03-19. The Farazian Society Commune: Stage 3

I'm still in the process of furnishing the basement of the Commune. So far, I've done the 3 bathrooms, the den, and the meeting hall.

The 3 baths are decorated much the same with only a few differences.

I furnished the den with 4 computer desks, 2 bookshelves, and 2 easy chairs.

The meeting hall has a lecture platform and instruments.

There are 4 benches for small group meetings.

_______

One of the family members had a wish to buy a tree house, so I added one to the backyard--plus a Wishing Well to go with the Tree of Prosperity.

I also bought 3 more horse jumps and placed them along the edge of the yard.

Later I put in a swing by the wishing well. (It's Fall in my game and the trees are losing leaves. It was also night time when I took this pic.)

03-18. The Farazian Society Commune: Stage 2

I worked on the commune lot for two days. It's not finished yet. I still have the basement to do, but I think the ground level is done--at least until my sims move in. Here's what I have so far. A WIP.

First of all, I put a sign up for the commune and added two plaques from World Adventures.

Here are the plaque inscriptions. The first is the commune name, and the second is the motto.

There's a lot of open yard for the horses and for whatever else I want to add later.

As you can see, I built a medium-sized pool and gave the patio a more finished look: wall speaker, a better grill, edgings, a bit more flower variety, and less dirt.

I added a set of spiral stairs to the side of the stables leading up to the deck. The stairs also go down to the basement. In all, there are 2 staircases and 1 elevator for access to the basement.

Two beehives and an outdoor shower by the gardening station area. I'll probably give this area some edging to make it neater.

Decorative doors and mailbox. A burglar alarm (the gargoyle).

The other main door and two umbrella patio tables.

I added a small door to the outer side of the house for access to the trash cans. More flowers, lights.

I got rid of the hedge fence and opened up the back a little more. Added flowers and just a little fencing around the bushes, lights.

Here's a view of the full back, including stables.

I didn't make a lot of changes to the first floor, just some redecorating. This is the main entryway. I did have to move that fenced-in tree area because it wasn't centered correctly, and the tree didn't fit properly in the second floor. That was kind of a pain to do!

This is the main living area. I added a stereo and a wall TV, rearranged the furniture a little and changed some of the decor. The kitchen and dining areas, bedrooms, and more activity areas will all be downstairs.

An elevator going down to the basement. I took out the public restrooms and just put in all-in-ones on this floor.

This side entryway also had a planted tree area, but I took it out and placed a staircase going down to the basement and up to the second floor.

There isn't much space on the second level, but I was able to make use of three small rooms. For now, it's just a recreation area: dominoes, darts, chess, easel, and another stereo.

I had to do a lot of work in the two indoor greenhouses. Because the venue only used base game items, the floor was unfinished and everything was planted in dirt. I moved the plants out, tiled the rooms, and placed the plants on my ITF soil rugs. Then I had to rearrange the greenhouses.

Here's a closer view of the deck, showing two benches looking out to the water, a telescope, easel, small stereo, and chess table.

An overview of the ground floor.

I've just started on the basement, dividing up rooms. I put in temporary lights, wallpaper, and flooring while I work on furnishings. There will be 3 bathrooms, a kitchen and dining area, a meeting room, activity areas, and 7 bedrooms. The one room where a staircase is located can't be a bedroom because there wouldn't be any privacy, so I've made it into a study. I placed a bunch of computer desks in there to compare desk styles, but I'll be taking some of those out.

03-17. The Farazian Society Commune: Stage 1

I started working on my commune lot. I sat and stared at the empty space for a while, then decided to see what existing builds I had to get me started. I rarely build from scratch. Anyway, I realized I'd never used the Stones Throw Greenhouse venue in game--just the separate items. So I plopped it down to see if it would look nice converted into a residence. I think it will.

I have a LOT more to do, but I placed the venue how I wanted it, then deleted a bunch of duplicated seed spawners. There's still space for horses and outdoor activities, and much of the living area will be underground.

I'll probably redo the patio area, but it works for a communal residence too.

I added my magic watering fountain for any plants not set under the gardening stations.

I also built a double stall for the horses.

Here's a view of the back of the "house" as of right now. I think I'll make the deck area above the horse stalls accessible for sims.

I wanted most of the windows in back to look out over the ocean beyond.

I still have building, landscaping, and furnishing to do, but I'm just going to take my time and enjoy. I think the garden center will make a good commune residence. I hope so anyway!

03-16. One Day Before We Build

I went into my Lost Cove game again and didn't have any issues. I don't know what that crashing hiccup was about! I didn't try to do any story update or building until I knew for sure that my game was stable. I just let the family do what they wanted. So here are some outtakes of their evening at home.

Father and daughter gossiping.
Faith: And they have to clean the toilet by hand! Can you imagine? I'm so glad I'm a genie!

One scary lady! That face is enough to give anyone a heart attack!

And now that she de-stressed, it's back to work for Ambitious Bebhinn.

The kids were wanting attention. Faith asked Emad to play tag with her. All they did was walk up and down the stairs and tag each other. Paladin interrupted Bebhinn's work to ask for a bedtime story.

She read him a Logic skill book. I guess she had that in her inventory already. Paladin's eyes were glazing over!

Not surprisingly, he fell asleep right away. Actually, he was exhausted.

Bebhinn loves her horses. She went outside to brush Shade.

She bottle fed Tempest since Luna was asleep, then put her back in the stall with her mother.

Tempest: Mama? Are you awake yet? I'm really bored.

Tempest: Can I go outside and play? ... Mama?

Tempest: Mama? Are you done eating now? I want to jump and race! Mama? ... Maaaamma!

They look so innocent when they're asleep.

_____
I took some screenshots of the lot where I plan to build the Farazian Society Commune in Lost Cove. It's on an island just off the mainland. It's the biggest lot available, but is only 50x50.

I'm going to set NRaas to allow more than 8 sims in the household. This will be a challenge for me. I think I'll have close to 20 sims and pets. Too many for me to control, so I won't even try! Lost Cove is sparsely populated, so it would be a good world for me to use for this experiment.

The lot is close to the ocean, but doesn't connect to it.

There is a beach area nearby. I might add a small beach-type lot there.

The rest of the small island is hilly.

But it's not too far from the rest of Lost Cove. (This world is semi-apocalyptic. That's why there are ruined buildings, bridges, and boats around about.)