Make Your Houses Better

The first way is with depth: adding overhangs on to roofs, varying the materials you use, and making sure there aren't too many "flat areas" on your houses: swapping out glass blocks for panes, putting your front door into a little recess, and decorating the base of your house with steps to make it look less like a big ol' block on the landscape.

The next step is texture. By varying the materials on your house, even if it's just cobblestone and wood, you're already part of the way there! A neat trick that a lot of the pro Minecrafters use as well is to find a bunch of blocks in similar colors – like cobblestone, regular stone, stone bricks, and andesite – and build your house out of a nice mixture of all of them. This is one tip you really need to try for yourself: it works much better when you can see the effect with your own eyes!

Detail is important, and something that looks daunting on other people's builds, but with the clever placement of some nice fence posts, slabs, buttons, and trap doors, you can make everything look very fancy quite easily. And don't forget plants — a couple of bushes and trees can really liven up the place.

Finally, it's all about the exterior, which involves making the garden and the landscape look nice. Add ponds, farms, and even a bit of terraforming if you're feeling ambitious, and if you're bored of all the green, feel free to add a few flowers. Head to the swamp for some nice blue orchids, and mix up the height with a few lilacs, rose bushes, and sunflowers. Adding depth in color will make your builds much livelier!

There are a ton of similar tutorials out there in the world, which will help you continue your learning journey. If you're not satisfied with five tips... how about THIRTY-FIVE tips, from SmallishBeans? In fact, if you keep this up, you'll be watching videos with three thousand tips in no time.