Livin' Around the Sims

Vima - Live band night and I'm livin' around the sims. I started following Jeejee's work back when she was Livin' Real, but she has taken on a few partners and this place is really hoppin' now.

I love the bright, daring colors of this site. So fun and lively, it is! A new Jaune and Bleu kitchen set is not exactly my taste, but if you like those colors, then I'd say it's fabulous. Most of the objects here are super cute and "Gotta have" items.

PC and Mac users will both be satisfied at being able to download these for their computers. :)

The navigation is pretty good. It would be better if they would have some numbers for the larger areas like counters. Because if I got to page 3, but had to run off, I might want to come back and start from there next time without having to go through the other pages...perhaps they could fit between back and next?

The skins have beautiful designs and details, but lack shading, shadows and highlights around the curves of the sims and the edges of clothing. The lines are great and you can tell a lot of time was put into them. The meshes come separately, so you have to download both the skin and the mesh, which may be confusing for new downloaders. I would imagine that a lot of complaints are received about the designs not showing up in the game.

I really enjoyed the gallery, though I didn't really want to download any houses. Just seeing the way other people decorate can be fun.!

The small selection of walls and floors are very nice, and you might want to grab them

In themes, objects are grouped together in sets for rooms. The Harry Potter's Prefect Bathroom link doesn't seem to point in the right place. :(

Resource and Forums contain helpful information about the sims, the site and the artists and allows interaction.

Great, great, great. 4 martinis and a bookmark!

Storel - What's most impressive about Livin' Around the Sims is their painstaking attention to detail. It's reflected in everything from the consistency of the page layouts to the lovingly crafted objects. I'm not always crazy about some of the colors, especially the somewhat bilious green of the main page background, but I can't ever fault their detail work.

If you haven't been here before, I recommend viewing the Themes/Sets pages before checking out the rest of the object pages. While all the theme objects also appear individually on the other object pages, you get a much better sense of how they all fit together when you view the theme pages.

I'm especially impressed by the Harry Potter themes and the Lundby Kitchen set. The Harry Potter pieces, in particular, are very original and yet attractive in appearance. The statue of Morveren the Mermaid is especially impressive. While the fineness of detail suggests it could have been made from a photo, it has four distinctly different views (objects made from photos almost always have only one) and they all look good. This theme also includes two white marble pedestal sinks that are not just recolorings of the standard pedestal sink, but actually have a different shape and appearance.

The various Lundby sets (kitchen and two bathrooms) are all designed after the dollhouse that creator Sandy had as a child, called the Lundby house. I have to say I prefer the kitchen set because I like the color better; one look at the bathroom sets and you know where the unusual green background color for the site came from. The wood surfaces on the bathroom and kitchen counters are impressively well done, with finely detailed grain and beautifully done shading. The bathroom set even includes details like a step-on wastebasket, facial tissue and toilet paper holders, and a toilet brush.

The "Jaune et Bleue" (yellow and blue) kitchen set is also very well made, but for some reason the color scheme doesn't appeal to me. I like yellow and I like blue, so I don't understand why this particular combination of them bothers me, but it's probably just me; you may find the colors quite attractive.

Outside of the theme pages, several other objects stand out, especially the various Asian objects. In the Living Room section, the Korean Rosewood table and Korean end table are gorgeous; in Bedroom, the Step Tansu Dresser is very intriguing, and comes in regular and House Party versions, but you have to fill out a survey to get it. The Paintings section includes four Georgia O'Keefes and several beautiful Asian tapestries and paintings, and Lighting has a distinctive pagoda lamp and a gorgeous red and gold candle that I somehow didn't notice in the Harry Potter section. And for something completely different, the Other section has a black monolith, as seen in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The Walls & Floors sections are small but good, mostly consisting of items that go with the various themes, but also including some nice Asian and Victorian designs. I especially liked the Bamboo set, which is not made from bamboo, as you might think from the name, but has delicately painted imagery of bamboo branches and leaves on it.

Apart from certain color choices, I really like this site. The objects are beautifully crafted both technically and artistically, and the site design is very easy to navigate and works beautifully with any browser. I give them four lime martinis and a bookmark.

Squeegee - It is a pleasurable surprise to spend some time looking over this fairly new site titled "Livin' Around the Sims". I already have this site in my Netscape bookmarks and I tend to visit a few times a week. The main thing that stands out when a user visits the site for the first time. Is that the color scheme is one of the most stunning I have ever seen in any Sims related site or even any other online site. I am talking about the actual colors used. I do know of one other Sims related site that carried the name "The Untitled". That site was structured to look like the outside of a hardcover book that appeared to be bound in lavender leather. I think Jeejee was the one who came up with the color combination. If I am wrong, then I express regret. But regardless, it's outstanding!! I had even emailed Jeejee a few months back when ""Livin' Around the Sims" first opened to express my pleasure at the nice looking website. :)

Navigation could not be simpler. All the buttons are positioned on the top near the website logo. The images on the buttons are universal so that Sim fans of any nationality will be able to navigate the site with out major problems. As the user clicks on the different buttons (this case the "objects" area) the user will find different categories labeled to ease any needs. I have to admit that I have a large amount of downloads from this site. And as a fellow fan perception, I have not had any issues with the downloads. So I can swear an oath for the quality of these objects.

One negative is the animated ad that is posted towards the right of the website main logo. It's nothing too drastic, but it is obvious.

Glancing over the "Skins" area. I find that the skins are of high quality and detail. As a skinner myself, I do tend to be a hard critic of skins. And I can say that I would even consider the quality of these skins better then mine!! ;) Sim fans take note that there is a themed skin set what follows the classic "Gone With The Wind" movie. All that is needed now are the Civil War uniforms that I am making.. :) (not a personal plug by the way...) Personally, I think that what stands out as one of the major helpful features here is the "Resource" area. The user will find answers to many common and uncommon questions that come up in the numerous online BBS forums. I actually use the resource page as a reference when people in the forums ask how to change the default swimsuits or sleeping garments. So I always post the URL to "Livin' Around the Sims" and tell that person that they have the details there.

The "Walls" and "Floors" sections both offer tasteful works that would accent the Sim household. The walls are completely textured (even the white areas) and the colors used are mild enough that the walls and floors will not take attention away from the Sims themselves during game play.

To sum it up. Excellent website that has it's own personality. Just the colors alone will make this website remembered to any Sims fan that stumbles to the site. The resource area as well as the active involvement of the people such as Jeejee in the numerous BBS forums are major positives.

I submit a review of four martinis and a bookmark!!