House Layout?

[SarahKjrsten]

I am horrible at laying out houses. My sims usually have to go out the back door walk alllll the way around the garden to greet anyone who has rung the front door bell. And let's not go into my fiasco wherein the social worker took my todder away because it had crawled into the bathroom and no one could get it out again.

What are some things that you keep in mind while building a house? What room layouts work best? How can I make my sims go out the front door and not the back door?

And, additionally, any creators out there that make well layed out furnished or unfurnished houses?

[ElfPuddle]

I try to put no objects near the front door, make sure the front door opens into a large living room (not a hallway or such). I also try to make all main floor room open off of the living room. Hallways suck. When I do make a hall, it absolutely MUST be at least two tiles wide with nothing but a phone in it. (In the case of the toddler, why didn't you have it "go here" and crawl out on its own?...I use the infamous Kitten Killer, so when if my sim were to get stuck somewhere, they can "teleport" elsewhere...)

When it comes to well-built houses, Emma?

[akatonbo]

Make lists of what objects certain rooms MUST have and what you want to have room for later. Sketch designs on graph paper. Try to lay out objects in a way that makes sense based on how Sims use them (i.e. line up fridge to free counter space to stove). Playtest. Leave lots of empty space for Sims to walk around objects and each other.

(Also, don't have a back door. )

[BlueSoup]

Sometimes, particularly in challenges and especially the Legacy challenge, I place the furniture and build around it.

And there is a frontdoor hack, I think by Pescado, that should help with your front door thing.

[MissDoh]

I am not the best at desiging either but you could take a look at Plasticbox houses over at the MTS2 site.

He made about 70 starter houses and all have a nice layouts.  He played with each of them to make sure it did have a good layout.  There are picture of all of them so it can give you an idea of how to place your furniture.  Here is a link to all the stuff he made so far:  http://www.modthesims2.com/member.php?u=178282

[ElfPuddle]

I could be wrong, it has been known to happen, but don't sims take the most attractive route? So if you have a lovely garden in the  backyard, and your front yard is boring, they'd take the long way?

[Myth]

I do have standard for myself that I use for building.  Two tile width for hallways or any walk space including kitchens, minimal four tile wall for double beds in all rooms (even if you do not put one in the room, it's always good for potential growth), minimal two full bathrooms unless it's a starter home and lastly I always try to leave room on the lot for expansion.  

For design purposes I usually do Blue's suggestion of having some items handy for placement like a bed, tub etc.  I utilize building cheats a lot for decor.  Nothing annoys me more than an off centered ceiling light.    Most importantly is if you are going to share your lots, always, always Sim test before uploading.  

If you are looking for a variety of residential and commercial lots stop by TheSimposieum, there are a lot of building challenges like Tru's 1"x3" that produced some very creative end results, as well as mansions, starter homes, great commercial lots, floors, walls, painting recolors and other cool stuff.

[ElviraGoth]

I had a problem with my sims using the back door, too, until I made the front step two or three tiles wide.  (My houses have basements and therefore have foundations, so I need steps.)  I had made the back door foundation extension two tiles wide and the front door foundation extension was only one tile wide, so they took the route that was easiest to travel, even if it was the long way around.  Adding another tile-wide foundation with steps solved it for me.

[Simlover]

Or add a patio out around the door.

[momtogirls]

always Sim test before uploading. 

This is one of my biggest pet peeves for alot of uploaded houses.  they were ne ver play tested, and you find they can't get in the tub or something equally stupid.

[gali]

"The distance between two points is a straight line"...

Sorry to ruin your new building concept (basements and front terraces), but sims hate to use stairs. They will use them when they have no choice.
Another thing they hate is - walking on the bare ground; if there is a tiled pathway to the front of the house, and bare ground in the front of the house - they will go first on the tiled pathway.

I build all my houses on 5x5 lots, with at least 6-7 doors to the yard. But I put floor tiles all over the unused yard (bushes, trees, and flowers).
No basements, and no porches - straight on the ground, leaving 7 tiles at least between the road and the front wall of the house.

My sims never go to greet a visitor around the yard, always through the front doors, pointing to the road. Even if they are at the back of the house, they choose to pass inside the house to the front door.

Besides, I put tons of objects in front of the house and around - my sims move freely beside them.

[Emma]

For my smaller houses the hallway is at least 3-4 tiles wide and for my larger houses from about 4-7 tiles wide (depending on the size of my house) I nearly always have a back door, but my sim only use it if they need to go to the back garden for something

Look at any of my houses on Laverwinkle, I have usually included a picture of a floorplan-type layout. Copy any you like for your own personal use

[Nec]

I make all my lots based on what the sims I am moving in will be doing there. Most are one story, and I generally have one more bathroom than bedroom - especially since OFB ,since it starts every sim with a low bladder. I keep my hallways 2 squares wide, and keep  at least one 6x8 square area open somewhere in the house so they have room for pillow fights and kicky bag without complaining as often. Also, If I have a back door, I will fence off the back part of the house so no one tries to ring the bell on the back door, or ring the front bell, and then walk around to the back door, causing an annoying game of cat and mouse. Almost all of my residential lots are 2x3 and smaller, and I have very few complaining sims. I will post a link of one of my floorplans to give you an idea. I like functional houses more than anything.

OK, here is one, it is actually a test house, but the floorplan is great. Enclosing the kitchen/dining area would not be a problem for your sims.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y249/necrobabe/Screenshothouse.jpg

And here is one of my 3 story houses
fl.1: http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y249/necrobabe/house2.jpg
fl 2: http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y249/necrobabe/house3.jpg
fl 3: http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y249/necrobabe/snapshot_9119110c_114f0fa6.jpg

Hopefully, between all of us you will come up with something that works for you

[Ellatrue]

Make sure the bathroom is in a central location, but not with more than one door, to keep them from using it as a hallway. Make sure there is always plenty of space by the front door for the delivery man, greeting visitors, etc. A back door is not always a good idea, I avoid them unless I have a pool out there or something.

I second that hallways should always be at least two tiles wide- this may not be realistic, but there you are.

A bathroom only accessible throught the master bedroom is a bad idea. Again, make it central, and make sure the stairs are nearby. It is also good to have everything useful on the first floor, and only let them sleep on the second. Targa's ladders/elevators or the stealth stairs method can also make a layout with several floors more efficient than a single floor layout, and again, is great when the bathroom is nearby.

[Nec]

I agree, Targa's stairs make sim life much easier. No more complaining about someone else on the stairs - unless they get stupid and stand on them or hang out on them.

[Faizah]

I picked up the habit in Sims1 days of only putting walls where they were absolutely needed. The bedroom, to keep out noise so that sims could sleep as woohoo hadn't been 'invented' yet, and the bathroom, for privacy. The rest of the house was one big room with kitchen/dining/lounge/study/etc. Also, if there was a back door, which there usually wasn't, it opened into a fenced in area so that Sims would always use the front door.

Lately I've been putting more walls in, and being slightly more adventurous with my houses, because the pathfinding is much better in the Sims2 than it was in the Sims1. But I still don't often give them a back door.

[eaglezero]

So I wrote a reply but it got ridiculously long. So instead of forcing everyone to scroll through a really long post, I have put it on a separate page.

See:
Eaglezero's Codified Guide to Sims2 House Layouts (With Examples)

(Also, I have too much time on my hands.)

[akatonbo]

I second that hallways should always be at least two tiles wide- this may not be realistic, but there you are.

Actually, a one tile wide hallway would be unrealistic. How often do you walk down hallways so wide you can barely pass anyone? Hallways in real houses tend to be two or three tiles wide, hallways in public spaces are a good deal wider.

[SarahKjrsten]

Thank you very much for all of your help! I'm going to try and build a much easier to play house for my sims

[witch]

Check out the floor plans of real houses, I get a lot of ideas from those.
Build your own home to simscale.

Try to make two exits from bathrooms if poss.
Make the house realistic - ie no plate glass windows on the groundfloor bathroom, etc.

Have a look at my crystal collection if you like, link in siggy.

Good luck!

[J. M. Pescado]

So I wrote a reply but it got ridiculously long. So instead of forcing everyone to scroll through a really long post, I have put it on a separate page.

See:
Eaglezero's Codified Guide to Sims2 House Layouts (With Examples)

(Also, I have too much time on my hands.)

Hmm. I have some slight additions to the EagleZeroian house building code, in which I always place kitchens, particularly with their fridges, in seperate rooms, preferrably locked. This prevents several issues, such as fires causing the entire house to be disrupted, and keeps out ninja-looters trying to rob your fridge and thus spew garbage all over the house.

[eaglezero]

Hmm. I have some slight additions to the EagleZeroian house building code

Added.

[Tyraa Rane]

Check out the floor plans of real houses, I get a lot of ideas from those.

Seconded. Somewhere on MTS2 someone even worked out a ratio of number of feet on the real house plan to number of floor squares in the game--works wonders for scaling a house plan down to Sims size.

What I generally do is look through house plan sites, find a floor plan I particularly like, and then modify it so it's more realistic for Sims...take out laundry rooms and walk-in closets, add in more bathrooms, etc. I just rebuilt my Legacy family's house that way, and I'm really pleased with the results. Especially since I'm incapable of coming up with house layouts on my own.

[Ashleigh]

How can I make my sims go out the front door and not the back door?

Don't put in a back door. Works every time!

I tend to download a lot of houses from MTS2, especially from plasticbox. I also tend to swipe the houses from all the other neighborhoods, delete said neighborhoods, gut the houses of all their belongings and make them better looking + more functional.

[witch]

I usually have 2-3 entrances to homes, I can't stand it when a sim has to go the entire circumference of the house to get somewhere. I notice in some houses sims seem to always turn left or right for certain areas, I use that and make access or non-access as the situation requires.

I get house plans off the Internet when I'm at a loss for ideas.