Hi there! You are currently browsing as a guest. Why not create an account? Then you get less ads, can thank creators, post feedback, keep a list of your favourites, and more!
Top Secret Researcher
Original Poster
#1 Old 6th Oct 2017 at 8:07 PM Last edited by Goldenbtrfly : 12th Oct 2017 at 4:56 AM. Reason: uploaded
Default 10k & Under - Too Little Offered? [Uploaded, Thanks!]
I wanted to make some supa-cheap homes, even cheaper than Frugal Lane (which is 20k and under), so I decided on Tightwad Street for the 10k and under bunch. Does this home offer too little for the money? I don't want to really do an unfurnished home, so that's not really an option I would like to consider.

Feedback welcome, just no slinging that llama poo. I'm planning to upload these and some others if feedback dictates this is something... good?
Advertisement
Mad Poster
#2 Old 6th Oct 2017 at 10:56 PM
No, I think you are going in the right direction for really cheap, as long as it has the most basic stuff.

I would like to see another counter in the kitchen, with a basin - or just a basin - though, because a kitchen really has to have a basin. I think that is kind of essential.

The front door - I would replace that with a cheaper one. (Not bothering me personally, but it does offer no privacy and there are, I think cheaper doors that will also look nice). I like the windows, though.

Nice layout - you are really doing an excellent job with all your houses
Mad Poster
#3 Old 7th Oct 2017 at 12:55 AM
$10K and under? What... I don't understand... that's not a thing, is it?

*runs to nearest $500K+ lot for comfort*

In all seriousness though, it's definitely good to have things that fill that side of the spectrum too, and I think you're headed in the right direction. A couple suggestions I might have though- I like the different materials you use on the exterior, just to break it up some, but I'd be inclined to say that the brick/stone especially looks a little to 'upscale' for a lower-end home like this, and black in general might be a color to kind of steer away from, since it's not a very common house color in general, and certainly not in poorer districts. The office space also feels kind of strange to me- desks in the center of a room say "business" to me, whereas a home office, I'd expect it to be up against the wall, or more likely right up next to the window so you could look out at the yard while you're working (that's how all of my home desks have been arranged, anyways).

I'd definitely agree with Justpetro on most other points too, and definitely heading in the right direction!

Welcome to the Dark Side...
We lied about having cookies.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#4 Old 7th Oct 2017 at 12:58 AM
Sure it's a thing @Zarathustra I have a set of 3 10K lots uploaded on here.

I would change out the glass door. I would also change the windows to make them balanced around the house, windowless rooms are not very appealing.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Top Secret Researcher
Original Poster
#5 Old 7th Oct 2017 at 2:24 AM
OK, so my checklist is: kitchen sink, cheaper door, desk movement, different paint. I don't know about the windows - each room has exactly one. There are just no windows on the sides, Jo.
Thanks guys, I'll tweak it and post new pics.
Mad Poster
#6 Old 7th Oct 2017 at 2:36 AM
The layout of the rooms is fine. None of the rooms is windowless, Jo - it's just that the walls with the windows on them don't show when the walls are down in those detail shots. Since this is a small lot with most of the yard on the sides rather than back, it makes sense to have no windows on the sides most likely to be used for expansion.

The front door says "public building," as does all the black-and-white. If you don't want to go with the "Just-a-Door" and want a window, the Storm Hatch door is an option, though the color choices on that one are a bit wonky and won't go with the overwhelming black decor.

Which is a mistake in my book, anyhow. You can get a lot more color and texture for cheap and it doesn't all have to be tackily bright. Possible exterior combinations that will look more like a home in the working-class district (to me, anyway) are: blue-gray barn panels and Weatherbutten siding; painted cinderblock and white or cream siding; white cinderblock and red or brown barn panels; pale pink paint and white or Weatherbutten siding; the cheapest brick and white siding or white paint; and black paint and white or gray siding or cinderblock. The tarpaper roof goes with everything. Experiment till you find something you like.

I know interiors are supposed to be bland when selling a home, but I think you overdid it a little. Why not pick up on the hints of pink in the bathroom, kitchen and bedframe and give the place a $2 pink carpet and/or the linoleum with a gray base and little pink stars? Or Smitty's Distressed floorboards in the living room and the same carpet in the bedroom? That's still gray everywhere, but has more texture and variety. The bookcase, desk, bedspread, and Ikea chairs all have recolors that could break up the overwhelming coldness of the interior. I don't say change all of those things, which might spoil the cohesiveness of your vision of the house, but just try one or two of them and see how you like it.

Have you put a ceiling in? Ceilings are free in empty houses, and the color and texture chosen for them can really change the overall effect of a room. I like to use the white painted boards, but there's also some tile and plank floors that would complement the interior.

I agree with JustPetro about the sink, and I also think (but I could be wrong) that the stove is useless with the mini-fridge. Can't the mini-fridge options only be cooked in the microwave? So you could either replace the mini-fridge with the Wornable refrigerator, or replace the stove with a microwave. Adding a microwave and a sink would require adding two counters, one for the sink and one for food prep, while changing out the refrigerator would only require adding the one for the sink, and I don't have any idea how that costs out. If I'm wrong about the stove, ignore this bit.

The house's bones are good, though.

Ugly is in the heart of the beholder.
(My simblr isSim Media Res . Widespot,Widespot RFD: The Subhood, and Land Grant University are all available here. In case you care.)
Top Secret Researcher
Original Poster
#7 Old 7th Oct 2017 at 3:57 AM
Checklist complete, except for what Peni added - nuts! Didn't see that until I came back to post this.
Yeah, the walls were making my eye twitch too, so I'll see what I can do with it a bit. I *did* change the wall texture in the kitchen, even if just a feature wall.
I forgot about the mini-fridge, but hey - microwave is cheaper, so woot! Haha. I'll see about swapping that out.
(...and there are pots and pans! You hear that Karen Lorraine!!!!! *shakes fist* Oh, I'll never forget the cookery comment from the contest. )
Top Secret Researcher
Original Poster
#8 Old 7th Oct 2017 at 7:03 AM
OK, I'm sorry for the double post - I didn't want to lump too many pictures together, but here it is. I hope this is it's final form, and I have learned a lot too. When I do more in the series, I'll be better prepared for what I can and cannot include. Thanks you guys, you always push me! Whether it's here, the Mentoring group or calling my bluff on learning to mod.

The last three pics are options of wall colors for the kitchen. Pink, a white-ish color and a taupe. Care to weigh in?
Mad Poster
#9 Old 7th Oct 2017 at 7:32 AM
I like the pink accent wall in the kitchen best; but I would. You might want to listen to someone with an, um, more universally acceptable color sense than me. Some people may also find the interior a little too busy now, but it looks a lot more welcoming and liveable than the original. And I for one really like what you did with the carpet in the living room.

I miss the texture variation on the exterior. There's a painted brick that matches that purple (the one I used on the ground floor of the Newman house, remember?). If you want to keep it all one color you could see if that puts you over budget or not. Or maybe gray bricks like the ones in the kitchen? I don't know how close you are to the target price, so it may not be feasible.

And there's flowers in the front yard now, yay!

Ugly is in the heart of the beholder.
(My simblr isSim Media Res . Widespot,Widespot RFD: The Subhood, and Land Grant University are all available here. In case you care.)
Mad Poster
#10 Old 7th Oct 2017 at 8:50 AM
I also like the pink wall in the kitchen.

I also agree with Peni about the outside - some texture variation would be nice. I can't remember the prices, but there should be something that costs the same as the current wall covering you have somewhere, or even less - I would put it around the front door at least.

Besides that, great job
Top Secret Researcher
Original Poster
#11 Old 7th Oct 2017 at 1:53 PM
I had to change the brick in the kitchen and take away the pots/pans for the brick outside. If there are more changes, I have no clue what to cut.
Everything else in the house is the same.
Screenshots
Theorist
#12 Old 7th Oct 2017 at 7:48 PM
Looks like a 20x20 lot. Make a 10x10 lot with Mootilda's lot adjuster program and rebuild the house on it. That will save a considerable amount of money.
Oops, never mind, this house won't fit on a 10x10, but you could build another one.
Mad Poster
#13 Old 7th Oct 2017 at 8:57 PM
I think it is good to go!
Top Secret Researcher
Original Poster
#14 Old 8th Oct 2017 at 1:23 AM
I thought about that, ScaryRob! LOL, I had actually at one point thrown in the towel on this one and said "Screw it, I can't make it happen." But, I think I did!
I already have another ready to go and I built it on a smaller lot to save money! (I tried to rebuild this one on that lot, and that is how house #2 happened! )

Thanks for the thumbs up, Justpetro!
Theorist
#15 Old 10th Oct 2017 at 5:25 AM Last edited by ScaryRob : 11th Oct 2017 at 8:08 AM.
Quote: Originally posted by Goldenbtrfly
I thought about that, ScaryRob! LOL, I had actually at one point thrown in the towel on this one and said "Screw it, I can't make it happen." But, I think I did!
I already have another ready to go and I built it on a smaller lot to save money! (I tried to rebuild this one on that lot, and that is how house #2 happened!

The problem with 10x10 is that the max size of the house can only be 6x7, which is really tiny, only big enough for a very small studio. I've build a series of five starter houses, in the style of shipping container houses, the smallest of which costs $9,453, even though my intent wasn't particularly to stay under 10k, but just to see how cheap a house I can make. Pics of that tiny house below.
It's got all the basic furnishings.
The other four of the series are all two stories and get progressively more expensive, with the next being around 14k, then 14.5k, then about 16.5k and finally the biggest one at just under 20k. That biggest one is one ugly box, but it's got a large living room, two large bedrooms upstairs, as well as a basement.

The only way to make a house bigger on a 10x10 lot is to go vertical, and that pretty much guarantees going over 10k because you then have to include stairs and another set of walls, windows and doors.

Another option of course is to shrink a lot down to 10x10 after building, in which case you can go as big as 8x8, which might be big enough to actually include a separate bedroom, instead of making a studio. I've never done that because I don't like the idea of building to within one square of the edge of the lot.
Screenshots
Top Secret Researcher
Original Poster
#16 Old 12th Oct 2017 at 4:51 AM
Thanks for all the great tips, ScaryRob! I haven't done any studios (yet), just a couple one bedroom homes. These smaller lots really would be perfect for them though! I always try to include space for a future driveway, because I'll admit it - I'm one of those lazy SImmers who hates moving a family after they have chosen a house. I much rather just expand up/out slowly than move. There are exceptions to that and I have broken it and moved families who REALLY outgrew their homes, but not too often. I like your layout, and it definitely gives me some ideas! I hope it's OK to use them in some way down the line.

House is uploaded guys, thanks ever so much for the input!
Theorist
#17 Old 12th Oct 2017 at 5:53 AM Last edited by ScaryRob : 12th Oct 2017 at 10:28 PM.
I forgot, but another option would be a 20-wide by 10-deep lot, which would have room for a bigger house and driveway. I've made two or three of those. The nice thing about driveways is that they can be put right on the edge of a lot and still work.

About the only thing I haven't done is a 10-wide by 20-deep, which at first seems odd, but might work for a trailer-type of lot, where a driveway is at the front of the lot and the building at the back.

One important piece of advice if you're going to make a shrunken lot: Do the groundcover paints after you shrink the lot, not before. The groundcover paints seem somehow to be tied to lot size and shrinking a lot will mess up groundcover paints that you will not be able to fix, or possibly even erase. They should work fine as long as you shrink the lot first.
Top Secret Researcher
Original Poster
#18 Old 12th Oct 2017 at 3:15 PM
I think the next one I have done is on one of the Sunnyside lots, and is 20 wide by 10 deep! Haha, coincidence! Yeah, that one extra tile of space sometimes means all the difference when working with such limited space, that's for sure!

I didn't know that about groundcover paints being tied to the lot size, so wow! Learned something new today - thanks for telling me!
Theorist
#19 Old 13th Oct 2017 at 4:41 AM
One more piece of advice:

If you're going to shrink a lot without intending to build to within one square of the edge, then I would shrink the lot before doing anything. In other words, if you just want a smaller, shrunken lot while still adhering to the normal building rules, ie, no building within two squares of the edge of the lot, then I would shrink the lot before you build or do anything else with the lot.
The reason for this is just to play it safe. As I pointed out in my previous post, groundcover paints are affected by lot shrinking, so there's no telling what else might be affected, whether it is something that is readily apparent or not.
The person who knew most about these things was Mootilda, who unfortunately passed away a couple of years ago, but she always strongly suggested to err on the side of caution whenever using any of her utilities, because while her programs apparently worked as intended, she could never be absolutely sure that there weren't some unforeseen consequences that were yet to be discovered.
Top Secret Researcher
Original Poster
#20 Old 13th Oct 2017 at 7:49 PM
That definitely makes sense to shrink the lot before you do anything. I usually do try and leave a space for parking, and I do try and not build to the edges of a lot. Stretching the money is the hardest part, so I may have to shrink the lots to reclaim some of those sweet Simoleons. It's one of the things I fight with myself about, as I like for there to be room for expansion if someone doesn't want to move to a bigger lot. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge!
Back to top