Second Empire, a Little Faded

My previous House's more budget-friendly sibling.

This is another Victorian Second Empire house, though maybe not so well-kept as others. It's a little dingy and a little faded, but still makes a cozy nest for a small family, and could be quite the lovely place again if given some time and attention. This is a house with lots of potential for a family that's moving up in life.

Here's some relevant details:

- Sits on a 20 x 30 lot, facing the short side
- 2 bedrooms - one master bedroom, and one children's room with a bunk bed.
- A crib is placed in the master bedroom. You know, just in case.
- 2 full baths.
- Large attic-space just begging to be put to use. Currently furnished as an inventor's workshop, laundry room, and repository for piles of unlabeled boxes.
- A fireplace in the dining room, upgraded to be Fireproof.
- Parking for one car
- Lots of porch and deck space
- A ghost to haunt you with. This is the counterpart to the ghost found in my Brave Old Empire build.
- No third-party CC. Store/Expansion items abound.
- Price tag: Just under $55k

The lot has been playtested at full capacity. Everything's accessible, and sims had an easy time going about their daily business.

The attic is still going to be a bit fiddly in spots with object placement, but over the course of building this lot, I figured out a better way to do complicated mansard roofs (hey! She can learn!), so it should be easier to remodel than its sister house.

Enjoy!

Exchange Download
(Includes list of Store/Stuff objects used.)

Mediafire Download

Pics are below.  Click to embiggen.

One of These Days, I Might Actually Play Again

I love what a a little landscaping can do to make a house's exterior come alive.  Without a some plantlife around it, a house feels like it was just dropped there.  Uncomfortable and out of place.  I guess you could say landscaping creates context?  Or maybe I shouldn't try to have deep thoughts before the coffee's soaked in.

A couple shots from my current work-in-progress, the budget-friendly (trying to keep it under $55k) sister house to the one posted a couple days ago:

Before trees:

After Trees:

Brave Old Empire

More delicious lots up for download today.

This house is another spendy one.

That said, just because your sims have way too much money doesn't mean they need to live in an enormous build. Big lots, and the 6-bedroom mansions and acres of landscaping that generally come with them, are laggy. And not everyone has a huge family to fill a huge house with, anyway.

This Victorian Second Empire house is great for a wealthy but small family that understands quality is more important than quantity.

Here's the relevant details:

- Sits on a 20 x 30 lot, facing the short side.
- One lush master bedroom with fireplace
- One spacious children's room with two beds and a private balcony. Could be split into two small children's rooms if desired.
- 2 1/2 baths. One on each floor.
- Large attic full of nooks and surprises, currently furnished with a servant's room, a workshop/ art studio, and a full bath.
- 2 fireplaces, upgraded to be Fireproof.
- Also upgraded: the stove has been given Improved Meal Quality, because it's adorable, and the upgrade helps offset the fact that it's technically "cheap".
- Parking for 2 cars
- A beautifully landscaped backyard garden with hot tub.
- The ghost of a lovely young house-maid who met with a tragic fate.
- No third-party CC was used in this lot. Store items are used willy-nilly, and you'll need some Expansions and Stuff Packs. The ghost that haunts the house wears a couple store items, too.
- Final price tag: $152k after playtesting.

This lot has been playtested with a household of two adults and two children. Everything is accessible, and people had an easy time going about their daily routines. The only thing worth noting is object-placement in the attic can be a little fiddly due to the roof pieces being stupid.

Enjoy!

Exchange Download
(Includes list of Store/Stuff objects used.)

Mediafire Download

Pics are below.  Click to embiggen.

A Weekend of Love and Scorpions

With Thursday having been my birthday, and one of the more significant numbered ones at that, this past weekend was spent on a road trip to the Middle Of Nowhere, West Texas, where I was spending my time tearing through the desert on ATVs and nosing around ghost towns and generally not being anywhere near a proper computer.

It was a blast, but I'm back now.

Maybe I should plot a few builds based off the sort of stuff we encountered out there.  I wonder if there's much interest in old west and adobe in Sims Land.

Buildy Buildy Buildy

I've been busy.

Generations is finding new and interesting ways to make my game less stable than ever before. Getting anything interesting done with actual sims is touch-and-go, but in the meantime, I can (usually) build without crashing.

Here's a little preview of my latest project.

A Little Bit of Southern Charm

I have a soft spot for old houses.  Whether it's the boxular coziness of old Colonials, the spookiness of Gothic Revival, or even the striking half-timber walls of a Tudor, I love it all and will take it any day over a vanilla suburban home.

There's one style of house that makes me swoon more than any of the others, and that's the old southern plantation houses.  The kind with big shuttered windows hiding away behind a veil of wrap-around porches, and old twisted trees hanging with spanish moss.

So when I got a craving to build a few days ago, I decided to make one.

Enough flowery gushing, though.  Here are the relevant details:

- Lot size:  30 x 30.  Would look great on a larger lot, too.
- One spacious master bedroom with a small connected nursery, which could easily be converted into an en-suite bath.
- Two children's rooms with gender-neutral decor.  One with a bunk bed, one with a single.
- 3 full baths and laundry room.
- 3 fireplaces, upgraded to be Fireproof so they can actually have stuff within fifteen feet of them.
- Tree-shaded backyard with a tree house and gnubb field
- Covered parking for 2 cars.
- Self-watering kitchen garden, with 9 Perfect quality plants
- Workshop shed with inventor's table and chemistry set.
- No third-party CC.  Store and Expansion items are everywhere, including both decorative objects and necessary stuff like doors and windows and beds.  The most immediately necessary are Ambitions, Generations, and the Old Town set, but check the Exchange download for a complete list.

The lot has been playtested at full capacity.  Everything is accessible with no undue bottlenecks encountered while going about an average day's business (if you send 5 sims to interact with the same object at once, however, that's your own problem.)

Exchange Download
(Includes list of Store/Stuff objects used.)

Mediafire Download

Pics are below.  Click to embiggen.