The Koffi-Laffoon House

A hearty hello to those of you who are still reading this here blog! I’m sorry I’ve been so neglectful of it over the past few months. I’m still gabbing and picspamming over at The Sims Daily, and in a way, the 10-pictures-per-post limit over there has worked well for me — it seems I post more often when I’m forced to keep it short and sweet. For example, I’ve been meaning to post a Fran update here for months, but when I think about the enormity of it, the 50-60 pictures to post, and the 5 or so pages to write, I get intimidated and put it off. What can I say, I’ve always been very lazy and lacking discipline. :-/

Anyway, I’m going to try something new…I know some of you are already reading my threads over on TSD, but for those of you that aren’t members of that forum (even though you totally should be! ;-), I’m going to repost my pics here as well. I figure I’m paying for this darned webspace, and I have this lovely blog stretching back into 2004…I might as well be using it! So without further adieu, here is my latest project, a modern house I designed for Gobias Koffi (EA pre-made in Sunset Valley) and his husband, famous fashion designer Jo-Jo Laffoon (a creation of Samkat, who posted Jo-Jo in the Style My Sim challenge forum).

First off, here’s my makeover of Jo-Jo, which I think sets the scene for the house:

The Koffi-Laffoon House

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Contest Results and Other Stuff

Hey all, just wanted to let you know that I made runner-up in the Triple Trouble contest! Lhonna was the winner, and no surprise, too, as her pics were gorgeous. It was a fun contest — I learned so much, and am now armed with some cheats and decorating knowledge that I didn’t have before, so I’m richer for the experience. I have to say, though, I’m glad it’s all over — I was obsessing over it for almost a month! Now I can get back to Mt. Geneva and all my other projects. ;)

Speaking of Mt. Geneva, I got all giddy and grumbly when I saw that new downloadable world from EA — Hidden Springs. Grumbly because it’s going to be another pay world like Barnacle Bay, but giddy because I absolutely love the geography of it! It reminds me of those lake towns in Switzerland with mountains all around — I have always wanted to build one of those in Sims 3, but I lack the CAW ability to do so. I always pictured Mt. Geneva to be like those towns — heck, it’s even named after Geneva, Switzerland. So the wheels are turning in my head, and I’m pondering redoing Mt. Geneva on the Hidden Springs map…but we’ll see. Yeah, I know…there’s always something! I never quite get around to just playing.

Also, my new computer is here! So just to see what it could do, I moved Christopher Steel into Macthekat’s Zamel House, and decided to decorate it for him. I’ve been experimenting with modern style, which is a refreshing change of pace after doing those complicated and clutter-filled contest entries. So far I’ve had no crashing problems, and it runs just fine with all of the graphics settings on high, so…*fingers crossed*! I haven’t tried actual playing yet, so we’ll see what happens there. Here are a couple of pics from the bathroom and bedroom:

Christopher's House

(Hah, I just realized I forgot to put blinds on one of the bathroom windows…oh well, it was for a 60 Minutes challenge, so I’ll just have to go back and finish it up! :-D)

Christopher's House

May and Sharla

Hi, all! I have some more pseudo-story pics for you. And an update on my progress in the Mt. Geneva Friends project, which is painfully slow, as I hit a few snags on house #4. I was going to preview that one along with #3, but it keeps either freezing on save or crashing in play mode. Argh! I spent a whole week trying to finish that lot (and it’s not even that big), but after redoing it three times, shedding a few tears, and growing a few more gray hairs, I said to heck with it and moved on.

I thought maybe I had too much CC, so I pared it back and merged a bunch of package files, but that didn’t solve the problem, and I kept running out of space on my hard drive. When I tried to defrag, it told me I didn’t have enough space to do that, either. So the upshot of this all is: I have ordered a new computer! It has oodles of space, so at least I won’t have to worry about that anymore. And since the game will have to be reinstalled, maybe that will clear up my other issues. Here’s hoping!

Until then, I’m focusing on community lots (since I have no crashing issues when I’m in Edit Town). I’ve built a laundromat/café which you will see at the end of this post, but first off, here’s house #3 in my friends project (this will be a bit of déjà vu for those of you who read my thread on Living Sims – but the pics are all new, at least!):

Mt. Geneva Friends

It’s a bit of an oddball, but it’s based on a real house in my hometown. I was totally enchanted by its art deco-ish lines and green awnings, so I built it for my game and put friend #3 in there…with her grandmother. Originally I was going to have all of the friends live alone, but that’s a bit boring to play, so some of them will have roommates.

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A Little Bit of Vanora and Drew

Hey all! I’ve been trying to think of a name for my Sunset Valley re-do (where my “Friends” project is taking place), and I thought, well, hey…why not Mt. Geneva? Sunset Valley has a mountain, after all. A pretty majestic one. And I’ve been “greeting” people from Mt. Geneva for years, even though none of my Sims have lived there since the early Sims 2 days. Why not resurrect it?

So…welcome to Mt. Geneva, folks! Now for some pics of random stuffs…

While I was putting the finishing touches on Vanora’s house, a fire broke out in her living room. Fortunately she was able to extinguish the flames before they reached her painting supplies…

Mt. Geneva Friends

…but they completely roasted her beloved suitcase Victrola.

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I Just Need a Peppy Theme Song

So here’s a little preview from one of the other things I’m working on. (Those of you who frequent the Living Sims forum will have already seen some other shots of this project.)

In my mind I’m calling it the “Friends” project, even though these characters are nothing like the characters on the TV show. None of them are roommates or siblings, and they don’t live in the big city — they just happen to all live near each other in Sunset Valley, in a neighborhood full of shabby old houses and overgrown gardens. What they share with “Friends” is that they’re all single, and their lives will (I hope) become intertwined as they struggle with their careers, social lives, and place in the world.

That’s the plan, anyway. My Sims may have other ideas. :)

The first Sim I’ve created is Vanora Lance, who lives in a rundown old Gothic Victorian cottage (in the lot by the criminal warehouse where Mosquito Cove used to be).

Vanora's House

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