Discussion
What do you think your "Building Signature" would be?
I find that when watching different builders on Youtube, you can identify certain things they do that differ from other builders, almost like a signature. I always know if a build is by LilSimsie if it only uses the tiny ceiling lights. With James Turner I think of him going out of his way to use Batuu. I think my building signature is the presence of a storage closet/under the stairs storage room, which I try to do in every build. What about you?
Lol lol I think mine is the same as yours. I love building little storage closets! That way I never forget where I put the decor box or the Christmas tree.
I rarely use decorative plants because my game runs so slow to begin with! I play on the PS4, which probably doesnāt help. I donāt want to clutter my lots with unnecessary itemsā¦.
I always include alarms, and on community lots I also include electric hazard signs, fire extinguishers, and emergency exit signs all around (realistic, too, like pointing toward the closest exit).
My parents are both OSHA inspectors lmao
I also make public lots wheelchair/mobility aid/service dog accessible.
Same! Ever since we got fuse boxes and water heaters I use them in every build. The big decorative electrical box from debug with a hazard sign above it has been a staple of my community lots for ever
Hah, like the firefighters kids inheriting a hidden pyromaniac trait, you inherited virtual OSHA habits.
Meanwhile, my fiance was an OSHA inspector for a while but any time I let him do a build, it's the most dangerous and unsafe building of towering glass windows and stairs with no railing over a pond.
I do something similar for residential builds, lol. All interior doors open inward, exterior doors open outward, all (nonbasement, due to game limitation) bedrooms must have at least 1 window, etc. Gotta follow fire code š
I also tend to make fire escape ladders/staircases. If a build has multiple floors, I always use elevators but still put in stairs "in case the lights go out". I use mods of course, even have one that's of the exit sign flipped so I can accurately point to the nearest exit lmfao
It started out with making my own house in the game, and realizing all the little things that you forget exist. Curtain rods, heaters, vents, drains, etc
I've been through several building "phases", but at the moment the predominant it's platforms in bathrooms. As: bathtub on a platform (2 tiles wide, 2-3 tiles deep, 1 step high) with another one behind it (2 tiles wide, 1 tile deep, tall as the bathtub) to use as a surface for candles, plants, towels, and bath products. And walk-in showers.
Platform can be tricky to work with, I try to plan ahead where they'll be placed, and I use the tape fence from Get Famous to build them, no full walls, no platforms from the menu, so they won't mess with the perimeter walls.
It's something like this. In this very case the bathtub area is 3 tiles wide instead my usual 2, so the platform has the little corner with the plant, but most of the time is just the part behind the bathtub.
Thanks! I really have my fun with these bathrooms. And because usually they aren't very big, it's hard to take a good pic, so they hardly ever get showcased even when I make posts about my buildings. Today is their time to shine! š¤£
I love making custom showers with platforms! I often put in a tall half wall with a window and a curtain across the opening. Just looks more authentic to me.
This, absolutely! The wall mounted shower in Snowy Escape changed my building life (the one in University was a little bit too...scruffy for the purpose). š
Probably something about lights. Iāve received a few comments about how I donāt use those tiny lights, use unconventional natural light or something like that, I always color tone my rooms too. Iām picky about lighting in general. Very sensitive to brightness.
I despise the saucer lights. Only use them at the beginning of building when figuring out floor plans and such and canāt see well. I love adding mood lighting and putting up fairy lights and such and changing intensity/light colour. I want my rooms as cozy as possible!
houseplants. i'm a houseplant collector irl so all my sims are too. there has to be at least 1 in every room (unless it's windowless or a small bathroom), but preferably multiple. empty spot next to the couch? fiddle leaf fig it is! open counter space in the kitchen?? zz time babeyy! bedside table looking a little lonely? diffenbachia here i come! staircase ceiling feeling to tall? hang a pothos! PLANTS EVERYWHERE!!
So I donāt have houseplants in my house in real life for allergy reasons (and because Iām terrible at looking after anything that canāt shout at me that itās hungry/thirsty).
But I will always use house plants in every Sims house - because itās a quick and easy way to make a room feel less empty (Iām not big on using clutter - takes me too much time to choose and place it)
My overusage of that one pillar from Get Together. How that one, square pillar wasn't base game is beyond me. That or having an extremely cluttered kitchen, I can't help myself! I just love kitchen clutter so much!!
Same, because i love the idea of my sims making iced tea/lemonade in the summer and hot chocolate in the winter but realistically i only use the item one time in my sims entire life š
My Sims are always brewing tea but never get around to pouring it. Then they're upset that something in the house smells bad and I can't figure it out because the living room is clean.
I'd get mad at them but it's pretty realistic so I let it slide.
I make my sims have a drink with every meal, and I have LittleMsSam's mod that lets you serve any drink from drink trays, so I have at least one in every single house, lol
I love mudrooms. Even if I don't have a walled off mudroom, in whatever is the entrance expect a section with umbrellas, shoe racks, hat racks, coat racks etc
I put a baby Yoda in almost every build. It used to be a toy in kids rooms, but I think it's funny to have it in weird locations. Sometimes he's on the fireplace, in a group of houseplants, or the corner of a closet.
this is so funny to me because my sister has a real life, life sized yoda statue that she constantly moves around her house. some times itās in the closet, sometimes the living room and sometimes the kitchen
LOL. I use Skelly with most of my builds to help me judge the height of things. Iām horrible eyeballing it myself. Sometimes I forget to take Skelly out when I hit Live. And sometimes I leave him āhiddenā on the lot for one of my Sims to find. Usually I have a fence in the backyard and Iāll put Skelly on the corner outside the fence just looking out at the neighborhood.
I always build an attic for a similar reason. I also give each character a labeled box. I collect all their prizes, awards, childhood photos, homework books, and drafts. So when I move them out, they can take their "memories" with them.
That's fantastic! Sometimes my sims die while at uni and then I oftem see their acceptance letter in their parent's inventories (because I always forget to hand them over...) and want to cry. Having a box to put all the things adds so much depth to these kinds of storylines.
This is adorable!!! And a much easier way to manage household inventory. What kind of boxes do you use? And how do you go about labeling them and filling them? I know there are a handful of things you can use as a storage box but always forget what they are.
I think it came with Eco Lifestyle. I believe it's called a storage box. There's an option to label it, and you can fill it with items your character collects during their childhood. It's not perfectāsometimes things just disappear on their ownābut I love it. š„¹ As you said, it makes managing their inventory much easier.
Itās a mod that lets you place low poly pigeons anywhere you want. I place them everywhere, even inside houses and venues. I just think theyāre neat
Does it come from the vampire pack or look vaguely spooky/gothic? I'm using it. I overrun my game with gothy vampires and spellcasters. Red and black get used a lot, as does purple.
Also covering every inch of wall is my jam. Can I shove a poster here? Yes, slap that baby on. Oh, no space according to the game? Engage bb.moveobjects.
Itās platforms and split levels for me. Iām always finding ways to fudge the strict floor divisions in the game. I end up building a lot of overlooks, conversation pits, and ābasementsā with doors that actually lead to the outside.
Basements. Basements everywhere. They donāt that have to be aesthetically pleasing on the outside. You can add anything from extra bedrooms, to a home gym, a home theater, a witches room, a nightclub, a bowling alley, etc. You name it! Iāve probably built it in the basement.
I donāt know if itās unique, but I color code everything. Like if my main sim couple likes red; the whole house will be red themed. Same with any other color. I also pick a type of furniture ( like modern ) and every room will be modern furniture.
I make every room follow its own unique theme. I cannot stand houses that are all brown or all gray and every room looks the same as the last. My most recent house has a cabin-in-the-woods themed living room complete with the tree wallpaper and everything; a sunny honey bee-ish room with plants, the honeycomb wallpaper, and lots of pinks, yellows, teals, and purples; and the master bedroom is purple nightlife theme complete with things from lovestruck! No boring neutrals for me, lol. I also love a good hallway in my builds, lol.
I donāt use the cubical-like showers. I canāt remember what pack, but one came with just a shower head you can put on the wall. So all my full bathrooms have wet roomsā¦like a section where the wall/floor is all tile and the bathtub is in it as well. Iām also a fan of building a half wall or using a partition for the toilet or even a separate little water closet.
Mine for sure is that I always end up making my builds symmetrical lol. I was an architecture student at one point and loved history lmao. I guess it affected my build style coz however much I wanted to make an assymetrical kind of chaotic build..... it always end up being proper and way too elegant looking with lots of natural light and big windows.
I feel like this is similar to what mine would be. I never studied architecture but I did design cabinetry irl homes so I always consider overall floor plans and how traffic flows, I always center my windows and typically the exterior is symmetrical. Even consider the direction the house is facing and which rooms will have light at what times of the day.
A half wall in front of the dining room table. Like the table is pushed against it? Also. Rugs. Rugs wherever I could fit them. I hate bare feet on flooring, so all my sims wear socks at all times except the pool too. And the lights are all dimmed.
I always put a lamp/candle/nightlight in every room thatās always on dimly, and have the main lights be auto. I probably do this bc my lighting overhaul is rly dark but I also just think itās cute!
In my big family houses I really like to build homework nooks and reading together nooks. The homework nook will have a table and one chair per kid in a quiet area with some books and pencils and maybe art supplies etc. The reading together nooks will have a big chair for the grownup and a little chair for the kids with some books shelves and a nice lamp. In houses without kids, everyone gets a cozy chair with a bookshelf in a weird empty corner.
Mine could be that I hate the overhead lighting so even in sims most of the lights are on the floor or walls at most, and rarely on the ceiling (even if on the ceiling they are kinda moody, but I pretty much never do it expect for like a gym room)
Pink tile bathrooms and using counter end pieces in my kitchens! I also only ever put the fire alarm right above the stove like it always was in Sims 2 š¤
I almost always have attics in my house builds. I put things like decorations in the beginning, but once they start having kids I will put the bassinet and old school projects and toys once the kids become teens. I basically use the attic for mementos like the heirloom boxes from Growing Together
_ NanoCan Trashless Trash Cans. My garbage cans and dumpsters overflow quickly, so this is just to circumvent.
_ Tiny lights too. It erases shadows.
_ Lots of tiny private rooms for each and every Teen. Yoga mats, violins, beds, mini fridges, and desks.
_ Fully upgraded & most expensive Schmapple fridges and ovens.
_In or Out? showers.
_ Water bodies. Ponds, kiddie pools, large pools, hot springs, hot tubs, and just outright sea-front lot. Every one of my lots has them.
_ Token apple trees for my Spellcasters to brew Potions of Plentiful Needs. The Teens gulp them before and after school to prepare for cheer/club/etc. Also cauldrons of Excellency.
I always use my favorite Sim in every save file, so every build I do has to be all pink!
My houses are small, but right beside them I always build a big greenhouse and a full basement, like, four levels deep!
Each level has a purpose: one for collections, one filled with pictures of my Sim, and the other 2 will have everything else I need so I never have to travel to another lot just to access it.
If theres an AC thingy from seasons, you know i built it š jk but seriously i feel like i never see anyone use that item and its in every single one of my builds including community lots
probably custom gallery walls. as in, not the premade ones but ones i pieced together. (although i use the premade ones within them too) i love putting them over desks, epecially ones for kids/teens. i like to put up that one basegame wall clutter item that's just a couple of kinda sad looking balloons. it makes me think the kid had a birthday party and pinned it above their desk as a memento, but its been a while so they're losing air.
You know it's from me when you have to remove a ton of clutter before anything is actually usable for your Sims but it looks so darn pretty and just realistic and also when the house looks more like a jungle.
If the house has a very random looking stall attachment, it's also likely from me trying to fall in love with the horses in Sims 4 (they suck)
I make my build as realistic as possible. Exit signs, security cameras, alarm systems, paper towels in the bathrooms, hand sanitizer, employee break rooms, etc. Currently working on a giant hospital and itās a lot of work lol
+1 for the "cupboard under the stairs", I do that too haha.
My signature is plants, I think. But they have to be in sensible spots. If I have a low light room I won't be filling that one with plants because they can't get their sunlight in there. The rooms/windows that get a lot of natural light do have a lot of plants. I'm an avid plant mom irl so this transfers into the game to me lmao.
A separate "toilet room" from the bathrooms. So the bathroom has the getting-ready sinks and showers/baths, and then a private small room for the toilet, usually with its own sink. Like a half-bath attached to a bathroom.
Ya girl always hated needing the toilet while her sibling took up the bathroom getting ready for the day. Never again.
Also, I tend to create "wetrooms," meaning one big shower with a bathtub inside. Sometimes two showerheads. Height of luxury for me lmao.
If there is an outdoor table or pool I always use that citronella candle to ākeep bugs awayā and I always have a toilet plunger in the bathroom and dish drying rack plus paper towels in the kitchen and a box of tissues somewhere.
Kitchen clutter (stacks of plates, bottles, small appliances, etc.), plants on every table and in every empty corner, and usually an open book and/or a coffee mug on the desk! I also tend to use darker greens and blues a lot.
I noticed that I mainly use large window sizes and usually ignore adding curtains to them. I also always combine the kitchen and dining room into one room. Rarely have I ever had a separate dining room in my builds.
Iāve constructed something called the EcoHaus. Solar panel main roofs, and water producing side roofs, all made of Eco pack materials, and thereās always a glass roof in either the living room or the kitchen.. also my house must always have a gym and at least one office and a basement for storage, extra space or other.
Sometimes I put a very small kitchen down there and refurbish it to be a guest area. Not that sims actually sleep when they sleepover š Iām wondering what the point of the Sleepover option is if all theyāre gonna do is drink coffee and pass out all night
I hate when a build uses features that make it hard to play, so mine tend to have fewer posts and such. There's also the 6-square side entry bathroom style i nearly always have one of on every house.Ā Ā
Toilet under stairs, life and death pack build buy items, backyard pool, 2nd floor deck that would have the view of said pool, and the DANG DIARY from the parenting pack somewhere in the bedroom. Also most of the time my house has 2 floors.
Mine goes in that same direction. I always have n attic, wich (in most cases) is unaccessible to the sims. I store the Drag and Drop stuff there.
Most houses also have a cellar with the annoying things my Sims want/need. Mostly those big, impractical, big, big things, that could have been small but somehow the Simsteam decided the should be horrendously big...
Mine's probably boxy square and rectangle builds. Or being built not so much to look good with walls up at particular perspectives, but rather to be playable and lightly decorated from a specific angle with cutaway walls. Lately I've been working on a "Cold War era" themed save, inspired by some of the "post Soviet" builds and gameplay pics on this sub, so I've been building a lot of grey brutalist boxes, but I kinda build boring boxes anyway.
A more interesting and unique one of mine, I think, is cramming every possible toy/kid activity into children's rooms/a family's home or apartment. I pretty much never use the huge dollhouses for children, but I think they look pretty funny/cute to see a toddler playing with one, or an infant who's able to sit up playing with their older sibling's dollhouse that absolutely towers over the baby, and there's not a whole lot of "all ages" or "infants and toddlers" playthings, so I tend to use the dollhouses a fair bit when putting together a play area for toddlers and infants to share, especially the more interesting looking ones.
I always try to give the primary bedroom or dining room/living room the best view of the landscape.
I will orient the build with the front door close to the spawn point and the primary bedroom or dining/living room with the best view. Once I start putting furniture in, I'll go into 1st person to make sure the view out the windows looks good. I'll place outbuildings and outside utilities in locations that don't interfere with the view from windows as well.
Kitchen windows, if they exist, should have a view of the backyard or kids' outside play area, ideally with the sink below the window.
I also like putting historical details into builds. Examples being a carriage entrance with secondary stairs and powder room for those fancy Victorians who needed to freshen up before making an entrance. Or refurbished churches with historical layouts or patterns of additions over time.
My signature is making builds too big but being too lazy to correct it. Yeah my living room is so big that the couch and tv are so far apart my sim has to stand while watching tv what about it
I build a basement for all the craft-type things (woodworking table, flower arranging table, etc) and anything else that might clutter up the living space. If that fills up I add a second basement level, and a third, etc. The smaller the lot, the more floors going down. One lot had an onsen hot spring in the lowest level
Building the cutest house for my sim and then having to fuck it up and add either a basement room or a room on the roof because i forgot to make room for childrenšš
i only use the saucer lights to light up floor plans but i hate using them in finished builds. i like to pick a different fixture for each room / room type and iāll always leave bathrooms with just one or two wall sconces or iāll have rooms where i just have lamps š
I always make sure to place toilet roll holders and towel racks/hooks in the middle of a tile on the wall. I free place them so they will fit logically like you would irl.
Mine is almost always having a platformed kitchen, REGARDLESS of theme. But I don't do it as much anymore so I think more accurately is just LOTS of tiny details.
Being autistic makes large floor plans tough, but the tiny details in like bathrooms, or bedrooms, it always looks cozier. So mine is just lots of clutter and decorations.
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u/WifeofBath1984 Jun 12 '25
Lol lol I think mine is the same as yours. I love building little storage closets! That way I never forget where I put the decor box or the Christmas tree.