heimlichbourger said:  What always works for me is starting with the local flora– I set up some (quite arbitrary, really) rules for where particular plants grow, then I try to build lots that follow those rules. For example, each of my subhoods has a dominant color, (red for Chthonia, yellow for Heimlichbourg and blue for Umberwold). However, these colors shade into one another (the southern coast of Heimlichbourg has lots of Chthonian plants, mountain areas in every subhood have blue plants like Umberwold). I also try to make flora (and grass) much more lush near water features. Once that’s done, the lots look a lot less naked, so I have something to go on.

samantha-kathy said: You are not alone in hating building. I do too. And decorating. So here’s what I usually do - it might or might not work for you.

First you must know that I have two series of buildings I downloaded - both from Plasticbox - the newbie road series and the backalley lane series (at least, I think the town houses are called that). And a few other buildings that I loved. But even if you don’t have any downloaded houses at all, this will work. But since I prefer smaller lots, I had to download a few that I liked first.

I used to try and build entire hoods, but by the time I finished building them my enthusiasm for them was gone and I didn’t play them at all. So now, I only build what I need, when I need it. And first I ask if I can find a building that works (kind of) for what I need. Take for instance the Wilkie family that I made playable in Widespot. They needed a house to live. So I placed a plasticbox newbie road house and redecorated it a bit to account for the tastes of the people in there - mainly this meant changing out the living room furniture and making the spare bedroom into a teenage room. A lick of paint on the walls, maybe one or two painings and some curtains and I was done. I usually don’t decorate much as a rule and I like playing a family and getting to know them and their tastes first anyway.

I like to change rooms ‘in play’ when it comes to decorating. For instance, when Candy married Junior in my previous version of Widespot, she was horrified by the childish bedroom he had - so she redecorated it (also, as an apology for cheating, but that’s a seperate story).

Sometimes, a building works but not quite. I’m quite capable of (mostly) gutting a house and even extending it a bit here and there. But I keep the outside fairly untouched (aside from different color, maybe different door, and different roof color). I do that a lot to make shops. Take a plasticbox newbie road house. Gut most of the interior to make one large room, put counters in + cash machine + whatever goods they’re selling. I usually don’t bother with decorations in a store. I might do a little bit of it, when the mood strikes, but otherwise, no.

When neither of those options work, I need to build something. This is often the case in Simtopia, because everything there needs to stick to the story. Or it’s like forest lots where they can hunt. When I do that, I usually plop down the skeleton in one go - like with the quarry I built, I put all the rocks the way I liked them. Then I leave the lot and get on with playing. Another time, I made sure the ground color was correct. And another time I placed some wild mushrooms on the lot. A single, simple lot can take me 4 or 5 times/play sessions to build because I only do like fifteen minutes at a time. And I only do the absolute necessary to make it look remotely good.

Because I only build in small increments, I don’t get sick of it. IT does mean I need to start well in advance. I made the river lots in Simtopia weeks before I actually needed them. The quarry’s finished too, but won’t be used until generation 3 (and I’m only on gen 1). I started building the island Tropicana somewhere around the first baby turning into a child - and we’re close to the kids turning into teens now.

So that’s how I deal with hating building. But what about the getting started part? I make a plan - what do I minimally need on this lot for it to function as I need. For instance, the plantsim community + some wild cats needed a home. I wanted them to have resources - so I picked reeds, fish and lemons. I created a large pond in the middle of the lot and placed reeds around it. Then I placed lemon trees around the edge in two rows (also took away the view of the road at least a bit). That’s about all I did that round. Next round, I knew the plantsims would need water to meet their needs. So I placed a hotspring on the lot + a water crafting station in the form of a rock near the pond so they could get a bucket of water if needed. Another building session done. Next building session I focussed on getting food & a place to sleep for the cats. A pet food station from Sunni & Frac was placed on the lot as well as a natural pet bed. I placed a couple of plants too to finish the lot up. It’s all very minimally, yes, but everything I needed was there. I’ve seen beautiful tropical lots with lots of plants, but I could never build something like that. I don’t have the patience for it.