So I have a couple of guys that want to live together - a widower and divorcee. One wants to party and the other wants to start a little home business. Naturally they want a double garage for their cars. I've just been building this house. (Sorry about the pics - forgot to edit them)




Floor plans from top:




On the ground floor is the little shop at the front with a workshop behind it leading off a study.
I'm not sure about the layout, particularly of upstairs. I want to divide up the space better but have an obvious space for party-goers to hang out.

The potential of a business-by-day-party-by-night home is there.

The bedroom on the left of the 1st floor could be moved to the right, removing the single bed and bathroom, potentially making the bathroom adjacent to bedroom a Jack & Jill bath.
The huge area could be divided into 2. One private living area and one party room, which would make sense above the garage, with 2 seperate staircases leading up to the different areas.

I don't know if a separat staircase for the partypart of the house is something I world do. Having 2 staircases is never wrong, but it's the same people having the party isn't it?
I would but some sort of division between the sleep section and party section of the house. You can use the bathrooms for that, or some other room. Just keep the bedrooms more secluded.

Noise is a big problem when someone's having a party, and one of them needs to run a shop in the morning.

Me and Bravo seems to have the same priorities

In home of that size I was thinking of a seperate staircase to the party and private area, so the guests don't have to get through the whole, or private part of the home

Ok, here's a bit of a revamp. Front and back pretty much the same (just added decorative stuff).



I figured the bedroom near the party area belonged to the host so he wouldn't have cared but I moved it anyway,



and divided the area. (Ignore the placement of the pool table - I forgot to move it after placing the stereo.)
But it looks a bit weird next to the mezzanine area.



Would I be better to get rid of the arch and just knock down a couple of bits of wall?

I didn't add a second staircase as it will only be two of them most of the time and it's on the party side of the house anyway.

Through the private parts, yes lol. It's now in the party part, that should be fine.

When it comes to the couches, I usually give them the best corner. That's usually the one with less traffic and big windows. In your house I would probably take the front, left side. It looks like it has windows with a view on the street and windows towards the balcony.

The pool can be stuffed in a corner, out of the way mostly. In your house perhaps by the door to the private part of the house.

These are my ideas, you can do as you like

You're right, of course.

I'm a bit of a "balance" freak so I would probably have the couches directly across from each other. Of course, you can do as you like. You might want to move the loveseat a bit closer to the couches to give plenty of room for people to dance around the stereo. Otherwise, I like the layout. I would like to see more of a seating / reading / quiet activity area in the large foyer off the bedrooms. Maybe some statues or something to fill it up a bit. You may be planning this already but you might want to add dressers and/or a seating area to the bedrooms - especially the one in the bottom right corner. It looks a little empty. I'd definitely remove some wall for the walkway by the balcony - the arch looks odd to me. You're making great progress!

Yes, I had doubts about the placing of the couches. I was going to more furniture to the bedrooms but was concentrating on this area.



As for the mezzanine floor, there is a wall downstairs, so I continued that wall.



It looks a little better.

I must admit that I would have liked a more interesting outside to the house towards the garden. I'm looking at the back bedroom thinking it would be nice with a balcony there, it could also work as an area for outdoor benches and perhaps a bbq or something in the garden.

I would also try to make the backside more diverse. It looks to me like you have a lot of room in the house. The back garden though is a bit small. I love gardens and think the house is a bit big, and the garden a bit small on the lot. It's a bit late for that now though, but you make some ins and outs on the back of the house, and use those to create interesting little areas for seating or whatever is needed inside.

It's true, I haven't developed the garden but I built it with two particular Sims in mind - one who wanted a big house and was not interested in a garden and the other only interested in business. If it had been built for a family, I probably would have done more to the back. I'm not very good at landscaping in any case.

I've changed the back a little, creating a slightly wider pool, but my Sim did have specific wants - big house.



Slightly edited floor plan:

Ground:


Upstairs:


Edit: I know the ground floor is sparsely furnished - I hadn't got around to that yet.

It looks very nice. I'm looking forward to see more of the decoration

Thanks for the advice, all. First upload approved last night!

Congratulations !!!