EAxis House of Phail: January 09

[ChillyzGrrl]

@tryclyn  thank you!  That explains so much! 

@Emma  that's the first gazebo I've ever done that looked right.  I've been trying to do one and make it work since the game came out. 

ChillyzGrrl, for someone who doesn't know Awesomespec, you did really well.

I might have picked up a few things without knowing it while I've been lurking over here.  You all do such wonderful houses! 

@Alex  they look more natural on the sloped roof and don't take up any needed space.  I wasn't aware there was another way to do them.  I haven't played around with the bigger panels, though.  Just the smaller ones.  but there's enough on the roof that the family living there should get money back for greener living *g*

@jim actually, that was largely an accident, but it turned out well, I thought.  In retrospect, I should have put a couple of chairs on the wall opposite the desk, for people to sit.  I had originally placed a sculpture in the middle, but it made it look too cluttered. 

@petalbrook thanks!  (I'm yoinking a handful of them, too, once I get to the computer I play on. *g*)

[starlady]

I finally finished my house of faill. As I stated before, I had two versions going; this is the second version. The first version was scrapped, because in my opinion it was rather... er... well, it was even more fail than the original house. I tried to shake things up a bit in my decorating, and I hope I succeeded. I, as always, appreciate any comments that you have to make about my house.

I have stolen borrowed several elements from other houses that I have seen here, because they were cool. 

I have all EPs/SPs (including holiday) and the lot has been packaged and scanned with Clean Installer. Please scan it again, though.

The house contains three bedrooms with attached baths, two balconies, a "public" bathroom, and a library which can be renovated into another bedroom. It also houses a lovely sun porch big enough for entertaining and a nice front patio with reflecting pool and landscaped areas surrounding it. There is also a spacious kitchen with a breakfast bar and a formal dining room which can be locked to deny access to those nosy neighbors.

Front close up


Living room



Kitchen


Formal dining room


Library


Sun porch and patio



Hallway


Guest room


Kid's room


Master bedroom and bathroom



Back of the house


Aerial view of the first and second floor



And, of course, the download link.
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=af7da9293f7a2857d2db6fb9a8902bda

[Nepheris]

Twooflower, hurry up with that house of yours, I wants to yoink it 

[witch]

Finally I finished this lot. You'd think, wouldn't you, that a tiny lot like this wouldn't be much of a problem? Hah! The first thing I decided, seeing as I needed a lot for my three witches, was that I would make a castle. This seemed like a very sensible idea at the time so I started to play. I squashed all the walls so I could make a basement and commenced to build a monolithic stone slab of a house. The house did not want to be a castle however and transmogrified into a spooky gothic decrepit looking lot.

Then I got totally sick of trying to use EAxis windows for the spooky look and found I kept wanting to play with the new art deco windows and doors. By this time, the house did not look spooky and decrepit at all. So here you have it, a hybrid cross between art deco and boho.

I've uploaded two lots, a family home complete with nursery etc and a witches' haunt with three workrooms and four adult bedrooms. (There is to be a vampire in the cellar). The cellar is still made of the original castle brick and access to it is hidden behind a secret bookcase in the dining room. Don't put this lot on low ground, you will have a basement full of water.

I haven't deliberately followed awesome spec although the front of the lot is fenced and there is a desk near the front door. The towers on either side of the house are the main transport routes, spiral stairs in the right hand tower and a lift in the left. Each level of the house may only be accessed by a door from the stairs or lift, so visitors will only be able to go to the levels you tell them to.

Witch's family home is §125,510 and Witches' Haunt is §63,543. Don't know why it dropped so much again, the §125K is an already wanded price. The family home has 3 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and two toilets. The haunt has 4 bedrooms and the same number of utilities as the family home.



Closer in


Gate


Front door


- have patience with me showing all these photos, if you had any idea how long it took to place the damn fiddly bits, you would think they were awesome pics too! 

Rear view - with lots of landing platforms for witches.


Top floor - games and hobbies


Close up


Another one


Bedroom floor


Closeup of one view in the main bedroom


Ground floor


Kitchen


Dining room


Basement


Gratuitous pictures of my witches at work and the basement makeover from the Witches' Haunt version

Good witch at the highest point of the house, just under the telescope. All cauldrons and book pedestals came over just fine by copying from the lot catalogue.


Undecided witch in the possie off her bedroom - she's a Libra, doesn't like to move too far from her bed.


Trying hard to be an evil witch is our wimpish entry here


Vampire quarters expanded a little. He will also get a bathroom of his own when money permits. The four of them are currently §80K in debt for this lot.


Witch's family home.

Witches' Haunt.

[starlady]

@witch - Lol at "fiddly bits." I know what you mean, though. That's why I scrapped my first version of the house; it just wasn't turning out the way I had hoped it would. I love your castle, though, it's very modern castle-ish with a wonderful color scheme. 

[kalina]

witch, this looks great. I have never been able to figure out how to use a lot of the items and colors that you have and it looks really nice!

[Bugger]

witch, your castle is such an eclectic mix of styles.  I have serious appreciation for the fiddly bits - I was just messing with the art deco trim (forget what it's actually called) on a house, and getting each part to line up when you have it on a diagonal is a bitch.  I don't know how you had the patience.

[jim]

@ Starlady: I absolutely hate those frilly curtains. Apart from that, though, (and the tiger wallpaper, which you just know would be burning bright in the forests of the night), I think your house looks great. There's a real country house feel to the place. I like the mix of plain and striped furnishings. I found it quite a dark house to work with, but you've got it beautifully lit. It will fit well in my neighbourhood.

@ witch: The gatehouse and entrance to the house look fantastic. I had those pegasus statues on top of the play house for a while, where they looked stupid, obviously, but they look as if they were made to go on your gatehouse. I also liked the way you used those curved roof corners by the bay windows. I'd never have thought of doing that, but it ties it all together.  The Art Deco windows work really well in the kitchen with that strong yellow and the geometric panelling.  Love the way you've set the peacock to watch the pool table - and that the felt tones with all the oxblood colour in the house.

[Minena]

I really enjoyed doing this house so I thought I would try another

This one is a little bit country, and little bit victorian.





















I have all EP/SP's

The garage can not have a car in it, but there is room for the driveway extension to be placed in the driveway and while they just poof and not actually drive off, it does allow the use of a vehicle.

the bath and kitchen items were placed normally (no boolprops) so should be quite useable.

File available HERE

[starlady]

@Minena -  That. Is. So. Beautiful. Yoinkage is imminent!

@Jim - Thanks. I'm glad that you like it and glad to know someone else besides me absolutely hates that tiger wallpaper.  I wouldn't say that I exactly hate the frilly curtains, but I do think that they stick out too far from the wall. But I am also a girly girl. Anything frilly is fine by me. I guess next time if I want to shake up my style (because I always seem to do country style houses) I'll go for Victorian or city-style.

[Strangel]

Wow.. everything is gorgeous! Witch, yours made me laugh. Minena, I actually gasped on looking at your pictures. People asked what was wrong! lol
What setting do you have your graphics at, anyhow? -yoinked-

[Faizah]

I keep meaning to do a cheap-arse brick exterior sort of house, but I can never quite bring myself to do it. I did depart from my usual style with the hedge maze lot, at least. A lot darker than I usually build. (The predominance of light colours hearkens back to my long period of ancient graphics card-less computers and cheap monitors.)

[Minena]

. Minena, I actually gasped on looking at your pictures. People asked what was wrong! lol
What setting do you have your graphics at, anyhow? -yoinked-

I have an ATI Radeon X1650pro PCI 256mb and all game settings on high. I've been very happy with it's performance.

I'm glad you liked the house. I think this lot has been very fun to do.

[witch]

I also liked the way you used those curved roof corners by the bay windows. I'd never have thought of doing that, but it ties it all together.

I didn't want to fill in the whole front with the roof edging, it doesn't drop with walls down and it makes playing difficult, so the corners were enough to give the impression of the style without compromising visibility. Thanks for your comments.

@starlady: I like the cluttered homey look of your lot. One thing I would comment on is the large pillars marching down the front; personally I don't think they fit the style of the house, they're too heavy.

@Minena: Lovely, lovely thematically styled home. I often try for the country/Victorian look and always fail to achieve it. I always forget about garden rocks too and I like the way you have them set around the paths. All the pale colours really lighten this lot.

@Lurker who submitted the sims secret: Gowan, I challenge you personally to have a go.  We do constructive criticism here and you may be able to take advantage of that by getting passionate builders to talk about your work. There are no winners or losers, just participants.

[eaglezero]

Alright, here's my entry. I have all the EPs and all the SPs except M&G. $48,796, depreciated with the magic wand.

I somewhat idiotically accidentally included some flowers by HystericalParoxysm, but those can be gutted with the clean installer (though it WILL make the house less pretty). Later I'll try to come back and post a clean version. Loosely conforms to awesomespec (well, not quite, but it's close) and there's room for expansion upwards. It can easily fit up to six sims, but you'll have to start building if you want more.



I suck at landscaping, sorry.









The offending flowers:





You can easily wall off the refrigerator area of the kitchen to create a separate kitchen and nursery or to allow only Cooking Sim access to the kitchen.



Download here! (right-click, save-as)

[witch]

Hey eaglezero, long time no see!

I love your open-roofed conservatory, it really makes the heart of the house and I'll be downloading WITH flowers.  I also like the blue windows, although the overall dark grey of the outside is a little intimidating. You seem to have quite a few large spaces of floor, I had that problem because of the odd shape of some of the rooms. I tried creating some central points of interest to avoid that look.

[Bugger]

My entry for this month's challenge isn't much, since I did it in a hurry (as usual).  My apologies for not posting any pictures yet - I will try to get that done tomorrow.  I was going for contemporary asian.  I think my favorite room is the kitchen.

Ground floor:  Foyer, Kitchen, Dining room, 1/2 Bath, Living room, Nursery (2 spawn rooms), Full spawn bathroom.

Second floor:  Loft area, 2 Small bedrooms, 2 3/4 Baths off the sm bedrooms, Master Bedroom w/ master bathroom, Balcony.

The path is still there, but I biggered it.   The yard has two faux zen gardens to fill the space, tea table and a fountain. 

It didn't come out quite the way I had pictured it since we aren't using CC, but I did my best to mimic my cc with maxis items.  Decor is minimal, since I never decorate a house until I move a sim in anyway.  In the loft upstairs is a karaoke dealy-whopper and though it is useable, once in a while my sim would do the foot stomp.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/ejjzihxeynn/Bliss1097WLeisureLane.rar

Edited to add pictures:

[PearlRose]

I'm a longtime lurker, and I could have sworn that I had joined ages ago, but apparently not.

Anyway, I really liked the bones of the house submitted for the EA House o' Fail challenge this month, and I decided to go ahead and submit my own meager contribution. I wouldn't call myself a builder by any stretch of the imagination, but I really enjoyed trying to modify this house. I'm not near as talented as some of you, but I present my honest effort.

Presenting 1097 West Dreaming Drive, aka 1097 West Leisure Lane, as it's known as in my game for some reason. Three bedrooms, three bathrooms, and it's not entirely awesomespec, but it could probably be made so with a few modifications.


Basic outdoor view from the front.


First floor view. Open foyer with the one desk, large kitchen/dining area, bathroom and a one-child nursery near the kitchen.  The seating area near the TV also has a fireplace in the uploaded version.


Second floor view. Two children's bedrooms, connected by a jack-and-jill bath, master suite with attached bath, and a nice outdoor terrace space.


A closer view of the kitchen, probably my favorite room in the whole lot.

Yours for a magic-wanded steal at 70,816 simoleons.  have all EP's and SP's, (including AL and M&G), but the house should be devoid of EA Store items.

Download here: http://www.mediafire.com/?ncdpffmyqqw

[witch]

@Bliss: Nice urban looking lot. I liked the way you did a small gatehouse to accommodate the larger gate in the fence, that looks good. The colours go well also, particularly with the pink trees outside. I think my favourite room is the kitchen too, the bricks, although grey,  give a good texture while the rug and the picture add splashes of bright primary colours.

Just a hint for next time, if the lot is rectangular, take pictures sideways, so you can fit as much as possible in the proportions of the screen.

@PearlRose: I like the layout, the appearance and I also like the kitchen best in your house.  I've never heard it called a jack-and-jill bath before, that's cute. One comment I would make is about the roofs. They look awkward. Even EAxis auto-roofs are sometimes a lifesaver. Good onya for braving the thread.

[dwightsciple]

I am enamoured with all the interpretations I have seen thus far; but I must remark especially about Witch's lot--it made me giggle out loud (in a good way).  That is not something I ever do, but the incredible air of whimsy in that lot was too much to hold back!

Gail

[PearlRose]

@PearlRose: I like the layout, the appearance and I also like the kitchen best in your house.  I've never heard it called a jack-and-jill bath before, that's cute. One comment I would make is about the roofs. They look awkward. Even EAxis auto-roofs are sometimes a lifesaver. Good onya for braving the thread.

It was actually my first time attempting to create a roof without the use of the Auto-Roof tool, which probably explains some of it's epic awkwardness. Thanks for the feedback, though, I was surprised by how much I actually enjoyed redoing that lot!

[starlady]

Very nice houses, PearlRose and Bliss!

I never understood why it was called a jack-and-jill bath.  It's a common term that I've seen used in architecture to describe the bedroom/bath/bedroom set up. I've also seen them called teen suites or jack-and-jill suites on a couple of sites I visit frequently. What can I say? I like lurking on house plan websites.

Just imagine when they are teenagers if they share a bathroom like that.
"Mo-o-o-m! Jill is hogging my bathroom again! She's been in there for, like, three hours already!" 

Is it still a jack-and-jill suite/bathroom is the people sharing it are both girls? Or would it be called a jill-and-jill suite?

[realmscat]

I was beginning to wonder if I would find time for this one. I finally did, nothing spectacular just a simple redo and decoration. Hope you all like it well enough. I own all the EP's and SP's.


please forgive any typos on the pictures themselfs. I was in a bit of a hurry.


Took a few pictures so made a slide show.



Link to house:
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=a737b73d55e37947d2db6fb9a8902bda

[starlady]

Wow, realmscat, that's a really nice house! My only thing would be the master bedroom -- the rest of the house is so colorful, why the stark white bedroom?

[realmscat]

Thank you Starlady, and honestly until you posed the question I hadn't realized the stark difference. More then likely it was subconscious. There is no other way to say this other then outright so sorry for the personal glimps into my life. I have been taking my husband for radiation treatments for awhile now so maybe on an artistic level it represented the starkness of the cancer treatment clinic. Thats the only viable reason I can come up with anyways.  I quess sometimes the ugly in our lifes expresses itself in beautiful ways to help us cope.