Editor’s Note Dear Readers,
I’d like to start out by saying thank you to everyone that was a part of the making of our first issue. The staff has been great, as well as the contributors and contest winners. This magazine wouldn’t have been possible without all of you.
A lot of hard work has gone into this magazine and we hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed creating it for you. We hope the tutorials and articles in this magazine help you in your future builds. I myself have learned quite a bit while editing.
Enjoy our magazine, and we’d love to hear your feedback. Visit our site and our request thread if you’d like a new home for your Sims.
Our magazine’s web address: http://abcmagazine.webs.com Thank you and enjoy! pepper090889
Co-Editor’s Note Dear readers,
I would like to thank ALL of you, especially those of you who helped put the magazine together! You all exceeded our expectations and amazed us with your creativity. The winners of the contests also worked very hard making their creations and deserve a thank you! This magazine could not be possible without the staff and readers! Myself and Pepper, the Editor, hope you enjoy the first issue of ABC Magazine!
CTGjgs985 (Candy) Co-Editor
http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=4532982
Mei Mai's Lobster Shack and Distillery
Ahulani See the World as Nature Intended "Leave no carbon footprint." is our motto at Ahulani (Heavenly Shrine). Open 6 months of the year left to nature the other. Take the exhilarating 5 mile hike, in one of the most beautiful rainforest in the world, to get to us. Feast our fresh picked produce and morning caught fish beside the waterfall. Explore paradise, commune with the Gods and sleep under the stars. Enjoy nature at her best. *
Ahulani (continued‌)
*Reservation a must, no tents, max 2 night stay. Take out only what you bring in & nothing else. Leave your CITY-tude at home.
gngrsnp
How to Build a Beach Themed Restaurant By Jonny The Building. First, start by making your floor plan. My lot has focused mainly on the restaurant aspect, there is a small deck for the entrance to the main restaurant, a bar area, small kitchen, toilets and a deck for extra outside seating, and, lastly, beach space for relaxing and playing. Try to find a good balance between space and unusual shapes in order to get a good looking floor plan, with more protruding parts you'll get a more interesting roof. Many things you can use to make it more interesting are, using columns, decks, half walls, and awnings. Be creative! Decorating Your Floor Plan You've got a floor plan down, right? Here's where the fun begins. Add in windows, decorative columns, stairs etc. Keep the items to the style of your restaurant. You'll see I've gone for an almost Hawaiian style, but you could have a pirate themed restaurant, sea themed restaurant, modern restaurant, whatever you think looks nice by the seaside. For the more advanced builders out there you may see the trellis made of low fencing above the decking, have a go with this making different patterns with them (just make sure you have columns or temporary walls so you can make it first) Entrance The entrance to your restaurant should be at the front of your lot, perhaps make it obvious with lights, plants or stairs if you intend for others to use your lot. Double doors are particularly handy for busy restaurants with customers coming and going all the time. Keep the entrance clear, you may also want a foyer for Sims to sit down and chat in whilst waiting for friends but this isn’t necessarily needed. Also having room for Sims to park their bikes or cars will give the place a natural feel, but don't feel like you need this, especially on a small lot.
Seating Seating is the second most important thing for your restaurant (next to the food of course). You'll need plenty of seats. Mine perhaps has a few too many tables. The minimum would most likely be about 6 tables for your establishment to look like a restaurant. This is where the Sims will spend a lot of time eating and chatting so decorate it well, napkins, lights, photos, sauce bottles, and the works! Be cautious with the decorations so that it doesn't look cluttered, I for one find myself saying "Oh, but that looks great too" and try to plug it into the nearest empty spot. Another point, make sure you leave spaces for Sims to eat on the tables or else all that decorating will be for nothing as they can't eat there.
Kitchen The problem with community lots is no ovens. Why, nobody knows! Perhaps EA overlooked it or maybe they just can't be trusted around any Sims that have access to them. Whatever the case, you'll have to make do with the fridge, coffee machines, and the food register. Now, depending on how you want your restaurant, you can go either one of two ways; an open kitchen that allows others to see the food being cooked, or a closed kitchen so Sims can make the meals in peace. For the food register, available in the community items section in build mode, you may want it outside the kitchen or part of an open one, as I have done, to enable your Sims to get food without being huddled together stomping and demanding for more space. The kitchen won't be a focal point but is still important for you to keep.
Toilets All of that food has to go somewhere, so toilets are definitely needed in restaurants. They can go where ever they suit your floor plan, try to keep them a reasonably close distance to your tables so your Sims don't have to walk too much. It may be fun to decorate your toilets to match the restaurant or you can stick to the traditional clean tiled white surfaced toilets.
Decking/Balcony The reason anyone goes to a seaside restaurant is for the views of the shimmering sea and soft sand. The best way to create this open feel is to use balconies and decking. Your decking can be completely open or with some type of roofing just make sure you decorate it for day use and night, some Sims may want a candle lit dinner by the sea. When making your decking make sure there is easy access to the restaurant and, if you like, to the beach.
Outside Decorations The important part about making a beach restaurant is to use the fact you're at a beach. Get some palm trees and some plants to bring a realistic look to your restaurant. Use what's normally on beaches. Put loungers, games, campfires. Be creative, you could add some picnic baskets, swings or even a pool or hot tub.
The Bar It's not always needed but a Bar can be a nice addition to any restaurant. In this restaurant it's almost the main feature as it's at the center of the lot. Using the windows it’s more open looking. However, this same effect can be used with half walls.
Expert Builder Trick By Jonny
Using "moveobjects on", you can place objects freely. This can be used to put columns in places they can't normally be placed such as next to windows, on the corners of rooms, effects like this have been used to make the windows and trellis in my beachside restaurant. Be careful with "moveobjects on" make sure it doesn't obstruct the Sims ability to use nearby objects or that your placement doesn't blank out the windows or doors making them unusable.
Good Items to Use If you have the "Sun, Surf & Sand" set or the "Tiki" set from the Sims 3 Store then these will be very useful in helping you make a good looking seaside restaurant. There are many other items from the Store and Expansion Packs that can help your restaurant look its best. Such as, Seaside Fire Pit - Store Tiki-spresso - Store Headhunter Battle Mask - Store Micro Grotto Hot Tub - Store Perma -Palm by Indoor Oasis Inc. - World Adventures Umbrella Sculpture - World Adventures Portable Knub Set - Ambitions Standing Sign - Ambitions Wall-Installed Digital Fishiness Display - Late Night
Hopefully now you've got a wider understanding on what goes into a beach side restaurant or you've picked up some useful building tips. Either way go be creative, imaginative and try new things. Lastly make a beach side restaurant worth being proud of.
Kitchen Design Styles
Modern design is sleek, artistic, and above all, easy to clean. Funny as it seems, it's true. Materials often used in this design type are usually solid and smooth: stainless steel, glass, cement slabs, etc. Also, this theme tends toward minimalism and bold colors with splashes of geometric patterns. Look at originalsim's Boxcar Terrace. There are only two items on the counter space, circles and rectangles are repeated through the kitchen and the counter top and cabinets are smooth. My favorite feature is her artistic use of the medicine cabinets, a beautiful overlapping pattern. Exchange Link for originalsim's Boxcar Terrace: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=4003260
Kitchen Design Styles
The word Retro comes from the word retrospective, which means to look back. So when it comes to design, this theme is ever changing. In fact, what we consider retro now was once modern. If you want to have a retro kitchen, research into the era you want to capture and pull inspiration from books, old magazines, or the internet. Ask questions about the prevalent design aspects used for that time period. What colors are used most often? What materials? The time period for chemicalwibs' Norwegian Summer House was the 1950's and it is apparent in her kitchen. The use of older appliances, the cherry wallpaper, and homey knickknacks make this a retro kitchen. Exchange Link for chemicalwibs' Norwegian Summer House: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=4038197
Kitchen Design Styles
From the colors to the materials, kitchens with a rustic design bring the forest inside the house. The colors of autumns change are quite common, along with a heavy use of wood in the building and furnishing of the home or kitchen. To insulate from the cold, heavy wool tartan, also known as plaid, fabrics were often used to cover the windows in log cabins and have become a symbol of the rustic theme. Yoda65's Wooden Christmas Cabin 2 demonstrates this theme clearly from her old fashioned lighting, all wooden furniture and iron skillet displays. Exchange Link for yod65's Wooden Christmas Cabin 2: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=3486587
Kitchen Design Styles
French Country is a blend of styles between social classes, a beautiful mix of a farmhouse or cottage and a French manor. You will see the rustic dynamic of distressed wood and the fancy and intricate pattern of toile de Jouy. French Country is a great theme for those "going green". Re-inventing is key to this design type and in fact, the French have been doing this for centuries. A broken, but still beautiful vase is made into a mosaic on an end table; an old serving bowl is refashioned into the basin of a sink. In petalbot's French Normandy Home, you will see old exposed beams and delicate china. French Country is also very light and airy in regard to color, which is noticed in petalbot's kitchen with her use of soft cream and sage. Exchange Link for petalbot's French Normandy Home: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=4302158
Kitchen Design Styles
Latin If you have a zest for life, you might want to try a Latin-inspired kitchen design. These kitchens are full of vibrant colors and textures. In hot tropical climates, adobe, a building material consisting of clay, sand, straw, and water, will absorb the heat of the day and transfer it to the interior of the building during the day. Not only is adobe functional, but it can be molded into beautiful designs or textures. Stucco is a similar material that can be used on the interior of the house or exterior, but is as a coating on wall surfaces, not an actual building material. Notice the textured surface on the walls of itguyinsc's Santa Fe Splendor as well as the intricate tile pattern on the floor and the mosaic on the arch entrances to the kitchen. She has even included Chile peppers and ornate pottery. A fantastic representation of a Latin-inspired kitchen. [ Link will soon be on our website ]
Kitchen Design Styles
Gothic Gothic design is not necessarily dark. In fact, the architectural aim was to bring in more light with numerous windows and high ceilings. Although this is the case, the buildings were still relatively dark due to the use of stone and lack of electric lighting during this time period. In my Gothic build, Gargoyle's Perch, I used both aspects: stone and torch or candlelight. I also used the most identifiable feature of Gothic architecture, the pointed windows. For my entire build, I used this theme, but I made it a dark version, a blend of the somber Gothic literature and the beautiful Gothic architecture. Exchange Link for Mom2Elias' Gargoyle's Perch: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=4446454
8 Ways to Maximize Kitchen Space Open it up. Do not build a wall to separate your kitchen from your living and dining rooms. If you want to create a distinction between the areas, use a couple of columns, a kitchen island, or those great new glass panels from the Store's Spa Set. Combine the Dining and Kitchen Areas. If you are running short on room, use the kitchen island and pull up a stool or two. Remember the Work Triangle Rule. The “work triangle” is defined by the National Kitchen and Bath Association [United States] as an imaginary straight line drawn from the center of the sink, to the center of the stove, to the center of the refrigerator and finally back to the sink. Having these items close together increases the efficiency of food preparation, as long as nothing interferes with the path such as counters, decorations or high traffic. Keep it clear. Counter space is needed beside the refrigerator for either handcrafted meals or for a food processor. You will also need a space near the sink for washing your dishes. Depending on how much counter space remains, you may want also to place a microwave or coffee pot.
Keep it clean. Decorations can create interest, but if you use too many, your kitchen will look cluttered and small. This also applies to patterns; a little bit will go a long way in a small area. Instead of using a pattern for the entire kitchen, try an accent wall. Let the light in. Windows give the illusion of more space because you can see beyond the walls, but if you are limited, imitation lighting works just as well. A combination of decorative lighting and recessed lighting is a great way to illuminate without clutter. Use reflective materials. Reflection is your friend in small spaces. Use mirrors, glass, and stainless steel and the room will feel larger. Use cool colors. If you have ever looked at a landscape painting, you'll notice warm colors are used in the foreground to give the appearance of closeness, but as you look further into the "distance", the colors turn cooler. Use the same approach to colors when designing your kitchen space. Cool colors include blue, green, gray and some variations of purple. Warm colors are red, orange, and yellow.
I have never really liked the EA version of the Catania Cafe. Although, the architecture was perfect for the area, the interior left a lot to be desired. It was cold and sterile and underused. The exact opposite of what a quaint French cafe should be. The decoration was dull and boring, with very little character. There were also huge amounts of unused space, such as the upper floor and an entire building to the rear of the cafe. As part of the renovation my goal was not only make it more inviting but to make use of all that wasted space.
The main cafe is now a warm and inviting space, with fresh flowers on the tables and a new kitchen in the back. There is also a quiet space upstairs to play chess, or read a good book by the cozy fire. There is also a small bar and a TV room. To make use of the large building to the rear, I thought what could be more perfect in France then a small wedding hall. Complete with a reception room. I also spruced up the courtyard with a fountain and romantic rose bushes. The result is a multipurpose community lot nestled in a French village full of warmth, romance and character. I hope you enjoy it.
Habbiba and Amir Esfandi, run a small mom and pop cafe in the Al Simhara Market Place. “Business is very slow." says Amir. "Everyone takes their food and goes. The most contact we have with our customers is when we say How may we help you and thank you for doing business with us. That was not what we had in mind when we started this cafe. We envisioned families, laughter, and customers stopping back to chat." "Please," pleads Habbiba. “Can you renovate this restaurant to be a place that is not only traditional but inviting and fun. Oh, and a nice table setting before a mirror to celebrate Nu Ruz (persian New Year.)"
Habbiba and her husband Amir are happy to announce that the renovations to their cafe, in Al Simhara Market place are finally complete. “We can finally provide travelers with an authentic Middle Eastern Dining experience, including non-traditional "belly dancing". She exclaims. "Now if only the rest of the vendors would come onboard we could increase tourism."
Mr. Lau requested his Cafe be renovated. He felt that tourist turnout was low do to its primitive and lackluster appearance.
"Business is booming" he said "and we are standing room only. I have money now to marry!" He is now urging the other shop owners to beautify their establishments, too. But, that is yet to be seen.
Have you ever been to a restaurant that had the worst decor? So bad that it made you cancel your outing with your friends? Well that's what happened to me the first time I went to Han's Tavern and Cafe in Hidden Springs. I thought, how could a town this beautiful be the home of such a tacky building? Immediately I knew I had to fix this place up. So with the help of some friends and the owner I began my quest to give life to this dead place.
Finally after grueling hours of tossing ideas back a forth, an idea was born. Rock N' Roll! That's what this place needed to spice it up a little. A nice stage for a band, some bars, a TV, leather and zebra print. The perfect combinations for a Rock N' Roll bar. I was quite happy to see more people show up on opening night of the new bar. We even had a live performer. So next time you're in Hidden Springs, make sure you stop by Han's Rock N' Roll Bar. Who knows, you might even catch me there!
Credits Builds
Kitchen Styles [continued]
-Adventasia Castle, Basement Bar, Beach Restaurant [ tutorial ] –Jonny
-French Normandy Home – petalbot
-Santa Fe Splendor – itguyinsc -The Catania Café - KyliesS21 -Mei Mai’s Lobster Shack and Distillery, Al Simhara Market, Shang Simla Café, Ahulani – gngrsnp -Han’s Rock n Roll Bar – Rawr2019
-Gargoyle’s Perch – Mom2Elias
Contests -Barnacle Bill’s – okester -Caeruleum Aqua Marinus –
-The Lone Star Texas Bar and Grill – cathystrof
Elvaerwyn
-Cabanes d’ Arcachon – yoda65
-Beach Party Venue – -Under the Sea – cipheruzmad
BakingNerd
-Goth Family Park [ Playhouse tutorial ] –
Quiz -Romantic Dining Room [ Quiz ] - PEACHES327
pepper090889
Kitchen Styles -Boxcar Terrace – originalsim -Norwegian Summer House – chemicalwibs
-Vintage Dining Room, Traveler’s Dream Dining Room [ Quiz ] – KylieS21
-Wooden Christmas Cabin 2
-Modern Dining Room, Elegant Dining Room [ Quiz]
– yoda65
– pepper090889
Thank you for reading our first issue and we hope you enjoyed it. Please visit our site for links to all downloads of builds featured in this issue. http://abcmagazine.webs.com/ We would love to hear your feedback and ideas or requests.