My Bathroom Dilemma

"mightysprite;c-18007635" wrote:
I feel like outdoor-only basement access makes sense for a basement you're going to use as storage, not a basement that's part of the living space.
I'd probably put a 1-tile-wide staircase down to the basement either in the hallway (using 1 of the 2 tiles of hallway width) or running down the length of the current laundry room and bathroom, making the new bedroom a little more narrow. And then move the basement however you like to suit the staircase positioning.
Purple boxes show those two possible staircase locations
https://i.postimg.cc/QdPQxchC/06ZXRia.png

I do like the idea of entering from the current laundry room. The real life version of this house does have an under house laundry room coming off the garage.

I insist on having full baths on the main level of my sims’ homes. Putting it in the basement is just as bad as only having a second story bathroom. I would put the new bedroom in the basement instead.

It seems like it would be an annoyance to me. It seems like it would also take a lot of time to get there as well. If your sims bladders are full they may just pee their pants, LOL. I do play with houses that have this setup, but logically, it doesn't make sense to me nor would I build a home like that.

I'm sorry I don't like the idea. I require bathroom on the main floor for most houses and especially bigger households which this seems to be. Also from my experience it's a total pain when sims have to go outside in thunderstorms etc. In my case the main bedroom and second bath were upstairs with outdoors stairs. (I edited the stairs to be indoors.)

I also wouldn't do it, but then I prefer one-story-homes for my Sims anyway.

If you don't want a bedroom downstairs how about bunkbeds? Or you could extend the house. it would be annoying if sims use the basement and everytime change their clothes. Also guests would all be hanging out downstairs.
The method of placing the stairs like @mightysprite mentioned would also be a good solution, then put the laundry and bedroom downstairs and leave the bathroom on the main floor. You can then add an extra bath in the basement if you desire.

Hmm, I think the idea of having an outdoor staircase is a little far off and I'm pretty sure that the sims would just high tale it back into the main house during the worst part of the seasons of being too frightened. Have you tried to use the stair case tool and bending the stairs inward on themselves and placed them in the space where your current laundry room is to make it go into the basement from the inside so you could renovate it that way? That's what I would have done but if they still act up, why not just make a new addition to the main level?

I'm not a fan of bathrooms that far away from my sims. You could enclose that basement staircase with a couple of extra blocks and put a door from the inside similar to as if it's a real basement leading from the inside. Then you could put a larger bedroom down in the basement with its own bath, a laundry room, and keep the other bathroom where it is. To block it from looking weird outside you can add some wall-crawling vines or bigger plants.

Looking at the layout of your house, I think it will be a nuisance for sims to use the basement bathroom as the house is currently laid out.
Unless there's some aesthetic reason for it (such as maintaining the appearance of the deck), I would suggest lowering the foundation a bit, which will shorten the length of interior stairs going to the basement. If you were to bend the basement staircase in the middle (by 180 degrees) it would still fit in the same basement stairwell, even if the length of the stairs was greater.
I'd also say you might consider shrinking the master bedroom's walk-in closet and adjoining bathroom, and using the resulting space to create a second bathroom there. I like the way your bathrooms look, but they are larger than they need to be to accomplish all the necessary functions.

Hi Everyone, looking at my current layout I have decided to leave it as it is for now. One reason is there are only two kids left in the house and have their own spaces as you can see in the picture above. A fourth bedroom was considered when there were still four kids in the house but they soon moved on and eventually got places of their own.

When the remaining kids move out I may tinker with the layout again.