moving something.

@ Agneza It’s properties like this that really show my lack of skill in landscaping. A lovely build. Well done.

@Lynley1248 This house has country written all over it. Very nice.

@Joria This was another one that just yelled country. It looked so very inviting.

@SassySimmer I quite liked your house. I’m not sure what it reminded me of, maybe older Scandinavian houses (or possibly not that lol) but it hit a chord. There were a few little points though. There was grass in the barn. Perhaps use the terrain paints to change it to something like dirt or sawdust or even a timber floor. There was no way to get from the back veranda to the yard, maybe an opening in the rail and some stairs. I really loved what you did with the lattice roof (keeping that idea in mind for a build of my own  )but I thought it was slightly out of place over the somewhat formal looking dining area. It would have looked more suited over something like a sunroom/dayroom.

Norma

[Lilygirl]

Congrats on the win, dane!

I'm open for feedback on my build.

I'll comment tomorrow when my brain is rested.

[Gheez]

Yes, well done on the win Danefaith.

Please may I ask for some feedback too? and, like Lilygirl, I'll post some comments a little later, right now I must get some sleep, sorry.

[Twinmum]

@Lilygirl  Your house had a warm intimate feel to it which I quite liked.  I really only had one problem with it and that was the cooker in the kitchen. By placing it in the counters it becomes unusable. I sent Bobbie to make waffles (using the oven) and she couldn’t open the door, so I told her to make pancakes (using the hotplates) but still no luck. In the end, she cooked something in the microwave.

@Gheez  Your house was quite spacious without being sparse, although the bathroom between the two bedrooms could have been bigger as you can’t get into the bath because of the toilet. I love the open sided shed, it was very nicely done. One ltrange thing I noticed. When you’ve placed the fireplace, you have removed the chimney except for the cap that actually releases the smoke. Because this is in the roof cavity, when you light a fire, the smoke just comes out from under the roof making it look like the house could be on fire.

Norma

[Joria]

Ratchie:  I loved the idea of the clean, white look to your farm.  Not every farm has to be red or a dingy, washed out, needs to be painted look.  This had the look of a well kept, prosperous farm.  I liked the wallpapers you used, particularly for the kids' rooms, which were my favorites.  I think you would have added a bit more appeal with less white decking and by doing some recoloring on the wood floors inside.  Also, for me, I am just not a fan of strangely angled rooms.  Architecturally they may be unique, but to me they say wasted space and illogical.

Schipperke:   What a charmer this house is!  It just is so country and so full of little details you just want to hug it.  The use of the stone and siding was a great idea.  It made me think here was a poor young family who had just this tiny, one room, stone building and look how they grew!  Hard to pick a favorite room for me.  It's a toss up between the kitchen and living area although I really loved every single room in the house.

SassySimmer:  We've watched you grow from your first tentative house to building a great big farm house.  Each time you've built you've gotten better and better.  The interior rooms are well laid out and I love the wallpapers you've chosen in general.  Some feel a bit too modern for a farmhouse, but hey, it's not the 40's anymore now is it?  One thing I would change is the roof line.  It makes for a rather awkward shape to the building.  I know roofs are a real pain to deal with, but I think in this case I would just have gone with automatic and let the game put a gable roof on all the different levels, or I would have put a flat roof on the garage and mud room, put a fence around that and called it a deck, with gable or any other shape roof on the rest.

Danefaith:  The outside of your build was perfection.  That barn was fabulous, but I'm not sure why you have the garage doors on the side.  They work, but they make me wonder if this is a barn or a garage or both.  I don't consider this a flaw, just something that makes me ponder.  Inside I wasn't as thrilled.  Not sure why but I think it's a matter of personal taste in some of the patterns/colors you used.  I loved the kitchen and the living room made me smile because it so reminded me of an auntie's farmhouse living room in the 60's. 

Agneza: Yours just took my breath away.  It took me back to my years where I shared a home with a German farm family.  Flowers everywhere yet practical, neat and clean with a place for everything and so logically placed.  I loved your barn!  The multilevel combination of open and closed areas and obvious spaciousness for feed and storage was great.  I loved all the little details you managed to put in.  Inside your house was perfect.  I loved how you used the sloping ground and made it like a garden, and didn't try to hide the fact there would be a lot of just dirt ground in a farm.  Not all pretty and covered in grass, but dirt paths and flowerbeds and veggie plots and such.  A delightful bit of useful clutter here and there as well.  I always like to redo builds just to see how I would do things differently, but in the case of this house there is not one single thing I would ever want to change.  It really speaks to my heart.

Joria:  Lol, yes I'm going to critique my own build.  You have no idea how many times I redid this monster and am still not happy with it!  I wanted to be able to have a small ranch for horses but I really feel I failed at this.  There just is not enough room to do horses well.  Maybe A horse or pony, but not more than one.
Tom, you are absolutely right about the pasture.  It just isn't quite right.  However, I disagree with the basement.  Unfortunately, due to costs, I had to take down the shelves I had put up in there.  In an old, country
farmhouse there are two things you would normally not find elsewhere.  One is a "root cellar".  Not really a basement but merely a big hole under the house, dimly lit, where you find boxes of sand for the root vegetables to be stored over winter and shelves for the preserves the busy farm wife "put up".  How comforting it was in the winter to go down and bring up a jar of canned peaches or berries.  No freezers back then so you canned everything and kept it in a cool, dark place.  The other is the mud room.  No tracking manure and mud throughout the house!  And you'd best wash up and leave those dirty socks and overalls in the laundry as well. I think if I had it to do over I'd change the layout of the house as well.  It just feels cramped and not enough bedrooms.
Inside the barn there are major flaws.  One, while the bedding on the floor looks good, and in RL would be just what the horses would want, in game it doesn't work.  When your Sim goes in to work with the horses they get an "unfinished room" negative moodlet.  However, in RL you would not have a hard, non-porous floor or you'd be up to your ankles in horse urine.  So the choice is avoid the moodlet or have a realistic LOOKING floor.  Second problem is up above in the hay loft.  No fencing allowed.  Your Sim goes up there and gets frustrated with it.  Third, with the hay up there you'd have to have open space all the way, no little bunk house.  Otherwise you can't pitch the hay down to each stall and you need to be able to do that to feed the horses.  Fourth, while the square bales of hay are authentic looking, the hay stacks are the ones that are edible.

ZapKid:  Your farm reminds me of the structures you would find in old Harper's Ferry.  A more modern version of a colonial farm.  At first the modernity of the house turned me off, but reading the blurb tells me that every year the family comes and renovates and updates the house to make it more modern.  So while I personally would like to see it be a bit more "country", or better yet, old estate/mansion that has been diminished in it's amount of land but with the buildings maintained, (probably for tourists), I still think it's a great job and well done.  The one thing I would change is I would take away the horse jump because there really isn't enough room for it.

Gheez:  I love the open barn, I love the stone build and I love the name.  Treowse, aka Tree House.  I miss the landscaping. 

Twinmum:  How do you critique something that so obviously fits the "farmhouse" theme?   Ok, I'm not fond of bright colors so I'd have chosen different shades for some areas in the house and maybe would have perked up the loft quarters for the ranch hand.  Other than that, I love this build! 

Lilygirl:  This house is lovely inside and out.  You needed to make the barn taller though to accommodate the barn door.  The braces for it stick out to the side through the roof.  It kind of feels more like a lodge for a vacation though.  Maybe too much wood for the walls?

Lynley: The outside says "farmhouse" but the inside says "townhouse".  Not sure I'd want to go up into a dusty hayloft to star gaze but it was a cool idea.  Really well done and beautiful but it just didn't say farm to me.

[Gheez]

Just wanted to share what I liked about your wonderful builds, it's not really a critique, sorry, I'll have to learn how to do those:

ratchie: The inside of the farmhouse is lovely and fresh and bright. I liked how there was a bed for the pet pooch (or cat) to curl up in whilst its owner worked on the computer in the study. The children's rooms were really lovely, I liked the horse theme and all the toys on display. So inviting.

Schipperke:  The whole farmstead looked so fresh and I could imagine myself sitting on the veranda, sipping a cup of coffee whilst watching someone train a horse over the jumps in the paddock.  The lil cowpokes room was great, liked all that space in the middle of the room, could imagine it getting filled with toys as a child squatted down to play there.  Loved the master bedroom colour scheme with the blues and dark chocolate colour scheme.

SassySimmer: What an imposing farmhouse.  Really liked the quirky shaped dining room and the would've loved a bedroom like the teenage daughter's with its own spiral staircase. My favourite room was the kitchen, I liked the autumnal colour scheme, it looked warm and inviting and that turkey teapot is brilliant.

danefaith: Many congratulations on your winning house. Loved the balcony and veranda at the back of the house, overlooking the veggie garden.  The kitchen was lovely, loved the fireplace in it, such a feature, I imagine it all warm and cosy and smelling of baking. I also really liked the look of the barn, ah t'would make a lovely dwelling.

Agneza:  So pretty and organic with all the flowers everywhere. Sort of imagine this in the Swiss Alps somewhere. Loved the barn/stable area with the stone base and wood top. Would love to go and have lunch in the kitchen/diner, the view from that spectacular window of the flower beds is just gorgeous.

Joria:  Loved the idea of the bunk room in the barn, over the stables. Liked how the predominantly blue colour scheme was repeated throughout the house and loved the sun deck on the first floor. I imagine this would be a wonderful house for a rich family with a couple of horses, especially with the room for the 'hired help' separate from that for the main family.

Zapkid:  I thought it was a very formal looking house, I imagined it built in Georgian times as part of a very large country estate farm and tastefully modernised over the years for the inside looked so stylish and had a lovely sophisticated colour scheme.  Loved your landscaping, especially around the house, so pretty.

Twinmum:  The house looks so inviting from the outside, such a lovely little homestead and it has a wonderful country feel on the inside.  Really liked the farmhouse kitchen with its big 'farmhouse' table and the dresser, that in the real world would be the repository of the family china and the rosettes won at various country shows.  Liked the loft and how you segregated the space with dividers.

Lilygirl:  Really liked the log cabin look of the farmhouse and the great room was lovely with its large windows and airy yet warm feeling.  Liked your layout, inside the house, too as everything flowed so well.  Curb appeal, outside was so good, what with the hydrangeas that the farm was named for and the look, why even the dog kennel matched. Very nice.

Lynley1248: Loved the look of your house, so welcoming and inviting.  Also liked the relaxing colour scheme that you chose throughout the house. Think my favourite room is the dining room, like the rustic dining set and the warm chocolates and the view out through the patio doors.

Finally, loved all the different styles that everyone came up with, so much prettier than the farmhouses that I see here in Cornwall, in the UK. Here, they're mostly boxes made out of granite and seldom look very pretty. This might be because the ones that I've seen have all been working farmhouses where the occupants seldom have time to work in the garden on the landscaping as they're too busy out with the cows in the cattlesheds.... though saying that, there was one - still a box - but absolutely gorgeous with roses growing all up the front of the house, as far up as the top floor bedroom windows and well over the door - bet it smelt gorgeous in those bedrooms.  

Well done everyone.

ETA Thanks for the critique on my build. I really apologise about the bathroom, I  didn't check that it worked at all.  I'm amused by the smoke - the look of a house on fire was not quite what I was going for  - the farmhouses down this way just don't have red brick chimney stacks and, when I built this, I didn't think to enclose it in walls and then recolour those. Sorry.  I'm also hoping to learn how to do better landscaping... haven't quite got the hang of that yet.