More Awesome Than You!

This is a small 2 bed, 1 bath, cabin-like house. It was built at 100 Redwood Pkwy in Sunset Valley, which is a 25 x 30 lot. I used "wandhere" to bring the furnished price down to $40,010 and the unfurnished price is $27,769.

Front
(http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/6521/exteriork.jpg)
Back
(http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/4940/backyardi.jpg)
Living room
(http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/6/livingroomj.jpg)
Kitchen
(http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/9060/kitchenqx.jpg)
Dining area
(http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/2655/diningroomy.jpg)
Bedroom
(http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/2258/masterp.jpg)
Floorplan
(http://img2.imageshack.us/img2/9165/topdown.jpg)

I only used 6 CC items on this house but a lot of Store Stuff. The Store sets you'll need are: Hewnsman, Ultra Lounge, Ultra Lounge Youth, Bayside, Storybook, and Regal Living.
The CC:
Wood Textures w/o Lines by tammy_trauma @ MTS (http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=369268)
Matte Utensil Holder Recolors w/o roosters by tammy_trauma @ MTS (http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=369368)
Counter Height Ventana Del Alma Window by HugeLunatic @ MTS (http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=362919)
Vase w/ White Tulips and Light Calla Lilies by lemoncandy @ MTS (http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=370172)
Red Ring-O-Rosies Recolor by lemoncandy @ MTS (http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=359333)
Backless Shower from Tinyt Set @ mangosims (http://mangosims2.free.fr/)

Download here (http://www.4shared.com/dir/20370240/910fa838/sharing.html)
This is my first upload for TS3, so I'd love to hear what people think of it.
Thanks to the creators of the CC and anyone who wants to comment!

It's a cute house, I like the layout, but it's a bit pricey for something of that size. The chimney looks weird, I think you should have closed it in entirely rather than having it poke out after the first level. You should do a bit of terrain painting beneath your flowers and shrubs, add some dirt and weeds, because the grass doesn't stay bright green beneath other plants. The back porch could use a column in the corner, because your roof overhang looks unsupported. Use move objects on and hold Alt while placing the column and you can make it go over the fence post, so it becomes a part of the fence. I love the color choices in the master bedroom.
Does the cc shower give you the cheap shower bad moodlet?

It's not quite working for me. A few things:

- Agreed on the chimney pattern. It's not the right one for that.
- A lot of the patterns inside are off also.
- The roof looks... wrong. You don't want to have it be flat like that in a house that small.
- The floor plan isn't very interesting. It's just a box.
- You used way too much store content (a bad habit I used to have too).
- Shouldn't have to wand the lot to make it cheaper. House that size, that's how much it should cost anyway.
- The landscaping really needs to be re-thought.
- Some of the furnishing choices are weird. Like, why would you use two of the same painting on one wall?
- That diagonal carpet thingy isn't working either.

Other than that it's really solid though. Nice job.

I don't see a problem in using store content, especially when the house is being presented here, where most people are getting it free.
While I'm not the flat roof type myself, I think it works fine for her house. She's got an odd mix of woodsy & modern going on, but I've seen houses like that in real life.

Thanks for the feedback, guys!
@ caterpillar: Most of the price is from the unfurnished cost, I'll try to cut that down by removing some of the windows and using cheaper walls and flooring. At first, I didn't even know you could enclose the chimneys, but I found a tutorial on MTS for removing it completely, so I'll just do that. The covered back porch was a last minute afterthought, I didn't even notice the overhang, but you're right, it looks weird, so I'll incorporate a column or remove it completely. I believe the shower is a clone of the expensive one, so it shouldn't give a cheap shower moodlet, I'll double check that though. If it's the cheap one, I have one from MTS that's a clone of the expensive one that I'll use instead. The master bedroom is my favorite part of the house, too. I got the color scheme by accident, trying to find a gray for the living room, and just went crazy with it in the master.

@ krib: Yeah, I know the patterns are a little off, especially in the living room, I changed the scheme about 6 times, and kept little things from each change every time. It just doesn't seem really "together" like that. Any suggestions? I wanted something that would tie into the kitchen while standing alone. I also agree it's really boxy, but I wanted to ensure great views from every room while keeping it one level. Any thoughts on how to do that better would be greatly appreciated. I thought about making it semi bi-level by putting the master on top of the living room, freeing up more room on the main level to get creative with architectural details, but decided against it because of the cost. Landscaping is my greatest weakeness. I know you can't tell by looking, but it took the longest, and it still ended up pretty generic. Any suggetions on that front would be great, too. The original plan was way too over the top, and the final choice is way too understated. As for the pictures in the living room, originally there were two different but similar CC paintings there, but I removed them to keep the CC count low. But you're right, that's too generic, and basically just laziness.  :) The diagonal tiles were also a little bit of laziness, I couldn't think of any other way to tie the kitchen to the dining area. As for the store content, I think I might be able to shave it down to just the Hewnsman and Ultra Lounge set. The kitchen cabinets and the master furniture are the only things I know for sure are critical. Thanks for the constructive feedback!

@ caterpillar again: Throughout the entire building process I was torn between a traditional woodsy cabin feel and a modern cabin look. I was inspired by a modern cabin I saw on TV, but once I got building, the setting really seemed to call for a more traditional look. I was worried that the final product would fail from trying to be two things at once, so it's good to hear I found a balance.

Your house reminds me a bit of houses you see in the Big Sur area, which have that mix of woodsy and modern. I would make the landscaping a bit wilder. Instead of the neat rose bushes, go for the wild rose bushes, and mix in the heather and maybe some hydrangea and daisies. And rocks.

ETA: pic of 'wilder' landscaping, from one of my houses.
(http://i28.tinypic.com/20zqus7.jpg)

Wow. That is way more awesome than anything I'm capable of yet.  ;D
That garden is amazing. It looks natural, wild, and intentional all at once.
I just read a few more tutorials on roof building and landscaping, so I'll give this house another go. I only did a flat roof because I didn't like anything else I came up with using the roofing tools.
Thanks for the tips and feedback! I'll be back with later with whatever I come up with.

Landscaping and roofing are my favorite parts of building. If you are using awesomemod, you can do individual roof slope angles by typing 'rsa # new' in the console to choose the angle of the next roof pieces you place. That really helps a lot.

ETA: I was just searching MTS for the backless shower you mentioned, but I only found one cloned from the cheap shower. Do you have a link to the expensive one? I'd love to have a backless shower, but not if it's the cheap one.

Caterpillar, here is the link (http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=361082) you asked for, but you will not want it, cause it's the cheap shower. I must commend you on your garden/landscaping, it is gorgeous. I do the same, hate neat little boxes around the trees and flowers.

I really like the idea of the lot, Smellyarmando. I downloaded it to look at further, maybe make a few changes and see what comes up. The problem I see is the neat landscape, the one color terrain, and a few pattern choices.

Thanks!
Yeah, I sometimes use the cheap shower in starter homes. I like making poor Sims out of CAS suffer the bad moodlets of poverty, the crappy showers, poorly cooked food and 'tastes like fridge', until they save enough money to move to a better house. I wouldn't bother downloading a clone of the cheap shower just for my starter houses, though.
I really wish they had included a non-corner expensive type shower, I hate using the corner one all the time. In TS2 I loved using the backless showers to make shower rooms, but I won't do that in TS3 with the cheap shower moodlet.

@ caterpillar: Sorry for the misinformation, the other backless shower I have is a clone of the cheap one.
@ brownlustgirl: Thanks, I'm glad someone else liked it.

As for the lot, I went in to make some of the suggested changes and ended up with something completely different. I'm trying a new building technique, recommended on MTS, that involves doing the entire outside of the house first, landscaping and color choices, then making the inside fit that. So far, it's turning out much better, but I'm still having trouble with roofing. I am trying to make the outside look like this:
(http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/8833/longfellowcabin.jpg)
but I'm having trouble with the dormers. On the sides you can see the overlap from the dormers and it looks weird beneath the siding from the main roof part. I was wondering if it's possible to fix that, or am I stuck with it? I can't find anything in any of the roofing tutorials.
I'll go in game to get some screenshots, so you can see what I mean.

ETA pix.
(http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/4350/roof2.jpg) (http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/4986/roofu.jpg)
Also, caterpillar, I used your tip with the columns on the porch but there is this weird overhang. Should I just attempt to hide it with plants or am I just doing it wrong? And thanks for all your help/tips.

You are stuck with the extra bit of roof sticking out. You actually will see that in real houses, so it's realistic. If you really hate it, you can move your dormer in one space from that side, so it doesn't poke through. That will change the design of your house, of course.
And, yeah, the colums will overhang when you place them over fence posts. Some columns will have less of an overhang, depending on how straight the lower part is. But even the best ones, like the Column de Mish or the Mod Column, will still overhang. I hide it with plants.  ;)  I think that still looks better than no column or columns placed inside the fencing instead of as part of the fencing.

I love the house you are building.

Thanks!
This is all good news because at least by knowing I can't do anything about it I can get back to building and stop obsessing over it. lol
I'll start a new thread to upload this one when I finish it, since it's so drastically different from the first one.

I have always built the house first, then made the contents fit. I find I get more realistic houses that way. I tend not to do the landscaping until the end in the sims, recently I've been focussing on starters so there's not always enough money left for more than a random bush or two. I feel like I'm getting the hang of TS3 building now though, and am thinking I'd like to do something more than the basic box. I like the picture you've chosen, it has interesting details for the eye. There are heaps of floor plans and real houses on the net to copy. I also enjoy looking at real houses and getting ideas that way.

About the roof, what roof tool are you using for the dormers? If you don't want the dormers to reach to the back, use the short (vertical? don't know the name now) gable and finish the sides with the mansard hipped roof. I will make some screens and show you what I am talking about. Give me a few minutes.

Also push Alt down while placing the columns, so you can overcome the overhang.

EDIT:

After making the main roof line, then click the long gable roof for the dormers.

(http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c278/mailchaser40/Pictures%201/The%20Sims%203/ScreenShot083.jpg)

(http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c278/mailchaser40/Pictures%201/The%20Sims%203/ScreenShot084.jpg)

It will leave an unfinished side, so to correct that I use the hipped roof. Drag from the unfinished edge to the end of the structure and move the tool one tile to the right (or inside the main roof frame).

(http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c278/mailchaser40/Pictures%201/The%20Sims%203/ScreenShot087-1.jpg)

(http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c278/mailchaser40/Pictures%201/The%20Sims%203/ScreenShot088-1.jpg)

(http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c278/mailchaser40/Pictures%201/The%20Sims%203/ScreenShot093.jpg)

That way the edges are finished and you don't have to have them stick out the back. If that is what you wanted.

I do that too, and agree. Although when I'm putting in the floor plan I sometimes change some outer walls slightly.

Brownlustgirl, nice improptu roof tutorial.

Even using the Alt button, you will get column overhang if you are placing column over a fence post so as to cover the post with the column.

RE: backless shower.  I have the one from MTS and it works fine. Although it was cloned from the cheap shower it shows the expensive one in the catalog and has the hygiene boost of the expensive one (9) as opposed to the cheap one (7). I haven't had any negative moodlets from it.  The things I don't like about it are you can only enter it from the left and it is hard to click on as you have to have the cursor on the faucet or shower head. I use it only when the other shower would be visually in the way. Normally, I use the combo tub/shower. (I normally play a house from only one direction, the front. Don't like having to turn it to see things.)

Thanks for the roof tutorial, I always hated that half roof line on the side.

I like the cabin. I normally change things a bit to suit me and I like smaller houses. It takes sims too long to walk from one end to another in big houses.

I camouflage the column overhang with a bush if it bothers me but normally it doesn't because you can't see it unless you are really close.

@ witch: You're right, it does make the house much more realistic this way. I used to do the landscaping last, just because it's my least favorite part, but I read that for people like me (who suck at it massively), it's best to get out of the way first, so I'm trying that. I was going to try to do the floorplan for the house in the picture, but it doesn't really work for the sims, too much unused space, hallways not wide enough, so the final product will only be loosely based on the original floorplan. Plus the original is a 2-story, and I really want to stick to 1, otherwise I won't even play it. If you have any tips on converting real house plans to the Sims, I'd love to hear them, I'm pretty much a newbie at this, and I'm trying to suck up all the information I can. ;D

@ brownlustgirl: Thanks for the quick tutorial! That'll help a lot on the right side of the house. I just dragged the longer roof all the way to the end.

As for the house, all progress has halted because of an unscheduled computer upgrade. Damn thing finally crapped out on me yesterday, but I'm pretty sure I can salvage my save files, after I re-Arr the game, and if not I sketched it out on graph paper, so re-building won't be too hard.

I hate landscaping, too, but I love lots of trees. I may try doing it first.   :-\