If there is already a thread for this, I apologize. I was thinking this might be a good place to offer stuff we've figured out that might help builders who are trying to build lots using only basegame objects...or using as few as they can from EPs.

On the TS2 side, the biggest suggestion I'd have for a more stripped-down approach to ID would be to get well-practiced at the various building cheats out there... there are creators out there whose designs could be greatly improved with even a little use of cheats as basic as move_objects. While I understand that the quartertileplacement cheat came with M&G, so far as I can recall, boolprop snapobjectstogrid false is available right from the get-go... not as easy to use as quartertileplacement (don't even bother trying to pair up chairs and tables or anything like that that needs to be precise if you're using SOTG), but it does allow a lot more flexibility insofar as a room's organization goes. The same holds true for "boolprop allow45degreeangleofrotation true," (not quite basegame, but it came with several of the earlier EPs), and with its effects allowing a much more real-world feel to certain rooms, that's just lacking in a strictly enforced grid-based layout. Finally, for particularly ambitious basegamers, there's a whole world that gets opened up with careful use of boolprop constrainfloorelevation false- provided you know what you're doing!
Another addition I would make to this is to be sure to remember the various tricks you can get away with from BUILD mode items that make them as perfectly suited to interior design as any Buy mode item would be- columns in particular. Turn off the grid and stick them in the corner of a room, and you've instantly upgraded the living room from ho-hum to elegant... Stick them around a fireplace and suddenly it looks like you took it out of an Old-World palace instead of out of the catalog... Experiment with sticking different decorative and structural items together to give a more artistic feel to your lots... Just be sure that your Sims will still be able to find their way around and use items once you've done much work in this vein... trust me, nothing more irritating then spending an hour designing the perfect sculpture garden, only to see your Sim walk up to the entrance and start stamping their feet over a routing error!

I'll end by saying, if you want to get a good sense of what can be done with less material from EPs and SPs, go all the way back to the start of the downloads section, when EVERYONE was pretty much limited to basegame stuff!

Using basegame wallpapers with tops works well for faking cornices and window headers,
but sometimes you might want something a little more 3D.

This house's exterior appearance was altered using CFE.

You can make short railings, fake modest cornices, and add window headers by adding a level, lowering its walls with CFE,
and then replacing them with fencing (use fencing that's thicker than the wall, like stream of consciousness).


This is a very easy sort of addition. You are lowering and flattening out an entire level.
There are no hills or valleys, just one flat surface. All you have to do
once you've lowered the walls is replace them with fencing.

To make fireplaces look grander and more elegant than they would otherwise, using move_objects and very careful use of snapobjectstogrid false (or quartertileplacement, if you're working with M&G), placing an archway against the edge of the room first, and then placing the fireplace in the center of the ensuing arch creates the kind of floor-to-ceiling fireplace that's otherwise not a viable option.

You can fake objects by combining other objects. Here is a chimney I made using a bookshelf and a couple of columns.

ETA: Hell! One very important mod is needed for the effect.
You'll note on the fake chimney, that the bookshelf has a nice flat back.
I got that using the M in VelocityGrass' SOMPA mod.

A person doesn't need the SOMPA mod for the effects to remain. So if you're making downloads for
folks whose computers can't support mods and CC, any effects produced from the SOMPA mod will
still be there for the person playing your lots in her/his game.