Interior

Table of contents

  1. Interior structures
  2. Tables
  3. Decoration
  4. Light sources
  5. Randomization

Interiors are something I struggle with greatly. Basic interior design, sure, but once I have to create dozens of houses for villages, it quickly becomes a challenge to provide sufficient diversity. Having the same or similar interiors over and over quickly become boring.

Furthermore, the houses in residential areas are not larger builds - they are by themselves not meant to be a base for players, but focus on the villagers and how they interact with the world. That means that the interior is often something that needs to fit in smaller areas. Now, that has the advantage that there doesn’t need to be a massive amount of detailing done - but it also means that there is little wiggle room for designs with larger interiors.

Interior structures

Next to the bed of the villager and their workstation, what else can we place in a house? My first builds primarily focused on tables, chairs and furnaces, with some bookshelves left and right. But there are plenty of other structures that we can place as interior.

As usual, I try to number the items so that I can use randomization to help me choose one or more structures to use. Of course, this depends on the purpose of the build. For instance, the house (or flat) of a librarian will have more focus on bookshelves, shelves, and reading areas, whereas a cartographer might be more focusing on displaying items from different biomes.

Note that dimensions are in width x height x depth.

  1. A chest cabinet is a 4x4x2 structure. One or two large chests which are encased so it can be closed (with doors) | | 2 | Shelves | Generally 4x4x1 structure, using slabs or trapdoors for the shelves. Decorations are placed inside.
  2. A shelf or shelves are wider structures which use trapdoors or slabs on top of which decorations are placed. The shelf can be smaller or larger and can be encased or not.
  3. A bunk bed uses height for the bed. Notable examples found online are beds on top of a study area, although this does imply that villagers can’t reach the bed itself, so I only tend to use this as additional bed (or provide a stair to pathway to it).
  4. Fake drawers use signs, and perhaps item frames, to give the impression that a room has additional chests and drawers.
  5. Plants are a nice touch, but the common ‘pots’ for plants (cauldrons and composters) cannot be used without them being used as a workstation. Possible venues are to use dirt with trapdoors, but that immediately takes quite some space. Alternatively use a flower pot with a dead bush as a base. Don’t forget to occasionally include the two-block high plants rather than just bushes.
  6. A fire place using campfires (or burning netherite, if the house is fireproof for that) is a nice way to quickly fill a larger area.
  7. Bookshelves do not need to be solely, well, bookshelves. They can also contain beehives or looms (if the looms are high enough that they do not become a workstation).
  8. Aquariums are larger structures, generally 5x4x2 or more, and could be used to divide a larger room in two small ones.
  9. Racks created using extinguished campfires while food was cooking on it (if the racks are meant to have food on it, of course). With commands, you can place other items on the campfires as well: 
    /setblock ~ ~ ~ minecraft:campfire[lit=false]{Items:[{Count:1b,Slot:0b,id:"minecraft:diamond_block"},{Count:1b,Slot:1b,id:"minecraft:iron_ingot"}]}
  10. A cooking station can be intricately detailed. Common methods are placing a rail on top of the furnaces for instance. Another addition is to consider the extractor hood above as well. This can be single blocks, or a combination (such as lanterns and trapdoors).
  11. A grandfather clock can have several designs. I like the ones with a clock inside an item frame at the highest block, and with a chain or lightning rod below.
  12. A reading/writing desk, for which plenty of designs exist as well.
  13. Hanging flower pots using chains. Make sure to keep enough space (generally 3 blocks) below to keep it aesthetically pleasing, or keep it along the wall otherwise.

Tables

Tables can be provided in several designs. I used to stick to fences and pressure plates, or slabs. But there are plenty of other designs to use.

  1. Use pure trapdoors both as the plate as well as the sides.
  2. Use top stairs all around. Rather than regular stairs as chairs, use slabs with a door, perhaps with a banner.
  3. Scaffolding can create nice looking tables as well, works perfect for 1x1 tables.
  4. The standard fence with pressure plate remains a favorite of mine.
  5. Extended pistons.
  6. Combine top stairs with slabs

Decoration

Decorations are small additions that give the impression that the space is being inhabited.

  1. Lanterns on shelves
  2. Pickles on shelves or on top of cabinets or workplaces.
  3. Mob heads on shelves
  4. Itemframes (possibly invisible) with items in them
  5. Flowerpots with flowers, cacti, saplings, bamboo or mushrooms.
  6. Flowerpots as drink cups on table
  7. Pressure plates as regular plates on table
  8. Armor stands with clothing or protective armor
  9. Paintings
  10. Pickles as cups on a table
  11. A cake on a table or in a cupboard
  12. Crystals
  13. Turtle eggs
  14. Dead coral fans, mostly on table or on shelves

Light sources

With recent minecraft versions, adding light sources is less cumbersome than before, as the light level requirements for (hostile) mob spawning is now zero rather than below 7. Still, adding an appropriate light source that is nicely integrated in the build is important.

  1. Torches, which can be placed on top of a fence, or on the wall. A common mechanic is to add an item frame with a stone slab in to create a support-like system for the torch.
  2. Lanterns by themselves are the default go-to for most of the builds. They can stand on shelves, or hang from the ceiling. If the ceiling is sufficiently high, use chains to lower them (but try to keep them with 3 blocks of free space below).
  3. Lanterns can also be decorated further, e.g. with signs all around.
  4. Shroomlights, with a stem below to create a standing light. Perhaps add a button on top for final touch.
  5. Candles - don’t forget to lit them.

Randomization

  • Encased or Open
  • Raised or Lowered
  • Protruding or Indented