I think this one would be a very good choice. I have done numerous remakes of it just to make it usable in my own games.

Yeah, Tarlia, that was kinda the point. Pandaah seemed to completely miss it. Thanks for having clarified it to him.

Prosthetics, your use of subtle (or maybe not so subtle) sarcasm is perfect! I was thinking about posting something similar but everything I started to say seemed too caustic so I decided to let it lie with the rest of the sleeping dogs.
Prosthetics, I'll just talk about all of your houses here in a single section.
#1 looks to have good potential. However I think removing the second story front porch was a mistake. Your house front looks too "nekkid" (as we Southerners say) without it. Also those two empty squares could now be opened and used for doors onto the balcony. I would expand the second floor bath (especially so since it has to serve both bedrooms) into some of that unused space upstairs and that would give it room for a tub/shower and a sink, while the rest of the space could be turned into a sort of office/study area. You have a great rooftop patio area on the second floor, but no (visible) means for your Sims to access it. Stairs at the back or side would solve that problem well. I also have no idea why there need to be two "guest" baths on the first floor. I suggest removing the front one, moving the front Kitchen wall back three squares (add the little "corner" piece where the bathroom was) and make the "addition" either into a single car garage or (better) an "eat-in" Kitchen. The remaining "guest" bath could actually also be expanded one tile left which would give room for an outside entry and a shower to turn it into a "sand room" (as opposed to "mud room" since it is a beach house). The overlarge Living Room could be broken up by adding half-walls for an "entry" as well as half-walls to define the stair area. Also move stairs one tile back and you can expand the "small" bedroom to a more usable space. Then add some plants to the pond, add a back door from the Kitchen (as well as a small paved area outside the kitchen and "sand room"), add landscaping, and voila!
#2 Well I do like the two story stairwell to the "loft" bedroom, but I can't get any real "feel" for the interior layout from your pictures. The exterior definitely is even more "unfinished" looking and "nekkid" than #1. The landscaping is quite attractive though. I believe I would add some railings and some stairs at the back and utilize the roof area as an entertainment area. And change that boring exterior paint job.
#3 Yeah, this is definitely your best effort of the three. Front is not "nekkid" like the others. The roof, though flat and not utilized (I always like to make use of the extra space a flat roof provides), looks "finished" and not just stuck there to cover the house. While it is compact (small), it makes good use of the space so it doesn't have a "cramped" feel.

Night Racer, as I don't own TS3, I can't say much except that it looks beautiful rebuilt as a Sims 3 house.

Minena, I think the landscaping of your lot is quite stunning; I think though that the living room carpet you used belongs in either a much larger room or a much smaller one, and I would have used bright orange furniture to play up the orange in the carpet rather than seemingly trying to downplay it. If you are going with something that bold, you need to work with it not against it. I don't really care for the kind of drab carpet in the entry and hall, but some bright "rugs" could make all the difference and tie it into the living room as well. The layout appears pretty workable and I quite like the fact that you managed the whole remake without any additions to the structure at all. I don't however like the two "chimneys" on the front of the house at all. They look "tacked on" and seem to overbalance the house. I understand why you did them, but they just don't look right, imho. Maybe if you made them shorter they'd work.

Ciane, it's really kind of bland on the outside; the inside too. Reminds me of some of the "furnished" weekend beach rentals I've seen here in Florida. Expensive as hell, minimally furnished, and not someplace you'd want to spend much time in (but that's the point; you're renting it to have beach access, right?). There's nothing really wrong with it, it just doesn't have a comfortable, homey "feel" to it. Add some clutter (sorry, floopy, I like some "clutter") and a few "rugs" and some landscaping and that might change the "feel" totally.

Yibble, I don't know about a "desert" lot, perhaps it is, but it looks more like what I've seen in single family houses on small city lots. Maybe it's for a desert city? LA? Las Vegas? Tahoe? Phoenix?

Sipu, my only real criticism is that the bricks on the left in front look out of place. Rather than giving a balanced look, they actually just look kind of stuck on. Maybe if you had added bricks to the roof fronts and to the white strip on the right making a "frame" around the windows and door it would work better aesthetically.

Floopyboo, while I like your house in general and would never criticize minimalism as "barren" in looks (as is the opinion of many), I do find your "elitist" attitude quite annoying. Just because you don't like what you term "clutter" does not mean everyone else shares your opinion nor does it make your opinion necessarily correct and everyone else wrong. When you've lived a little longer and gotten over your teenaged "I know it all" stage of life and actually acquired some true wisdom, you will know this. I have tried to be tactful here, but sometimes tact is not my strong suite.

Jorganza, really good job on your mosque, it looks quite accurate; and to think all done without CC.
On another vein of thought; Jorganza, are you going to post a download link? I really like your Mosque interpretation. As to floopyboo's "artistically sophisticated" critique of the roof; hey floopy, what else would you use on a mosque?
Have you ever actually seen a (traditional) mosque, floopy? They have round roofs and soaring minarets.

Batelle, I have also done unique color combinations like this that you would think would not work but they do. I like this lot a lot.

Errr...floopyboo, not to nit-pick and only quoting Pes...


Jorganza...it looks pretty authentic to me, though it's been years since I went to a mosque with my (then) boyfriend.

When I started playing around with this house I really had no clue as to any direction to take it. Then it just kind of seemed to take over and go its own direction. I am honestly very surprised at the end result. It looks nothing like anything I have ever done before. It just seemed to have a will of its own and came out looking like a sort of Asian, sort of Polynesian crossbreed (in my opinion at any rate). It has 4 bedrooms and 4 1/2 baths, a large livingroom/diningroom, small kitchen, and 4 large verandahs. The pond (enlarged to extend partially beneath the house) should be fishable at the back. I never have my Sims fish, so I'm not completely sure of that. I did move the Palm Tree back into the corner of the lot because the roof extended into it in its original site and looked weird. So here in all its glory I present "Chobee Oriented"



Slideshow: http://s694.photobucket.com/albums/vv302/chobeegal_photos/Chobee%20Oriented/?albumview=slideshow
Download: http://www.box.net/shared/480535bonb

Ciane remade last month's house for TS3, 2 examples, so I don't see any reason you should not. Just be sure to make it very clear it is a TS3 version if you post a DL link.

What about "jacking it up" onto a foundation? Is that within the rules? I actually HATE houses built flat to the ground.

This house looks like an interesting challenge. Strangely I don't even recall ever seeing it before at all which makes it even more interesting and challenging in my opinion. It does look like a mammoth PHAIL in the posted picture.

I'm aware that it is now September 1 in the other half of the world, but it is still August 31 for nearly 3 hours here, so I'm going to post this anyway. I decided to put the house on a foundation and work from there. Maybe it isn't strictly according to rules, but I kind of like the result; Cozy Co-Op-Foundation



Slideshow: http://s694.photobucket.com/albums/vv302/chobeegal_photos/Cozy%20Co-Op-Foundation/?albumview=slideshow

Download: http://www.box.net/shared/lqu74z2hsv

Lot is borked. Can not be edited. Will always crash game. Yes it's just EA borkitude

Yes, I see it.

I really like this, and don't see a thing I think you should change in your landscaping, but did you forget the download link (again)? LOL

Minena, as I said before, I really like your house and would really like to get it, but there is still no download link.

I always like your houses that look like they belong in a Fairytale. Rainbow's End seems a very appropriate thing to call this one.

No, it is very cluttered looking. Probably because it is so small. I was trying to keep it only one story with two bedrooms, but it doesn't really work and also looks kind of squashed down, in my view. I think that is probably why I don't really like it too well. I decided to see what I could do with it though to make it more to my taste and less cluttery (hmmm, is cluttery actually even a word?). Also, Pes said: So even though I have been doing this with multi-tile furniture and objects for a long time with no resulting problems whatsoever, I straightened them all out.

So with that said, I present-'Chobee Atrium Redux


















Slideshow: http://s694.photobucket.com/albums/vv302/chobeegal_photos/Chobee%20Atrium%20Redux/?albumview=slideshow
There is a "lockable" invisible gate used in the Kitchen doors and at the stairs so that visitors can be excluded from those areas.
Download: http://www.box.net/shared/6jvjg7xmx0

P.S.
Honeywell, you can go ahead and deduct the points for excessive greenstuff, LOL, I like it and make no apologies or excuses for it.
P.P.S.
Alex, I don't think there are hundreds of trees in in this (I didn't actually count them though, LOL). Definitely they are not in straight lines though they are clipping through each other and through the walls. I can't do anything about that though.

'Chobee Atrium

I'm not sure I really like how this came out. I thought it would be really neat to use the glass awning as a roof to the atrium/porches on the house, but since they don't drop with the walls it makes it a bit inconvienient to play. I did play test it enough to know that it is functional in all areas. I used some CC fixes, recolors, walls, roof, rugs and plants to get the look I wanted but not a great amount, and removing it with clean installer should not affect the basic house other than having to redo some missing items with Maxis content.








Slideshow: http://s694.photobucket.com/albums/vv302/chobeegal_photos/Chobee%20Atrium/?albumview=slideshow

http://www.box.net/shared/aia0ub8h8u

You are probably right in so far that businesses in the game don't actually receive bills (as they do in RL), but I was going for a bit of RL authentcism and "green" businesses I have seen (of which a "Garden Restaurant" might very likely be) do have Solar Panels and even wind powered generators. In fact I live in  a "ranching" area and wind power is very popularly used here.

Thank-you. Yes, I do have all SPs and EPs, I'm really sorry that makes it unusable for some people.

Thanks. This idea was something that literally came to me in my dreams. When I woke up and remembered my dream I decided to just give it a try and see if I liked what I came up with. I did, so I decided to post it. It only took me about 3-4 hours in all to build and decorate; one of the fastest, if not the fastest, I've ever done. Maybe I should do more "dream houses". LOL I did forget to put in the ceiling though.

Cozy 'Chobee Co-Op Cottage

















Download: http://www.box.net/shared/73qc17kg3y

Hundreds? Where? Even Pre-K kids know that three is not "hundreds".
The only clipping through each other the "trees" do is what would occur in a RL planting situation.
A more serious issue IMHO is that Maxis walls and windows are not "solid" as in RL and allow plants, bushes and trees to cut through into the house. Some strategic turning of the plants as well as using the snap objects cheat can only partially remedy that problem.
The snap cheat also is necessary to realisticly "corner" a chair or bed in a house or the back will cut into the wall.
Also, even though Maxis bins the Midbiscus as a "tree", a Hibiscus is actually a bush (albeit a very large bush on occasion) and professional landscapers (which my father, who I worked with, happened to be) frequently plant bushes in rows.
If you are referring to the rooftop "plantings", those are not trees either. They are the Trellis/Planter boxes, and I purposely overlapped them to give the impression of a continuous planter box/trellis as a privacy screen, something that is also commonly done by RL decorators and landscapers. And I'm very sorry that placing it in a straight line aestheticly offends your sense of artistic ambiance, but that's just how most trellises and planters are made.

lizbeth, I'd love to see it uploaded, I did mine late last month because of not having DSL. It's not like there's a penalty imposed for late submissions, you just don't get the feedback that you do if on time.

I really like this house a lot. I agree with ciane on that unique wave to the roof edges. It's really quite attractive. I've done some experimenting with the roofs but never thought to do that. I'll probably use it on some I do after this. When might we see this up for downloading?

Jorganza, did you ever finish your lot? If so, when might we see it uploaded?

Minena, I really like your house, but there is no download link. Are you going to make it available?

ciane, I really like this . I think you should think about uploading it for those who have Sims3 (I don't have it and don't plan to get it).

yibble, I don't quite know about your house. I don't dislike it, but I would say it seems kind of rigid and unforgiving, sort of like a spinster aunt who doesn't approve of modern "foolishness". Actually when I look at it I am reminded of New England Puritans or a Rectory, Nunnery, or Monestery.

Sipu, I really like the exterior archetecture of your house. I know there are benefits to being able to lock visitors out of certain areas of the house, and I compliment you for allowing this in your house, but I always find that putting an actual door into the kitchen disrups the "flow" of the house in play. Also, the kitchen does seem a bit "galley-ish" for a house of that size. I found a workable solution for keeping visitors out of the kitchen without "closing it off" from the rest of the house. I used half walls and a "lockable" gate (the wrought iron one looks nice and there is actually an invisible recolor over on MTS).

Yeah, I'm not sure how well it would run on a laptop. Being that I was making a "Garden Restaurant" there is an abundance of "clutter" mostly in the form of plants. It runs smoothly enough on my PC, but I do have a huge amount of RAM (8+gigs).

Thank-you. I quite like your one too, especially the front facade which keeps it from being bland and boring. The interior layout is nice and roomy too. Also, it's nice to see that you aren't totally anti-plant after all. LOL

OK here is my second remake for this one, 'Chobee Gardens Fine Dining. I did a Community lot; my first one ever I believe. No appreciable amount of CC, just maybe some "fixes" and recolors. I would suggest that it probably needs one of the "Perfect plants" hacks though since there is no way for a gardner to access most of the plants.










Download here: http://www.box.net/shared/poa7974vqt

OK, now I've learned something entirely new. Anyone who likes or appreciates plants in their surroundings is crazy. Thank-you, Honeywell, for adding to my limited education. I mean I do only have a MA in Education. I assume you are a qualified Psychiatrist (or at least Psychologist) to diagnose my mental illness?

Prosthetics, this is definitely more to my taste in landscaping. I don't know how well Honeywell will take your addition of trees and plants (and grass) though LOL.

Edit: Corrected typo.

OK, Honeywell, so I guess you don't like plants/flowers/shrubs/trees.
Are you like those people who go and buy a beautiful wooded lot (which because of the trees costs a lot more than the barren lot next to it) and then bulldoze them all out? If I had my way, those kind of people would be prosecuted for stupidity. If you want a "naked" lot then buy the one that already is. Don't pay extra money to get the one with trees and then murder them.
Personally I love to have lots of trees and greenery surrounding me and where I live. Rather than "choking" anything, they add a sense of freshness, "breathability", and yet privacy to a home. My one great complaint w/ Sims2 is that if I actually put as much "landscaping" into a Sims lot as I would like to have in RL, it makes the house totally unplayable.
But since you don't like plants around a house, you must really love Prosthetics' concrete landscaping. (This is not a "slam" toward your house, Prosthetics; I like several features of it, especially lthe different roof heights. I'm just not fond of concrete. )
Liveangel, I actually like the color of the house. It fits with the style you have done. The one suggestion I would make is that it would look more "at home" in desert landscaping. The Hibiscus would still work, I've lived in the desert and still had Hibiscus plants.

Cozy 'Chobee Co-Op

Well here is my redo. I have all EPs and SPs. This house has a negligible amount (if any) of CC. It may have a recolor or two as well as a couple of "fixes" for certain items.















There is a roof garden/Patio; The Master bedroom, 2 children's bedrooms, a nursery, and 3 baths are on the second floor; Kitchen, dining room, livingroom, and pool area are on ground floor.

Here is the link: http://www.box.net/shared/vygh3atcsq

Or else I've completely lost my mind and should be Baker Acted for my own safety, I'm not sure which. 

I am sooooooooo annoyed! I would have jumped right on this but RL has gotten in the way. I should actually say cleaning my RL house, specifically cleaning my roommate/sister's bedroom while she is out of town for 4 days. Yes it is taking 4 days to clean it!. I don't think she has cleaned it in years. In fact I think I found a stash of Confederate money hidden under her bed. LOL If you can't imagine how bad it is/was, have any of you seen the show "Clean House"? Well that's my sister's room/house. She's the quintessential "Pack Rat/Collector" personality. And before you ask why I am cleaning her room, I swear the mess was alive and spawning and threatening to invade and overpower my room. The only thing protecting me was keeping my door closed at all times and I swear at night I could hear it knocking and scratching to get in!