Reed Street Row Houses (Dorm)

Have you ever wanted to give your University sims the space of apartment living, but don't want to give us the fun and chaos of dorm living? Well, I recently found myself wondering if there was a way to combine both. In college, I lived in an on-campus house with roommates my senior year, but there were 4-5 other houses all attached to one another, meaning other people were always around. But it also amplified the different personalities. When you a bunch of people living in cheap college houses so close to each other, you notice the different habits. You had the couch potatoes, more interested in vegging than going outside. You also had the neat and organized house, and of course the party house where you wondered if anyone ever did any work. To this end, and inspired by houses at my actual college, the Reed Street Row Houses were born.



This lot is made up of four distinct "houses," more or less mirroring each layout. Each house has two bedrooms, so they can function like a 2-person apartment. What I mean by this is if you wanted to play with two sims as "roommates," you could pick the house of your choice and assign them to each of the bedrooms. The first floor of each house has an open common space, always with a couch and a TV, and sometimes with a dining table or other entertainment options. Each house has a kitchen, so you can choose to do all of your living in your preferred house, if you want (more on this later).

Upstairs is a shared bathroom and the two bedrooms. They are of equal size, but the one at the front of the house features a double bed and an on-suite bathroom. The single-bed rooms have a little more in the way of activities, but each room has been custom furnished, so choose based on the sims you are playing.

The houses all have an empty basement space, with unlocked doors leading from one side to another. Up to you what to do with this space. There is a communal bathroom that I can only assume the campus facilities folks once used but abandoned long ago. There are some chairs scattered about the front and back yards (including that front porch couch, bleh), and a telescope and a bonfire.



Important Gameplay Helpful Hints / Suggestions / Observations
I play-tested this lot for one Sim semester, so I can confirm that it works. That being said, there are a few quirks that are important to mention so your lot can play smoothly.

-Lock your doors - your sims may live in one house, but that doesn't mean the dormies will. As with any dorm, if you don't want to be bothered in your bedrooms, lock them. But even more importantly, you will want to lock the upstairs bathroom door. Keep that bathroom for your sims only. The dormies have plenty of others they can use
-Things may get messy - Like any dorm, the dormies make a pretty good mess. But with kitchens, bathrooms, a juice keg, and numerous bookshelves, things could get out of hand. I hired a maid towards the end of my test, and it was running me about $500 a day, which is pretty "yikes" expensive for college sims.
-Kitchens and Tables - This one was tricky. Because the kitchens are mirrored, they are very close to each other. And depending on which counter or stove a sim used to prepare a meal, they'd go to the "closest table," even if it meant going to the next house over. I believe I corrected all the kitchen layouts to prevent this. Sims should use the tables in their respective houses, though it is possible they may use their free will and eat elsewhere.
-No Dorm Cook Kitchen!!! - All the kitchens are built like traditional kitchens. That means there is no dorm cook, which means dormies will not have meals made for them. They will not use the fridge to cook or get snacks. BUT. They will not starve to death (unless you have the MATY nouniprotect mod). If you want the dormies to eat, you will need to cook for them. Don't worry, they will be very hungry and willing to eat group meals, but neglecting them will not lead to death.
-Routing and Dormie Free Will - For the most part, the routing on the lot is clear and direct. There are not doors passing into each house. You will need to use the front or back door, or basement stairwells, to go into the different houses, much like a real apartment. Dormies will use any and all space, and may wander around quite a bit.



Can I Change the Lot Zoning?
You can absolutely change the lot zoning. Whether you want to use the lot in a normal neighborhood as an apartment, or you want to take out one kitchen and make one house a dining area, all of that is fair game. If playing this lot as a traditional apartment, you will want to swap out the front and bedroom doors, and remove the doors in the basement.

If you do change the lot around and have fun using it, please let me know.

Details About Custom Content
There are links to all included content below. I typically do not use much custom content in my lots, but if I do it is almost always Maxis-Match. The most vital items for your lot to look like the download are the Stair Wall Fix, the Open Underneath Stairs (NOT INCLUDED, see below), and Windkeeper's Space Saver shelves (NOT INCLUDED, see below). No mods or hacks are included in the file. I am grateful to all the content creators who made this lot possible.

Custom Content NOT Included But STRONGLY Encouraged:
- Open underneath Maxis stairs by crocobaura
- Spacesavers - Hidden Shelf 08, 13, 19, 19.6 by Windkeeper / TSR
- Strings Theory Stereo by toddfx / TSR

The reason the stairs are NOT included is because you will need install the modular stairs script as well as the file. Since I cannot package the script with the lot, you must do this manually if you have not already done so. It is a quick step and Crocobaura outlines it in the download post.

The hidden shelves and Strings Theory Stereo are not included per TSR policy. The downloads at TSR are free, and the shelves are an invaluable decoration tool, so I highly recommend them!

Custom Content Included:
- Stair Wall Fix - Mesh by JRW / ModTheSims
- Stair Wall Fix - White Recolor by JRW / ModTheSims
- Louder Please Band Poster by Maxis (unlocked by Lord Darcy at MATY)
- Mountain King Snowboard and Stand by Maxis (unlocked by Lord Darcy at MATY)

Built with The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection.

Lot Size: 2x3
Lot Price (furnished): 150000