#TheSimquisitionBuilds

[thesimquisition]

After taking my sweet time in viewing The Crown - Season 3, I gathered all my excitement and creative energy (do I really now?) to continue my ambitious project - The Sims 4 version of Buckingham Palace. Again, limitations in the game mean that I couldn’t pull it off 100% but I’m still happy and excited to share to you one of my projects that is closest to my heart.

Have I mentioned before that this has been a project years in the making? Yes, it started from The Sims 3 - which ran the course of its life without me completing this. Then, in TS4 I had multiple revisions (sometimes being a perfectionist does have its pros and cons).

This project wouldn’t have been possible without countless searches on Pinterest and stalker-ish searching online for photographs of the rooms (No, I haven’t been to Buckingham Palace).

Now, let me give you a tour around Buckingham Palace - à la The Sims 4 style!

For a very special guest like you, we pass through the main archway and here I give you a glimpse of the West Wing portico. (My Sim Royal Family isn’t in residence right now - which means we have all access! Yay!)

Now, we enter through the Grand Entrance. According to historians, this area was ‘sunken’ to give that high ceiling effect. Before the Buckingham Palace became this grand home to Her Majesty, it started out as a small house bought by George III for Queen Charlotte.

Before we go to the Principal Floor, let us see the rooms on the Ground Floor. Here, we have the Marble Hall. At the end, you can see the foot of the Ambassador’s Staircase. (I tried to fully recreate the Marble Hall by recoloring @thejim07​ portraits with the actual portraits care of the Royal Collection Trust website.)

We are now in the Bow Room. If Her Majesty, The Queen hosts garden parties, we go exit through this room and proceed to the Palace Gardens but unfortunately, the next garden party will be scheduled next year. Maybe we’ll invite you by then?

From the Bow Room, we proceed to The 1844 Room. This is where The Queen usually receives distinguished guests (https://www.vogue.com/article/1844-room-buckingham-palace).

If we go farther, we can reach the Belgian Suite. Her Majesty’s guests stay in this Suite. Some of the distinguished guests that stayed here were the Obamas for their state visit (This is actually my own interpretation of it, there seems to be no photos of it online.).

Now, if we just go back to The Bow Room, we can access The 1855 Room opposite The 1844 Room.

Hope you’re excited now, we’ll be going up. Kindly follow me to The Grand Staircase.

Well, it’s not as grand as it looks now but at least the portraits are faithful representations, eh? Now, may I direct your attention to the next room in the tour?

We are now in the Green Drawing Room. You may take a look at the view outside by the Portico if you wish.

Shall we move on to the next room?

This is the Throne Room. Official functions are held at the Grand Ballroom (of which, is absent in this build due to space limitations) though official photographs of events are usually taken here. The portrait on the left side is a portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II with Willow, Vulcan, Candy and Holly commissioned by the Royal Mail Group last 2013.

We are now in the Picture Gallery. On display are (supposedly) The Queen’s collection of Italian, Dutch and Flemish works from around the 17th-century.

Now, we’re here at the White Drawing Room; quite famous of the State Rooms and well-known if you ask me. You can see the portrait of Queen Alexandra hung above the fireplace. This room is usually used for small gatherings and audiences. HM The Queen usually does her Christmas Message in this room.

Next stop is the Music Room. During summers when the Palace is open to the public, collections, such as the Queen’s dresses, are displayed here.

The Blue Drawing Room. You can see portraits of Queen Mary and King George V. Did you know that the architect who was tasked to redesign Buckingham Palace went over budget?

...and we have the State Dining Room. Again, this is usually reserved for small gatherings since State Banquets are done at The Grand Ballroom.

Now, I’ll be giving you an extra tour of the palace. HM has extended her warmest regards to you, our very special guest.

Maybe she’s waiting for you at the Private Audience Chamber? Oh, she’s out but feel free to look around instead. (I tried to copy this room from photographs the Queen has with dignitaries - well, this is the most dignified recreation I can make.)

Now, we’ll be passing through the Principal Corridor. We’re already at the East Wing and I’ll be showing you the Balcony Room.

We’re now in the Balcony Room. This is where the Royal Family gathers before they go out the Balcony and wave at the British (Sims?) people during great events - and no, you may not go out on the Balcony as protocols permit only the Queen and members of the Royal Family.

On the South end of the East Wing, you can find the Yellow Drawing Room. Yes, this place has a lot of sitting rooms.

On the North end of the East Wing, we have the Chinese Dining Room. The Chinese collection came from the Brighton Pavilion when Queen Victoria commissioned the construction of the East Wing of Buckingham Palace.

Since we’re already on the North Facade, how about a tour in the Queen’s Private Apartments? (Old paintings show a predominantly green room dated to Queen Victoria’s time.)

For the last part of the tour, the Private Apartments of the members of the Royal Family. (This was heavily inspired by The Crown - Season 3).

It was very wonderful having you around and I hope you had a great time with us. On behalf of HM The Queen, I would like to extend her warmest gratitude for your time. We hope to have you again soon!

...and that ends our tour! I hope I didn’t post a very long one but I hope you all understand how excited I am to share this to you all. Of course, this wouldn’t be possible without the creative works and efforts of the following The Sims 4 CC creators:

@felixandresims​ most of the royal build-buy content, @harrie-cc​ for her traditional re-colors, @thejim07​ for the artworks, sculptures, and to Leader Belgraves’ TS3 to TS4 Asian Objects c/o @simshistoricalfinds​ (and if there is someone I failed to mention, please send me a message so that I can acknowledge you)

I also dedicate this post to HM Queen Elizabeth II - for being an inspirational figure; to all royalty simblrs out there... and to those who are waiting for their creative juices to complete their WIPs :)

[thesimquisition]

I can definitely say that I’m good at procrastinating, hence, I was able to spend so much time on The Sims 4 and made enough progress on my WIPs. (Work has been really demanding as of the moment and I’m trying to escape those.) Here, I present my pièce de résistance - Château de Versailles.

Due to the limitations in the game, I focused on the Aile Centrale. This blog has been a heaven-sent for me; it has rooms of almost all the rooms.

https://berdom.skyrock.com/

As you can see from the photos above, the Galerie des glaces or ‘Hall of Mirrors’ still look magnificent despite the size of it in the game. I can’t thank @felixandresims and @thejim07 enough for their efforts in creating the CCs. (Also, there were other CCs I got online. Please do tag yourself if you see your works.)

Does this room look familiar? It’s the Salon de Mars!

Well, here is my version of the enfilades of the post I reblogged weeks ago.

Now, on to the other rooms: Marie Antoinette’s bedchamber and the King’s Bedchamber.

I also made adjustments in the other rooms for playability purposes.

The room above was supposed to be the Antichambre à l'oeuil de boeuf (the room before you enter the King’s Bedchamber) but it was just hard to recreate.

For the first photo with the dark columns, that is the marble vestibule before the Galerie Basse (the hall below the Hall of Mirrors).

Another recreation of Madame Victoire’s Bedchamber.

Finally, here are some exterior shots:

I built this on the Hound’s Head lot in Brindleton Bay, hence you can see the beach and the sea gulls. Most of my other 64x64 lots are occupied by my *other unfinished palaces.

Now, my target is to complete the others but first, I need to find some royalty CCs for my Sims to actually live in these palaces. They just look like tourists in museums without the regalia. I might start posting Sim Stories soon.

Again, I can’t stress enough how grateful I am to all the CC creators out there that made this possible. Hearts out for all of you.

[thesimquisition]

The White Drawing Room in Buckingham Palace

To kick start the New Year (and decade) I decided to take a look at my old WIPs. I was so inspired by @thesimpireblr‘s work that I was so motivated to give my old WIPs another try. Here you have my personal recreation of the White Drawing Room found in Buckingham Palace - one of the grandest rooms there is. Guests are often presented here to The Queen. I just love how the CCs make it look beautiful. The ceiling is a bit hard to make, I still have to make adjustments to the lozanges. The pilasters are personal recolors of @felixandresims work and so are the trims. Now, all I lack are the golden curtain accents, accents above the doors (plus the fake door wall decor), and the door frames.

I also wish you all a very Happy New Year! 😊👑

[thesimquisition]

Buckingham Palace (London, United Kingdom)

I can’t stress enough how many years (Yes, years. I still have my WIP for The Sims 3.) I have dedicated in recreating this. I think this is my 5th reiteration in The Sims 4. I just can’t seem to get it as close to the real thing. Good thing there are CC creators out there that help us realize these dreams. The exterior alone took me days to complete.

As for the rooms, well, I’m still working on them. I want to give justice to this magnificent build.

[thesimquisition]

Catherine Palace (Tsarkoye Selo, Russia)

This one! I was inspired to do Russian palaces after binging on documentaries regarding the last Russian Tsar. One thing I loved about the design of this palace is the way how the rooms are aligned to make an illusion of one big hall (enfilade). Such a shame this was burned down in the last word war.