Difference between revisions of "Tutorials:Building Great Realistic Houses - From the Ground Up/Interior"

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(Image:RightArrow.gifFurniture Placement)
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=[[Image:RightArrow.gif]]What is this all about anyway?=
 
==Intro==
 
Ok so you think your interiors are looking a little bland? Colour scheme gone haywire? Can't get to the toilet! o.O then this tutorial will help you fix all the errors and ugly parts so you have a ravishing and fruitful home!
 
 
 
==What can i learn?==
 
In this tutorial you will learn how to colour code sections to make sure they don't look really odd, you will also learn about placing rooms and the sizes you should use; lastly you will learn what furniture goes in what room, no one wants a toilet in their kitchen, unless you are really lazy and want convenience, and hopefully also live alone....
 
 
 
==FAQ==
 
FAQ coming soon!
 
  
 
=[[Image:RightArrow.gif]]Room Sizes=
 
=[[Image:RightArrow.gif]]Room Sizes=

Revision as of 08:43, 26 July 2009

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Contents

RightArrow.gifRoom Sizes

Room sizing is key to make a house work right, so read below on all the information you will need to make your house that little bit better, or maybe even a lot better!


Room Size Briefing

This is the first stumbling blocks builders run across. They don’t have any concept of simscale and that will give you and awkward building EVERYTIME. Yes, its true that there are plenty of gigantic mansions out there, but usually doing those well is NOT a beginner project. Usually the first thing I like to have new builders do is look at the room they are sitting in and try to figure out how many sim tiles the room would be. So, look around you at the room you're in. Unless you've just moved in, it's probably not full of empty spaces with nothing there. Sim rooms should be about the same - plan the room size around the amount of stuff you're going to put in. You don't have to fill up every tile, but there shouldn't be room to go roller skating in the middle of the living room.

With the ability to measure out a real room in sim tiles it easier to understand the scale. For your convience, I’ve included ranges used for most ‘normal family homes’ for rooms. These are NOT rules! They are guidelines. They are also not perfect. The numbers I've given are basic and boring squares. It is completely possible to make houses that do not follow any of these sizes at all, but its good to get the basics down first before attempting the mansions or the minilots.


Bathroom

A half bath (toilet and sink) can be as small as 1x3 with the door in the center. I’ve also seen them without the sink and been as small as 1x2! Do keep in mind though, that smaller rooms can be traffic problems, so don’t do too small if its in a house meant for a lot of sims. A nice sized half bath is 2x2. Put the toilet on one wall the sink on the other and a plant or table in the dead space. Small, pretty, function, scaled. Full baths (with a tub or shower) can be as small as 2x3. These are especially nice as the upstairs main bath (the one that connects to the hallway or kids rooms). 3x3 also still works especially if you wish to include both a shower and a tub. 3x3 is a nice sized Master bath, and I’ve even seen them as large as 4x4 without looking out of place. If you wish to make it more of a Master ‘spa and retreat’ and include a hot tub you will obviously need more space. ‘His’ and ‘Hers’ counters and sinks take up more space. Making rooms bigger is perfectly fine as long as it has a purpose. If you make the room too large and don’t fill it or break it up into little areas with decorative fences, half walls, or stages, it feels too large and empty.

Bathroomssizing.jpg

Bedroom

This is another room that is often scaled incorrectly. Bedrooms can range between being a tiny 2x3 (not really big enough, not advised) to much larger Master suites. Most kid’s or second bedrooms should be atleast 3x3. 4x4 is much more comfortable and that’s the size I typically use for my normal houses. 3x3 is good for a nursery but not usually roomy enough for kids and teens. 4x4 is the smallest possible size for a Master bedroom. That only has enough space for a double bed in the center of the room. 5x6 is nicer, has room for a dresser or a sitting area. I would not suggest anything larger than 6x6 unless it has a specific purpose such as an attached reading nook or sewing area.

Bedroomsizing.jpg

Kitchen

Kitchens all depend on what you want to do and the number of counters you want to use. Look at your own kitchen and see how many "tiles" it would be. How many counter spots do you have? If you want to build a larger kitchen and you don't live in a big house, find pics online - unless it's an actual large restaurant kitchen, it's not going to have more than 10 counter spots. Minimally you need one to prep food on and one to put a sink into, but usually there is more counter space than that. 4 tends to make a nice but small kitchen. This doesn’t include any islands that you plan on using for eating at. These barstool areas can look awkward as well if you have to many. Having between 2 and 4 is just the right number. Any more than four tends to make the area look too long and at that point it would be more efficient to just have a table. Even four is pushing it though in a small kitchen, so take a good hard look at it if you have that many to make sure your kitchen can support it. Most normal kitchens are either a square or a rectangular in shape, depending on the space you have given it in the house. Anywhere between 3x4 and 5x6 is perfectly decent and plenty of space.


Living Room

This one is also hard to judge scale on, so this isn’t hard and fast directions. 3x3 will get you a small little TV den. 4x4 and you can comfortable include a bookcase or two. 5x5 gets you a TV area and maybe a separate reading area or a chess table. A little larger and you have room for a pool table. 6x6 is probably the biggest you’d want to go at this point. If you start having too much space and you don’t know what to do with it, then shrink the space or divide it into areas or another room entirely.


Hallways

""Actual hallways between rooms really should be atleast 2 tiles wide"". Sims are notoriously bad about navigation and get stuck easily, especially if they aren’t the only living thing in the house. Walkways between furniture need only be one or two tiles as well. Believe me, I’ve seen houses where there were at least six tiles between the couch and the (tiny) tv. I don’t know about you, but the only way I would be able to see the tv from that distance would be if I had a telescope. One or two (even three) is plenty and all you really need. Likewise, your bookcases shouldn't be miles away from your nearest chair. This leads me into my next topic.

RightArrow.gifFurniture Placement

Furniture placement: If there is a bed in a room it’s a bedroom, right? Ok, its basic and everyone knows that, so it’s a good place to start. The room with the fridge and the stove is the kitchen, still with me? Good. Ok, lets get a bit out of our comfort zone now. Where does the tv go? The best answers are ‘living room’, ‘den’, ‘family room’, and ‘rec room’. Ok answers are ‘kitchen’, and ‘bedroom’. Wrong answers include ‘bathroom’. How’d you do? I expect you did well on that one, it was pretty easy. Here’s a harder one. Where do hot tubs go? If you answered ‘the back deck/patio/yard’ good job! Large master baths are also ok as long as they are done correctly. If you answered ‘dining room’ you failed the lesson. Here’s another tricky one. Where can you place gym equipment? It is improper to have those things just sitting out for the world to see. They can’t go in any of your ‘public’ rooms (living room, kitchen, dining) just out in the open. You need to specifically address where the equipment goes. It either goes in its own little room in an extra ‘bedroom’ or in the basement, or the den, or the back porch, or in a corner that makes it LOOK like it belongs there in the living room.

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Common furniture for rooms


Bathrooms: Sink, shower, tub, toilet, countertops, maybe a hot tub, small endtables for plants/deco…
Bedrooms: Bed, dresser, nightstands, mirrors, vanitys, comfy chairs, toy boxes, children’s etc…
Kitchens: Counters, sink, stove, fridge, trashcan, table and chair set, small appliances…
Living rooms: couches, chairs, tv, stereo, bookcases, endtables, coffee tables, piano, maybe a pool table
Dining room: Table and chair set, maybe a dresser acting as a sideboard…
Deck: Patio furniture, hot tub, grill, table and chair set

Things that DO NOT belong in normal family homes


Bowling alleys, skating rinks, the Electrodance sphere, disco lights, the tiles that change color, other rave/dance equipment etc, indoor basketball courts or soccer fields, two story tall statues, etc. If you are iffy on something, go ask your mom if you can have one for real in your house. If she laughs at you, then no, whatever it is doesn’t belong in a house.

RightArrow.gifDecorating

Decorating: There are plenty of ways of doing this right, and there are just as many ways of doing it wrong. I’m going to give you a few standard ‘right’ ways that you can use until you fell comfortable branching out into more difficult color schemes.

My standard (what I personally use, do not confuse with 'best way' or 'only way') for unfurnished houses is ‘Beachy Keen’ wallpaper with white baseboards and crown moldings for every room. It has a few variations that are useful too, the white beadboard one works well for bathrooms for instance. For flooring, the ‘Seattle’ or that other plain white tile in both the kitchen and the bathrooms, a light wood flooring in the living room, dining room, and hallways, and a beige carpet for all the bedrooms. Simple and no one will object saying it’s too ugly or not their taste. If it’s an unfurnished house the download has to furnish it anyways, they tend to re-wallpaper at that point too. I did this in all [Phaenoh's] Katrina cottages, its standard, but REALLY DULL.


Color Choices

If you are furnishing your house then you need to pick a color theme. Try going ‘monochromatic’. Big word, I know, but it means ‘one color’, like you can decorate in similar shades of green. When you are picking a color for a room, you get to either put that color on the walls or on the floor, not on both. If the walls are blue, make sure the floor is a natural wood or neutral tile. If you are doing blue carpet, go for beige or white on the walls. Too much color is a bad thing, it really is. Carry your color scheme onto the furniture too, naturals and your color. It will work, I promise.

If you would like you can also try using only warm colors (red, orange, yellow) or only cool colors (green, blue, purple). Still only use color in one place in the room, walls or floors. Another option to try out is the popular ‘modern’ color scheme: white, black, and sometimes gray or a bright color. Another color scheme you can play with that I’ve only recently discovered can work well is ‘complimentary’ colors. Those would be red with green, blue with orange, or purple with yellow. I got the red with green one to work without the house looking like a Christmas tree, its difficult, but possible.

RightArrow.gifRoom Placement

Room Placement is key in a house to not only make it realistic but so it functions well too! The information below will help you build rooms in all the right places.

Topdownview.jpg

Placing Rooms - Need to know

Ok when building the inside walls to a house you need to PROPORTION them, e.g. your toilet isn't going to be bigger than your kitchen! So make sure your downstairs toilet is the smallest room, the lounge should be the biggest, the study and dining room should only be as big as the furniture requires them to be and kitchen should be reasonably big, but not as big as the lounge!

The next thing to consider is access, you should have a main hallway with your staircase if you house is big enough, if not then the lounge should lead off the main door and contain the stairs. The first room (in this example the hall) should have doors that access EVERY room on that level! Look to the image to the right and you will see the hall let's you access the WC, Dining room, Kitchen, Lounge and Study; this is vital otherwise sims will be wandering all around the building.

Lastly is rooms that can access each other, the following rooms should have connecting doors:

  • Dining room --> Kitchen
  • Lounge --> Kitchen
  • Study --> Lounge

These doors are not only common in normal houses but work for the sims because they don't have to wander about so much looking for the doors. ALSO NEVER place a room that can only be accessed by going out of the building and back in again, but is still a part of the house, this is stupid and unnessecary.

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