17 replies to this topic

[starknight75]

I'm sort of stuck. Although I've been looking at the lots in the Downloads to get some ideas, I can't seem to make a 1x3 lot work for residential lots. I feel like all that can be done with them are long, narrow houses with practically no yard and maybe a driveway but no garage. Either that, or a pseudo-trailer/RV.

Let me ask: what is the minimum amount of space required for a bathroom with a sink, shower, and toilet? And what would be an approximate layout for this? Also, what is the minimum amount of space needed for Sims to move around without huge traffic jams?

My usual building technique is in multiples of 3--most of the bathrooms are 3x3, bedrooms usually 6x6, hallways 3 blocks wide, and everything else along those lines. This was because overhead lights seem to offer a 3x3 area of illumination, so I could light up a 6x6 room with 4 lights and there would be no shadows. Also because windows placed in the middle of the walls seemed more aesthetically pleasing to me, and because the wall space between the two windows was perfect for placing furniture that spanned 2 blocks, like love-seats, coffee tables, regular tables, etc. And I could fit the wider doors between the two windows. Plus, if I put a 2x2 table in the middle of a 6x6 room with chairs around it, I'd still have a 1-block border of open space that Sims could maneuver through.

But I'm willing to work against my usual techniques if it will mean making better use of a 1x3 lot...

Thanks in advance for any assistance and suggestions.

[Lulu265]

Hi Starknight .. Here are the links to some houses I built in 1x1 lots . They may give you some ideas of room sizes , and how small you can make them
http://www.thesimsre...wnloads/1078202
http://www.thesimsre...wnloads/1068615

Its very fun to work out how to fit it all in

[Marauder281]

That size lot is difficult to use for residential lots. Maxis has a 3x1 trailer lot in Riverblossom Hills that is actually pretty good though. Other than that, it does make for excellent community lots.

I almost never go more than two tiles wide for hallways. If the hallway is short enough, this tends to be plenty of room. Try wall sconces instead. The overhead ones tend to block your view when playing as well.

Try to avoid any self imposed 'rules' too. A lot of builders won't place a window on the end of a wall. Hey, Frank Lloyd Wright did it all the time! It's a video game, not a sporting event so toss out those 'rules' and build.

Pic 1. Try not to laugh. This is a 3x1 community business lot that earned it's owner 1 million simoleans. That's her helicopter BTW. This one cost $3,500 and is named "Yard Sale". Many of my college kids own lots similar to this. It's basically a 2x3 tile bathroom and an over-sized roof.

Pic 2. Another 3x1 lot. This one is called Bluewater Organics and the owner sells fruits, vegetables and fish here.

Pic 3. 3x1 lot again. This is really hauls in the cash. As a level 10 business, this one clears almost 200,000 simoleans/day...100% cheat free. No car here costs more than the spendiest Maxis car so anyone can duplicate it's performance pretty easily.

Pic 4. For residential living on a 3x1 lot, I'd suggest going to a second floor. This one shows another 3x1 business lot but shows what can be done with this sized lot and some imagination. The owner of this lot sold doors (seriously, doors!) Lol! It made far more laughs than money though.

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[starknight75]

Wow, I didn't even realize 1x1 lots were available in the game...I can't even make 1x3 work for me! Lulu, if you don't mind me asking, exactly how big where the rooms in these lots? And what kind of stairs did you use, the straight stairs or the spiral stairs?

So, would a 4x5 or 4x6 bedroom be large enough for Sims to get in and out of a large 2x3 bed if it's head is against the 4 side?

I haven't really used wall sconces a lot because of how they vanish when you have the walls down or partially down, but I guess I should start working more with them...especially if I'm going to keep trying 1x3 residential lots. After all, these don't look so good...

Pic 1 and Pic 2 are more or less copied off of olcia_olivinea's 2 Rosewood Valley's screenshots in the Downloads section. I guess it came out all right, but I'm guessing a family of 8 is out. Plus I had to guess about the inside, but at least I figured out where the stairs were.

I don't know what I was thinking when I built Pic 3. I knew I wanted some sort of garage, but it wouldn't fit on a 1x3 lot, so I improvised...the only problem is the house doesn't make sense.

I guess Pic 4 came out okay, but there wasn't any space left to do anything else with it.

And of course Pic 5 is long and tall but oddly narrow, and the bedrooms upstairs don't make sense either.

Pic 6 is the one and only community lot I've made on a 1x3 so far. It's called the Lighthouse and it's meant to be a hangout for couples since it overlooks the ocean. Having seen what's been done with your 1x3 lots, Marauder, I may go in for more community lots...but I still need to get the 1x3 residential lots because of how I laid out my neighborhood.

Thanks for the insight and inspiration!

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[starknight75]

I did this with my most recent 1x3.

Pic 1. The house still looks abnormally long--sorry, Lulu, I can't seem to bring myself to make a tall, skinny house; maybe if I were truly restricted to a 1x1 lot...

Pic 2. Here is the downstairs. Unfurnished, of course--I don't furnish until I move my Sims in; otherwise they'd never be able to afford it, not if they're alone and just leaving their families behind (as in siblings making way for their nieces and nephews, etc.). Still, large living area in blue, downstairs bathroom in purple, kitchen in pink. Although I usually go with six spaces for kitchen paraphernalia, for this one I eventually plan to use the open space along the back of the house for a refrigerator, counter with blender, stove, and sink, leaving the rest for me to use for a table and chairs. Mostly I do bathrooms in 3x3 sections, not 2x3, but here I'll put a sink across from the door, the toilet next to the sink, and the shower next to the door.

Pic 3. Upstairs. Normally I make the bedrooms 6x6, but I'll try a primarily 4x6 space instead, with the extra two spaces reserved for a bathroom. Because the stairs run up along the back wall, the bedroom expands to 5 spaces instead of 4, so the bathroom door is in that extra space, and I figure a dresser can also go in that nook. Bathroom in green, layout like the first story, bedroom in blue, second floor living space--small though it is--in yellow and green. I figure that could be a place for a sewing machine, etc.

Somehow I can't get away from that symmetry thing, but I admit that this time I deliberately sought it out. I don't think the house looks too bad, but it is still looks long. And unless I'm mistaken, it's going to wind up appearing short and squat and wide in the pictures.

I know Sims don't need cars (and so don't need driveways, etc.), but would putting a driveway on one end of the lot and shifting the house towards the other end off-set things enough to eliminate the symmetry?

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[wordlesswriter]

I've built a few little house before. I kinda threw one together to give you an idea of what the inside of one would look like. I like the small houses for my poorer sims or for my single parents. I get bored with the game if all my sims have lots of money and creature comforts. lol. I also don't let my romance sims marry so the guys don't need a big home, the women just need something for them and one or two kids.

Pic one is the out side of the home built on a 1x3 lot.

pic two is the second floor. it's 3 bedrooms. I put the basic furniture in there to give a rough idea of how things would fit.

pic three is the first floor, again with just some basic furniture.

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[starknight75]

I'm still not used to making smaller rooms, but looking at your layout for upstairs, I think it's something I can honestly consider doing from now on.

I don't actually like all my Sims necessarily living in big, expensive houses with lots of furniture and big families...only, since I'm trying to restore my Sims 1 neighborhood here in Sims 2 with my plotted out relationships and bloodlines intact, I have to start the families a generation or two back, so the families end up being kind of large. However, I do use some generic 12x12 single-story houses on the 2x3 small lots as starter homes--the average cost ends up being under $10,000, so each family, whether comprised of only one person or a couple or more, can afford the home and still afford at least basic furniture.

Do you mind if I sort of copy your house? I'm not fully satisfied with the 1x3 lot houses I've created before (see the other posts), and what you posted here looks more house-like than the houses I built.

[wordlesswriter]

you can copy it.

have you looked in the Showroom forum at all? I've gotten a lot of inspiration there, though my building techniques aren't the greatest.

using a small house is a little diffacult at first but if you plan the timing just right the sims seldom get in each other's way. with little houses I often building the basic shell of the house first then just a lot of rearangeing of walls. in this house I moved the stairs twice and probly had about 5 or 6 different room designs before I found one that would suite their basic needs and flow reasonably smoothly.

I also redo the inside of the small maxis houses. sometimes just moving a doorway or elminating a tiny room can make a big difference in how well a house can flow.

[starknight75]

Thanks for letting me copy your house. Like I said, it looks more house-like than my houses.

I haven't looked at the Showroom forum, but now that you've mentioned it, I'll go check it out after this.

As mentioned in post #1, I usually base my houses and rooms on multiples of 3 (3x3 bathrooms, 6x6 bedrooms, hallways 3 spaces wide, etc.) and since the lots in my main neighborhood tended to be 3x3 or larger, I had space to do that. With the shopping district I'm working in now (based off of the Bluewater Village map) I don't have that space--not exactly. Which is the reason for all my problems: my usual technique doesn't work because the 1x3 lots are too small. Thanks to everyone's advice, though, I'm now working away from that technique and making smaller rooms with less space (a 4x6 room instead of 6x6, the lost space going to a smaller bathroom and stairs, for example). I probably won't go back and modify the main neighborhood too much, but when I build more in the shopping district and Downtown, I'll be able to work in more variety now.

Thanks again for your advice.

[Lulu265]

Starknight .. sorry I have been away .. the houses were just a lark to see if I could BUT they are fully playable .. I used straight and spiral stairs and a couple of basements .. the rooms are 5x5 If i remember right . It really was just for ..

[starknight75]

Lulu, thanks for getting back to me. I've been trying to adjust to smaller room sizes--bedrooms and bathrooms anyway, usually 4x4 or 4x6 and 2x3--and I guess it works as long as there's only the one, or at most two, Sims sharing that bedroom.

BTW, where did the 1x1 lots come from? As far as I knew, the smallest lots were either 1x3 or 2x2. Was it a special modification or something?

[Lulu265]

Starknight .. if you have a look at the houses I have mostly one room on each floor .. the kitchen has an eating nook and the bedroom a tiny bathroom with a toilet and a shower. most have basements as well .. The 1 x1 lots are available on MTS by Mary Lou

[hiedibear75]

I did quite a few homes on a 3x1 lot; ALL MAXIS, most if not all had @ least 2+ bedrooms, & a few even had a driveway. I called them "3100 Lolo Lane" series (3101, 3112 etc.) No there isn't much to do with a yard unless you were to start off with a driveway + yard then put your house up on stilts. I tend to put the MAIN AREA (living room, dining/kitchen, & a 1/2 or full bath) downstairs with bedrooms & more bathrooms upstairs. I find any smaller than a 2x3 bathroom the Sims can't use it. But YES 1x3 is still a small yet functional size lot.

[evi]

I loved playing small houses in sims2! this is one of the smallest I have created and I am very proud of it... http://www.thesimsre...ing/id/318672/. It has even a pool and a garage!

[wordlesswriter]

Evi, that's really cute. I didn't know you created houses. I've download some of your cloths, though.

[evi]

lol I know wordlesswriter.. . I am known for... "all about children" for sims2 but I loved to create a few houses too. Now for sims 3 I mainly create lots... lots of lots!!!!!

[larosco]

this is a good read, well beds are 3 spaces so 5x6 and i usually do a closet for a dressor but i can learn from this since only 1 house i made was cool and the rest just threw together but my mom used to always decorate and she did it so good and then she said she was gonna start bulding houses but she didn't, so i'm gon start for her, thx everyone.

[Ariana Blake]

I'm a bit odd, but when I want to build a small house, I place my furniture first to get the layout I want. I then build my walls around the furniture. Of course, doing it this way. I don't have the step up into the house.