When you are planning to build a house from scratch to your own design which house do you start with?
I have two premium spaces available to build and I fancy having a go at completely removing a house room by room and starting fresh but am not sure which house to build first to unlock the plot. The empty lot is too expensive now and I thought one of the LP houses would be best, but which one would give the best value with adding the items to inventory versus LP cost. I was thinking of the top beach resort at 52 LP but I have a couple of those already so maybe a different one would be better. I have ended up messing up my head trying to sort it out, there is nothing like being so indecisive. I wondered what everyone else did.
You might want to go to the Guides and Tips forum and take a look at the thread for Pre-built houses. There are some nice pictures in that thread to show you what you get with each house.
It sort of depends on what kind of items you want to be able to plunder the house for... lol. The designer house has some nice furniture and kitchen items, and will give you a nice lot to build on. If you are building in the main town, that lot has a really nice fence and wooden benches along the sidewalk that sims seem to just love to sit on. On mystery island, it has the same fence as other lots, but still has the benches. I built that house on a mystery island lot and it comes with a really nice backyard ... there are a bunch of flower boxes that are only available at something like level 49, and a table with umbrella and chairs. I'm not sure if it comes with that in the main town or not.
The player designed house also has a lot of good furniture and items for plunder ... in particular, there are a lot of toddler toys that you have to buy with LP's. I've never built it on a premium lot though, so I'm not sure what (if any) extras come in the back yard.
I also like The Sanctuary because it comes with so many trees and potted plants. There's hardly anything in the way of furniture to plunder on that lot though.
Here's a link to pics of the houses. When I build from scratch I like to use graph paper to plan. Kinda all up to what you want. I did the beach house once because it was so easy to plunder all the guest house and then demo it and have lots of yard. It just all depends. My advice is dont get in a hurry. Plan it out.
HFN: #1 West Oceanside near Campgrounds
HH: Next to Fire Station
Still no police station in mah town
Thank you for your advice! I will take a look at the link for ideas. I like the idea of using graph paper to plan it out properly. This is going to be such fun.
I think the house building and rearranging furniture is what I like the best.
Graph paper helps with room connections. Also odd numbered squares allow you to center furniture. Just remember to plan yard space too and remember they are small and don't need giant space. I made both of those mistakes with my first big house. The have no side yard and almost no backyard and the humongous livingroom! Hahahaha...
HFN: #1 West Oceanside near Campgrounds
HH: Next to Fire Station
Still no police station in mah town
I tried some basic customisation on a pre-built basic house and tried to put too much in, can you say cramped LOL I am expecting to create a lot of mess but hope in the end, with practice, to improve so I can get something like the brilliant creations I see when visiting neighbours. I wish we could take more sims to visit neighbours, I think mine would move in permanently!
"I think the house building and rearranging furniture is what I like the best."
This is the part I have been looking forward to. So far I have concentrated on leveling up so I unlocked everything I want to use. Now to have fun...
Like OhioCat, I like to plan out my building on graph paper. It helps a great deal with making sure you have allowed space for windows and doors and the room's main features.
I try to stagger the outside walls, because it makes the roofs a lot more interesting.
Mostly, I start off with the Sanctuary, because it costs the least LP's and gives a ton of trees, but I also like the lot of the designer house. I built a couple of the Player Designed house and the Skater's Pads. Both have features that are immovable, which is annoying. It's always a trade-off, though, because the features and fences are cool, if they suit you.
ohiocat wrote:You might want to go to the Guides and Tips forum and take a look at the thread for Pre-built houses. There are some nice pictures in that thread to show you what you get with each house.
It sort of depends on what kind of items you want to be able to plunder the house for... lol. The designer house has some nice furniture and kitchen items, and will give you a nice lot to build on. If you are building in the main town, that lot has a really nice fence and wooden benches along the sidewalk that sims seem to just love to sit on. On mystery island, it has the same fence as other lots, but still has the benches. I built that house on a mystery island lot and it comes with a really nice backyard ... there are a bunch of flower boxes that are only available at something like level 49, and a table with umbrella and chairs. I'm not sure if it comes with that in the main town or not.
The player designed house also has a lot of good furniture and items for plunder ... in particular, there are a lot of toddler toys that you have to buy with LP's. I've never built it on a premium lot though, so I'm not sure what (if any) extras come in the back yard.
I also like The Sanctuary because it comes with so many trees and potted plants. There's hardly anything in the way of furniture to plunder on that lot though.
I built the player designed house on a premium lot. It came with a few extra trees. I decluttered the side yard by moving everything to the back. The fountain is unmoveable, so I added a couple of benches and a cherry tree to create a nice retreat. I added a front door to the music room (now a game room). It's become a favorite house for my core family.
I have tried various ways. I like using graph paper designs to start, but sometimes I do it on the fly as well. When I redesign a house, I almost always use graph paper first. Sometimes I graph the original design, and use that to help me judge the space I need for ny new design. I did my beachfront house and player designed houses this way. Also the Weasley's house was graph paper. My haunted house was on the fly. I knew I wanted it surrounded by trees and a shark infested moat, so I started with that.
HFN at #11 West Side. Haunted House at #1 East Side. Three star instruments at #3 East Side.
One small hint: if you have a pet on the lot, you may want to temporarily move him out while the construction is going on. Those buggers will invariably go and curl up to sleep right where you want to add a room. LOL.
I wondered what everyone else did.
