Guide to Better Landscaping Let s Begin: There are a few tips to follow, and I will definitely go into more detail on them. But, first the TIPS! 1. Placement and Reasonability 2. Quality Over Quantity 3. Pathways 4. Accenting not Matching 5. Ponds 6. The Backyard 7. Community/Business Decorating 8. Rotation Placement and Reasonability: A couple of things really rely on where they are placed. For instance, you won t find palm trees on a snowy mountainside, or even pine tress in the desert. So, when you re decorating your yards/lots be sure to take note of what kind of terrain you re building on. For instance: Here you can see a cute little house with cute little pine trees. Now, if this were a Cliffside retreat, there d be no problem. But, as you can see this lot is on a beach. So, let s do some minor tweaking and delete those pines and put in some palms. Page - 1 -
Now, that s more like it! A more reasonable lot, that looks a bit more beach like than it would have with those silly pine trees. Page - 2 -
Quality Over Quantity: Okay, so you have this big open front yard and you d like a flower garden? Well, there s a big difference in flower gardens. You can have two huge ones as this picture portrays. They re massive definitely eye catching but they take away from the house and the style of the house. So, we re going to get rid of them. Here they ve been replaced with smaller more reasonable gardens, that actually look nice but don t take away from the house, but add to it s style. Whenever you re landscaping (especially with flowerbeds), be sure to take note that it s the quality of the plants and the arrangement that makes the lot look great. If you have a ton of plants that are all bunched together or randomly strewn about the place, the lot is confusing and hard to enjoy. Page - 3 -
Another fine example of this particular idea is this pathway. Not only does it irritate the gardener, but also it makes the lot too plain and too dictating. The bushes lining the path scream out Don t you dare walk on my grass! Walk this way! You don t want that, you want your lot to be welcoming and cozy well, some lots anyway. So, let s delete some of those plants and see what it looks like. Page - 4 -
There. A more welcoming environment and easier on the gardener for sure! And yet another fine example thus proving that quantity is not attractive, but more quality that is satisfying. Quantity: Quality: Pathways: Page - 5 -
You don t always need a cement pathway. Sometimes, using the terrain tool and ground-covering tool is so much better and more appealing than perfectly squared tiles. The lot pictured below is what should be a run down little trailer park. But, man something just doesn t seem right, right? So, let s work with the terrain tool to raise up some of the land and do some ground covering to better suit this lot than a perfectly green tailored lawn. Ahh, yes. That s more like it. I ve raised the ground under the tree and darkened the grass a bit to accent the dead tree. Also, I added some dirt covering to the places that I felt like the Sims would walk the most so that it looks used and run down. It may not be much, but it definitely helps the lot out. Also, you might want to play around with the dirt covers and the floor tiles to see which look better. Try not to make your ground covers totally square or totally round, it takes away from the realistic look. In these next two photos, I ve shown what either option would look like on the same house. Page - 6 -
Here is the dirt covering: (You can see that I used the tool to also show the wear and tear of where the Sims walk the most. It adds a more realistic feel to the path.) Here are the cement floor tiles: You can see in the above picture how under the bushes is darkened. This is a personal preference of mine that I add those (with the ground covering tool) to make the bush seem like it s growing out of the ground instead of sitting on top. Page - 7 -
If you have a very long pathway, like the one shown below, try to split it up with flowers or some other sort of decoration so that it doesn t look soooooo long. An example is pictured below. Page - 8 -
Accenting not matching: There s a big difference between accenting and matching. Matching is like a having a pink house with pink flowers. However, accenting or contrasting colors for the greater good would be the pink house with white flowers. You don t want your colors to clash dramatically, but rather to add flavor to your yard. Here you have a nice little blue house with neatly arranged red flowers. They don t match and they definitely don t accent. So, let s replace them with an accenting color. Page - 9 -
Here the yellow flowers don t take away from the house, they add to it. Making the house easier to look at. While we re at, let s add one of those flowerbeds I was talking about. You can see that the yellow fits in with the lot. If the house had been yellow, the red flowers would have been fine. But, our house is blue so we ll choose yellow flowers. The flowerbed adds to the yard, but still does not draw attention away from the house. It s neat and a simple shape. (I should have centered my rounded flowerbed more with the three windows on the house, but I didn t think about it. Sorry!) Page - 10 -
Ponds: Ponds seem to scare a lot of people, and they shouldn t! Ponds add so much to the yard and give the house character. Here you have a house with a nicely shaped pond. It s not a perfect circle, but what natural pond is?! However, this pond can definitely be spiced up. Page - 11 -
First off, I m going to smooth out the edges. You can see towards the top of the pond, the two sides are hard drop offs. The land doesn t ease into the lake; it rushes to it. So, I used the leveling tool to one square at a time lower the land so that there s a more smooth shore. You can see the difference on the left side of the pond. Page - 12 -
Now, I also want to fix up those white edges. I really like the Sparse and Spotty ground covering for the edges of my ponds. Let me show you the edge I m going to cover without the covering first, and then the edge with the covering so that you can compare. Without Covering: With Covering: Page - 13 -
This is just a personal preference, I feel like it adds more to the pond type look. Ponds aren t clean, and I feel like beach-white sand along the edges takes away from the realistic pond look. Let s move on to those Water Lilies! Keep that quality over quantity in the back of your head. You can see in the picture below that this looks silly. The lilies are boxy and just thrown into the middle of the pond. If you didn t know, all colors of the lilies come in four different shapes as pictured below. (To rotate through the four shapes, keep clicking on the lily box in the catalog until you find the one you like, they re random and in no order.) Page - 14 -
I cannot stress this enough! Use this to your advantage. Feel free to rotate each set and maneuver them for a more lifelike look. The picture below shows what the lilies are capable of. The lilies look to be floating in this position; they re not boxy or look manmade. So, let s add some Cattails. Page - 15 -
No, no, no! These cattails are just thrown in! That won t do. Let s take some out and better organize our pond, shall we? There, that s better! You don t want plants to overload your pond. You ll need some room for water in there. Now that we ve got the insides down let s work on the surrounding areas of the pond. Let s add some trees. Keep in mind, cacti don t grow near ponds or any bodies of water. Try to stay plausible. Page - 16 -
I added some Easy Bay Shade trees. I think they make ultimate pond-like atmospheres. But, there s still something missing I know, let s add a bench or a swing to that bare side of the pond. There. That s much better. But, there s still something missing I know, let s use that ground covering tool I keep mentioning! Page - 17 -
There, I used the dirt covering to show the wear and tear of where the Sims walk most. Now, it actually looks like this pond is used rather than just for show! So, after all that work let s see what the whole thing looks like. There, there. A nice cozy decorative pond. Page - 18 -
The Backyard: Whatever you decide to do with your yard, don t forget the backyard! You can do all the pretty work you want with the front, but when a Sim walks around to the back after a beautiful front yard to see what else you can do, they know you re just for show when there s nothing there. So, let s take this backyard. Ugh you re right, that s terrible! First off, let s not use flowers and shrubs to decorate this place. Let s make a little separate patio to enjoy on cool summer nights. Page - 19 -
Let s get some trees in place first. I randomly throw them across the yard, and work around them. That s, again, a personal preference. Once our trees are in place, lets spice up that foundation with some rose bushes. I used white to accent the brick, but to also match the windows and doors. Page - 20 -
Let s add some cement (you can choose ground coverings if you d like), and also a small fence that matches the banisters on the porches. Be sure to match those on your lots, or the yard and house will clash with each other causing a mess. Also, try not to make everything sooo boxy! Add some shape in there, but try to be symmetrical as it s easier on the eyes. Now, what goes on your little patio is totally up to you. I chose to make mine a nice little hangout. I added benches and some potted plants that match the banisters and cement, and viola! A nice outdoor patio. Page - 21 -
Community/Business Decorating: There s something I refer to as Maxis Mush. Now, Maxis isn t the best at decorating and sometimes their wallpapers and flooring choices for rooms make me want to tear my hair out. So, let s discuss decorating business and community lots. This is where Maxis is known for throwing all sorts of random plants into the lot making the whole thing Maxis Mush. Here s an example of what I m talking about. There are so many plants so much too look at its madness. You can barely see the building through all that stuff! Page - 22 -
So, some Business/Community lot decorating tips. Be creative, but don t explode as in the previous picture. Here are a few examples of what I m talking about. Remember, symmetry is easier to look at, but that doesn t mean you can t have weird shaped flowerbeds. Also, be sure to keep your quality/quantity tip in the back of your mind. Here is another community lot, the bushes and trees accent the crazy wallpaper as to not take away from it, and the fountains add decoration to the big empty space between the rose bushes. Page - 23 -
Rotation: As with ponds, rotating the plants adds to the realistic feel as live plants down all grow the same direction and the same size. To show you what I m talking about, take a look at the picture below. So, let s grab them and rotate them so that the arrows are all facing different directions. Page - 24 -
In the picture below, you can see that the plants are all different now looking more like real plants than plastic ones. (I also added that dirt spot to make them look better, too.) I want to thank you for reading this tutorial, and I hope that I have helped you to better help your lots. Landscaping is easy and simple, but does sooo much for the lot! Enjoy! Page - 25 -