I hope this is not too off-topic:

I've noticed a couple of "furnishing techniques" that seem very common in sim houses, but I've never seen them before in reality. Now I got curious if those are perhaps "typically American" and that's why I'm not familiar with them (I live in Europe; what we call "American kitchen" -- with dining islands -- would be an example for that), or if there's meanwhile "sim specific" styles that have no equivalent in reality.

Examples:

* Dining tables against the wall (instead of in the middle of a room), like on this picture -- I've only seen this in really small (RL) kitchens where there would be no space for a table otherwise, but in sim houses it's very often like that regardless of the size of the room

* Free-standing stairs, like on this picture -- all the stairs I know in RL are against a wall somehow

* Single beds with the head to the wall (instead of the side, which is how I know it), examples here and here

Can anyone enlighten me? Have you seen this kind of thing in real life, and if so, where are you from?


(Please note that I do NOT want to imply "these houses are weird" or anything, I simply grabbed the next best examples from the Downloads section page one to illustrate what I mean).

I'm from America, and I've seen single beds placed both ways. The tables and stairs do seem a bit unusual though.

I've never really seen single beds with the head to the wall, but it's common for double beds. Come to think of it, the only time I've seen free-standing stairs is in mansions or REALLY fancy homes where the stairs are wider and lead up to a balcony. You almost never see it in suburban homes. As for the tables, my own kitchen table is facing a wall, so either it's fairly common or I'm very weird!

By the way, I'm from Canada.

Right, I forgot to mention that: Tables with the *short* side to the wall are very common in my world as well (the difference to a freestanding position isn't very big after all -> people are still facing each other when they sit down). Just lengthwise seems unfamiliar. So yours is with the long side to the wall, like on the pic?

And about the beds -- of course, the usual way to place a double bed is head to wall, that's the same here. Since you need to get in from two sides. But for a single bed I couldn't imagine a reason for it, except of course that people are replicating reality ... oh and hospital beds are with their head to the wall too, now that I think of it.

What is reality anyay?
Do you mean if certain placements of the objects in the pix are not real just because there is no such condition for their placement, cannot be real just because it doesn't work out, are not real just because no local practice is for one of those placements, or else? :confused:

I just tend to think the major reason for placement is about how the furniture fits in a particular area while their functions are kept.
A local fashion can be yet another reason.. But in real life, they may be practised, right? Yet, for a given shape and an amount of area, which one will come first, the stylish way or the pragmatic one? Then, what is the reality based on?

Yes, I've seen dining table placed like that, but I can't tell you where I've seen that coz I was just too careless to think that as a style during my travel.. :P

As for the free-standing stair, I can't tell if I've seen it in my life before coz I'm too dumb to pay attention to that. ,but I'm sure I've seen those along the walls...

Single beds with head against the wall have to be found in larger bedrooms, right? people with spacey home or hospitals can have those spaces.
Yet, in reality, double can have its side walled, and people is unnecessarily get into it from both sides... One can get in from the head if the head is low, the end when is low enough. Or, >1 people can get in from only one side. But, these have all to do with the space limits and the individual habits of a person. I don't see it has much significant connexion to a local fashion unless all the residential buildings are built so identically that limits how furniture can be placed.
Yet, I think there're some ancient Chinese double bed are walled on its side.

Neither of those. I'm just being curious as to where it comes from. If it turns out that half the world lives in houses with freestanding stairs and I just don't know about it, because I live in the other half, that would answer my question.

And do you mean "realistic" when you say "real", or what do you mean? Because I certainly don't doubt the reality of it ... I mean, to the extent that pixels are "real" etc etc (has been discussed since at least 1960, won't repeat that here). I was just curious because the three examples that I quoted are so commonplace in "sim reality" -- judging from the downloads here and elsewhere --, in strong contrast to the everyday reality that I know.

As for practicality vs. style, I think the latter is always a result of the former (when it comes to architectural traditions -- like "mediterranean style", "middle eastern", "asian" etc etc ... the "style elements" are all there for a reason, they're not just kitsch, which is probably about the same as what you're saying (not sure)). That would be the other side of my question: since sims have different "laws of nature", and different means of coping with them, why shouldn't there specific styles/traditions evolve?

Cool... researching... I'm waiting for seeing more inputs...

As for "real" or "realistic", the pixels are certainly "real" in term of the same funcions of our eyes and the resultant impression is kinda "realistic"...but hopefully more "realistic" in the sooner future...

Surely, nice analysis... it looks TS2 can really enrich a person's vision of the world coz it can stimulate people to ask if certain furnishing placements are commonplace to the game itself and/or to the known parts of the world.

When it comes to practicality VS style, the former affects the latter a lot like the paints or materials etc.. available at the time when those buildings were made... and surely this still affects even when others become available. Styles may change according to what the people believe be practical and/or appealing at the time. But, I'm often curious if it is good to see some other possible elements and combinations of them .
Maybe, certain styles exist for more reasons... Yet, when a partiicular practical issue happens or becomes aware of by the people , the style may change somehow. By looking at them, it may be possible to guess what happened when we've happened to think the same. There're some featires of a style may remain even when their practical cause(s) may not be around anymore, or there're other choices... It's really amazing to see how they evolve...
Nevertheless, the emotional appeal to the ancestor or the treasured can be a reason for a style of a group of features to stay on.even when there's no practical cause. I tend to regard that as one of the reasons for the evolution of a particular style.

Lol.. gonna take another nap...

I'm from America. These are strictly my experiences and observations.

In my last house, I put the kitchen table against the wall similar to your picture. It was the only place I could fit one. I also had a formal dining room with the large table in its traditional, in the center type arrangement... Well that is how I had it when I first decorated. We used it so seldom that I pushed it against the wall & used the room for my daughter's music practice room. She plays trombone & cello, both of which require a some elbow room.

The stairs in the photo aren't really free standing -- they back up to a wall. Stairs often have closets or other storage space under them. If you imagine the solid base of the stairs as having closets & cabinets, it looks like an arrangement that would be very functional in RL. Older homes usually have stairs against an outside wall. Newer homes often have stairs in the middle of the house. Stairs with landings in the middle are much more common than the straight run stairs Maxis gave us.

It is much easier to make a bed with just the head to the wall. In real life, that is how I prefer to arrange beds. Either way is common-- hard to say whether one is more typical than another. In the Simville, I almost always put the single beds side against the wall for better space utilization.