#I made a cobblestone farm but I don't think I've used it ever

[practically-an-x-man]

Shamelessly picking your brain again, Minecraft style. I have square dirt hovels. What is your House strategy in Minecraft?

I can't say I really *have* a defined house strategy? At least, I really enjoy building, so I tend to build a lot of different-style houses depending on how I'm feeling and what biome I'm in.

In my current solo survival world, I'm building a huge compound/castle inlaid into the ground. It's one of my biggest survival-world projects I've ever started (usually this kind of build would be something I'd make in creative for practice), but it's keeping me engaged :D

In my tandem survival world with my dad, we have a traditional-style house with a gabled roof, built primarily out of a mix of acacia and spruce wood (acacia bc we built it alongside an acacia village, spruce because acacia isn't my favorite and I wanted a little contrast).

I can't say I'm a master builder by any means, and I'm a little out of practice with all the new updates and blocks, but I'm pretty good. And I've already told you about my little hobbit-hole survival strategy - dug into the side of a hill somewhere while I collect essentials, then I find a good spot to build a house and start construction.

Though I could try to give a few building tips to get you started?

Experiment with other shapes than just squares or rectangles. Make an L-shaped house! A T-shaped house! A U-shaped house with a garden in the middle! Hell, try to build a round house if you want! Have fun with it!

Don't build corners. At least, not all the time. If you take away that corner block, it can give your building a bit more dimension.

Play with layers. Use glass panes instead of glass blocks, use trapdoors as window shutters, experiment with slabs and stairs in addition to whole blocks, build columns to "support" your walls, etc. This can actually bring so much sophistication to your builds! The less flat something is (within reason), the better it'll look.

Add features in and around your house. You're going to want a farm for survival, of course, but aesthetically: porches, patios, courtyards, pools/ponds, gardens, fenced-in property, paths, orchards, or even secondary buildings like a bard, shed, or standing mine. A single house with nothing around it can look nice, but a piece of land that's been tended and landscaped looks really nice.

Pick out a few materials you want to use, and stick to them. If nothing else, pick a material for your floor, one or two to use for your walls, and one for your roof. In my tandem world, our house has a cobblestone floor, walls made of acacia logs and spruce planks (and glass windows), and acacia planks for the roof. My general rule is to use at least three building materials for a typical house, and more for a more complicated build.

Strategize where your lights are going to be. Obviously you need to light up your house, and strategic lights can bring a lot of sophistication to your design. Are they torches placed equally along a wall? Lanterns hanging from the rafters? Glowstone or lanterns inlaid into the walls/ceiling? And don't forget to light up the outside of the house and property!

Be daring. Build the house you want to build. If you run out of materials, you can always find more. If it doesn't turn out the way you hope, keep practicing. Practice in creative and experiment with all the fun blocks you can't usually find in survival. Play Build Battle or similar games on a server and build things you wouldn't usually think to build. As with any skill, you improve with consistent practice and trying new things, so find an engaging way to get that practice. Have fun!

[windfighter]

Tried to get a good picture of my Skyvaults island but it's hard xD