The Sims 4 Dream Home Decorator is like playing through a reality TV series that hates my taste

The entire Caliente family is crying. Sobbing, actually. They're standing in their Mediterranean-style villa, under the stone archway that transitions the entryway into the living room, their shoulders shaking with sobs. I've just revealed their redone space made with The Sims 4 Dream Home Decorator Game Pack.

The Game Pack has kicked up a ton of excitement in the Sims community, especially for those who focus on the build portions of gameplay. It adds a few new outfits, new likes and dislikes, new gameplay features, and a ton of new furniture, which is clearly the main draw. For those of us who love building, the addition of new build objects centered around a career that lets you makeover homes is, well, it's a dream. Unfortunately for the families whose homes I've renovated, it's been more of a nightmare...

Not so Caliente

The Sims 4 Dream Home Decorator Game Pack — (Image credit: EA)

The Caliente family is my first job as a Dream Home Decorator. When I get to the Calientes' and see their Mediterranean-inspired home with its stucco walls and terracotta tiles, I'm ecstatic that I have the new Garden Oasis Stuff Pack. "Oh, this is gonna be good," I say out loud to my cats.

Latest Videos From

I spend some time chatting with the family, which gives me a chance to learn their likes and dislikes. Unfortunately, the Calientes aren't very helpful in terms of décor - I only learn that one of the family members likes singing, while another hates the piano. I look over at the piano in the corner of the living room, now my only source of direction.

I ask them to leave so I can get to work, then delete everything and add a gorgeous terracotta tile floor. I paint the walls a soft beige stucco. Based on the singing interest I glean from one Caliente, I decide to turn this living room into a modern Italian karaoke bar, complete with ample sitting space, a microphone, and a huge flat screen TV. I place orange trees on either side of a simple but chic bar, which has two repurposed wine bottles holding plants resting on its corner. A reddish L-shaped couch takes up the other side of the room. Simple, mission-style lights hang from the ceiling and a gorgeous painting of what may be a fruit brings the entire room together.

Excited about my work, I call the Caliente family back to look at their gorgeous Italian karaoke café. They enter with their hands over their eyes and I feel my heart swell with excitement as my Sim makes a sorta "ta-da" noise and sweeps her arms over the space. The entire family - children included - start hysterically crying.

Home Hack

I decide to quickly leave the Caliente home after receiving a horrible verdict, no money, and a severe blow to my reputation, just as the matron of the household storms out of her new living room to stress eat from the refrigerator. Heading home slightly dejected, I instruct Simlyssa to go to bed and immediately choose another home decorating gig. "I have good taste!" I insist to my monitor. "I do!"

The next house I head to belongs to the Partihaus crew, a group of Berlin-adjacent young people whose place looks like a frat boy won a $10,000 Bed Bath and Beyond gift certificate. The Partihaus people tell me they don't like garden décor, pianos (which are nowhere in sight) and the color red - which is everywhere. I send the family away, take some quick pictures, and decide to turn their main floor into a hyper contemporary space with some dashes of plant life.

I spend around 30 minutes perfecting the space, subbing out the red for green and the brick for concrete. I call them back in and promptly watch as they groan and "yuck" at everything I've put in the space, and cringe as I see the results screen: no money, even less reputation. During this, my Sim gets a text from Dina Caliente: "I hope your day is as terrible as your so-called design sense."

"Well f*ck this," I say to my glass of wine. I put on a Plumbella video and watch her hack her way to a great review by only adding objects based on the client's likes. At my next job, I do just that. The only information I get from eight family members is as follows:

Likes: Snowboarding
Likes: Skiing
Dislikes: Mischief

I decide to renovate a bedroom - and by renovate I mean put a snowboard in one corner and a set of skis in the other. That's it. I call them back, show off the items, and get eight incredibly positive reviews (including a hug). "I give up." I say to my mid-century modern Miami-style bedroom. "Maybe I just have crap taste."