A Bates family house tour with excessive commentary
I've done it! After much (much, much) toiling, I finally finished the Bates family house in Starlight Shores.
I've actually decorated this house three times. The first time, I finished everything except one and a half bedrooms without saving, and my game crashed. I cried. I gave myself a couple of hours to cool down, went back on, and saved periodically. I was just finishing up my FAVOURITE BEDROOM DESIGN EVER when my game crashed, and I hadn't saved it. I went back on today to finish up the three rooms that had been erased when my game crashed the second time, saving periodically as I went, and I can happily say I am finally done, and the Bates have a GORGEOUS house. I didn't want to stick it in the next update since there are so many pictures, so you can just see it here, instead.
See you under the cut!
Welcome to the Bates Family Abode! As I'm sure you know, I don't design my own houses because I find it to be too troublesome, but the pre-made houses in Starlight Shores weren't big enough/didn't have enough bedrooms/were too ugly for me. So I plopped the Bates down on an empty lot, and started to create a house for them. Halfway through working on my standard template, I noticed the house on the lot next to theirs had a really cool design, so I decided to emulate that instead of going with the standard L-shaped house that I usually default to.
This was the result. My version of the house is much larger than the EA-created one, but I figured I needed the space. AND IT LOOKS AWESOME.
Anyway, I wanted to highlight some of my favourite features!
I love the entrance so much. It took me forever to figure out how to do it and give the outside portion a different roof from the rest of the house. (Roofing is a whole other story, man.) But I really like the result.
My second favourite feature is the alcove poking out of the side of the house. I just think it looks awesome (especially with the bay window), and I'm so proud of the roofing that I did around/on top of it.
I know I've covered the entrance, but I just REALLY LIKE HOW IT LOOKS.
Also I even went to the trouble of minimal landscaping.
(And I like the chimney, too. I usually put fireplaces near the back of the house, but I liked the look of this, and how it separated the house.)
My final favourite part of the house is the second-floor balcony. So pretty! I'm excited to see what it looks like at night, with the lights on.
Anyway! Let's head inside, shall we?
Here's the entrance area. I'm sure you'll notice that I kept some things the same as the old house, mainly because I just liked how everything looked there. The mirror/flower/table/crates combination is one of my favourites.
I was going to do the walls in grey all around, but I just liked the look of this brown instead. It's so rich and warm. :)
The entrance winds around into the living room, which you'll see later, and has doors/arches to the kitchen, dining room, and two bedrooms.
Here's the kitchen! I really liked the orange accents from last time (the countertop, the chairs), and the set-up (having the laundry room in the kitchen, and a seating area), so I stuck to what I knew. Also, that orange rose thing is one of my favourite paintings, which Soraya did.
The dining room is one of my favourite rooms in the house. It just looks so crisp and clean - and, yeah, I love the fish tank. :P
Across the hall from the dining room is Corrine's bedroom. She strikes me as really girly (her bedroom in the old house was purple and yellow, if you remember), so I wanted to give her a room that was girly but also refined. (Also, totally stole design ideas from Charlotte & Josh's bedroom.)
The fireplace/seating area is my favourite part of the room. :)
Soraya's room looks a lot like Aidan's old room at the Appaloosa Plains house, except I think it needs something on that first wall there. Looks too plain!
Continuing on to the family room...
Here's the TV/seating area, which is my absolute favourite. I love what turned out to be a sort-of wall unit, and that it's not perfectly symmetrical but still works.
Also, I LOVE this plant! It looks so great with the space. Oh, and the spiral staircase will take us upstairs afterwards.
Anyway, behind the TV area is the pool table and the stage for "band practice." And I added another easel, in case we have multiple artists in the family.
This is the upstairs "lobby" area. Although you can only see two rooms, there are actually five on this floor. I didn't furnish the other three, because I'm saving them for the nursery/any kids rooms, and there's no point filling them until we actually have children in the house.
The next room is Aidan and Layla's, and I must warn you I went, um, a wee bit craazy in here...
Let me explain. I was going to do my standard "blue room" for Aidan and Layla, since I don't think they'll be here too long. It always looks nice and it's quick and easy to design. But then I thought to myself, now here's an opportunity to get creative.
So forget the "blue room." I did the primary colours room. It just makes me so happy to look at! And, let me tell you, I AM THRILLED.
Anyway, moving forward to Quinn & Youssef's room, which is officially my favourite bedroom creation to exist ever. (Yes, this is the bedroom I had to re-do three times.)
So in the old house, Youssef & Quinn basically moved into Nora & Terry's old bedroom after they died. So I figured in this house I'd experiment with their personal style as a couple. I thought it would definitely be "eastern-influenced" since they met each other in Egypt, and kind of went from there. I'm so happy with how this room turned out - warm, vibrant, and unique.
Also, they are the ones who have the side-balcony.
Anyway, let's head outside to the back yard!
Note the house in the background. I modeled Casa del Bates after that.
I think I'm pretty much prepared for the generation 7 kids.
Also: one of the expansion packs came up with a chin-up exercise machine thing. I AM SO LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING SOMEONE USE THAT. OMG.
Of course, we had to put in the cemetery. I think this looks a lot nicer than the set-up in Appaloosa Plains.
Anyway, that's all for now! Hope you enjoyed the house tour. :)
- Kelsey