SimOutlets - The Sims game

SimOutlets' Design Showdown

Burb Living Room & Kitchen
Maxis Lot 63

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Charming Patio
Maxis Lot 69

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Happ Bedroom
Maxis Lot 68

Challenge #2 - The Charming patio.

Claire Charming has a lovely little cottage that suits her single life
just fine, except for one small problem. When it comes to entertaining
friends, she just doesn't have the space. She'd like to entertain on the
patio when it's nice outside, but the patio is tiny and she's not sure how
to set it up to make the best use of the small space. She'd like the end
result to be simple, casual, and guest-friendly. Our designers have
taken on the challenge and come up with some terrific ideas.

The Proposals:

The first proposal is a red theme from designer Vera Voss.
"Keeping everything one color keeps you from overwhelming the
space," Vera explains. Red-and-white striped awnings were
used over the doors and windows to spruce up the patio without
taking up valuable floorspace. "You don't need a lot out here, just
a table and chairs and the grill are enough. You can always add
chairs if you have more people, but I like to keep it simple. I think this
is a nice look for Claire - it's classy and casual at the same time."

The second proposal is a garden patio from designer Rebecca Hill.
She's used mainly green and white, accented with red. "I chose a
cafe-style table because it doesn't take up a lot of room, and it
creates a more intimate feel. The chairs are plain green deck chairs,
which I used because I wanted it to be a casual space, not stuffy. The
grill sits on the other side of the fence, but it's close enough to hand
the burgers over to the table, so it's out-of-the-way, but still useable.
I love plants, and I know Claire does, too, so I used lots of them
here, and it became a nice garden patio."

The third proposal comes from designer Hayley Martin.
"This is a stylish, hip look that says 'Let's party'," Hayley declares.
"I used blue, of course, but I mixed it up a bit, and used different
shades, with splashes of color to make it look festive."
Hayley has added a bar to one corner and hung shelves for
glassware on one wall. "This way, the party maintains momentum.
People aren't constantly disappearing into the kitchen," says Hayley.

Which design did Claire like best?
Who won the Design Showdown?

...Rebecca Hill won with her "garden patio".

"I fell in love with the garden patio the moment I saw it,"
Claire says. "The green-and-white is lovely and it sort of flows
into the yard, so it seems to be part of the yard rather than a separate
area. Having the grill on the other side of the fence does that too.
And I love plants, so it feels like my patio, a place I can sit and
read and eat lunch on my own when my friends aren't around,
so it's not just a nice place to entertain."

She goes on to say, "I loved them all, so even though I just fell in love
with the garden patio, it was a hard thing to do, to pick one over the
others, because they were all so great. Vera Voss's design made it
look so, I don't know, it was beautiful, but I don't think it was
casual enough for me. Hayley's design was fabulous, I was so
impressed that she was able to do so much with my tiny patio!
But I'm more the type to have a friend or two over for lunch
or dinner than to have lots of people over for parties, so I think
the garden patio really suited me the best."

Rebecca Hill, the winning designer, said, "Oh, that's fantastic," when
she received the news. "I'm so glad. I think Claire will really enjoy
entertaining her friends out there."

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