July 2010 Building Contest Feedback

[curlybennett]

I'd love to hear any comments/improvements for my buildings

[Gheez]

Thanks Twinmum.

Like curlybennett, I too would love to hear any comments/improvements.  Thank you.

[Joria]

Caliban your critique was superb!  Really gave me more insight than what I got just by quickly looking at the photos of each house.  Next time around I think I will download and play each home to get a much better idea of what I like and don't like.

In my house, I had a really hard time with both the dollar amount and the color scheme.  I'm so used to building upper middle class 2/3 br houses or bigger it was quite a stretch for me to build my first starter home.  Violet is one of my least favorite colors to use ever, anywhere.  Personal preference.  My houses usually feature a pink/peach/white theme with a few brighter colors here and there or soft blue or green and definitely ultra modern black/white/red/grey.  I tend to monotones.

  The bonus room off to the bedroom is meant to be just that.  A bonus area that our Sim could use as a future nursery, (no need for access to public rooms), a quiet place to study or work away from public spaces, or knock out that wall and make a huge br.  I could have just left it off entirely, and considered doing that, but I wanted our friend to have room for that first baby or an office that would be away from a space for cooking, friends, and so on.  I left it on because otherwise the house was just another rectangle.  I guess I fell in love with bonus rooms when we went house hunting and my favorite house, (which we could not afford), had two of them off two bedrooms.

Now, looking at the houses: 

Twinmum:  I love the carport idea and your house is......well....CUTE!  It actually reminds me of the starter home my aunt and uncle had.  Small, but compact.  I am not terribly fond of the oarsman columns.  I personally would have chosen the front porch column.  The oarsman shape would be better if EA had made it a total straight cube instead of a flat pillar, but I could see what you were getting at.  As a housewife I would have had fits if my laundry room was across the breeze way!  So I considered it a garden shed instead.  A good place to put my lawn mower and bicycle.  It had too much of a feel of an apartment rather than a house for me, but that is hard to get away from when you are building small.  I think a bit more landscaping, even with terrain paint, would have gone a long way for this home.  I wanted to see more flowers but you covered that with the window box windows.  Loved that.

TommyT:  what can I say?  You are definitely the master of modern.  I truly dislike using wood paneling in a home but you somehow made it work and made it look interesting instead of 60's flower power.  The colors were a bit dark for me, a bit more masculine than I think our heroine would have chosen.  I loved the layout for a single guy, but my personal belief is privacy in the bedroom is a must.  It still looked really wonderful and young and vibrant feeling, but not sure our up and coming professional would have wanted her bedroom in public view.  The other thing I'm not thrilled with in any home is a kitchen with a straight line cooking station.  It is much more difficult to quickly and efficiently make a home meal, (I know it's different in a restaurant), if all the appliances are in a row.  My first impression of seeing the house was, "OMG I want to live here!"  I absolutely adored the front of the house!  The windows inviting you in, the landscaping laid out so beautifully, even the car port invited you to go back and look around some more.  If I was house hunting I would buy this house.  Even now, looking at it again and trying to critique, my gut feeling is, "I want it!"  You were in my top three, needless to say.

Ariagirl:  I didn't play test the house so any pathing problems are unknown to me.  This is true for all the houses.  I went strictly by the pictures and how the house made me feel, as if I was a first time home buyer on a budget.  I LOVED the way the windows face the flower paths of the park!! It brings the garden right into the home and didn't cost you all that gardening expense.  The windows made it light, open, cheery and the total design is so modern Tommy may have to give up his crown.  lol  I personally love the loft and the openess and minimalist approach.  I tend to clutter, so really appreciate when someone sees the open spaces as part of design and not just something that needs to be filled, (the way I do).  Your loft managed to make the bedroom area personal and private, yet part of what was going on below.  Like Tommy's house, I would want to buy this but my decision would be based on, "a lot more I could do with this once I have the cash", which is not a bad thing at all.

Pam:  color perfection and can I please have that bedroom?  It's the first time I've actually liked that color!  I love the use of the greenery indoors and definitely am going to borrow that idea in the future.  I love the way you laid out the living area and the use of the screen.  I am hopeless when it comes to things like that.  Love the lamps too.  If I had to not like anything it would be the color/siding of the outside.  Everything inside is perfect and I loved the mailbox idea.  I can't even be picky on this house, Pam.  Well done!

samoh:  I am playing your house!  I loved the atrium, (I'm adding a fountain), and if it wasn't for the color violet it would be my dream house. (Not your fault, it was what we all had to use)  Having said that, in the one I'm playing the walls are now white! lol  I waiver back and forth over the lack of windows in the front of the house.  On the one hand I like the idea of a totally private house where all the action and light comes from the rear that can be enclosed and made completely private.  Run around in your undies if you wish in a house like this, no one on the sidewalk in front will see!  I also like the way it can easily be extended giving a bit more room to the existing rooms.  The landscaping is well done and feels good.  Going on gut level only, I really loved this house.  (Can you all see?  I need at least a dozen houses to live in. Maybe that's why I play Sims)

Ok, my fingers are getting sore and you are all probably getting bored.  Gheez, yours will be next time I come on as well as the ones I left out.

Bottom line is, I didn't hate any of these houses.  I loved them all and the voting was the hardest thing I've done in awhile.

[caliban]

Gheez:

 - the foyer was a neat idea, and something i don't think anyone else did
 - the blend of the (free!) spraypaint tool into the patio tiles was well done
 - The zig-zag hallway grew on me, especially with the placement of the doors.
 - The interior windows were a very cool, modern touch. (but i suspect they ate up a bit of your budget)
 - I liked that you carried the same floral pattern through the house, the accent wall in the bedroom,  even on the towels in the bathroom.
 - I thought the bathroom was very well done, with the white fixtures against the darker splash. I think you could have taken one of the darker violets from the wall and done the floor (keeping it solid) to make them pop a bit more.
 - The kitchen feels cramped. I believe i dropped a sim in and tested that they could get into that chair by the fridge, but the space just feels small, especially in contrast to the space in the bedroom and living room. The living room feels spacious and spread out, and the kitchen looks tiny by comparison.
   I think if you put the sink on the opposite counter, put the fridge where the sink is now, and get rid of the extra counter, it would make it feel a little more open and still be workable

 - The exterior needs some trees to break up the boxy shape of the house. Again, I like aspens with this type of design, and they will draw the eye up.
 - There are exactly two objects in this house not on right angles: the chair in the bedroom and the round kitchen table. I would pull the chair out of the bedroom and add it to the sitting area in the living room. Put almost everything in living room on 45 degree angles. This will fill up the space a bit more, and offer some more visual interest. Add a round or oval rug.
   This may give you room in the bedroom to put the bed on an angle as well.
 - While the colors you used had a nice contrast at night, in the day time they just washed out. I think you could try putting a darker violet on the carpet, maybe closer to what you have on the doors. Then go crisp white with the wood on all the furniture. You may need to go a shade or two darker on the undecorated walls.
   You could also play with the zigzag, and take each section of the hallway a bit darker.

Summary: A fun and interesting floor plan, cohesive use of elements (wood, patterns) through the space, eye needs more to catch on (color variation/furniture layout) to break up the boxy-ness.



CurleyBennet:

 - exterior silhouette is broken out of the "box" by trees, the stairs and the railing giving the illusion that half of the roof is higher.
 - nice arrangements of a narrow range of plants add interest.
 - I've mentioned this elsewhere, but I love the use of the spraypaint ground tools. It's a great (free!) way to bump up the landscaping, and several folks made very good use of it.
 - you recolored the fridge to match both the cabinets and the walls. I think it's easy to forget little details like that, and i thought it was a cool touch.
 - the interior is small (possibly the smallest of the submissions) but it has all the items requested, in a nice layout that uses the space efficiently.
 - the design on the floor is a cool touch, and helps delineate the different areas of the home.
 - I can never figure out what to do with cabinets. I loved that you carried the floor right up onto the counter tops.
 - The bathroom is the one room that doesn't work. I wonder if white fixtures would have corrected that. Right now it's kind of like a grey hole that the fixtures get lost in. (it looks lighter in the screenshot you posted than I recall it being when i was exploring the house in game)
 - Even with only using like 4 colors, and 3 of them essentially neutrals, the interior still has some nice contrast and pop. I do think it is a little dark, over all.

Summary: Small foot print, big pop. Great use of small space. A little dark, color wise. This was one of my top three.


@Joria, you're welcome! Thanks for taking the time to explain some of your design choices. The bonus room makes a bit more sense now. : ]

[curlybennett]

Caliban, thanks for your input. I never seem to be able to get my colour schemes correct, and thanks for your suggestions for the bathroom. I might consider this points more when I build my next house.

[LenaLJ]

Thanks everbody for the nice comments on my house. When I'm making the house for the August challenge, I will keep you words in mind.

[Twinmum]

Last two 

curlybennet: As I said before, I'm not a fan of one room units/houses and I felt that this one was a little small. I would have preferred to do without a few decorator items and gone for slightly bigger. While I liked the colour, a bit of variation would have been nice, even if it was just in the bathroom. An extra bench in the kitchen too, would have been nice. I do love the ingenious skylights on the roof. I remember when I first saw the photos, I had to download the house straight away to see how you did it.

Gheeze: I quite liked this little house. The entry was a nice touch, however, I think it could have come forward 1 tile space to give just a little more room to the kitchen/dining area yet still retain the stepped back front door. The kitchen itself was a nice size (for a small house), but I thought the entry to it with the fridge and table was just a little tight.


I must say, I have enjoyed this contest and loved playing in all these houses. While some of them had features that I would not normally build myself, they will all remain in my game to be played because I don't 'not like' any of them.

Norma

[Joria]

Gheez and Curlybennet, I came in planning to add my words to your submissions, but after reading Caliban's well thought out and presented critique there is really nothing more to say except, WELL DONE!  Your houses were wonderful and like all the rest, now reside happily in my stash of usable starter homes.

Caliban, how do you manage to find just the right words every time?  Wow.  I just might impose on you and ask you to check out some of the houses I make so I can improve them. 

[curlybennett]

Thanks Joria