Forum Discussion
EnchantedOatmeal
4 years agoSeasoned Veteran
Now I'm gonna go over this briefly:
I)Get your inspo
II)Make a large rectangle
III)make bump outs
IV)Roooffff
Roofing and bump outs go hand in hand. One thing to help you place bump outs well is 1)Don't make the front or the back super flat (Unless you're doing colonial) and 2)WHERE IS THE KITCHEN? and WHERE IS THE FIREPLACE? You can use a few counters and a couch to help you figure out some of the floor plan as you place your bump outs. I looove to place my living rooms on flat walls of the main rectangle with a chimney jutting out and my kitchens in wide bump outs. Once you figure out that, you're pretty much golden on the floorplan because with bump outs, all the rooms just come together.
Now that you've figured out the layout and design of your home, you need deets.
V) Details--flower boxes, columns, patios, windows, doors, etc. With the window update (god bless), you can literally figure out anything with your fancy boxes. In my WIP, I'm limiting myself to ROM and Get Together because they have the right feel and I want this build to be a lil more accessible to other players than my normal pack-filled builds. Cats and Dogs goes well with Parenthood. Dineout and City Living. Jungle Adventure and Laundry Day. Some packs just fit together. Seasons windows go with EVERYTHING. Those stick straight columns in Get Together belong on EVERY SINGLE SUBURBAN house ever. Period. See Model Living from above. I outlined all my gray siding bump outs with those columns. If your house has colorful siding, outline them in stark white columns. Adding details in creative, but SIMPLE ways can make your build great. It can make it pop. In all my builds, you can see I don't go overboard with the flower boxes, I center all my windows, I vary textures, but not too much, and I make sure that the wall doesn't dominate. What I mean by that is you can't just have a small window on a big wall (unless you're going uber modern) Windows need to fit correctly. They need to be spaced correctly as well. Some windows look nice close together but others look better further apart. I used to be so bad at that but now I'm great at it and paying attention to other people's builds or taking a walk around my neighborhood has helped with that.
Once you've picked out deets for your build style, you need to apply color theory. This is where wall paper comes in.
VI)Coloring--What I notice immediately about your builds is your lack of understanding about color theory. There are some minecraft youtubers like Ethos Lab and BDouble0 that have videos on color theory that explain how to match colors or you can google it. I think that first and foremost, to make your builds look immediately better, is to color them correctly. If you look at houses IRL, you'll see they're all mostly one color or material, but in the sims, you need 2-3 colors/textures to make it look really good. In Little Boy Blue, I picked out my main color--white siding, my accent texture--stone, and my accent color--blue shingles. In Model Living, I picked out my main color--grey siding, my accent texture--wood planks, and my accent color--wide white planks. In my WIP, I have my main color--brown bricks, my accent texture--stone, and my second accent texture--that Get Together tudor wallpaper. Each time, I pick three things that vary not just in color, but texture as well, and at least two of them are neutral (brown, white, black, tan, grey). Too many colors is overwhelming. You've done a good job in getting neutrals in your builds but not a good job at matching neutrals to the appropriate pop of color and learning about color theory will help with that. In my WIP, the style is very detail oriented and has a lot of colors and textures so it can look a little busy at first glance but the key is to balance busyness with simplicity. You achieve that in the modern blue build (but the roofing needs help there) and you miss the mark in many of your other builds either swayign too simple or too busy and most of that is from the landscape.
VII)Landscaping.... I wanted to use my WIP to show you how landscaping can change a build. Right now, it's a cool-looking shell, but you can see that it's both a little complicated and a little simple. In the back, it looks slightly weird, on the side, the flat wall looks strange, and in the front, it looks kinda cold and intimidating. I'm going to show you a few pics of the landscaping process here:
So first off, what is the focal point for my backyard (or side yard in this case)? I alwayyyyys start in the back because my focal point determines my plants. I really want to use the hot tub and a trellis because I have a lot of space to cover and I want some vertical intrigue, but I might end up nixing the hot tub in favor of a pool.
https://i.imgur.com/lk6P9zs.png
Next, I want to map out what the backyard is going to look like. To me, this is even harder than building but landscape can make or break your build. One thing I think about with most builds is screenshot opportunities and landscaping can making your screenshots rise above. A nice backyard can also be a good place to propose or get married and with this "mini mansion" in Glimmerbrook I want romance and pixie dust. I'm using the ROM fencing, a plethora of bushes, a windy path, a cozy nook, and a raised trellis area. I've picked out some flower/bush arrangements and tested them out in the nook with the fountain before I proliferate them throughout the yard. because the yard is so large and I want it to feel cozy, I broke it up with the trellis area across from the patio, and with the swirly paths that will wind around elegant statues and benches.
https://i.imgur.com/fAC450N.png
So I proliferated my bushes, using alt one very single one, I added a statue, two more swirly paths, some garden beds around the rest of the house, lots of trees, and a trellis over the patio as well. Now I have a lush backyard and the view from all sides of the house is very quaint and full and lively. Glimmerbrook has a lot of pine trees so I incorporated those amongst the decorative spruce trees. I will continue to say it until the end of time: landscaping makes or breaks your build.
Sure I have a lot of flowers in the back, but I simplified the rest of the landscaping by using some large trees and the flowers in the beds will be simple as well. When you first do landscaping like this, it might look awful, but with practice you can perfect it. If you compare this landscaping to my more suburban builds, you will notice with suburban builds, I go pretty simple: a large grass space, a small patio or pool, and a few clumps of bushes/flowers and a flower bed or two, but I don't usually cover the whole backyard in foliage but this WIP is how you can make something magical and lush without going overboard. It's busy but because I use the same bushes and flowers throughout and clump like with like, it's not too busy.
Something I noticed with your builds is you didn't have the right balance in landscaping. You could either do random and busy or simple and patterned. Unlike the house, landscaping is supposed to be soft, to shape the angles of the house. Placing things neatly and perfectly doesn't sit right. With landscaping, alt-shift is your friend and you don't need to think about it too much. Pick 3-4 bushes/flowers and just go for it. You tend to want to place plants symmetrically or in line with each other, but you really want to vary your angles here. Never place two of the same trees right next to each other unless you size them differently and place them at an angle. I can see that this is going to be the toughest part of building for you because you seem to have a good grasp of bump outs and window placement. The easiest way to conquer landscaping is to copy the landscape around your build. The sim team did a good job designing the worlds and if you copy world landscaping you'll find your build looks a lot nicer and soon you'll be able to grasp the concepts of asymmetry and balancing busy with simple.
I hope that this helps you find not only inspiration, but a better grasp at sim-architecture and kind of the main properties of a good build. You have a good grasp on most of them, but there's always room for improvement and I think you might find yourself going back and improving on your old builds. I used to build these awful boxy mansions before I decided I wanted to learn how to build and I'm always improving (hello terrain tools, my old nemesis)
I leave you with one last thing: a challenge. I want you to try something I don't think you've tried before: follow this floorplan/facade:
https://monsterhouseplans.com/house-plans/modern-farmhouse-style/2400-sq-ft-home-1-story-3-bedroom-2-bath-house-plans-plan52-392.html
It has bump outs, dormers, a bit of a challenging roof, and some simple landscaping. You can test out color theory here pretty easily with about 2 main wallpapers and a wood accent. Build it on Optimist Outlook (30x40) in Newcrest
I)Get your inspo
II)Make a large rectangle
III)make bump outs
IV)Roooffff
Roofing and bump outs go hand in hand. One thing to help you place bump outs well is 1)Don't make the front or the back super flat (Unless you're doing colonial) and 2)WHERE IS THE KITCHEN? and WHERE IS THE FIREPLACE? You can use a few counters and a couch to help you figure out some of the floor plan as you place your bump outs. I looove to place my living rooms on flat walls of the main rectangle with a chimney jutting out and my kitchens in wide bump outs. Once you figure out that, you're pretty much golden on the floorplan because with bump outs, all the rooms just come together.
Now that you've figured out the layout and design of your home, you need deets.
V) Details--flower boxes, columns, patios, windows, doors, etc. With the window update (god bless), you can literally figure out anything with your fancy boxes. In my WIP, I'm limiting myself to ROM and Get Together because they have the right feel and I want this build to be a lil more accessible to other players than my normal pack-filled builds. Cats and Dogs goes well with Parenthood. Dineout and City Living. Jungle Adventure and Laundry Day. Some packs just fit together. Seasons windows go with EVERYTHING. Those stick straight columns in Get Together belong on EVERY SINGLE SUBURBAN house ever. Period. See Model Living from above. I outlined all my gray siding bump outs with those columns. If your house has colorful siding, outline them in stark white columns. Adding details in creative, but SIMPLE ways can make your build great. It can make it pop. In all my builds, you can see I don't go overboard with the flower boxes, I center all my windows, I vary textures, but not too much, and I make sure that the wall doesn't dominate. What I mean by that is you can't just have a small window on a big wall (unless you're going uber modern) Windows need to fit correctly. They need to be spaced correctly as well. Some windows look nice close together but others look better further apart. I used to be so bad at that but now I'm great at it and paying attention to other people's builds or taking a walk around my neighborhood has helped with that.
Once you've picked out deets for your build style, you need to apply color theory. This is where wall paper comes in.
VI)Coloring--What I notice immediately about your builds is your lack of understanding about color theory. There are some minecraft youtubers like Ethos Lab and BDouble0 that have videos on color theory that explain how to match colors or you can google it. I think that first and foremost, to make your builds look immediately better, is to color them correctly. If you look at houses IRL, you'll see they're all mostly one color or material, but in the sims, you need 2-3 colors/textures to make it look really good. In Little Boy Blue, I picked out my main color--white siding, my accent texture--stone, and my accent color--blue shingles. In Model Living, I picked out my main color--grey siding, my accent texture--wood planks, and my accent color--wide white planks. In my WIP, I have my main color--brown bricks, my accent texture--stone, and my second accent texture--that Get Together tudor wallpaper. Each time, I pick three things that vary not just in color, but texture as well, and at least two of them are neutral (brown, white, black, tan, grey). Too many colors is overwhelming. You've done a good job in getting neutrals in your builds but not a good job at matching neutrals to the appropriate pop of color and learning about color theory will help with that. In my WIP, the style is very detail oriented and has a lot of colors and textures so it can look a little busy at first glance but the key is to balance busyness with simplicity. You achieve that in the modern blue build (but the roofing needs help there) and you miss the mark in many of your other builds either swayign too simple or too busy and most of that is from the landscape.
VII)Landscaping.... I wanted to use my WIP to show you how landscaping can change a build. Right now, it's a cool-looking shell, but you can see that it's both a little complicated and a little simple. In the back, it looks slightly weird, on the side, the flat wall looks strange, and in the front, it looks kinda cold and intimidating. I'm going to show you a few pics of the landscaping process here:
So first off, what is the focal point for my backyard (or side yard in this case)? I alwayyyyys start in the back because my focal point determines my plants. I really want to use the hot tub and a trellis because I have a lot of space to cover and I want some vertical intrigue, but I might end up nixing the hot tub in favor of a pool.
https://i.imgur.com/lk6P9zs.png
Next, I want to map out what the backyard is going to look like. To me, this is even harder than building but landscape can make or break your build. One thing I think about with most builds is screenshot opportunities and landscaping can making your screenshots rise above. A nice backyard can also be a good place to propose or get married and with this "mini mansion" in Glimmerbrook I want romance and pixie dust. I'm using the ROM fencing, a plethora of bushes, a windy path, a cozy nook, and a raised trellis area. I've picked out some flower/bush arrangements and tested them out in the nook with the fountain before I proliferate them throughout the yard. because the yard is so large and I want it to feel cozy, I broke it up with the trellis area across from the patio, and with the swirly paths that will wind around elegant statues and benches.
https://i.imgur.com/fAC450N.png
So I proliferated my bushes, using alt one very single one, I added a statue, two more swirly paths, some garden beds around the rest of the house, lots of trees, and a trellis over the patio as well. Now I have a lush backyard and the view from all sides of the house is very quaint and full and lively. Glimmerbrook has a lot of pine trees so I incorporated those amongst the decorative spruce trees. I will continue to say it until the end of time: landscaping makes or breaks your build.
Spoiler
https://i.imgur.com/TQ1juEq.png
https://i.imgur.com/CGpJJU5.png
https://i.imgur.com/CvldFMy.png
https://i.imgur.com/faYg6Sh.png
https://i.imgur.com/YwyvzeH.png
https://i.imgur.com/CGpJJU5.png
https://i.imgur.com/CvldFMy.png
https://i.imgur.com/faYg6Sh.png
https://i.imgur.com/YwyvzeH.png
Sure I have a lot of flowers in the back, but I simplified the rest of the landscaping by using some large trees and the flowers in the beds will be simple as well. When you first do landscaping like this, it might look awful, but with practice you can perfect it. If you compare this landscaping to my more suburban builds, you will notice with suburban builds, I go pretty simple: a large grass space, a small patio or pool, and a few clumps of bushes/flowers and a flower bed or two, but I don't usually cover the whole backyard in foliage but this WIP is how you can make something magical and lush without going overboard. It's busy but because I use the same bushes and flowers throughout and clump like with like, it's not too busy.
Something I noticed with your builds is you didn't have the right balance in landscaping. You could either do random and busy or simple and patterned. Unlike the house, landscaping is supposed to be soft, to shape the angles of the house. Placing things neatly and perfectly doesn't sit right. With landscaping, alt-shift is your friend and you don't need to think about it too much. Pick 3-4 bushes/flowers and just go for it. You tend to want to place plants symmetrically or in line with each other, but you really want to vary your angles here. Never place two of the same trees right next to each other unless you size them differently and place them at an angle. I can see that this is going to be the toughest part of building for you because you seem to have a good grasp of bump outs and window placement. The easiest way to conquer landscaping is to copy the landscape around your build. The sim team did a good job designing the worlds and if you copy world landscaping you'll find your build looks a lot nicer and soon you'll be able to grasp the concepts of asymmetry and balancing busy with simple.
I hope that this helps you find not only inspiration, but a better grasp at sim-architecture and kind of the main properties of a good build. You have a good grasp on most of them, but there's always room for improvement and I think you might find yourself going back and improving on your old builds. I used to build these awful boxy mansions before I decided I wanted to learn how to build and I'm always improving (hello terrain tools, my old nemesis)
I leave you with one last thing: a challenge. I want you to try something I don't think you've tried before: follow this floorplan/facade:
https://monsterhouseplans.com/house-plans/modern-farmhouse-style/2400-sq-ft-home-1-story-3-bedroom-2-bath-house-plans-plan52-392.html
It has bump outs, dormers, a bit of a challenging roof, and some simple landscaping. You can test out color theory here pretty easily with about 2 main wallpapers and a wood accent. Build it on Optimist Outlook (30x40) in Newcrest
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