Villa Totoro

Most of my time playing The Sims is spent either making content or building lots, and my sparse uploading doesn't really reflect either one. I only upload stuff that I feel is of interest to other people, and when it comes to my lots, they really only mean anything to me. But this lot is different - it's the legendary house from My Neighbour Totoro.





I started building this when Snowy Escape was released, and it was a little more difficult than I thought it would be. I pored over screencaps from the movie to try and get something as accurate as possible while still remaining fully playable and as CC free as could be. That said, it is still a very unusual home for The Sims, since it's a traditional Japanese home and furniture is meant to be minimal. Just like the original home, it has a kitchen, dining room, study, entrance hall, bathroom, toilet, and two tatami rooms, one of which is mostly empty (like in the movie) and the other one containing the three beds for the three characters who live there in the picture. Rooms are small, corridors are narrow, so gameplay might be challenging.



The floorplan isn't the only oddity in this build. To capture the complex roofline, I relied on a build mode trick to set the roofs on different levels, so that the black tiled roof of the oldest part of the house is higher, and the tin roofs for the additions are lower. The roofs work just like usual, with one very big exception - you cannot add or delete walls underneath them without the roofs being deleted. Adding them back is a somewhat advanced task, so I wouldn't recommend it. You can change wall and floor patterns and objects without any problem, but the walls cannot be changed.



The lot is pictured at 4 Olde Mill Lane in Henford-On-Bagley, which is the recommended location for it. Be aware that because of the way the game works, if you place the lot at other locations, the terrain paints may shift slightly. Move Objects is used extensively, so you'll need to turn Move Objects on before you place the lot down. The lot is 20 x 30 and costs 52 412 simoleons furnished, or 27 510 simoleons unfurnished.

Additionally, I made three pieces of CC just for this house - the red roof, the red recolour for the roof finial from Get Famous, and a default replacement colour for the french doors from Get To Work to make them a brighter white shade. These are included.

The items you'll need to download are the Half Trellis and Very Separate Shutters by me, as well as 2 items from the Snowy Escape Plus addon pack - the Tatami Line and the Cube Light - and two Totoro themed deco items by other creators. These items are only used in a couple of non-essential places so they're optional, but the lot will look different without them.

To make playability easier, I also recommend my Functional Closet Shelves and Functional Water Pump mods.