OKay, this might possibly be a bit much >_<. Mods, lemme know if I went overboard. Reviewees, please feel free to PM me if you have any questions or want expansion on anything.
Everyone had good and bad things about their designs. I really found it interesting exploring the different designs, and I know i spotted some tricks I hope to put in my toolbag.
And can I just say, the Hydrangea producers had better be on the ball, because once these houses start rolling out, they're going to have to provide a lot of them ;-]
TwinMum
- Great exterior, interesting roofline, loved the carport. Landscaping minimal, but fits the house. Lots of room for expansion.
- I think a nice tall tree, like one of the aspens, would have broken up the roof and given a little more exterior interest.
- The decorating you did is great. the bedroom and bathroom are nice on their own, and the two schemes complement each other.
- The greatroom feels unfinished to me. Compared to the other two rooms, it's all shades of tan, except for the countertops. My suggestion would be to go with a smooth wall texture, instead of the mottled wall paper you have now. Crisp white for either the cabinets and appliances, or the walls and appliances. Go with a darker, but still solid, color for the other, like a silver or light grey. That way you've got a nice neutral background to work some other colors in for the rest of the room.
Summary: A unique house design, lots of room for expansion on the lot. Design felt a smidge unfinished.
Joria:
- Possibly a bit over board on the hydrangeas (;-]) but the flower beds and trees were well placed. Loved the bench and the darker flowers lining the path to the front door.
- You used different patterns and colors VERY effectively. While there was definitely a color theme, it did not feel monochromatic. The different stripe patterns carried the theme through the house, but offered variety. Very well done
- I love where you used the red window frame, and how they popped against the white walls. I think you could have carried that through to the door frames and the smaller windows as well. This would have carried the theme through the house, and the bright red would have been a nice color contrast against the violets and whites.
- Nice use of the spraypaint tool to take the landscaping all the way to the edges of the lot
- The interior layout was a bit odd, mainly having the bonus room through the bedroom. I think if you just flipped that back wing end for end it would make a bit more sense, floor plan wise.
Summary: Awesome interior design choices. Great use of textures to create variety with limited palate. Floorplan felt awkward.
TommyT
- Great exterior silhouette, good use of trees to break up the blocky lines, landscaping used limited choices, but arranged to provide variety.
- The spraypaint tool for the little dirt spots under the rocks was awesome.
- Design wise, you used the dark violet in a few key pieces, including some of the bookshelves which was an awesome touch. You did a great open floor plan, and it was very nicely arranged.
- It was a little dark in tone for what I thought Sarah would be looking for, but i think it's still an awesome job.
Summary: Modern inside and out. Awesome landscaping. Great layout. Cohesive design. Could have used a little more brightness. One of my top three.
AriaGirl:
- Bedroom: The green and purple complement each other and pop nicely. The wood from the bed and the dresser disappear into the wood floor. Suggestion: Light Grey or green carpet to let the wood stand out and still compliment the other colors.
- Bathroom: The busy tile and the smooth peach wall are a very nice compliment. Keeping the furnishings white lets them stand out.
- Living Cluster: The couches, wicker rug and the walls all complement each other nicely. Unfortunately, they're not placed so you can see that contrast. Suggestion: Set the couches touching the rug, maybe at an angle, and put the couches against the wall for the color to play.
- I think you said it yourself, this would have benefited from a smaller footprint.
Lofts are hard to do in the Sims. We're stuck with some limitations of the game engine like the height of ceiling needed for overhead when you're doing a slant like that. A couple trees would help break up the silhouette of the house.
Summary: Lofts are hard. Great bathroom. Some really nice design choices. A little smaller floor plan would tighten things up, and put a little more money in the budget to finish it off.
Pam:
- Great exterior. The roof-line & silhouette are very unique and interesting to look at. Fun touch with recoloring the mailbox & trashcan.
- I'd like to see some of the flowers moved from the front to the back of the house.
- Nice open floor plan. There is room to grow, but it doesn't feel either empty, nor cluttered.
- The pattern in the bedroom, the blue couch against the half-wall in the living room, the wall paper in the bathroom were nice, bold choices.
- The blue of the couch and the kitchen counters (nice job, i hate designing counters the most) were nice stand outs.
- Me being retentive: the couch looked very plasticy close up, as did the bedspread in the screenshot (I didn't have that actual bed in game, so it didn't carry over.) Plastic furniture reminds me of my grandmother's house, not a hip trendy single.
- I think a little more variation in color and floor texture would have been nice, but otherwise i think you did a fantastic job.
Summary: unique silhouette, great floor plan, nice use of colors.
Samhot04:
- The exterior has this funky Oriental Gate vibe that grew on me.
- Nice use of landscaping up front. The placements are similar, but not symmetrical, which sets off the house nicely.
- I very much like the atrium at the center of the house. I would have liked a door onto the atrium, and perhaps a little more variety of flowers than just the hydrangea.
- I loved the ivy at the entry way. That was very clever and a nice touch.
- The bathroom is a nice contrast to the rest of the house with the different floor.
Suggestions: flip flop the kitchen/living wing. Put the kitchen "L" in the corner where the couch and the fern thing are now, so you're not "losing" that corner between the fridge and counter.
- Make the counter tops white (or a lighter violet) to make them stand out from the wall.
- Re color the fridge a solid color like white or black or the burgundy of the stove. The reflective silver picked up the wall color and it just blended in.
Summary: really unique roofline and layout. Some very clever touches. The violet walls became the neutral color, need a bit more contrast to it in some areas.
LenaLJ:
- Exterior more "cottage" than modern, it's nicely done w/ much exterior character.
- The water feature is nice, as are the trees, but they're uniform and the trees are far back from the house. Since you had an extra $1500 to play with, I think we could have seen a few different trees, maybe a larger black gum among the smaller ones.
- Cottage outside, creamy modern interior. Despite the traditional lines of the exterior, the interior pops modern and relaxing.
- you picked three different, but complimentary colors that fit the theme and played well off of each other.
- The kitchen is the only place here that I really stick on for some reason, and I can't put my finger on why. It may be as simple as a different, darker flooring choice to separate that area from the rest of the great room.
Suggestion: You had enough extra funds I would have upgraded the stove and fridge to the next level. Also: Fire alarm.
Summary: Cute Cottage outside, creamy modern interior. Great back patio. Kitchen needs something, not sure what. One of my top three.
LillyGirl:
- Traditional cottage, nice, neat and trim.
- The extra gables in the front and the overhangs in the back and side add visual interest and keep it from being boxy.
- The entryway adds great visual interest and a focal point.
- I think the placement of the mailbox and the trash can (cleverly matching the house colors) helps add just a little visual imbalance to the otherwise symmetrical front, which is a good thing.
- Within the budget you have made a very large house, and I think managed to use the space quite well. However, the more traditional floor plan keeps this from feeling really "modern" to me.
You did some really cool things with design:
- Kitchen: the tile floor that alternates the countertop and the cabinet color
- Bedroom: The bottom half of the wall paper had a little sheen, cause the two colors were close to each other. Also, it was a nice contrast that let the bed and dresser stand out from the wall instead of blending in.
- Bathroom: I can NEVER match the wall tile with the floor tile. Your solution of having the solid color on the lower half of the wall was enough separation that the two tiles didn't jar the eye. That's a very cool trick I need to remember.
Solution: Cute exterior. Floorplan feels not-modern.
