"The Grass Is Greener ..."
Community Spirit - Round 3 - Play-along
Backstory: Retired hippie artists. They love finding odds and ends at flea markets. They need at least two bedrooms so they have a spare for guests.
Requirements: A good size fruit and veg garden. A place to sew, paint and make pottery.
Wants: A house/furniture made from plenty of recycled materials.
Random item: The flamingo (tucked in the right corner of the front verandah)
Backstory
Despite graduating from the same college, attending the same "anti-war" and "ban the bomb" rallies and "no tuition fees" marches, Dustin "Dusty" Rhodes and Wendy "Winding" Aelah didn't become acquainted until the memorable "Simming Fields" festival. One long unforgettable Summer of music filled days and passion fuelled nights - good times, psychedelic drugs, new friends and free love - if you weren’t there, you just "weren’t"! It wasn't until Wendy asked Dustin for a ride back to her family home, that they really got to know other.
The road trip turned into one disaster after another, with the car finally grinding to a wheezing halt just outside Community Spirit - a ghost town to the left of the middle of nowhere, somewhere in the bad-lands. Taking shelter in an abandoned log cabin from the bitterly chill Autumn night, Dusty was torn between going for help and staying with Wendy.
During the night, Wendy went into premature labour but unfortunately lost the baby. In no state to travel, Dusty set about making the cabin as comfortable as possible and foraging for food, discovering that, due to a natural spring, the area immediately around the cabin was surprisingly bountiful.
But, the ground water around here is contaminated, beneficial to plants, but harmful to animals ... just as well both Dusty and Wendy are vegetarians ...
Putting down unexpected roots, they have been here ever since. As a memorial, they planted a weeping willow sapling over the grave of their son.
Front And Back Views
You can make out the original log cabin (horizontal logs on river boulders) and the four main phases of expansion. A sideways extension with material from an old barn (vertical planks and old doors on field stone), at the front with parts of the old school house (vertical planks plus full height windows on blockwork), upwards (old shingles and multi-pane windows from dilapidated houses) and finally at the back (with large amounts of "military green" and bricks from the deserted army base). The original front door and feature window have been re-incorporated, leading onto the front veranda. Also, several fields are missing parts of their fences!
Foundation And Floor Plans
Garden
Ummmm ... hippies ... yes, that's right, I'm emphasising the "flower" in "flower power" and going plant sims this time around!
So, Dusty and Wendy put down roots ... quite literally. Here they are harvesting the first produce of the season.
And relaxing after planting the second crop
As you can see from the size of the weeping willow (see back story), they've been here a long time.
Studio And Shop
When not gardening, they indulge their other hobbies - sewing, painting and pottery - in their bright studio.
Items from which they sell in their home shop
Along with the head-turning, mouth-watering produce from their garden
Master Bedroom
The description (but NOT the requirements) states "... need at least two bedrooms so they have a spare for guests." So, two bedrooms, one for guests, one for what?
In human terms ... not applicable ...
In pixel people terms, a bedroom implies a bed, and a bed gives comfort and energy ... well so do chairs and the floor. Ah, but a bed is the most efficient way to raise those needs. A bed is also a place to get frisky in private, and that raises social and fun quickly. So, in pixel people terms a bedroom (and its implied contents) raises multiple needs quickly and efficiently. And provides privacy.
Plant sims don't have comfort, energy, social or fun needs; they have love, light and water. So a plant sim bedroom needs to raise multiple of their specific needs quickly and efficiently (and provide privacy).
And you were wondering why there's a hot tub, but no bed, in the "master bedroom"! With the greenhouse lamp, all three plant sim motives will increase at a phenomenal rate in this room!
Note: If you take the hot tub out, there is ample space for a double bed
First Floor Visitors Flat
Having no need for a bedroom, kitchen or bathroom themselves, the entire first floor (that's the second floor to non-UK-centric members!) has been given over to a self-contained visitors flat.
The flat reflects their love of natural materials (within limits) and their artistic flair.
The kitchen ...
... has a corner for reading/studying (there is intentionally no TV in this flat, the great outdoors beckons!)
and a balcony for eating out when the weather is good (which is pretty much 365 days of the year on this lot!)
(Note the required pink flamingo, and yes, you can view/kick/stand it with it on a diagonal and that close to walls)
The guest bedroom has magnificent views of the garden from both the bed and its private balcony. There's even room at the foot of the bed to dance together (stereo on side table half in shot at right)
(Note the recycled carpet from two smaller pieces - I made one like that in real-life for the spare bedroom in the second house I bought, all the savings had gone into the bricks and mortar!)
And finally, the guest bathroom.
The wet area of which has recently been re-tiled with the left-overs from James Evans' roof-top swimming pool!
More "retired hippies" who have moved on with the fundamental ideals of the movement and embraced mother nature to the fullest.
CC free? Don't make me laugh!
Edit: Crap! Just imagine that somewhere during all the rebuilds I'd actually remembered to reduce the slope of the roof again!