Whether you’re a seasoned builder or just getting started, Minecraft enables you to transform your surroundings as far as your imagination can take you. Usually, when building an area, you focus on large structures and their interiors, leaving the exterior of buildings as a lower priority. By then, chances are that inspiration for the little details is harder to come by.
However, depending on the design theme of the area outdoor decorations canbring a build to the next level. By adding even a few simple decorative structures, your blocky world can tell a unique story, as if entire civilizations exist within.
10Sand Castle
For those who build in nontraditional biomes like the desert or beach, this is a fantastic decorative build to try, and it’s safe to say sand-based decorations are underrated because of how simple they can be. To build a sand castle, you’ll need:
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Smooth Sandstone Stairs
Not many decorations can blend in as well as this sand castle design, and some variations of this could use red sand block variants or even build multiple in the same area for a mini sand castle village, each with different colored candles. If you’re playing with friends, you can even challenge them to a sand castle competition that requires minimal supplies or planning.
9Animal Pool Floats
Regardless, if you’re designing a modern home with a swimming pool or a cozy cottage by the river, these pool float animals are adorable. They’re super easy to build, require minimal resources, and can be customized to your liking.
Unicorn
Water decorations create a mental story as you walk through the area; instead of a plain chunk of water, there now is the possibility of a pool party or cooling off in the river on a sunny day. Other variants in ReytGood’s video include a majestic swan and a pink flamingo, and if you’re looking for something even more basic, create simple floats with 4 stained glass panes just below the waterline.
8Working Playground Slide
Whether you’re upgrading a vanilla Minecraft village or creating a custom one, there are more ways to decorate than a fountain or various market stalls. This playground slide can be the centerpiece of a neighborhood park, or simply a storytelling way to express the growth of a village; after all, you probably spend more time thinking aboutgrown villagers who have tradesrather than the baby villagers who are stuck inside with nothing to do.
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Spruce Trapdoor
Villagers can’t use blocks or entities freely, but this slide does work, so it could even be connected to other builds or a secret entrance to a storage room. After all, if you’re on a multiplayer server, who would suspect such a cute decorative structure to hold importance?
7Hanging Plants
Gardens, trees, and farms are fantastic ways to fill up space and can be functional for survival play. However, adding hanging plants both indoors and outdoors helps make a place feel lived in.
Plant or Flower
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Even if you don’t want to have a cottagecore or fantasy design, leaves or flowers can add color and dimension you might not have otherwise. BBlock’s video showcases more than a few different plant decorations that can be adapted to different aesthetics and use early-game blocks that are perfect for survival players.
6Dog House
One of the more popular tamable mobs, wolves (aka dogs) deserve shelter from the elements, especially if your house doesn’t have much walking space to keep your pets indoors. Consider adding a colorful roof, and a comfy carpet bed, and use an invisible item frame to place down their beloved bones.
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Stripped Spruce Log
You can add some personality with cherry planks or use blocks like stone or brick for a roof but don’t forget about the other beloved Minecraft pets. While not as compact, horse stables are modular, so you don’t have to build a large structure to give them a home, and for the cat lovers, you can add an outdoor cat tower with scaffolding and carpet.
5Sword In The Stone
If you like adding custom lore to your worlds, this sword-in-the-stone build is a surprisingly simple way to do it. The designer, Clayzers, makes using the command block clear so you may sit back and enjoy staring at a legendary weapon in wonder.
Stone Stairs
This build does require a command block, so if you’re not a server admin or have cheats enabled in a single-player world, you’ll have to pass on this one. Adding lore outside of books can be tricky for new builders, which makes adding structures like a sword stuck in rubble so valuable for storytelling.
The /setblock command can be hard to follow in the video. Just make sure you’re targeting the grass block and change the Y-coordinate to one higher.
4Tree Swing
There are plenty of tree swing variants out there, but few look as visually interesting as this design by QuietMinecraft. The rails are a little hard to get right, but they give a typical swing a less blocky shape.
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Cherry and dark oak make great variants of the original design, and you can also switch out the iron bars for chains, or if you want something even simpler, followFirecrackled’s tutorial on TikTok. Sometimes, Minecraft trees don’t generate in a way that allows for swings, so followArayzia’s tutorialfor a swing with structural integrity.
3Wheelbarrow
A downside to building in Minecraft is the lack of movement that blocks have, and while mods or resource packs cancustomize your gameand allow for special features like the stonecutter saw moving, it’s hard to convey movement otherwise. Adding decorations like carriages or wheelbarrows helps add a sense of movement around your builds.
Spruce Slab
This design is incredibly easy to create and can be altered to match your desired block palette, and while there are plenty of larger and more detailed designs online, sometimes simple is better. It’s especially helpful when builds are closer together, or you just have a small space that feels lacking.
2Chicken Nest
More often than not, farmable mobs like chickens, cows, and sheep are sequestered in a fenced-in area with zero (if any) decoration. There’s nothing wrong with that method, but if you want to turn Minecraft mobs into decoration, this design can help; using the waterlogging mechanic, you’ll be able to use an overlooked block as decoration outside of its natural habitat.
Water Bucket
This design isn’t functional to keep chickens contained, but it’s a great feature to add to a fenced area–unless your chickens are free to roam. For a design that’s more functional but looks good, check outthis coop build from TBcrafts0on Instagram.
1Infinite Well
It’s no secret that Minecraft’s generated villages have room for improvement, especially their decorative structures. Whether you’re renovating a vanilla village or adding a custom village center, this well is both visually appealing and functional, and dpending on where you’re building, water might not be easy to access, so having a nearby and constant water source is convenient.
If mossy stone doesn’t fit your aesthetic, you may swap out blocks for any palette that includes a stair variant. This design can also be altered to take up even less space by removing the middle row between the stairs and flipping them upside down.
