Building - What's Your Style?

[Tanathir]

I actually plan a lot of my houses out on grid paper beforehand without even loading the game.  I think it's made me better at building.  Most of the time I can now make houses that fit on smaller lots, are interesting, and are easier to play a family in.  Instead of using a lot of building cheats, I try to design a house that's cohesive and not just a bunch of randomly added rectangles like when a legacy gets money for an addition to the house.  Sometimes I try duplicating real life houses but not very often.

So what's your building style?

[yuichen]

Planning it out on grid paper is a good idea I guess I just wing it but sometimes I end up with rooms that are either a little too small (but having clutter about doesn't help that fact either) or a little too big. Not massive rooms of course. I tend to like open plan industrial lofts with a lot of big windows, but I also really like smaller, older looking houses. Not sure how good I am at building either, but it's still one of my favorite parts of the game.

[Avelina]

Building is something I really need to work on. I'm not very good at it especially when I don't have a lot of money to do it. What I do like to do is decorate once the house is set up. I take each room and coordinate to what ever theme I pick.

[kayleigh]

My houses are boxes with more boxes and a couple of boxes too. xD

[Ja]

My houses are boxes too, because I can't make roofs. Sometimes I get creative and add balconies and not so straight borders but basically they're all boxes. Most of my lots are 1x1, 1x2, 2x1 or 2x2 for big community lots, so I like to keep it simple. Also, in the zombie apocalypse, sims can't be picky with their houses design. Some even live in metal containers or abandonded hangars.

[Randall]

I suck at building, and stuff.
So when I try to make my houses look ~unique~ i replace corners with diagonal walls.
 

[PhoenixFG]

It depends.  I go to various house plans sites and pick bits and pieces of random houses that I like. For story purposes my houses are all blocks though! LOL!

[yuichen]

When it comes to story sets I tend to go all out even though I know most of it wont be seen -.- Total waste of time.

[Avelina]

Sometimes I do flat corners just to be different XD

[Tanathir]

I forgot to mention, I also have been trying to incorporate landscaping into my lot design.  I've been playing a lot of asylums and legacy-style houses, and instead of haphazardly plopping down flowers I try to make the yard look nice.  It's actually easier with Seasons, then I can place a grove of trees or decorate the pond and make sure the garden plots don't look out of place.  I used to never use fences but now I am using those small border fences along sidewalks and gardens.

[Sizza]

My houses are boxes with more boxes and a couple of boxes too. xD

Ditto that!

[Tanathir]

But do they include boxes?   

[loneviolist]

I tend to get lazy on building, but  I think I might go for a binge on making IRL houses.

[Sathairn]

My houses are boxes with more boxes and a couple of boxes too. xD

Same! Sometimes they become rectangles, and a few corners, too XP

[kayleigh83]

Houseplans!! Ohhh God did my houses ever improve tenfold when I first got my roommate to lend me the houseplans magazine she had gotten from a friend to use for The Sims... now I use websites like globalhouseplans.com and architecturaldesigns.com but all the houses I build now are floorplan based, it makes it sooo much more realistic layout wise - and it actually really helps for realism with the exteriors too!