Why Building In The Sims 4 Sets Unrealistic Expectations For My Future Home

Feather Charm

11 minutes ago

6 min read

Hello Everyone!

You all know that I love building homes in The Sims 4, and beyond. However, after over a year of building different houses and different styles, I’ve come to the conclusion that my expectation for my future home is ruined, because I hope to one day own a space as beautiful as the homes I make. Why that ruins my expectation comes in many forms, all of which I’ll explain here, but before I do, please know that I haven’t started looking for a home yet, since I don’t have the money to, and even if I did, whatever I use and decorate, in real life will never be as beautiful as the homes I make in The Sims 4. So, let’s get to it, shall we? Here are 5 reasons why building in The Sims 4 has set unrealistic expectations for my future home.

1. Decorative Pieces Vs Cleaning

One of the reasons why making Sims builds has ruined my expectation of my future home is that I will eventually want to fill my home with lots of decorative pieces. That means, paintings, tabletop figurines, fruit bowls, blanket baskets and fabric storage. One of the main things I emphasise in my builds are the decorative pieces I add to my builds, whether it’s a piece of wall art or a decorative plant, there are so many of them dotted around in my builds it’s difficult to keep track. However, in real life, having all those decorative pieces and plants will be very unreasonable and unrealistic, especially when you’re the one having to clean the space.

I’m not going to lie, I hope one day I can learn to live by myself, because of the freedom it affords me, but I also know just how difficult that will be, especially if I live in a giant mansion of a house. I’ve had the chance to experience living in a small apartment, while I was cat sitting for my cousin, and cleaning was no joke. I was practically cleaning every day, and I couldn’t reach every nook and cranny, because there were lots of decorative pieces, especially on their bookshelf. So, if I ever live in an actual home, it would be so much more difficult for me, especially if I have lots of decorative pieces cluttering my home.

2. Scaling Furniture Pieces

I’m not going to lie, it’s difficult to tell how big a space is, in The Sims 4, their form of scaling is non-existent. Sometimes, you have sofas that take up an entire room, while others are much thinner and still function well. Sometimes, you even have to scale some things down, to ensure it looks good and can fit in the space you want it to. Now, while I eventually make it work, I know that in real life I will have a lot more difficulty finding pieces that will fit in a room.

If I decide to live in a small apartment, I’m going to have to ensure that the furniture I buy isn’t so overly big. Some things are going to have to stay small, and while it won’t be ideal for the things I want to do, or the lifestyle I hope to eventually lead, if I need a lot of space, I can’t have large, oversized furniture. I mean, I know a couch that can fit 5 people, lying down, would be amazing, but that’s just not practical, if I live in a small two-bedroom apartment that will still be cluttered with all my arts and crafts scrap and storage.

3. Matching Furniture & Décor

One of the things I love about The Sims 4 is that even if items come from different packs, the colour and texture of those items are similar, if not the same. I can match a rug from the Laundry Day Stuff Pack with a rocking chair from the Horse Ranch Expansion Pack. For my builds, I tend to colour coordinate, and use the 10, 30, 60 rule, which brings a lot of harmony to a room. However, real life isn’t always like that. Sometimes, getting furniture pieces and decorative items that match in style and colour isn’t easy, and although I could try to make something, it won’t be the same quality as what I’d find in shops or at markets.

Eventually, that initial colour coordination will deteriorate because life happens, and new memories are added to my home, in colours and ways that won’t match the aesthetic I started out with. So, expecting my home to remain colour coordinated, the longer I live there, will be a challenge. Unless I decide to constantly change the aesthetic I’m going for, it’s unrealistic to expect my home to remain the same, pristine and elegant space I started out with, and as a Sims 4 builder, that idea saddens me, although realistic me understands it.

4. Object Snapping & Perfect Alignments

My biggest pet peeve in The Sims 4 is the way things don’t always align with each other, and I have to manually create that alignment. It’s frustrating sometimes, because it means some things will need to be deleted and then replaced, once I have everything perfectly in place, and once I bring back the items that were deleted, it doesn’t look right anymore. Not only that, but sometimes, objects clip the walls, like some of the pianos, or the benches that really ought to be flush against the wall, not clipping it. Also, because game mechanics don’t follow true physics, whereby soft and flexible items can bend when placed against a wall, I tend to place things like plant pots away from the wall.

In real life, I know things don’t “snap into place”. Instead, I’m going to have to, somehow, manoeuvre furniture, so it seems aligned. I know that plants can bend and can be manipulated to grow in a certain way, shape or form. I know there is flexibility in the way I decorate my home, and yet, sometimes, I wish I could just snap my furniture into place, so I don’t have to worry about alignments, and I can ensure space isn’t wasted, because I can guarantee you, there will be one corner of a room that isn’t being used properly, and I know I’m going to want to fill it, just like I do in The Sims.

5. Room Dimensions and Unrealistic Floor Plans

The last reason I feel like my expectations for my future home has been ruined is the fact that I can change room dimensions and floor plans to fit the purposes I build my homes for. Think about it this way, if the bathroom is all the way on one end of the house, the kitchen shouldn’t be too far away (plumbing reasons), and yet, sometimes, in The Sims, you can’t help but place the kitchen somewhere else. It might not destroy the realism the of the room, especially since things like electrics and plumbing aren’t major consideration factors in the building process of a house, but when it comes to real life, these are things that need to be thought about, otherwise you’re shooting yourself in the foot, especially when you are looking to build a home with more than one floor.

I’m not an architect, but I’ve worked in the construction industry before, and I know that if your plumbing or your electrics are not fixed a certain way, you’re going to have problems later down the line. For example, if your bathroom is in the middle of your house, with no windows, you’re going to have a mould and ventilation problem. You’ll need to somehow add a vent into your bathroom, so that air and moisture can easily escape. Otherwise, you’re going to need to leave the door open, and that would just spread the mould problem into the rest of your home. Or if you have plug sockets placed in one corner of the room, and you want to place your TV on the other end, you’re going to need a long extension cable, just to accommodate that, and even then, you’ll need to make sure your electrics aren’t a hazard. Or if you want to open up a room, remove a wall or create an open plan space, you’re going to need to make sure that the wall you’re knocking down isn’t a load bearing wall. There are so many factors to consider.

Keep Building In The Sims 4, But Try To Be Realistic About It

Of course, that won’t stop me from continuing to build in The Sims 4, after all, it does stretch my creativity and imagination, as well as bring a lot of things into perspective, but at the same time, I always try to build realistic homes that do take things like electrics and plumbing into account. However, I do know that it won’t always be possible, especially since there is no true measurement system in the game. I just hope that one day, when I do eventually have the resources to buy my own place, it will be realistic, while still being elegant and cosy at the same time.

Well, that’s it from me today. I’m going to continue building another house for you guys, in The Sims 4. While I go do that, please don’t forget to like, subscribe, comment, share and follow me, here on Feather’s Charm, on my YouTube channel, on my other social media channels (Instagram, Twitter/X, TikTok), and on Patreon. Your support really does help me make more content like this, for you guys.