Habour Quarter Park

Hi everyone!

Welcome to Harbour Quarter Park (yes, I know I accidentally spelled harbor wrong, but it's spelled like that on the gallery, oops).

I started building this park because I wanted a place where sims of all ages could go to hang out and have fun. I paid a lot of attention to activities that children would be able to enjoy, because there really isn't a lot of places where kids can go to meet other kids or have club hangouts. I divided the park into four spaces, just because I thought it would be nice to have each space specifically for a certain activity. 

The only actual building on this lot is two-storied. On the ground floor there are 2 separate bathrooms and on the top floor there is a big cinema TV. I put the TV in so that if your sim is part of a group gathering and you wanted something for them to do together as a group they could all go upstairs and watch a movie. Also the TV is the perfect place for parents to relax while their children are playing on the playground. The top floor doesn't have a proper roof, just a skylight that I put some plants on to give it a unique and inviting look.

This part is where I put in some grills and some picnic benches for your sims to come and sit down and maybe enjoy a hot dog. This part of the park is a great place for parents to sit, because on one side there is the children's playground and on the other side there is the pool. I used as much landscaping as possible in this build, just because even though it's in the middle of a modern city area I wanted it to look lush and full of nature.

This is the pool area. Again I used a lot of landscaping and tried to make the pool look like a natural spring. I also put in a firepit for those late night ghost stories and a wishing well in the corner.

This is the children's playground area. There's a jungle gym and two sets of monkey bars for your little simlets to enjoy. I tried to make the landscaping look a little wilder in this part of the park. With wildflowers growing everywhere.

Well guys that's the build. I haven't really worked on building parks before, this one was one of my firsts, so I hope you like it! I'm going to start posting the weeks schedule at the bottom of every post, just so that you can know a bit more about what's going to be next.

Happy Simming!

XoXoX

Chrissie

Week's Schedule:

Thursday - Blog Showcase on a Tradisional Family Home

Sunday - Part 3 of Before & After series (the house/lot that will be remodeled will be decided by the comments that you leave me on the previous part of that series)

Before & After: The Landgraab Mansion

Hi everyone!

Welcome to another part of my Before & After mini-build series. First of all I'd like to say sorry that I haven't posted anything for like a week, our internet was down and only got fixed today. So yay, I'm able to post again!
But enough about that, let's get started on the build.

The Landgraab Mansion's front before.

The Landgraab Mansion's front after.

When I started this remodel I decided that something I was definitely going to change was the landscaping of this house, so that's what I started with. I didn't go all crazy with the coloring of the outside of the house. I just changed the wall color to something a little lighter. I also expanded the balconies and added some columns to the balconies and the front porch as well. You'll also see that I've put the entire house on a foundation, just because I thought it looked a bit better with the back patio and front veranda raised. The landscaping in the front I just added some {ok more like a lot!} of green plants and some colorful flowers. I'm not going to show off the back landscaping in full, like the front, but I also added a lot of green to make it look more inviting. I also put a high fence around the back to give them just a little more privacy.

The living room before.

The first part of the living room after.

The second part of the living room after.

Before I remodeled the house it looked very bare and empty to me, especially the living room. I decided to divide the living room with a little half wall down the middle. The front part that you see first when you walk in I made it a little reading area with a nice fireplace and some bookcases. The back part of the living room I turned into a place for just watching some TV and chilling. I put in a totally huge TV and added lots of seating room. I kept the walls a very plain white color and made the rest of the furniture a very light blue with dark black accents.

The dining room before.

The dining room after.

I know I'm doing this a bit backwards by showing the dining room first, but I did it this way because you have to walk through the dining room to get to the kitchen and I wanted it to look like your sims were giving a house tour. So anyway, getting back to the actual decorating part, I changed the walls to something a bit more monochrome. I changed the dining room table to something a bit lighter since the walls and floor are so dark. Yes, the chairs are mismatched, I did that to just add a bit of color in there with the purple chairs, and also 'cause I really like those chairs. :) I added some artwork, a rug and some plants to give it a more inviting feel. I also did something I usually don't do and tried to use some of the wall lights as decorations. I really hope it looks ok :)

The kitchen before.

The kitchen after.

The original kitchen I absolutely hated {no offense Maxis}, but it was just way to dark and empty looking for my taste. I like to make my rooms look light and lived in. I changed the walls of the kitchen to a cool stone pattern. You'll also see that all the double doors that lead outside I've changed to this grey glass door, 'cause I just didn't like the ones that came with the house. I added a door that leads to the patio area at the back of the kitchen. I tried to keep the grey color of the cupboards even though I changed the cupboards to a different style. Mainly with the kitchen I just added some clutter objects and rearranged the appliances and made the center isle bigger. Overall the kitchen looks more lived in and brighter than before.

The master bedroom before.

The first part of the master bedroom after.

The second part of the master bedroom after.

To start with the original master bedroom looked way too empty and way too blue for my tastes. I changed the wall color to a nice creamy color and tried to match the rest of the furniture with that color. I'm showing the after pictures of the master bedroom in 2 parts because I tried to divide the room without actually putting in any dividing walls. The first part is the dressing area where the dressers and wardrobe are with a little seating area with a desk and a computer. I tried to separate the seconde part with some dividers behind the desk. The back area has the bed, a seating area and I also added a fireplace, just to give that extra touch of opulence. I kept the entire room very light with white furniture with that cream/pinkish color.

Malcolm's bedroom before.

Malcolm's bedroom after.

Malcolm's original bedroom just made absolutely no sense to me, I mean orange walls, blue furniture and gym equipment in the middle of the room? I changed a lot on this room, starting with the walls. I changed the wall color to a dark sea-green color. I kept the blue concept with the furniture, but made them a little more of a subdued blue. I put in a seating area with a TV and stereo, just because in the game he starts out as a teen and as a teen myself I would love to have that in my room. I added a fireplace because this room is very big and it just looked very nice with the fireplace with a big picture over it. I did put in some gym equipment but I put it more to the side and tried to make it blend in more with the rest of the room.

The 2nd floor landing before.

The 2nd floor landing after.

I could never really figure out what the purpose of the room on the 2nd floor was, it just looked like a computer room/study room to me. I literally changed the whole room since I already put in a reading area in the living room and there's also a little computer area there as well. I added a little balcony around the stairs with a huge hanging chandelier. I turned this room into a gaming room for the family to enjoy together or with friends. I made the walls a lot lighter and added everything your sims could need in a gaming room, there's an arcade machine, card table, foosball table and a dart board. Overall this room is just the perfect place to relax and enjoy yourself.

Backyard patio before.

Backyard patio after.

The original house had this huge open area at the back of the kitchen that lead to the backyard that had literally nothing in it except for a picnic table. I think it might have been intended as a garage, but since we don't have cars in the Sims 4, I completely changed it and turned it into a sort of party area. I put in a DJ booth, dancefloor, bar area and also another seating area. {Yes, I'll admit I might have gone a little overboard with this room} I just wanted to make sure that this house had absolutely everything your sims could need to throw an amazing party.

The backyard before.

The first part of the backyard after.

The second part of the backyard after.

The original backyard I absolutely hated! I was huge but had almost nothing in it, and in my mind if you have a large space you need to make sure you put some stuff in it. I'm showing the backyard in 2 parts, because the first part is the back patio and it's raised higher than the rest of the backyard. On the patio I put in another bar and also a fireplace because I like the idea of an outdoor fireplace. In the second part you can see that I added a nice pool with rocks around it to make it look like a natural rock spring. You can also see some of the garden. I also added a hot tub, grill, firepit and some sitting place for your sims.

Well guys that's the house! I also redid all of the bathrooms, but since I wanted to show of all the other rooms, I decided to leave the bathroom pictures out. If you want to see the entire build in-game you can find it up on the gallery under: Landgraab Mansion Remodeled.

I hope you guys enjoy reading about this series as much as I enjoy building it! If you have any suggestions as to what house or community lot I should remodel next, please tell me in the comments.

Happy Simming!

XoXoX

Chrissie

Small Modern House

Hi everyone!

Today I thought I'd share another house that was a requested build for someone on the gallery. If you want to download this house for yourself it's up on the gallery under Small Modern Comission {yeah I just realized I spelled commission wrong :) } but that's how it's named on the gallery too.

So let's get started!

For the overall design of the house I tried to keep it super modern. To make the roof look more interesting I put in glass skylights over entrance, dining room and also over both bedrooms. The color theme on the outside I kept very light with lots of bright plants both in the front yard and also in the backyard. This is one of the smaller builds I've done in a while so I tried to keep the shape and layout as simple and modern as possible.

This is a shot from the front door where you can see the entire living room and a piece of the skylight right over the entranceway. I tried to keep the inside of the house as neutral and light as possible with pops of red in the curtains, some of the furniture and some of the lights as well. The living room is nice and open and flows into the kitchen and dining room. The archway leads to the hallway where the bedrooms and gym room are.

This just shows a view of the dining room and part of the kitchen from the living room. I kept the same color scheme that I used in the living room. When I built this house I was left with a huge open space between the kitchen area and the living room, so I just put in a grand piano, because you know why not? ;)

I really love the pale blue color of the kitchen with the dark marble of the floor, I just think the cupboards stand out while not being to overwhelming. The dining room as just off the kitchen and is rather small because this house was meant for a small family of maybe two or three. I just love that the dining room as floor-to-ceiling windows around all the walls, that give you a great view of the front gardens.

This house has two large bedrooms and both have their own bathrooms. I apologize for all the pink in this room, but the family that was going to live here had only one daughter so I built this room especially for her. It has absolutely every thing a girl could ever need. There's also another view of one of the skylights right over the bed with large windows to either side of the bed. This house has a lot of windows because I wanted it to look very open and modern.

The master bedroom is a large room that I tried to keep a light and neutral color. There's a dresser/vanity wall for your female sim and a curved desk for when they bring their work home with them :) This room also has a skylight over the bed and windows on either side to give as much natural light as possible to the room. The master bathroom has its own walk-in closet. I tried to keep this rooms color scheme as close as possible to the master bedrooms, with white, pale blue and some pops of dark blue in the curtains. It also doesn't have a lot of clutter and looks very minimalistic to keep to the modern theme of the rest of the house.

There wasn't a lot of room left in the backyard once the house was done, but I managed to put in a small pool and a decent sized patio with everything you family could need to spend a relaxing afternoon outside. You have to go through the gym to get to the backyard. I didn't show the gym because there really isn't that much to see. Around the corner from the back door you have a fire pit and grill. There's also an outside chess table. The roof over the grill is another skylight, but I put some plant over the top and on the sides of it so that it looks like a living green canopy over the grill.

Well guys that's the basically the entire house. Hope you guys like it! If you did or if you have any request or suggestions as to what I should build next, please leave me a comment down below.

Happy Simming

XoXoX

Chrissie

Before & After: Goth Manor

Hi everyone!

I thought I'd start this new mini-series {or at least that's the way I think of it}. It's called Before & After and in it I will remodel some {if not all} of the in-game houses and community lots that Maxis built. I think it will be interesting and fun to do. I'll post a few before & after pics and just talk about what I changed and why.OK, so let's jump on in!

I thought I'd start with one of the families that have been in every Sims game since the first game; The Goths.

The outside before.

The outside after.

On the outside I wanted to make it look a little lighter with some dark brown columns and railings because the original outside just looked a little dull to me with only black and dark grey everywhere. I changed the window colors to a darker brown and also expanded the top tower a bit to give it more of an interesting shape. I also added a few more plants in the back and in the front with a lighter more vibrant green color.

The hallway before.

The hallway after.

For the hallway I changed the walls to a little lighter looking red and changed the marble on the floor to a chequered black and white. I also added a big chandelier detail at the bottom of the staircase. The overall color scheme I used for the hallway is a dark blue and red with black wood accents.

The living room before.

The living room after.

I tried to keep to the old Victorian style as much as possible everywhere in the house. I kept with the same theme of dark red, blue and black wood in the living room as in the hallway. I added a lot of plants and flowers and moved the piano from upstairs down to the living room. I also added a flagstone detail to the floor around the fireplace and put a stone detail on the wall behind it with two columns at the ends.

The dining room before.

The dining room after.

I changed the colors in the dining room to blue to fit in with the hallway and living room. I also added a fireplace and a very opulent chandelier over the table that added a lot of light to the room.

The kitchen before.

The kitchen after.

The original kitchen looked a little washed out and the red curtains stood out way to much for me. I changed the floor and also the walls to something I would like to have in my kitchen :) I kept the cupboards the same color just added some more of them and rearranged them. I added some more chairs to the little breakfast nook and decided on a cream color to lighten things up a bit.

The upstairs landing before,

The upstairs landing after.

Before the landing was very empty looking for my tastes and since I moved the piano downstairs I added a TV and turned it in a kind of mini-lounge. I also added a computer in here and kept to the dark blue and red theme from downstairs.

The upstairs bathroom before.

The upstairs bathroom after.

For the upstairs bathroom that's mainly for the kids use, I made it a little smaller and a lot lighter in color, while still trying to keep to the Victorian style of the rest of the house. I changed the floor to a mosaic black tile that's one of my favorite tiles in-game and the walls to a red tile. I also redid the downstairs guest bathroom but since it's so small I didn't post pics of it.

Cassandra's bedroom before.

Cassandra's bedroom after.

Cassandra's room was a really great purple color so I decided to keep the color and style all the furniture in purple. I changed the walls to a light pink so that the room didn't look so morbid. I put in all new furniture including bed, desk, couch, bookcase, dresser and even added an easel. Now it looks like a bedroom I would love to have!

The master bedroom before.

The master bedroom after.

The original master bedroom looked really dull to me, so I changed the bed to black and white and then I put a lot of red accents in the room. The couches in-front of the windows I changed to a light grey color to match the bed. Since Bella looks like a really vain Sim I added a lot of mirrors in the room. Also adding some art on the walls made all the difference to the room!

The master bathroom before.

The master bathroom after.

The original master bathroom just looked really empty to me and nothing like what I would think a master bath would look like. So, I changed the floor to a black marble tile and the walls to a nice red color. I added a few pops of green to the towels and the curtains just to break up the red and black theme of the room. Now it really looks like a bathroom that Mortimer and Bella would have {at least to me}.

Alexander's bedroom before.

Alexander's bedroom after.

Alexander's room just looked way wrong to me so I changed basically everything in it. I expanded the room to make it into a little more of an interesting shape. I changed the walls to a blue instead of a red, because that just looked better to me. I added a desk, dresser and bookcase for him, also a potions table because that just seemed like something he'd have in his room. :)

OK, so that was most of the changes I made to the house. I left out the guest bathroom as well as the backyard pics, because they're not that big. I hope you guys like this remodel. If you want to download this and put it in your game, it's up on the gallery under Goth Manor Remodeled.

As always any comment or suggestions are welcome!

XoXoX

Chrissie