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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 27th Jan 2005 at 2:15 PM
Default I would like feedback on my house
I would like a critique on this house. I was shooting for a Queen Anne (and let's not get into the naming anomaly of the house style). I have not started on the interior, except the stairway. At this time I'm still evaluating the general shape. (I have considered the interior, but it has not been finished and tested yet.)

The house was build with 4 floor levels. The first floor is full height and is the first functional floor. The second floor is 1/4 height walls and unusable. The third floor is full height walls and is the second functional floor. The fourth floor has mixed wall heights, a full height attic and half height walls finishing off the tower.

The 1/4 height 2nd floor helped in several ways:
- It gives better overall proportions to my eye.
- It gives vertical separation between the tall windows.
- It allows enough wall for windows above the porch roof.
- It bailed me out on some wall distortion on the U-shaped stairway.

Speaking of the stairway, on the right side view, under the porch you can see the distortion from the stairway. I'm thinking a chair or two, a table, and a rubber tree plant (or something) would keep this from being too objectionable.

I'm fairly happy with it so far, but I'm sure it could be better. Any input would be appreciated. The exterior colors were just thrown on there so I could look at something, but everything on the exterior is free game.

And I'm a posting newbie, I hope the attachments work
Screenshots
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Lab Assistant
#2 Old 27th Jan 2005 at 2:22 PM
This part kind of annoys me because it is offset.
I dont like pink
I dont really like big houses for sims, but thats because my computer isnt the best.

Otherwise I really like it.
Screenshots

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Lab Assistant
#3 Old 27th Jan 2005 at 3:02 PM
Ooooh, I like this house.
I'd love to download it :D.
Mesh Maestro
#4 Old 27th Jan 2005 at 3:46 PM
Your design is a good one… The house is obviously in early to middle stage so after the interior and landscaping is done it will give it a warmer feeling… OK to get a tad critical only because I think you are asking an honest opinion. The porch above the entryway’ if possible you may want to lay a flat tile there as it looks like your rail wraps around the roof a bit… Maybe it’s just the screen shot… The right side “in my eyes” could use a few windows on the bottom floor.

I say this for two reasons;

1. When looking at the left side view it looks fuller, real good, with the windows on the lower floor.
2. Your Sims love windows. LOL

Over all its looking like it will, when finished, be a good looking house…
I would like to see it when it is finished as architecture fascinates me and your design as I said is a good one…

Keep up the fine work!
Test Subject
#5 Old 27th Jan 2005 at 4:10 PM
I think it looks like you spent alot of time on it..!

..I'll go wtih sachemeq's thought that the upstairs door looks off....and I think like JWoods said...that right side of the house needs the windows....

but that is only being pickey....over all the house looks great!!
Lab Assistant
#6 Old 27th Jan 2005 at 6:16 PM
The house looks pretty good for the first stages, and I agree with some of the comments made above. My own two bits is that you should probably work on custom siding that includes the detailed trim that would adorn a real Queen Anne. My friend actually owns one, so I was interested to see what you'd done with the stairs. His are more complicated, but it's still interesting to get ideas. Maybe you could show us some interior shots?

This also reminds me how much I really - really wish Maxis would give us varying pitch rooves again. =o\
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#7 Old 27th Jan 2005 at 6:24 PM
Sachmeq - I'm not a big pink fan either, but do like I do and remember the game calls it coral. :-) Virtually all of my houses are small 1 and 2 bdrms, I like to move my Sims into good looking house and get it tolerably furnished for the 20K they start with. But I just had to do this one. I'll put a test family in it, but it won't get played for real.

The 2nd floor balcony door, I didn't even think twice about making it off-center, these houses are supposed to be asymetrical. But the general opinion seems to be that I need some balance here. The final style of siding, doors, and windows will have some bearing but I'll be keeping this in mind.

JWoods - I'm not sure what you are talking about the rail wrapping around the roof. I do see something weird on one side on the front view, but that is produced by the picture. The perspective doesn't show it, and neither does the house. If you see something odd in both views, I'd appreciate a clarification.

As for the windows on the right side. I see your point. Under the porch is the stairway so there can't be any windows there. Over the porch is a small area. The lower back of the house I just haven't put any there. But even with those windows it will still be more bare than the left side. Maybe I'd better re-visit that second balcony I was thinking of (if I can clear that fireplace...) and/or do a different gable over the porch. Since I can't add windows, add something to take the mind off it.

And all, I do appreciate the feedback and the kind comments.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#8 Old 27th Jan 2005 at 6:32 PM
AccioJosh - Custom siding is probably inevitable, but I just shudder at all the stuff I'll produce then decide its a little off and have to delete. Rinse and repeat ad naseum.

The stairway (I'd have included screenies but I needed my 4 pictures for what I need now) is a fairly simple open U. The wall distortion is a real problem to keep to a manageable level, hence the fairly simple stairway.

I've tried to make it as nice as possible, but I'll have to build one out in the open and take screenies of that. The entry hall here is way too small to get into for pictures.

And I'm with you on the different roof pitches. All my options were bad. I'm happy with the main roof, but that steep porch roof and flat tower hurt my feelings.
Lab Assistant
#9 Old 27th Jan 2005 at 6:35 PM
i would be interested in seeing some inside shots as well. If you wish to post a few screenies of the inside for everyone to see it will be ok.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#10 Old 27th Jan 2005 at 8:27 PM Last edited by jack_d_spratt : 28th Jan 2005 at 2:53 PM.
Well, since I have the blessing of the moderator...

Tonight I will build a staircase like the one in the house that I can take pictures of. And I'll flesh out the interior enough to take a shot or two.

Update: With WhiteFolk's kind permission, here are some more screenies.

First the stairway, there is no way in that small of an entry hall to take a photo in the actual house, so this is a rebuild of it alone in a field. I reproduced it faithfully, the good, the bad, and the ugly. The grandfather clock helps hide the wall distortion from the lower landing, and when I use the connecting stairs on the uppermost flight, the stairs distort before they reach the floor. This is a 20 click drop, but I was still surprised they did this. I built walls around it to hide it, in this photo it's a toss-up whether the walls or distortion would look worse but in more normal lighting the paneling matches the connecting stairs better and it doesn't look as bad.

Next two shots are floorplans. I have tried to maintain as accurate of interior as I can while also making it playable as a Sims house. I'm much happier with the first floor than the 2nd floor, which may get completely redone.

First floor. Entry hall at lower right, dining room behind it. Library at lower left (it's small, but I have a desk, a couple of bookcases and a couple of chairs. A chess table could easily replace the desk and one bookcase.) Parlor behind the library, room for piano, easels, and other gentile arts of the refined lady Kitchen at back with "breakfast nook". Half bath.

Second floor is 4 bedrooms, 3 baths. A small bedroom at front left. The master bedroom with bath behind that. Another bedroom across the hall next to the house bath. The back bedroom gets its own bath, this bedroom presumably used as a guest room. The small front bedroom could be used as a sitting room for the master bedroom, and the house bath as an attached bath for the middle bedroom, if desired.

Last are a group of small interior shots for flavor, just to give an idea of how I would furnish it. I wasn't aware that when you told the game you wanted a small picture, you got a *small* picture. But there you go. Clockwise from upper left: the parlor, the dining room, the master bedroom, and the tower in the library. The master bedroom shot was supposed to show the clever placement of the wardrobe along with the pleasant sitting area in front of the window, so that dark blob at the right is the wardrobe.
Screenshots
Forum Resident
#11 Old 28th Jan 2005 at 1:21 PM
Lab Assistant
#12 Old 28th Jan 2005 at 5:48 PM
looks good jack I like the interior layout that you did, looks very usable
Lab Assistant
#13 Old 28th Jan 2005 at 5:54 PM
I really like it. All the differant kinds of roofs are a nce effect. So far I havn't been able to get a roof to di into an exterior wall and I really like that.
Mesh Maestro
#14 Old 29th Jan 2005 at 8:42 PM
I got to say the same great interior, the layout with the three windows, curtains and two chairs... sweet!!! As far as my comment about the porch rail... maybe it is just the screen shots... If the sims can stand on the porch (there is a floor) then it is just a case of a misleading screeny... All in All it's a fine looking house... I had to look close to give you the critical views you pleaded for.. LOL This may be a dumb idea but where you can't place a window because of stairs a good idea is to take a close up screen sot of the windows in place and create a single wallpaper in home crafter with that window pasted from the screen shot... just a thought...
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#15 Old 31st Jan 2005 at 2:27 PM Last edited by jack_d_spratt : 31st Jan 2005 at 2:33 PM.
JWoods - It'll just be a screen shot thing on the balcony then, the Sims can access it fine. That balcony is actually created from a game problem, it won't put one roof over another, so the gable roof cuts out the balcony for me. But it works, and it leaves more railing exposed above the porch roof than would be normal.

Taking into account the comments here, I have made what looks like a fairly minor change but required a ground up rebuild. I've changed to a different stairway that allows some windows along the blank wall (but messes up my fireplaces, isn't that the way) and also modified the front gable, which made a gorgeous front to the house but also created some more problems. Right now I'm a little tired of fighting it and I went back to my favorites: 1 bedroom houses with character. I'll go back to this monster when my mood improves.

And I do appreciate the honest feedback, I believe the house looks better now than when I put it up here. I had gone as far as I could, and you folks allowed me to go farther.

Oh, and the 3 windows and chairs, that is in the tower in the library. I've done the floor properly now with more inlay, I'm using red chairs/curtains and have a chandelier hung in the center. I consider the stairway and that part of the house the most striking.
Field Researcher
#16 Old 4th Feb 2005 at 10:19 AM
If allowed by the moderator, could we see some pics of the "new and improved" house please? I feel you did a fantastic job with the pics I already saw.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#17 Old 4th Feb 2005 at 5:10 PM
I'm working on it. I'm sticking with default Maxis everything (it's the purist in me) and I have an acceptable interior and exterior color scheme. I think I know how to fix my fireplace problem, and I can build a proper roof for my tower (I think I can merge the house deforms with the tower deforms). And my mood on this monster has improved so I'm back to working on it.

I'll post pictures again, the worst they can do is ban me :howdy:
Guest
#18 Old 4th Feb 2005 at 5:38 PM
Very nice house! But I'm green with envy. I tried building the L-shaped stairs from MikeInside's tutorial and I can't get it to work! Do you have any hints on how you made yours?
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#19 Old 4th Feb 2005 at 5:57 PM
Slowly. And I'm not joking. I use different colors of walls on the interior and exterior so I can see just exactly what is deforming. After lowering the landings, I move up one floor at a time, leveling walls back to normal where they need leveled. And I stay real close to the undo button.

Where in the process are you having trouble? Getting the landing lowered, or straightening the walls afterwords?
Test Subject
#20 Old 22nd Feb 2005 at 1:31 AM
Default Lovely Victorian House
I just love your house, I would love to live in a house just like that. I know that you stated you are going to use everything from Maxis, but there is some wonderful victorian siding available on the sims resource, that would be just perfect for your house. I hope when you are finished you make this house available for downloads. Please keep us updated on your house.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#21 Old 22nd Feb 2005 at 1:57 PM
Well it's finished.

I've spent the last 3 weeks trying to get a tower roof I like. As pictured above the tower is an octogon, 3 tiles across flats. This leaves no center tile intersection to raise to a peak. I tried a 4 tile across flats octogon and had 3 problems. First, it is oversized for the house. Second, it is a poor representation of an octogon. Third, those short 4th floor walls on the tower means I can't do too much distortion or it affects the diagonal walls on the 3rd floor. The resulting low peak and ugly octogon forced me back to the 3 tile octogon and a standard Maxis roof.

If anyone has any ideas, I'll take them.

I'm real happy with the rest of the house, and I'll post it for download as soon as my hurt feelings recover from that tower roof.
Lab Assistant
#22 Old 27th Feb 2005 at 5:42 PM
Default Eval of house
[QUOTE
The 2nd floor balcony door, I didn't even think twice about making it off-center, these houses are supposed to be asymetrical.[/QUOTE]

But this was the very first thing that stuck out for me. I personally would not want it due to the asymetry of the doors and windows on that upper balcony, or would alter it immediently.

[QUOTE
Under the porch is the stairway so there can't be any windows there. [/QUOTE]

Why not? I add windows with my staircases all the time. It gives extra light in those otherwise darkened areas without adding lights.

Otherwise, I like the overall design. I personally would change the color, if it were me, but that's me. It's simply too pink for my tastes, regardless of what the color may be called.

I do have a question though... the windows in the bays... the diagional walls in specific. I've yet to be able to get a window in diagional walls, so suggestions on that would be helpful.

Thanks for sharing this with us.
Gillian
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#23 Old 28th Feb 2005 at 12:09 PM
I betting WhiteFolks closes this thread since the house is up. Much of the stuff you addressed was fixed in the final house.

And you can't place windows or doors on diagonal walls if moveObjects is on.
Lab Assistant
#24 Old 28th Feb 2005 at 4:52 PM
You guessed right Jack

Thank you for pointing it out to me with so many houses and threads on this site sometimes done houses slip through the cracks
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