Think Inside the Box – Part 3

Welcome to the final part of my Clearview series of homes for The Sims 4.  If you haven’t already, you should take a look at Part 1 and 2 to see how this all came about.  In this post, we’ll take a tour of my third home in the series, Clearview Luxury, designed for sims who love entertaining and demand the very best in amenities.  If you would prefer to watch a video tour rather than scroll through a wall of images, I completely understand, and the video is available here.  If you’re continuing on, here are images of my Clearview Luxury’s exterior.

Front Views:

As with the other two homes, this build features a modern design but is a bit more sedate in terms of its color scheme.  Unlike the other two, it offers not one, but two levels of glass walled skylight-y goodness!  You’ll see more of the structure and levels as we swing around.  Right side:

Back:

Left Side:

Here’s a closer look at the outdoor areas beneath the upper pool.  Play area:

Observatory:

Preparing to enter the home, let’s take a closer look at the entry:

I used a debug object for the shiny welcome mat, which goes with the glass flooring.  That flooring is actually the top of a table, enlarged and elevated via the use of bb.moveobjects and basement spaces, a trick I used many times throughout this build and my other two.  It makes for an entry unlike any other!

Heading inside, the first area, which is enclosed in one of four enlarged and elevated display cases from the Get To Work expansion, provides the main living and entertaining area in the home.

To your right, there is an expansive bar:

Unfortunately, this particular bar is decorative.  Your sims can sit, but they won’t be able to make drinks at it.  They won’t get any route failures; they’ll start to make the drink but simply won’t finish it.  I’m sorry about this, but it is one funky thing about placing interactive objects in/on objects elevated using basement spaces.  Most work, but bars are one type that do not.  There is a fully functional bar that you will see in the kitchen though.

To your left, you’ll find plenty of sophisticated seating with an oversized, animated modern fireplace.  I love building these fireplaces!

Here’s a closer look at the fireplace.  You really must see it in game though.

Further along, I’ve placed a glass dance floor with piano and lounge seating, as well as a pool view.

I love how the light glistens on the glass floor!  Sims route on it just fine and can indeed dance on it.

Making your way through the archways to the left, you will enter the kitchen:

In the second shot, you can see my attempt at a custom aquarium to the left.  I was designing this house prior to the release of the spa pack, and even after I knew it would include aquariums, I did not want to require it for this build.  If you have the pack, feel free to replace this with a real one.  Here’s a closer look at it:

More of the kitchen:

Here you can get a glimpse of the outdoor dining area, but before we head out, let me show you the small but full bathroom near the kitchen.

Now, we go out into our second enlarged display case, which functions as a glass walled outdoor entertainment area, complete with dining:

and dancing (on another glass floor):

There is also another large bar and a grill.  However, again, these are decorative.  Neither bars nor grills will function when placed within the display case.  However, there is a functional bar and stove/oven in the nearby kitchen.

Heading in the opposite direction, back through the living room, you will come to a small study:

A guest bedroom:

And a guest bathroom:

Moving on out from there, you will arrive in the third enlarged display case, which houses a pool and exercise equipment:

Tough to beat those wide open views, plus the sunshine streaming in through the skylight!  Let’s go upstairs to check out the master bedroom:

I had fun with the color scheme in here (I tend to like this dark but vivid blue) and again with creating another modern animated fireplace.  Here’s a closer look at it:

More fun than fancy here, but I thought it suited the room.  The master bedroom is open to the master bath:

I went for a much lighter, calmer blue color palette in here, except for the paintings placed by the Jacuzzi tub, which I thought helped tie the room back to the bedroom as well as providing a really cool space for a soak:

Had we taken the stairs up from the guest wing instead, we would have arrived in the children’s bedroom:

I tried to keep it relatively neutral in here, to suit girls and/or boys or perhaps a child and a teen.  There’s plenty of space in the room to reconfigure too.  Here are more shots:

The kids have their own bathroom as well:

Both bedrooms have exclusive access via walkways to the home’s second floor pool, which is housed inside the final display case:

Here’s a closer look:

The views from in here are pretty incredible!  Sims can swim just fine in the pool, but you have to zoom in a bit in order to route them into it.  You’ll know when you’re at the right point when you can see further into the water.

That’s about it, so let’s take a look at the overhead layouts, starting with roofs on:

Roofs off second level:

Roofs off first level:

Master Bedroom and Bath:

Children’s Room and Bath:

Living/Entertainment:

Kitchen:

Small Bath:

Outdoor Dining/Entertainment:

Guest Wing:

Lower Pool/Workout Area:

The place is quite pretty at night too.  I think it’s worth showing you a few shots:

Clearview Luxury is a 3 bedroom, 4 bath two story home that costs $244,464 and is situated on a 40×30 lot (I used Cacti Casa in Oasis Springs).  It has been thoroughly play tested, and I found no issues with it other than those noted above (the two bars and grill that are not fully functional).  You should be aware that sims can route directly through the glass “walls” of the display cases.  This will probably only happen at the front of the home, since the other two ground level cases are surrounded by fountains which are not routable.

If you’re interested in taking a look at Clearview Luxury in game,  click here to download the build from the online Gallery.  Or, if you prefer, you can search for it in the game Gallery by its name, or by my hashtag, #bryscreations.  Please be sure to place the home in build mode, so that lighting colors and intensities are preserved.

Think Inside the Box – Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of my Clearview series of homes for The Sims 4.  If you haven’t already, you should take a look at Part 1 to see how this all came about.  In this post, we’ll take a tour of my second home in the series, Clearview Midrange, designed for sims who’ve managed to accumulate enough money in the game to expand a bit and enjoy some amenities, but who aren’t quite ready for mansion level living.  If you would prefer to watch a video tour rather than scroll through a wall of images, I completely understand, and the video is available here.  If you’re continuing on, here are images of my Clearview Midrange’s exterior.

Front Views:

This home is about color and play; your sims should have a blast raising a family here.  Like my Clearview Starter, the design is again modern, and I used basement spaces not only to elevate the enlarged display cases that make up four sections of the home, but also to elevate many other objects, such as the unique center planter display at the entry and the “dots” surrounding various landscaping elements:

Right Side:

I couldn’t resist tossing a couple of the new mirrored windows in there; love how they reflect the desert surroundings.

Back:

Left Side:

The unique little circular fountains on either side were elevated using basement spaces.

A closer look at the structure and roofing:

Let’s head inside and continue our tour in the kitchen:

The turquoise “rug” you see is actually an enlarged object (table, I believe) elevated from the basement.  Sims route right over it with no problems.  One thing I want to highlight is the custom backsplash I created over the stove area via photographs:

The stove had to be recessed into this little outlet slightly away from the display case in order to be functional.  Unfortunately, stoves and grills placed “inside” display cases will not work.  Still, I needed something in this recess anyway.  From the kitchen, we can turn and head for the living room:

Here I was excited to try my hand at another modern animated fireplace.  I really enjoy building them and then watching them “crackle” in live mode.

The “rug” in the living room is again actually objects elevated from the basement.  I loved how it enabled me to set up the four black corners.  Heading for the back half of the home, you can see that I set up a unique configuration of book cases as well as a nifty photo of some custom content wall art (credits noted at end):

Now, those book shelves aren’t actually functional, but there is another fully functional shelf in the master bedroom, so I kept these as-is for décor.  You can see that I had more fun with “dots” on the bridge between sections.

Once across, you can turn right to enter the master bedroom:

I liked the idea of placing the head of the bed in the recessed alcove for privacy vs. using window coverings, which doubtless would have looked odd with this configuration anyway.  More “rugs” in here, and I used basement spaces for the nightstand configuration as well.

Returning to the hallway, you can cross left to the children’s room:

More “rugs,” a photo of CC, and really, the views are what speak loudest in any section of this home.  Each bedroom has a large glass skylight above it also, which isn’t really shown in the pictures.  Returning to the adjoining area, finally, you’ll enter the bathroom:

I was going for a bit of a spa vibe in here (was starting to get excited for the future spa pack).  No actual spa objects, as I hadn’t yet purchased the pack, and I was committed to doing these builds without it.

So that’s it for the interior.  Let me show you the overhead layouts for the property.  Roofs up:

Roofs down:

Living:

Dining:

Master Bedroom:

Kids Bedroom:

Bathroom:

Clearview Midrange is a 2 bedroom, 1 bath single story home that costs $60,966 and is situated on a 30×20 lot (I used Dusty Turf in Oasis Springs).  It has been thoroughly play tested, and with the exception of the bookshelves in the living room, I found no issues with it (your sim can use the bookshelf in the master bedroom instead).  I do want to note that sims can route through the glass “walls” of the home.  This is because the display containers are elevated from the basement and don’t actually exist on the sims level.  There is no issue with playability, but it might look a bit odd to you.  If it really bothers you, you can block the walls with fountains or other objects that aren’t routable.

If you’re interested in taking a look at Clearview Midrange in game,  click here to download the build from the online Gallery.  Or, if you prefer, you can search for it in the game Gallery by its name, or by my hashtag, #bryscreations.  Please be sure to place the home in build mode, so that lighting colors and intensities are preserved.

Credits: I had my sim take photos of wall art created by Pinkzombiecupcake from her Red modern paintings set found here.  She also took photos of Blue Nature by Neferu found here.  Note that there is no custom content in the build itself.

Think Inside the Box… Part 1

Sometimes in order to think outside of the box, you have to think inside of it first…  Sounds like some bizarre quote from a philosophy class, doesn’t it?  No, it’s just me trying to figure out how to do the impossible in The Sims 4 again!

For a long time, I’ve daydreamed about having seamless glass windows, glass skylights, and glass floors in TS4.  It’s been nearly a year since the game was released, and they’re still not in there.  I decided I was done waiting; basement spaces to the rescue!

I began experimenting with ideas to accomplish my goals with only a relatively simple starter house in mind, as a proof of concept, but as development went on, I began to envision creating a series of homes to cover all aspects, from starter to mid-range to luxury.

It’s taken me a while, but I’m excited to finally present my Clearview series of homes!  These homes utilize enlarged display cases from the Get To Work expansion that have been placed using bb.moveobjects and basement spaces.  They are not only unique in terms of the exquisite, unblockable views they provide but are also fully playable (except for minor exceptions that will be noted), so even though I consider these builds experimental, they aren’t just for show.

Let’s take the tour!  In this first part of a 3 post series, I will start with…the starter!  If you would prefer to watch a video tour rather than scroll through a wall of images, I completely understand, and the video is available here.  If you’re continuing on, here are images of my Clearview Starter’s exterior.

Front Views:

I was going for bright, cheerful colors that carry on from exterior to interior, as well as a modern shape.

Right Side:

Back:

The back is pretty sparse due to the budget, but there is plenty of room back there and in the hallway for a study, workbench, etc. as your sims grow their funds.

Left Side:

I used 3 super enlarged display cases from the Get To Work expansion as the glass “boxes” in the home.  I think of them as being similar to shipping containers.  Here is a closer look at the roofing; I did not want to leave the cases completely open, but you can see that there is still a good deal of space for the skylights:

Taking a look at the interior, we don’t actually have to go *in* to see a lot of it, due to the large expanses of seamless glass.  Let’s peer through at the living room first:

Moving inside for a closer look:

I added my sim’s unique photos to several spaces in this build.  They’re a cheap way to add interest to an otherwise fairly bare bones area (since I’m on a starter budget).

Notice the view of the skylight from inside:

Let’s move on to the kitchen.  Here’s the view from outside:

And I just love the view from within the informal dining area:

I had to move the stove and some counters out of the display case as unlike most other interactive objects, stoves will not work if they are in contact with the case.  I think it worked out okay though to have a little half enclosed room connected to the open space.

If you head down the open hallway, you’ll arrive at the bedroom:

Nothing too amazing in here, as it is a starter, but you can’t beat the view!

Across the way, you’ll find the full bath:

And at the very end of the hallway, an area to lounge and again take in the views:

Here are some images of the property and room layouts.  Roofs up:

Roofs down:

Living/Kitchen:

Bedroom:

Bathroom:

Clearview Starter is a 1 bedroom, 1 bath single story home that costs $18,436 and is situated on a 20×15 lot (I used Raffia Quinta in Oasis Springs).  It has been thoroughly play tested, and the only thing to be aware of is that sims will sometimes route through the glass “walls.”  This is because the display cases are actually placed in the basement and don’t really exist at the sim’s level.  If it bothers you, once you have the funds, you could build a fountain around the glass or place other non-routable objects to block the sims.  Another thing to keep in mind is that while you can click on objects to have the sim use them, such as clicking on the couch and having your sim sit, you can’t just click on the “floor” inside the case to have your sims route there.

If you’re interested in taking a look at Clearview Starter in game,  click here to download the build from the online Gallery.  Or, if you prefer, you can search for it in the game Gallery by its name, or by my hashtag, #bryscreations.  Please be sure to place the home in build mode, so that lighting colors and intensities are preserved.

Go Micro!

I took a little break from my current 3 build themed WIP to dive into the latest Build ‘n Share challenge called “Think Tiny.”  The challenge required that we create a tiny home with an interior footprint of no more than 50 squares and a budget of 30k for a couple somewhat divided in tastes (he prefers modern, and she likes cottages).  I’m not much for starters and have never tried my hand at a tiny home, so I thought it might be a fun, quick exercise.

The result is Tiny Blues, my take on a modern cottage.  I didn’t create a video this time, but the challenge requires a slideshow, and I decided to try using Kizeo, which is relatively new online software for setting up slideshows.  Feel free to take a look here, or if you’d rather, continue scrolling down for more pictures and information.

Here are additional shots of the exterior:

Front:

Entry:

Right Side:

Back:

Outdoor Dining:

This was a requirement of the challenge, but I’m glad as it makes for a super cute space.

Left Side:

Entering the home, you’ll naturally find yourself with the living room in front of you:

I’ve got a real thing for creating modern animated fireplaces these days, and using basement spaces has really helped me to get them looking precisely as I’d like:

Heading back out of the living room:

To the galley kitchen:

One thing I did here is to set up a custom backsplash made of small, sims created photos:

From the kitchen, you can access the bedroom:

Here, I envisioned the wife getting her way with a slightly more traditional and girly space.

Same thing with the bathroom:

Here are images of the property layout.  Roof up:

Main level (roof down):

Living Room:

Kitchen:

Bedroom:

Bathroom:

Tiny Blues is a 1 bedroom, 1 bath single story home that costs $29,987 and is situated on a 20×15 lot (I used Rindle Rose in Willow Creek).  It has been thoroughly play tested, and I found no issues with it.  If you’re interested in taking a look at it in game,  click here to download the build from the online Gallery.  Or, if you prefer, you can search for it in the game Gallery by its name, or by my hashtag, #bryscreations.  Please be sure to place the home in build mode, so that lighting colors and intensities are preserved.  Thanks for visiting!