@ 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.

@ 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.

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.

@ 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:

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.

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.

Wow. That is way more awesome than anything I'm capable of yet. 
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.

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.

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

Back

Living room

Kitchen

Dining area

Bedroom

Floorplan


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
Matte Utensil Holder Recolors w/o roosters by tammy_trauma @ MTS
Counter Height Ventana Del Alma Window by HugeLunatic @ MTS
Vase w/ White Tulips and Light Calla Lilies by lemoncandy @ MTS
Red Ring-O-Rosies Recolor by lemoncandy @ MTS
Backless Shower from Tinyt Set @ mangosims

Download here
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!

Don't feel too bad, I just had the EXACT same thing happen to me 2 days ago. It took me all day to figure out it was the update, with this site being down. I had to rely on my own critical thinking and hours of trial and error without the wealth of knowledge that is MATY. If you arr'd your copy of the game and need the updates, let me know, I had to download like 6 to get the versions I needed.

I miss being able to change the height of wallhangings. One of the beds has a headboard that covers up the bottom of almost all paintings. Definitely miss weather. IRL, I'm really anal about always being dressed appropiately for the current weather conditions, so my sims do the same. Since it's always sunny in Sunset Valley, I get no use out of the sweaters and jackets. The thing I miss most, though, is owning and running a business. I never realized how heavily my playstyle depends on that one EP. All of my sims were involved in some form of entreprenuership in some way or another. Most families had one sim with a regular career and one sim who sold something out of the home. At least all of these things were added in EPs so there's a good chance they'll be back.

Also, I agree with SimmyNik, I definitely miss designing restaraunts and such for sims to visit. The rabbit holes and existing gathering spots just don't compare to the all-in-one comm lots we used to have.
By the way, I was also opposed to bringing back the changing table until Pes mentioned the babby roaster. That is a great big WANT! My "Cletus & Gang" sims really miss this convenient method for disposing of unwanted belly-fruit.

But if you remove the element of torture, it's not fun anymore. You can't have the carrot without the big stick.

Since I first started playing the game, way back in the day, on a PS1, this is exactly what I've done, too. Every sim follows the same exact routine every day for their entire lives: Wake up, eat, poop, shower, live, eat, poop, bed, then repeat. When space is at a premium, I don't bother with sinks, but once they've "made it", I usually put them in for realism, even if they don't use them.

Ok, so I finally got around to testing this out in a new 'hood and the option was not there. I pretty much made a copy of the the original sim as far as traits go, and could not recreate this. I tried adding chairs, nothing. I gave the tester sim a picnic basket, a guitar, and a portable radio, since these things were in the original sim's inventory at the time of the wedding, and still nothing. I then loaded up an old save of the original sims as elders and tried to have both of them and their daughter throw a party there, again nothing. This is driving me crazy, I know I didn't imagine them getting married there, but I can't get the option to come up again, for the life of me. The only thing I haven't tried yet is an exact replica of the events, which I will now. Maybe the sims being engaged triggered it, maybe it was the time of day, or it could have been the fact that I had food in their inventories. Whatever it was, I am now obsessed and must figure out. I hate randomness!

Ok, just went back to that 'hood to check and the only thing I may have added, (I say "may" because I don't remember if I did this before or after wedding) is 2 chairs so that my teens could always do their homework together there. Everything else is exactly the same. No grills or fun objects. You mentioned something about traits affecting what kind of sims visit, the sims who got married there both had the LovesOutdoors trait, so maybe that had something to do with it.

Here's another thing I hate that has already been mentioned: The maniacal laughing of idle toddlers. I greatly preferred their old method of screaming their little fucking heads off, if left in the crib or highchair for too long. As a part-time babysitter, I can attest to the realism of the old way. It was actually kinda cute the way as soon as they woke up, they would immediately throw a tantrum at the audacity of the adults to not be standing there waiting to release them. Less whiny toddlers is a big fat DNW.

Nope, I didn't change anything. The sims in question lived in the house directly in front of the park. This is why the party was so boring, there was nothing to do there but play chess and talk to each other. There weren't even enough chairs for the whole party to sit down.

LOL I am going to print this out and carry it around, when I try to quit.

Saying that you are not addicted to nicotine after ingesting it for years is like saying you are the one speshul snowflake who doesn't burn when exposed to fire. It is extremely addictive to all humans, that's kinda the point. You don't gain any points for being the one person who can quit without cravings, and you are inadvertently helping Big Tobacco by saying that this drug is not addictive. They can't even say that anymore, (because it has been proven to be a LIE over and over again), so it's good for them when their customers or former customers do the lying for them.

You may think you're being inspirational when you say it's possible to quit without cravings, but in fact it's extremely detrimental to the morale of someone trying to quit when they hear this crap about how they wouldn't want a smoke if they were serious about quitting. IMHO, it's equivalent to telling someone addicted to crack that if they just really really want to, they can quit at anytime, without all that sciencey crap to help them. Why don't you guys go do some more research about the effects of nicotine on the brain before spouting bullshit that flys in the face of modern medicine?

I had my first wedding party at Maywood Glen with the rental cost being about $200, so that information is incorrect.

I don't think it has anything to do with playing tag because I've seen it happen with an adult and her teen step-daughter. Neither of them has the childish trait and never played any games together, but they did dance together at a party. After that, instead of decaying, their relationship improved daily, up to best friends without any further interaction. Then it just stopped and went back to normal decay.

When I first loaded up the game and saw the males now have the full range of makeup options, I knew someone would make crossdressing a possiblity soon enough. It's not really that "out of the norm". There were plenty of people making female to male clothing conversions for TS2, I don't see why TS3 would be any different.

I almost choked on my coffee laughing at this! I used to have a stripper friend who did have the body and chutzpah to get away with this. Her "home lot" was a tiny empty studio, that she only paid for so she had an address. I don't usually associate with women like that, but she won me over with her persistence to win my friendship and the fact that despite her "lifestyle choices", she was a certified genius. Or maybe it was her genius that influenced her lifestyle? It's not for everyone, but by not spending a dime of her own money for so long, and making as much as she did as a stripper, a few months ago she moved to Italy with $20,000 in her bank account.

I rely on the scroll wheel heavily for quick navigation and tilt adjustments in conjunction with edge scrolling. The camera would drive me bat shit insane without those two options.

My little sister had the same problem after I installed Awesomemod on her laptop. Turns out she was making a new shortcut to the launcher and not the .exe. Not saying you're as computer illiterate as her, but it's worth double checking.

Supreme Commander sounds beyond awesome. When can Fat Gwilly People expect this?

I HAVE to try that out now, for real. The next sim I make is going to be all the way "homeless". Right now, I prefer to have them skill at home whenever possible, because it's easier to keep track of them that way, but with all the bonuses at comm lots, it does seem pretty stupid now. I think I'll try it out with just one sim to get accustomed to the new playstyle, but the logic of this style sounds infinitely better.

After playing like this with just one family, I think I'm starting to agree. It makes it a lot more interesting and fun when they have to work for every little thing. Like McCrea, I've learned that the "Any way they can" rule for money making sucks when collectibles come into play. To get around this, since IRL it's highly unlikely but still plausible to just find gold lying around, they are allowed to find and sell one collectible for their entire lives. The gardening and fishing is also out, now, for me. They are only allowed to harvest from community plants just enough to live off of, and the same goes for fishing. No more profiting from food. With these new rules, my sims have exactly $79 after one week, and the only thing they've added to their shack is the easel for the child.