When new towns were formed in the Deep South, it was usually along the railroad lines or some other route of commerce. Once these 'boom towns' began to get established, three types of houses usually appeared soon thereafter: Boarding Houses, expansive colonial saltbox style homes, and bungalow homes. This home is in the last catagory.
Southern bungalow style homes are as varied in their appearance as there are types of insects, but they all have a few things in common: They all fit on narrow lots, they all have lots of windows, and they are all meant to be entered from the side or rear. The front of the home is just for looks, as is the "living room", an oxymoron in Southern lingo since no one actually lives in them, they are just for show.
Say, for instance, that the Pastor and his wife are dropping by after church and they aren't close aquaintances of the family. They will park out front, knock on the front door, wait for you to answer, then you all will retire to the living room where you all sit around and have a nice chat sipping iced tea and showing off whatever knick-knacks you have on display. However, if they are close aquaintances, they park around the back or side of the house, knock twice before letting themselves in the back or side door, and help themselves to whatever is in the cupboards and refrigerator, pouring you both a tall glass of iced tea. Relatives and close friends don't even have to knock. If you're lucky, you may get a shout out, "I'm here!"
The thing I love about the functional floorplan is that it is so adaptable. The home comes with three bedrooms, two and a half baths on two floors, but just by moving or eliminating a wall here or there, can be made to have more or less. You can even eliminate the second floor entirely and the home still looks beautiful. The original home doesn't usually come with a pool or deck, but I like to spoil my Sims every now and again, so I made one. The Sims seen enjoying a moonlit hot tub rendezvous are my poor Simmies that I move into every house I build to try it out before I move them out.
Thanks to angelsways1, alexabbott1354, xmsims, 4EFS, and sims2world for their gorgeous plants, PiaNouka at Noukisims, Neptune Suzy at NSC, komosims, sunnisims, Val at SE2, Jennifer at Sims2HomeDesign, and twilightfantasysims.com for their beautiful walls and floors
Special thanks to Numenor and the Dream Team for the Grand Trianon Collection, and the outdoor lantern, to Brighten11 at the exchange for her stone path (it's beautiful) and zookini at MTS2 for the ranch style window. (I love that thing!)
Odds and ends: Thanks to Tolli @
www.simgedoehns.de for the modern diving board and ladder, and christine @
www.rantandravefarm.com/sims2 for her gorgeous floor tiles.
Looking at the pics you can almost hear the cicadas buzzsawing in the trees, can't you? Welcome Home.
