An important part of The Sims 4, along with playing with the families and keeping them happy (or miserable) is to give the Sims a home where they can live. The easiest option is to go for houses and apartments that already exist, and just move the new family into such a home. However, if the player enjoys building and decorating houses and wants to have fun making a personalized house for each family, they can start from scratch.
Building a new house in The Sims 4 can take a lot of time and effort, especially if the player wants to make it look spectacular. Luckily, there are ways to make certain the end result looks like a place that Sims would actually want to live in.
12 Use Platforms (And Half Walls)
Source: Carl’s Sims Guides
Introduced with the release of the Snowy Escape expansion pack, platforms can be a real game-changer when it comes to building and decorating indoors. While they fit particularly well with Japanese-style architecture, platforms can be used to make even just about any house more interesting and layered.
Use platforms to create depth to separate small parts of big rooms. Combine that with half walls that come in a few different height variations, and players should be able to come up with a variety of different modern and classic builds.
11 Try Different Shapes
Thanks to how immersive the Build Mode tools are in The Sims 4, the possibilities are nearly endless for players when it comes to the shapes of their homes. Roofs in particular come in all different sizes and shapes, as they can be manipulated to be completely round or sloped.
Players who find themselves stuck or without inspiration should play around with these settings to find something new and refreshing. Making the same house over and over again isn’t realistic anyway, so try round porches, platforms, and roofs instead of the usual angled ones.
10 Hide Mistakes With Plants
The Build Mode sandbox isn’t perfect in The Sims 4, and placing roofs, in particular, can get tricky for beginner players. Thankfully, even the best builders struggle with this and have come up with some ingenious solutions to hiding awkward corners and edges: plants.
By using the moveobjects on cheat, players can place these plants down just about anywhere, including on the walls and roofs of houses. Rocks can also work great for this purpose, but plants usually make builds look more organic and believable, which is why they’re a fantastic go-to solution.
9 Use Object Placement Cheats Generously
Source: Reddit
Speaking of the moveobjects on cheat, use it generously. Most creative and design limitations in the game can be easily solved by this extremely simple cheat. It essentially allows players to place objects and decorations anywhere they want without being confined by other objects and walls.
Combine that with the ALT key, which lets players place objects outside of the grid. This means players can place objects inside one another and even create brand new objects if they’re feeling adventurous enough. In building, this is fantastic for placing plants, rocks, windows, doors, and other important design items.
8 Work On The Garden
While the house is still the most important part, having lovely surroundings can help a lot with the overall impression. This works very well in houses, not so much in apartments, though.
The Sims can use the outside space on their lot to create a beautiful garden, a maze, a playground for their children…the possibilities are endless. No matter which option the player chooses, anything will look better than just an empty lot surrounding the house, with no trees or other greenery.
7 Create A Porch
Another outside detail that can bring a lot of charm to the build is a porch. This will especially look great if the player is going for more rural, countryside gameplay, such as the one with the Cottage Living expansion.
Once the porch is there, not only will it give the visitors a place to stand when they’re ringing the bell, but it will also allow the player to put some furnishing there if they choose. A grill, a bench, or maybe even a chess table are perfect deck furnishings.
6 Pick A Color Scheme
Using a large variety of colors can work, but in practice, it’s usually better to pick a color scheme and follow it. Each Sim has different priorities and a personality, so it’s possible to add a little personal touch to their rooms and make it their own, even if the color scheme is the same for all of the house.
This will not only make the house look more stylish but will also make building it and furnishing it easier. If players have a look and a style in mind, it becomes easier to narrow down choices for decor.
5 Don’t Just Use One Building
To add a bit more realism to the game, players can construct more than just one building on a lot. Of course, the main house’s a given, but it’s fun to let creativity run wild and add a few smaller builds to the property.
For example, how about an art studio where the hard-working mom can just take some time to herself and relax? Try creating a garden shed where the family stores their tools, or a playhouse just for the children. Once again, there are plenty of possibilities, and each of them will make the build look more interesting and spectacular.
4 Use The Attic And Basement
When focusing on building the nicest bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens, and others, it’s easy to forget that there’s a lot more variety in what the player can build. For example, the house will be all the more interesting if it has both an attic and a basement.
The basement can be either closed or open (without a roof) and used for growing plants or storing tools. The attic, meanwhile, can store items the Sims don’t currently need. Alternatively, it can even double as an extra bedroom for friends of the family, or serve as an art or music studio.
3 Water Is Great
Pools enjoy a certain infamy in The Sims, as the players have used them many times to drown their unfortunate Sims. However, adding a pool or another form of water — such as a fountain, a small pond, or even a lake — can bring lot of charm to the lot.
Pools are ideal for active Sims who enjoy swimming or just tanning in the sun, while ponds are great for those who would like to start fishing. And, of course, mermaids will appreciate having a lot of water on their lot, since they need it even more than human Sims do.
2 Use Custom Content
Some players enjoy spending a lot of time building their houses, while others just want to get it done as soon as possible and move to actually play the family. In the second case, it helps to use custom content for building wonderfully intricate houses in the game.
Sims 4 players are creative and share their amazing builds in the gallery, from which it’s easy to pick new builds and download them. Another alternative involves various websites that focus on The Sims 4 custom content. For example, modthesims includes both living and community lots, not just for The Sims 4 but all Sims games.
1 Get Inspiration From Real Life & Fiction
A part of the fun of The Sims is to try and recreate what already exists in the real world, or in popular fictional work. This way, the player doesn’t have to come up with something from scratch but still has a lot of fun when they try to build the Buckingham Palace, the White House, or maybe Taj Mahal.
It’s also possible for fans of various franchises to build new lots based on their favorite piece of work. For example, fans of Harry Potter can try to build Hogwarts or the Weasleys’ Burrow, and Star Wars fans could create a home looking like the Death Star.
The Sims 4 is available on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
