I spent the better part of this past weekend creating Sims, building, and decorating. Super fun. I’m really going to miss custom content when The Sims 3 comes out.
Here’s a sneak preview of my next story project, a town called Good Maithferry. This tiny rural village almost became a ghost town after the local factory shut down, but a famous toymaker named Melvin Kirshaw is bringing it back to life.
I don’t have any pics of Melvin and his toy shop yet, but here’s one of the shabby old cottages in Good Maithferry. I’m not sure who’s going to live here yet, but I started decorating and couldn’t stop. :-p
Apparently whoever lives there doesn’t like taking care of the yard. (I got a little carried away with the landscaping.) Here’s an interior shot:
I only took pics of the kitchen/dining room, so here’s another view:
And now for some Sims. This is Maryann Kirshaw, my narrator (and one of Melvin’s granddaughters).
She shares a room with her half-sister, Leila, who is quite the artist.
And this is their Uncle Neil. Every family needs an oddball uncle, right?
What do you think of him? I’m experimenting with some new facial character make-up, since I still don’t like custom skintones, but I want some of my adults to look more middle-aged. Neil and Maryann are both adult Sims, but Maryann is supposed to be college-aged, while Neil is the Sims equivalent of fortysomething.
And if you’re wondering what happened to Joe Shmakova and/or Gnomesby, well, they’re both on the back burner for now. The Good Maithferry project (which is a mutation/spin-off of Gnomesby) has been in the forefront of my mind lately. Although I might update Joe soon. I kind of miss him.
OK, I’ve had too much caffeine and stayed up way too late. Good night, Happy Simming, etc. :)
UPDATE: Ange said she’d like to see what Leila looks like from the front. Well, ask and ye shall receive!
(Leila on the left, Maryann on the right)
I love how you got “carried away” decorating the outside (landscaping). I love how it really does look as though whoever lives in that cottage hasn’t taken care of the yard in a while. I love how dingy the cottage looks. Or maybe “dingy” is the wrong word. How about … “neglected”? Totally love the grass growing through the stones in the yard.
Kitchen looks very cosy. Love the fireplace next to the table. Hope their won’t be any fires. ;O)
Maryann looks a little disgusted that you took a picture of her (or whoever took a picture of her) while she’s trying to be alone. I’d love to see what Leila looks like from the front. I like the CC skintone I currently use as a default in my game. But you do enough of a good job on your sims that I don’t think you should have any CC skintone. I think it would stifle your creative spirit. :O) Love your oddball uncles. They make your stories fun(nier). ;O) He really does look “middle-aged”.
Looking forward to more!
Neglected is the perfect word! And I’m testing out a hack where you can light a fireplace and it’ll burn forever (and not start any fires), so we’ll see how that goes. ;) Thanks a ton for your feedback. :) And I added a picture of Leila from the front to my post, just for you!
Yay!! Leila is so CUTE!! Or is beautiful a better word since she is obviously not a child. :O) I love her hair mesh. Where’d you get it? :O))
Hey Ange, sorry I didn’t see this earlier! Leila’s hair is from Noukie Sims. :-)
I love the look of your new project!
Thanks, Oydie! That’s very encouraging!
Your stuff is always fantastic!
Aww, thanks, Lisa! You always say such nice stuff. :)
How do you do it Jen? Seriously, how? Heehee. Do you just get a picture in your mind of what you want a lot/house to look like, and then create it? Or are you inspired by something and try to re-create it? All of your buildings have such unique looks and feelings, and I also don’t know how you find such awesome downloads! Impart some of your genius to us!
Thanks for thinking it’s genius, but really, I just gather ideas from all around me and use them for inspiration. I’m a big ol’ copycat! Most of my homes are built from pictures or house plans; the shabby cottage was inspired by Rosehill Cottage in the movie The Holiday. (I love that movie just for the cottage! And for Kate Winslet. And Jack Black. And John Krasinski’s in it for about 20 seconds. Yeah. Anyway. ;) So that cottage is 2 parts Rosehill Cottage, 1 part general English cottage, and 1 part American bungalow style because I wanted a dormer in the front. ;) The crazy landscaping was inspired by the pics of Rosehill cottage and of the gorgeous cottages at Sims Crossing.
Basically I just keep a file on my computer of pictures I like, and when I need some inspiration, I browse through them. Or I Google like a mad fool. I also have a bazillion house plan books and magazines. As for downloads, I have something like 20,000 items in my Downloads folder right now! Gack. I try to keep it under 20,000; if I go over, I make myself delete something. That’s just so my game won’t be too slow and so it doesn’t take me hours just to find a deco pillow!
That cottage looks neat, almost abandoned and lonely, really. Great work, Jen, as usual. It seems like everyone is excited now about Sims 3, except me, and I’m not because I know that neither my laptop nor my computer can run it, but I’m not that bothered.
Thanks, Scally. We’ll see about TS3…I’m excited but I’m also wary of quite a few things. It’ll be interesting. The nice thing is that if it’s terrible, we still have TS2 and 5 years worth of CC to play with. :)
I’m also excited but wary. And now it looks like I’m going to be out of town on June 2nd when EBgames.com said it’s going to ship my game. It should be in front of my door when I return, and then I’m off for another 4 days. That should give me time to explore the game. *jiggles*
I love it – the interior looks very cosy and I love your landscaping. I’m so lazy with landscaping so I’m impressed with anyone who puts in any effort at all!
Thanks, Carla! I’m usually very lazy with my landscaping, too, so I know what you mean! I usually do it last, so by that time, I’m burnt out, but this time I did it first (before I decorated the interior). That made a big difference. Plus I was going for a certain look (abandoned rural cottage), which helps.
I get so excited when I see you’ve updated Jen! I love this new project and house of yours (lol if your anything like me, I chop and change sim ‘projects’ every few seconds, or else I get bored with the game quickly!). Your one of the very few people that makes me want to get less ‘maxis match’ objects, because I simply fall in love with your decorating. I think I like the makeup on Neil too, it does make him appear older but still retains the same skin look.
Thanks, Linda! And yes, I do seem to change my Sim projects every five seconds, so we’re very much alike in that respect! Heh. Ah well, as long as we have fun, that’s what counts, right? ;-P
Leila is going to be very pretty as a teen. Or is she a teen? Oh no, now I’m not sure. How long until Elvis and Neil meet up, hmm?
Now all you need to do is add some spooky mysteries, and Maithferry could pass as a Maxis hood! :) (that’s a compliment, in case you weren’t sure ;) )
Leila is a teen. But I deliberately made her look more childlike because she’s a very young teen, maybe 13-14ish. LOL at Elvis and Neil. And we’ll see about the spooky mysteries…I’m trying really hard not to pose my Sims this time around (because I find posing = boring as heck) so we’ll see if they lead me down a mysterious road or not. ;) And I like the Maxis hoods, so thanks for the compliment!
Wow, you really did get the houses to look kinda run-down. VERY nice job!! :D The overgrown yard really adds to the flavor of the housing though. *nods*
Oooooh, I love the herbs hanging from the ceiling in that first interior shot. Do you happen to remember where you got them from?
I’m glad Ange asked to see Leila from the front. She’s cute! :-D The ‘hood looks very pretty. *beams*
But you need to stop giving in to these thoughts of other Sims and stories and whatnot. *grabs Joe by the arm and drags him up front* See? Look at this poor guy. Look how sad he is that you’re neglecting him. *elbows Joe in the ribs and gives him a LOOK to give Jen puppydog eyes*
Thanks, Aeronwy! The herbs are from a fantastic Parsimonious set called Oggs N Ends. And oh, poor Joe. The puppydog eyes are tough to deny. But I’m not sure my muse will cooperate. He’s pretty stubborn. :-p
Jen, you could just sit and post house/lot/whatever pictures and I’d be entertained! I absolutely love your attention to detail in the houses and interiors you do. I wish I had the patience and the meticulous dedication to do that!
Thanks, Mao, but I think you’re underestimating your patience and dedication! You’ve been able to actually finish projects, whereas I…don’t. ;-)
Wow, that cabin looks great! I love the rustic look, and your homes are always so carefully detailed. I love that!
Maryann looks spunky in that picture, I can’t wait to hear from her :)
I like the wrinkle make-up. I use it too for my middle-aged Sims.
Looking forward to seeing more of this project :)
I appreciate the comments, Laura! Thank you! :-)
I love your house designs! You are such a talented decorator. I am anxious to see how the Sims 3 lives up to all of the custom content with the Sims 2.
Thanks, Ann! Yeah, it’ll be weird going back to just a base game with no CC or EPs. Thankfully we’re getting things like cars and ceilings right off the bat so we don’t have to wait for them!
Leila is really pretty and the cottage looks like on of those sterotypical cottages with it’s messy landscape.
It adds character to the house and i think Leila is going to be my favorite in this family.
Thank you, Victoria! :-)
Where did you get the lovely face makeup to change their appearance anyways? And the eyes??
Hi swinkles, the eyes are from NoukieSims. I have both the defaults and non-defaults installed. For facial character make-up, I use stuff from Rensim, Simple Life, Navetsea (Insimenator.org), and Mermaid Cove (now closed, sadly). Hope that helps!
Whoa, Jen, I love your creations. I’ve been reading your stuff for a while now, and your stuff just keeps growing unbelievebly, (and inevitably) better!
I recently started a blog, but I’m in the early stages. there are only, like, three stories on there so far. But anyways.
I’m glad Sims 3 doesn’t come out in Australia (where I live) for a while yet. I’m still not done with Sims 2! I don’t want to immediately switch and dump all my sims. I don’t know, I think I have that freaky sort of emotional attatchement or something, lol xD
Keep up the good work!
Wow, I’m late in replying to this, but thank you for your comment, Bella!
I really need to remember to check your site more often!
Beautiful work, as always, Jen! You do such amazing work with the most beautiful custom content. :)
Are you looking forward to Sims 3? I’m only just now starting to get honestly excited for it. I think I’ve about had my fill of Sims 2 and am ready for a nice, fresh game (although, as usual, I will miss things like pets that we’ll have to wait – again! – for an expansion for).
Hi Audrey!! I haven’t updated in something like 6 weeks, so you haven’t missed much! But thanks for your feedback as always. :D
As for the Sims 3, I am definitely looking forward to it! I hope to pick it up from Gamestop on June 2nd, and then I’m taking the 4th and 5th off so I can have a four-day weekend of playing. Woot! I’m also pondering names for my Sims 3 blog. Like you, I am ready for a new game. I got bored with TS2 gameplay about 2 years in. TS3 will, I hope, be a fun new gaming experience.