One thing I have never tried in ALL the years I have played this franchise is to try building my house in The Sims. Like seriously I have been playing since The Sims 1 and never built ANY house that I have lived at!!! To me, this sounds like something someone would normally do… but I guess since I just recently got into building it kinda makes sense.
The House
So I got this crazy idea now that I moved into my family’s old hobby farm to build it in the Sims. I started working on it about two years ago and have been living in it for a little over a year now. I started with the basics repaint and making it liveable… and then life happened and I just could not keep going on it.
The majority of the house is about a hundred years old, paperwork states that it was built in 1925, however, the original portion is much older. It has had numerous additions. But the upstairs and living room and dining room are at least one hundred years old. You can really tell in the basement and the original portion has stones that look like they belong in a dungeon. The kitchen, bathroom, living room, library, and three seasons room are all additions that happened sometime after.
So what am I doing with all this house and two acres of land… I have no idea! I am at a loss of where to start and how to go about it. My parents are helping but it is still a lot of work. It does look a lot better, as when I got it, the house was pretty much gutted and bare. The previous residents were a little overzealous and started multiple rooms at the same time and got a bit overwhelmed. At the time there was also no reliable internet… but now… somehow we have fiber out in the sticks? It’s ok I am not going to complain about that as it did allow me to make a career change and allows me to game.
So where does the Sims come into all this… Well, I am hoping that by building my house in The Sims I can get a bit more organized in my head on what I am doing and how I am going about it. Soooo here we go! GO GO Building time!
Construction
Ah yes, construction and starting from scratch… well this is fun! First off my dad and I measured all the rooms. EVERY SINGLE ONE. Some of the rooms were a bit bigger than I anticipated and I realized I have ALOT of space. I started with the main floor first which contains a kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, formal dining room, living room, library, and three seasons room (with a hot tub).
Links – Kitchen Wall
I did notice that if I went even square to the actual square footage the rooms were way too big! So I ended up making the rooms smaller. I put the lot on a 50×50 plot just so I had a good amount of yard… now I am thinking I should have done a 64×64 as there is not nearly enough yard in the 50×50 and I could not even fit one of the three sections of the yards in the build.
Windows, Doors, Stairs, and Roofs
LINKS – Office Wall
This is where things get a little complicated… because the house had additions the roofs are very strange looking. Windows and doors were easy. I didn’t find the exact windows but I feel like I got close enough with the styles and placement. Stairs were a little limiting in what I could do in the game vs what is actually there. For example, there is a landing going up to the second floor and the basement stairs are pretty much under the stairs going up to the second floor. But there is a little room you have to go in to get to the basement stairs. In the game, you cannot put stairs on top of each other in the way the house is built.
Now, this is where things get crazy and I needed help. So I phoned a friend, who built a few things for The Resource Magazine and who has also given me several building lessons… (So that I don’t suck at building…) Anyway he looked at my actual house and the game and said my roofs were easy. With instruction and only one issue, I completed the roofs in under thirty minutes. I also think we got them pretty accurate on the angles and sizes. I do see now I forgot my attic windows. OOPS!
Landscaping
Now… we all know I love plants so I will spare you the long list of details in my landscaping plans. In real life, my garden beds are a hot mess, knowing this I just did what I wanted LOL. We all know I love plants soo… I went a little plant CRAZYYYYYYYYY. It’s just been too hot to actually go outside! I refuse. LOL So I took my effort and put it into landscaping in the Sims. If I am going to build my house in The Sims… I am going to have LOTS of plants.
Furniture
All I have to say is that my house looks so sad! I still do not have a lot of furniture so why bother when remodeling the ENTIRE HOUSE! The goal was room by room, but really only the three bedrooms are like 80% complete. So they have the most furniture. My kiddo’s room naturally has the best matching furniture, however, I like my room the best because of ALL the plants. I need to find some nice ceiling beams or hanging plants CC to put all over like I have in real life in my build.
Summary
So now that I have completed building my house in The Sims where do I go from here? Well… I was given the idea of making it look like how I would want it to look, which is a really great idea. But it also shows me how much work is left… LOL sooo sooo much work. I’m tired just looking at this hot mess! But at least it will give me inspiration for what to do next and how to decorate! Now to CC this place like CRAZY!!! Decorating is fun! And of course, a special thank you to my building helper! 😉
Keep up with more Sims stuff and what I’m up to at @TSR Jezi
If you are looking for more building or decorating articles check out The Adventures of a New Builder Part 1 or Part 2… or Paige’s Room Renos!
