I also love the fireplace but I think the curved woor will look better in white.

Yay! My other infectious plan is taking hold, lol. Both of those houses are looking great. Although I have to agree that the archway on the fireplace would be better off painted white. The colour scheme is great otherwise. It certainly leans towards a Georgian era Greek revival rather than a Victorian era one, and so the white trim against pale colours is very good inside. But I would change the colour of the wood flooring, and maybe go darker, but certainly less orange as the current orange is neither period nor pretty, in my opinion. The other home is quite interesting too. It looks like one that has been altered over the years with an earlier Greek revival/Italianate base and then things such as the tower and side wing look to have been added later. Both of these houses remind me of real houses on OHD which I would send links for if I had a working laptop. (I'm currently on my phone, and so seeing your great designs is making me a bit jealous as I haven't the laptop to get and make some of the designs I have floating around in my mind) I look forward to seeing how these homes turn out.

I agree with the wood being white, it will look a lot nicer!

And well my laptop is acting up so I cant play The Sims right now! the graphics card is acting up! Ugh!!!

I'll do some tweaking tomorrow, my bed is too comfy to get out at the moment. I've also started to furnish the craftsman bungalow and I've finished a cottage, too

PICTURZ:

Finished forest cottage. I can't really label it with an architectural style.


Partly furnished classic Craftsman cottage. Picture is like this because I was in build/buy mode


And the bow over the fireplace. I've changed the wood texture and made it white, obviously. How about the floor?

Johnny, you don't have to label it to be any style. It is best when you create a style of your own. So I think that it is good not to constrain to some lines and stereotypes of an architectural "style". The cottage turned out great! I love it.

Download! Yay!

Fergus, is it possible that we have posted at least 2/3rd of the 300+ posts? I think it's time for more people in the group

Sorry I would post more but my computer has been acting up a little which I cannot play The Sims at the moment! I'm trying to figure out what is wrong with it!

Yes the fire place looks perfect now and the floor goes nicely! and Your cottage, Johhny, looks homey and quaint, The front porch is...how do I want to phrase...hmmm...is welcoming, yeah! The whole cottage is very welcoming!

Ohh Tudor, modern technics can be so annoying. For example when I plug out my phone from the computer, I have to wait about 2 minutes before I can do anything because my pc just freezes. It completely freezes after plugging out my phone.

Hope you can find out what's wrong!

Edit:
I've started to work on something massive, palace like. So far I've got the shape, roof, indoor pool, basement, main floor and the main staircase done. It already costs 215k. I wonder how much it'll cost when it's finished as it'll have aproxx. 10 bedrooms and serveral living and seating areas. Pics to come

Double posting I know.
Pictures from the building before my game crashed. All the painting (The corners! ARGH) and windows are gone now.
We were at 327k. Please note that it was only about 30% done.

It might take a very long time to finish it as I'm doing slow progress and just lost 15% of only 30%. The pool area and staircase are the only 'rooms' which have a little hint on what they are. the others are just full of chimneys and the left side of the main floor doesn't even have any rooms yet.

Thanks Johnny, I might just try and uninstall and reinstall them! Hopefully that will work!

Wow! That is Massive! What size lot on you on? And apparently you "raised" the foundation to make it look even bigger? I really like the rear, looks very imposing!

Thanks. The "foundation" actually is a complete floor The lot size is 60x60

I keep finding more and more stuffs on MTS that I never knew existed. A Social Groups Home? New to me! :P

I'm just going to dive in like I've been here all along.



I've been working on a build heavily inspired by Kedleston Hall. I've been wanting to do a big old English country house for a long time now. Not sure why I've chosen this one to be my starting model. I haven't built up the courage to try the kitchen/staff wing in a different brick, like the original yet. Well, there are many noticeable differences overall, mostly in an attempt to get the scale right, what with lot size, window size, and window placement. I'm not overly drawn to the whole Palladian architecture in general, not any more than any other style, but there is a calming quality to the symmetry. (Though this lot has been anything but calm. No less than a dozen I'm-going-to-murder-someone moments due to CFE.) The real Kedleston has a cute little church very, very near the main building, and I've tossed that in there. I'm not sure how happy I am with it. I mean, I'm happy with the build, but maybe just not on the same lot. Originally, I had tried to place the church diagonally, but roofing on the diagonal and I DO NOT get along. Sadly, I can't seem to get the tower on the church to be accessible. The roof keeps interfering with the stairs.





Not sure how I feel about the windows from Pets on the floor above the piano nobile--they are roughly the right shape and size. I dunno. No interiors done, of course, or even windows on the sides. LOL.

One of the things, that to my American viewpoint, that screams English country house is those vast, austere gravel-y drives that precede the houses. But, my lord, are they boring.

Ooh, two big older style mansions; both very different in character and style. Johnny, yours seems very chateau-esque and I look forward to seeing what you do with the interior. Any idea what kind of style you'll go for? It kind of reminds me of this place: http://www.oldhousedreams.com/2010/...ng-township-nj/
And cutsocks, Kedleston? That's a big challenge, but then I know you're more than capable of pulling off such a feat, just like Johnny is. I also wonder how the interior will turn out, I've seen the real interior and it's absolutely amazing, it was on tv, so I'll have a look and see if I can find some clips of it on youtube if you want. As for the long driveways, they're all about presence. Imagine you're visiting a rich friend at their country house, you don't know what to expect from the house as your carriage passes through the gate lodges. It carries you across the parkland and sweeps round onto a tree lined avenue; which is where you are struck with your first view of the already impressive country house framed the end. As your carriage draws closer the house gets more and more impressive until it pulls up under the portico and you are greeted at the door by some of the many servants. Before entering the house you turn and catch a glimpse of the view back down the avenue and realise just how impressive the setup is. The ling drive was also a statement of wealth, to show that you could afford to build your house away from the main roads and prying eyes of the lesser classes. When you visit a true country house in the flesh you will understand the importance of a long driveway.

I'm sure it'll take a very long time to finish the 'chateau', because as said, I've lost a few unnerving things due to a game crash.

Hrm... the insides... I'll get to that sec.





The little church is by far my favorite part now. I think I would have been just better off just to build another church.... :/ I did finish off the landscaping for the "back yard".



The insides bit... I have to admit I was drawn to the piano nobile and the low dome in the back. Sometimes it only takes a few architectural features to get my building itch on. Sadly the insides won't be super accurate. I really should have the house about 7-9 tiles forward on the lot, so the main section can be bigger/longer. I could have added 4 tiles by moving to a 64x64 lot earlier on, BUT I'm lazy about rebuilding the back and I like the versatility of the 60x60 lot size. Obviously the whole thing is inspired by. I really wanted the columns in front to be 2 tiles apart, so I only have four instead of the six. So the innards will be "in the spirit" of the actual building, with lots of fudging. I did add skylights for the Marble Hall using the greenhouse pieces. I think I'm okay with it, though I do try and not use Store stuffs most of the time. (There an arch from Monte Vista too. ) But I did make like the best floor ever. All floor tiles, except for the small round rug in the center, which I think is the first time I've ever used that. Quarter tiles + rotating + CAST = awesome.



Except for a few landscaping bits in the front, it's all interiors from here on out. So I'll procrastinate finishing it for a good 4 months, I'm sure. Also there are tons of recreations out there already. Like this one which seems fairly accurate.

And I was talking about the space right out in front of the house as being the "drive". It must be an American English thing to call a place where you can park cars as a "drive". That is the bit that's super empty. LOL.

Also, Johnny Bravo, on the back part of your chateauesque mansion, the two little parts with the octagonal roof and the single big arched windows--I love the way that looks. I'm gonna steal that. :D

Go ahead. I stole a lot of you, too
As for the drive, you could place a fountain on there, but palaces tend to have a huge empty plaza, which does look ugly.

Meanwhile I'm trying out a new style:
Italianate (-Renaissance)

The Facade. I still have to add shutters, and if you're wondering; the entrance is at the side. Through the right arch/gate.


This will be an outdoor bar area.

This is a grotto like extension below the bar area. I'm not sure what it'll become. Maybe a billiard room

Here you can also see where the entrance is, namely under the big arched windows.

Wow, Johnny, that's certainly unusual and interesting. It has quite a Spanish feel to it, like maybe it belongs in the Hollywood Hills. It's certainly impressive.
Also, cutsocks, if you need some inspiration, there's a film called "The Duchess" that might be of interest. Kedleston Hall even features in it. I've just watched it and it made me think of you/your project.

Oh. I really like that, Johnny. Awesome things I like: the entrance arch mirrored with a porte cochere, the statuary niches, the grotto/bbq part, the mailbox, roofing beyond the cornices, and all around excellent landscaping. My only suggestion is for the rock wallpaper. It's actually a set of three, and when used alternating, makes the pattern not repeat so much.

Hrm, I'll have to check that movie out, Ferg.

And because, pictures make things exciting, my recreation of Olana is nearing completion. Just bedrooms and landscaping left.

Wow, I like the detailed interior. I've also been trying to pay attention to detail. These pictures are from yesterday, I haven't touched the exterior yet, neither do I have time for it today

That interior is amazing!
I now (finally) have a new laptop, so I just have install sims 3 on it and transfer my game files over from my external hard drive and I can resume all my projects. The only trouble is that my new laptop runs on Windows 8, so I'm not sure how successful it shall be. I think I shall have to celebrate and make my own English country house.

Yay for your new laptop! I can't wait for your house

I know I said I would create a grand country mansion, but it would seem that my heart has currently been stolen by a much more modest farmhouse; known as the old Straabe House, in Benson County, North Dakota, it's a very weathered and beaten house that is gradually being swallowed by Devil's Lake. The land around it is probably too boggy for any kind of rescue of the house to take place as the lorries and moving equipment would most likely sink. So I've decided to recreate the house in my game so that it may have a chance to live on. You can find more pictures of the real house in this album: http://www.flickr.com/photos/imrick...2815812/detail/ It's enchanting yet very sad; the prairies slowly emptying and leaving ghosts lingering on in the fields to decay.

Looking through that album my heart almost broke. Not only do those houses need a lot of love, the cars need love as well Even if the land around around the Straabe house somehow wouldn't flood anymore, the waterdamage to the foundation and main floor would be too much to rescue it. What a beautiful home.

Edit:
As for your house, I'm wondering what you're going to do with the garden. Also, to place a fence on the balcony you have to remove the columns again

It's a very sad and yet beautiful thing that's going on in the Prairie at the moment. A simple Google Image Search will show just how widespread a thing the emptying of the prairies is. So many communities are slowly but surely being lost as ghosts to the past and to mother nature.

I kind of like the porches without the fences. As for the garden, I'm still debating whether to move it to a bigger lot; it currently sits on a 25 by 25 plot, so there's very little room for a decent garden at the moment.

I see, but even though Sims aren't THAT stupid to fall down a balcony, it still adds more realism

Also:
1920's craftsamn is finished! Porch picture only, uploading tomorrow or saturday