EXPLANATION FOR BAD EA BUILDS: I do 'Games Studies & Cultural Analysis' at university, and my game developer teacher said that 'imperfection encourages play', which means this: When Sims house looks barren and empty, then ANY improvement the player makes, will be an improvement. Even if you know NOTHING of home decor and place a rug, it already looks homelier. When the player gradually adds more and more items to the house, they can see it go from 'empty' to 'stuffed' which gives the player the experience of growth, the feeling of time passing, the feeling of achievement. Whereas if a new/inexperienced player enters a PERFECT household, then any change means "messing up the perfect interior". So then any change, additon, or movement the inexperienced player makes, immediately looks out of place. The player isn't invited to interact with it. AND thus, the player doesn't open the build/buy-mode... ever... which renders a portion of the game useless. KZfaqrs actually use this trick. If they want more people commenting on their videos, they will sometimes make a deliberate typo in the video's mini image. This invites/prompts their followers to comment: 'hey Kayla, you made a typo!!'. Here, 'imperfection encourages play(ful audience engagement)' too. If you were to build a house where the blue floor has a single blue tile that looks totally out of place, the FIRST THING the players (that download your building) will do, is FIX that floor.

Fun fact: gargoyles are decorated drainspouts. If water doesn't go through it, it's not a gargoyle. If it's on a roof but no drainspout, it's a grotesque. Otherwise, it's just a statue.

"If I were him, I'd be trying to keep up appearances. I don't want people to KNOW I'm a vampire..." He HISSES at people, and shows up at their doorstep in the middle of the night! I think the cat's out of the bag on this one 😂❤

honestly you renovate this so often i feel like it should be the halloween tradition

Next Vlad build show be turning the house into a blue suburban home so no one can tell its a vampire home at all

Another vampire build that would be great is a vampire plasma ranch/farm. specifically for nectar making, cause you can actually make plasma nectar. So Vampire cowboy could be an interesting idea lol

18:44 - 19:23 Kayla said the word "crocs" 13 times in 40 seconds.

Petition to turn renovating vlads house into a Halloween tradition

honestly i love vlad's house. it has personality, (which is something a lot of ea builds are lacking) such as the abandoned kitchen & the weird way it's shaped, as if vlad tried to add onto it over the years.

I had sims move into his house (abandoned and haunted) and they’ve been slowly renovating it but keeping the same vibe

Something even scarier than an EA build... is a building with tall wall heights! Kayla, you should totally do a challenge where you only use tall wall heights to build a "normal" "-looking house!

Not having good pics with besties means that you are enjoying your time with them too much to remember. ❤

I like to think the tombstones around that lot are just empty but like as a tribute to Vlad's "previous" lifes. Like everytime he needs to reinvent himself so that people won't know he's a vampire, he will "die" and put a tombstone there and then "be" someone else.

What the sims 4 has is actually what’s known as a grotesque in architectural terms since they are only decorative features upon the building. A gargoyle on the other hand comes from the French to do gargling water and would be a decorative means to remove water from the roof space and water would flow out from the mouth and away from the building. So there’s a little fact for you.

I'm not skilled enough to change the shape of Vlad's house, so I found a use for that weird, unroofed bit on top of his house: I add fake grass and place a chicken coop/plasma tree. It's still 'weird' but in a more intentional way. I also like giving him an elderly, spoiled, super fluffy fancy breed cat.

this is the first vampire build of yours that ive seen and honestly, i wish you wouldve kept some of the original build's intended design, like the "wrap-around" balcony at the back, the silhouette of the roofs with the spires and gables, like studying its intention, why its designed like that and how its possibly used, but improving its execution as youve said. Though dont get me wrong, your renovation is amazingly designed,,, its just almost entirely different, ALMOST.

kayla is in her secret bookcase door era and honestly love that for her

The original shape of his house actually seems very similar to Bran Castle in Transylvania (the covered walkways and triangleish courtyard specifically) which was home to Vlad the Impaler and is said to be the source of Count Dracula! Maybe thats why its such an odd shape!

I feel like not having any nice photos is a true mark of being best friends. I constantly realize that I have _zero_ photos with my best friend. You're just always having too good of a time together to think to stop and take photos

What boggles my mind about the Vampires builds is that there are two decent Victorians, this monstrosity, and a box. Did they choose 3 random people to build for the pack, or what?

I love how the change from summer time to standard time here in Germany makes it so that I get your videos at 8 pm now instead of 9 pm.

PLEASE do the garlic place next! I feel like it has so much potential

Omg I would LOVE to see you do a reno of this house but make it super modern. It could be something like "Vlad's house if he were a Cullen"

I really want Kayla to do a cowplant themed build like if u agree

I actually love Vlad's house. It's unique in the good way, the roof is actually very coherent, and I think many simmers are just... scared of the "weird." Also, you can hardly call it a renovation when you, indeed, changed *this* much of the build 💀

Love the renovation it’s just what vladdy daddy needs

She should make a video of her top 10 favorite Sims. I would love to see that❤

Kayla meeting Julien is so freaking cute and awesome! Julien is the best I love him, your interraction with him sounds about as awesome and wholesome as I'd expect

18:44 take a shot everytime Kayla says crocs and you'll be blackout drunk in 30 seconds 😭

I was gonna say the exact opposite. It annoys me simsie always makes her houses smaller. As a player I understand all that space isn’t necessary. But (and especially this build) he lives in a huge mansion. Let it be huge!

I was one of Emrys' friends at the wedding! That was such a wild evening 😂 Loved the Vlad reno, his house is so unnecessarily big. Who is he inviting over? the folks he is hissing at all day??

your cardigan is SO CUTE!! this build needed some help so i’m glad you did this again!

actually, with vlad being a vampire, you don't even need to put a staircase to the top floor. he could just fly/teleport there, right? and then you could put some secret vampire thing in there, like I've read a comment about a plasma farm lol. or more cowplants, very on brand

Kayla should have one of her legacy heirs marry Vlad… just so she can kill him later with a cow plant or sharkpond.

Another build tutorial would be amazing. I’m getting into building now and I need help with a lot of things. Things like how to roof an octagon shaped room, how to not make your house look like a big square, also how to stay on theme but not make it super cringy or cliché and obvious.

This is where we learn Kayla's never been to Vegas, because it's always under construction and always impossible to get around

I love this, and I honestly feel like the scariest build in the sims 4 is the museum in Del Sol Valley

Fun fact from the sims 4 wiki, Vlad is the one who turned Lilith (and turned the person who turned Caleb) and was training Lilith to be his successor before she and Caleb cut ties with him. So my guess would be that the other two coffins were originally supposed to be Caleb and Lilith's

I just built in horse ranch of the big lot and they have a similar situation where the property is actually much bigger based on the fence. I wish what they would do is have the main lot space to build then let you switch to a certain amount of surrounding space (like to the fence in this video) where they let you go into build mode but that only certain things are available, like landscaping then like putting thinks like stuff to train your animals on and like outdoor stuff.

I look forward to watching your videos everyday. Literally audibly gasped when this video popped up in my notifications because I had been waiting for this renovation to come out.

It’s so hard to believe it’s been almost two years since the last renovation of Vlad’s house.

When I use the vampire vines I stick em under the get together vines so they look more "real" (at least to me), otherwise I rarely use em except on light colored homes bc the different colors are really pretty against like a cream

Would love a Simsie X Julien crossover!!!

Kayla this sweater is GIVING it’s so cute

This house would almost be perfect for a Decade Challenge

I like the idea that vlad pit thr gargoyles on the roof so that he can land on the roof and not worry about people seeing him, because if someone seens something with batwings on his roof he can just day it was one of the statues.

I actually really really love this renovation !! I think I might go nab it off the gallery. and I usually love all your builds but the dark color palettes and spooky themes here make my goth little heart happy :D

What is wild to me, as someone who avidly watches your videos & someone with at least some basic knowledge of architecture, is how so many of the builds created by Sims players far surpass that of the base game & packs. It’s amazing!

Love videos like this where you just give lil details and life updates! Build looks amazing! Wish the base game was more like this! Also: I love crocs they have fuzz lined ones that are cozy and have become well worn by me. Genuinely prefer them over my slippers!

I was just on a binge of you're Halloween videos this is great timing

idk if thid makes sense but i think it would be really cool to renovate this house (or any other vanpire house really if there are idk i dont have the pack) as if a normal humsn family moved on clueless of the fact thst id a vsmpire world lmao

Any tutorials you could ever make for building are always wanted Kayla! You are the GOAT

I was thinking about Reno Vlad house in sims 4 today!! And there you are, posting a video with it!!! ❤❤❤

I'd make that top floor a spellcaster's altar room. No staircase. Either you have the skills to get up there , or you don't.

the other coffins in the basement are for Miss Hell, Caleb and Lilith when they have coven meetings! or by coven i mean "family bloodline get together"

The reason I don't like the vines in the Vampire pack, or really any pack, is that they don't go all the way to the ground if the house is on a foundation. Like they just grew straight out of the concrete.

Love that you're hyperfocused on City Skylines right now! Would love to see you play it on stream maybe! Also, this might be my most favorite Vlad reno ever!

Kayla is in her bookcase door era

Coming from a Nevadan here.. You talking about the F1 racing and the nightmare that is walking the strip had me remembering the time I visited family there as I’m from the north. I literally sprained my ankle walking that thing, and I didn’t even trip. 😂. Good times. That strip is no joke when it comes to getting around.

I am SO IMPRESSED with the roofing you did in this build like the turret at the end of the longer rectangle roof?? Omg?

I’ve watched julien’s streams a lot including his sims streams and I can tell you people were commenting about you (so he could learn a bit more of the basics of the game) and he said he knew you and was going to check out more videos so yeah!! Super cool!!

I love how you say "re-vamped" without even acknowledging the pun. (@23:57)

this build is amazing omg especially for a limited pack build! can't wait to play in this

I'm soo happy for Vlad that he got such a nice renovation

Hey Kayla, love your videos. I would love to see the 64*64 lot in del sol valley renovated. I know it's a big ask, but i bet you could make it look so good!

Just what I needed after a long and boring day😌💕

Freezes tutorial would literally save my life/vlads life his life is sad without them

This is straight up beautiful! Definitely adding this to my town!

I agree with you on the location of twitch con. I liked it because I got to see family but it was a PAIN to get to the convention center. It was nice to meet you tho that was definitely one of the biggest highlights of my trip!❤

Yes a tutorial on freezes and exterior trims would be so awesome! Great renovation too btw!

Omgosh that was a blast. The best way to start the week. Love the hacks with you and Mrs B I really think the immersion blender nuts is genius. Sometimes you just need a few and the food processor has parts to clean. This would be quick. Funny but quick. :)

I think it's great you kept all the room Vald doesn't need, since this could be his house from before he was a Vampyr too

This is my favorite Lil Simsie build!

This renovation is so good!

I think the worst thing about Vlad's house for me is the stairs to the basement. They clip through the ground and I've struggled so many times to try and fix it without just bulldozing. It's just so irksome.

Did you know that in Henford-on-bagley the unoccupied cottage in the corner of the world, the one next to where the Scotts live doesn't actually have an outdoor bin.

ah just what i need on an evening hot soup and kayla renovating vlad’s mansion

LOL this is exactly what i've been doing all morning!! perfect timing. happy halloween!

great build. been thinking about this pack and what i would do with it. probably the scariest big mansion myself, but at least it aint as horrifying as the Volkihar Castle in Skyrim that there was scary

That’s funny because I just started playing sims like a month and a half ago and my beginning builds are all big boxes. They got a little more interesting but still big until the last one I made in horse ranch it’s very small because I wanted to try something I saw. I made a 5 story house on the waterfront big lot in newcrest and it is almost the whole size of the lot. I love it though. I didn’t realize that certain thing cause glitches until I saw a video of someone talking about not wanting to use to much stuff because of glitches, so it can but frustrating to play that house with is me, I live there with my husband and dogs.

But does Vlad need to think of the resale value? He's a vampire living forever, he can just live here - forever. 🤔😁

I usually have the exact opposite problem to what you were describing. Making the rooms small and not being able to fit what i want or need, having to enlarge them :D

My human female sim had a vampire baby with Vlad and she's a child now, very interested in Vampire Lore. She goes to visit her dad at his mansion often for sleepovers. She sleeps in a coffin in the basement like he does. She's learning to play the pipe organ and he approves! 😁 The only downside is that she has to make herself PB&J sandwiches in the kitchen and still needs the bathroom. She loves his house, especially since it's been renovated and will probably want to move in with him when she ages up to be a teen vampire! Who knew Vlad was such a good dad?! 🦇 ♥🧛‍♂

technically, vampires CAN see themselves in mirrors! the reason the idea that they can't came around was due to the original dracula novel by bram stoker (which was not the first iteration of vampirism, it was camarilla, but dracula is more popular) where it was said vampires had a weakness to iron. iron could kill/burn vampires, so chains and bars were things to keep them contained or kill them. however, many mirrors at the time were backed with iron or framed with iron. so, vampires couldn't see their own reflection due to the iron around the mirror itself, since iron is a weakness! in the modern day, mirrors are NOT backed/framed with iron, so vampires could theoretically see themselves in mirrors just fine. the more you know

LOVE THIS !!

To respond to the question of forgetting to take pictures with people, I was looking through my photos the other day and have exactly one photo of my husband and me for the entire year.

I love the build. One "but" I've is about the kitchen being open to living room. I think it's kinda weird to have abandoned kitchen next to a room you use and it being open to that. So IMO there should be either regular door or at least a curtain to close the kitchen off a little. Great vid Kayla!

Me watching this to see if this matches me and Astarion’s dream home (if ya know, ya know)

I often forget to take pictures of myself in cosplay and of myself and friends. I usually remember when I get home. Love this remodel as usual.

green = sewer, red = murder dungeon!!!! this stream was so much fun, i love that you made a vid out of it

19:11 crocs were my go-to shower shoe in university because of their anti-slip design. Any other flip flops I felt like I was going to slip and break my neck

It's the roofs that make me wanna cry. They should make a free build roof option.

This looks way better than the original. Vlad isn't my favorite vampire but he is better than some of the others. I like Caleb. Last two games I've played though Vlad has died by being out in the sun. lol. If you do a video for Halloween day, I hope you'll include your kitties because they are the perfect thing for a Halloween build on Halloween day. I hope if EA is going to come out with a Sims 5, their builds will be better and they will be if they hire creators for it all like you.

The simsie solomita crossover makes me so happy

I love your videos so much!

stunning build! can't wait to download and replace vlad's mansion in every save.

I wish there was more, houses like this I generally like Gothic Victorian-Style homes. there is just not enough of them. in the sims 4

I've seen a lot of Halloween vampire builds now and almost all of them include a telescope, I sure hope their vampires aren't looking at the moon with it bc moonlight is just a bit dimmer sunlight :')

The way sims takes forever to do anything, going small makes it a bit more enjoyable game play. Also little note about Crocs, don’t leave them outside. The sun will shrink them.

okay hear me out... no mirrors but everywhere there should be a mirror its just the picture of vlad