Brindleton Bay Apartments

A few years ago, I thought about creating an apartment building containing some of my favorite apartments from TV shows. I have an entire save just for TV show lots and households. But never did because we didn't have a way to create apartments. Now that FOR RENT has dropped, I decided to give it a try.

First, I scanned the internet for TV apartments and found a site that draws floor plans and adds furniture for placement. I copied the ones I liked into PAINT and placed them on one page so I could compare the shapes and sizes to see how hard it would be or even if it was possible to place them all in one buildings footprint without any odd rooms hanging out. These are the ones I downloaded. Big Bang, Will & Grace/Jack, Friends, Seinfeld, Sex in the City, How I met Your Mother and Frasier's Seattle penthouse. See plans below.

As I studied the plans, I saw that the Big Bang apartments had 45-degree angles that were going to be a problem. These are television studio sets, not real apartments in a real building. I would need to jog and jiggle the 45-degree sections and square them off to form straight walls and corners. The same was true of Frasier's penthouse. It is shaped like a fat Vee. It, too, would need to be jogged and jiggled. 

I decided to start with Big Bang's apartments. I also liked the stair hall with the stairs going up and down and the broken elevator. I cleared a 64x64 lot on Crumbling Isle in my Build save because I had no idea just how much room it would take up. If I could get the BB apartments square, those and the stair hall would tell me how wide the building would be. 

Floor #1. The building shape reminds me of Oklahoma turned 180-degrees. The "pan handle" contains the entry hall that has the buildings main entrance on the front and a rear entrance that leads to the courtyard where the pool, hot tub, seating areas and sun loungers are located. To the right of the entry hall is a gym for the residents. To the left is a horizontal hall that has the stair well, mailboxes and the doors to Monica/Rachael's apartment and Joey/Chandler's apartment. I couldn't place the apartments opposite each other, but they are very close and form an ELL shape with the boys along the front of the building and the girls longways to the rear next to the courtyard. I did not make Monica's kitchen with that 45-degree sink corner as it overlooked the hallway to the boy's apartment. In the left rear corner of the building, I added an inside parking garage. Due to this, the windows in both apartments needed to be moved to the opposite walls otherwise they overlook the garage, and no one needs a view of the garage. So, in Joey/Chandler's place, the yellow sofa and windows are where the cameras normally are on set. I placed a desk, computer and bookshelves where the yellow couch was. In the other, I placed the atrium window on the camera wall and a desk and bookshelves with artwork where it would be in the show. I'm really proud of how the atrium window turned out. It overlooks the courtyard and pool, but there are shades and curtains that can be closed for privacy. (They're sims, the don't care) Monica's living room is purple paneling which we don't have. We don't even have any pretty purple paint. I did find some paneling in the MODERN LUX kit that is a nice shade of blue/gray that works very well.

Floor #2. The second floor has a reworked Penny's place above the entry hall and gym. In the original plan, Penny's bedroom is to the top of the plan with the bathroom beyond that which would stick far out of the building footprint. So, I moved the bedroom to the other side of the apartment with the bath. Her place fits the footprint below perfectly and with the furniture placement, I think it works great as her place. The boys place across the hall is pretty much as seen on TV. The only exception is the area in the corner where the windows are. Due to the wall with all the bookcases, closet and stuff being the outside wall of the building, I had to swape the blue window wall with the other wall on the front of the building. But all the stuff is there to look like that area on the show. In the hallway, there is a window, but I needed that area for the bathroom with the two bedrooms down the hall. These two apartments took up the front half of the building leaving (I hoped) room for both Carrie's apartment and Seinfeld's in the rear left corner. They both are square, so they were easy to fit in that space.

NOTE: The second floor was the first full floor I built as it would define the buildings footprint. Then, on another area on the 64x64 lot, I used the footprint to build the first floor which worked out perfectly and left that rear left corner to become garage space. I then moved the second floor on to the top of the first floor and had two floors built.

Floor #3. The third floor consists of Will and Grace's apartment with Jack's above Penny's in that pan handle. I couldn't place their apartments opposite each other as Will's covers the entire back half of the building. But that left just enough room for Ted Mosby's apartment from How I Met Your Mother along the front opposite Jacks. I did need to flip it forward so, plan wise, the kitchen is in the back with the dining area, living room and bath. The two bedrooms with the work area have windows so they are on the front of the building. Again, the layouts are pretty accurate, and the furnishing will give the idea of the TV shows. I even added the small table and chairs Jack placed outside of his apartment for his bistro.

Floor #4. The fourth floor has a common roof terrace above Jack's apartment that can be used by any resident. It has a bar with counter seating and a grill from PERFECT PATIO. There are two umbrella tables with four chairs and the Romeo and Juliet Arbor from RIVIERA RETREAT kit. Under the arbor is a fire pit with seating.  The majority of the fourth floor is Frasier's penthouse. Despite the Vee shape, it was fairly easy to tilt the left leg up straight and the right leg down flat. The door is in the stair landing that also leads to the terrace. Once flattened out, it was fairly easy to build. Enter and the powder room is there with the fireplace after that. I couldn't get the curve on the fireplace, so I just made it flat. I also rotated the couch to see the fireplace and TV. It was facing away from the fireplace for the cameras, and I didn't think it needed to stay that way. Martain's chair is there with a small table where his beer sits. Then the dining room and the kitchen. The kitchen wasn't deep enough for that small island, so I added more cabinets with a table in the center. I did manage to get the bar area between the kitchen and piano area with all the shelves full of glassware and plates. I placed the laundry room off the kitchen as it just was easier plan wise. I think I did a pretty good job on the post with the cabinetry around it. I couldn't make any bookcase work, so I used a outward corner cabinet all around it and I think it works, Past the bar is a small hall with a bathroom for Daphne and a door to her bedroom. Her bed is on a 45-degree angle with a sliding door to the terrace. Down the hall, behind the fireplace, is a door to Frasier's bedroom. It is huge with his bed in the middle of the room up against some cabinetry with sliding doors to the terrace beyond that. Down a hall is his bath with the toilet in that 45-degree niche. After traveling to Japan, he redecorated his bath to be more Zen. Past that is his closet. Past Frasier's door is Martain's door and at the end of the hall is a utility room with a hot water heater and an electrical box. In Martain's bedroom, there weren't any good pictures so, I tried to make it very masculine using blues. I also used bits and bobs from GET TO WORK police career. Pictures, etc. The plan shows a small deck, but I moved it to the hall to the bath. Here, he can sit and drink coffee or have a beer and watch the sun rise or set. Past that, is a dressing area with a full-length mirror and big box closet. On further is his bathroom. Frasier's bedroom and Daphne's bedroom along with the piano area all have sliding doors to the big terrace which is the million-dollar view of Brindleton Bay. The terrace has a seating area, a telescope, hot tub and a sun lounger for Daphne to get a little sun on her pale British skin. I also added the Tiki bar as a nod to the episodes where Frasier took a girl friend to an island for romance but found that his room was next door to Lilith's room. 

All three apartment floors have a laundry room and utility room with one hot water heater and one electrical box for each apartment on that floor. Mine are NON working but you can replace them with working versions if you like.

I searched the internet for pictures of each room in each apartment. Some had few if any pictures, mostly the bedrooms, while others had too many. Will's living room for example, had lots of pictures but most had slight differences. The couch was different, his chair changed, the table next to his chair or the dining room chairs. I presumed these were seasonal changes that were made from season to season. Finally, I opted to pick the ones I liked best and could make a match for with what we have to work with.

Eventually, I will create the people in CAS, but this build took a lot out of this old man. When I do, I'll drop a note here.

This HAS NOT been play tested.

It IS NOT divided into separate apartments yet. That is for you to do.

WARNING: IT IS SUPER OBJECT HEAVY. It may take time to load if your machine is older. Leonard and Sheldon's apartment alone has a lot of objects to make it look like theirs.

I built this building on the 30x40 lot to the left in Brindleton Bay. If you want to download this lot: #dannydanbo58, #apartments, #brindletonbay