How do you decorate the odd spaces?

[ShawnFuzz]

I have areas on my island that I want to flow with the rest, but I have little corners or bends that need something so it's not an eye sore when running by.

I have mostly been putting up fences and flowers. Maybe an occasional chair or bench. Pretty simple.

Do any of you have better ideas?

 

[KittenNoir]

I also have struggled with this on my island I make little garden areas or make mini worlds like for example I have a castle area.

Around that area I have made a garden, spooky forest and a medieval village. I also have a pirate area with skeletons and treasure around.

 

[oak]

I just throw down some garbage cans and street lights or maybe a hydrant and call 'er a day. I even like using some of the garbage bags cause you can customize them in a few different colours

 

[ShawnFuzz]

I just throw down some garbage cans and street lights or maybe a hydrant and call 'er a day. I even like using some of the garbage bags cause you can customize them in a few different colours

So your answer is garbage?

I was hoping for a bit more... but I guess everyone sees beauty in different things.

 

[Firesquids]

If I have a small empty space on my island I'll fill it with a phone booth, mail box, or vending machine

 

[Pyoopi]

I usually like to use the rocks: flat garden rock, garden rock, tall garden rock and the myllokunmingia or any other slab-like fossils. Some of the stools work well too like the moss, stone, mushroom, and ruined seat. Then I'll use an assortment of foliage like the moss, weeds, or sugar canes. I like to make these spaces more overgrown/natural and don't usually pack them full of items.

But depending where your odd spaces are, like near a building, you can reference what buildings (say a store) would have, which can be cardboard boxes, wooden box, bottle crates, stuff like that. If you wanna post some pictures, that would help too.

 

[Snowifer]

I usually make little gardens/ use lamp posts. Little pieces of filler furniture work too!

 

[JellyBeans]

i have a lottt of areas with a little swinging bench and a tiny library. other favourites are cafe chairs or glowing moss stools, anything that kind of naturally fills the space

 

[ShawnFuzz]

I usually like to use the rocks: flat garden rock, garden rock, tall garden rock and the myllokunmingia or any other slab-like fossils. Some of the stools work well too like the moss, stone, mushroom, and ruined seat. Then I'll use an assortment of foliage like the moss, weeds, or sugar canes. I like to make these spaces more overgrown/natural and don't usually pack them full of items.

But depending where your odd spaces are, like near a building, you can reference what buildings (say a store) would have, which can be cardboard boxes, wooden box, bottle crates, stuff like that. If you wanna post some pictures, that would help too.

I love these ideas! And I took your advice and took some pictures. The first two, I think I will do like you said and put some rocks and keep it a bit wild.

The second two pictures are my conundrum. I had flowers here, and it didnt feel right. I paved it with Bricks and put a temporary bench, light post, and coffee plant hoping it would spark other ideas. This is definitely the odd spot on my island, with shops to the left and below, and the main square just above. Such a small place but it has been an eye sore. It doesn't help that I didn't plan my island layout, so I end up with these little areas.

 

[Pyoopi]

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Oh okay, I can see the limited space and tightness for this area. I have the Able Sisters really close to my town plaza too. I usually like to use the hedge fence to keep infrastructures separate but for you, probably wouldn't work.

I played around in Room Sketch and came up with something like this:

Spoiler: rough idea

I made fake building and it has obvious wrong proportions. In this example, I designed a dyeing station outside of Able Sisters and I used socks since they can be placed on the ground. The moss jar indicates different dyes. The streetlamp with banners are fun to use because you can add a custom design. I really like the ones that are flower baskets.

It helps to think about the personality of Sable and Mabel; like what kind of characteristics do they have. Do they like watering plants and flowers? You can see I added a lot of greenery and placing the watering can indicates the animals frequently come outside to tend to this area. How would they upkeep their place of business?

side view of the items I used to create this.

I think it might help to take away some of the brick path and let the area behind Able Sisters just be grass. It's kind of letting the area breathe a little. In the example above, you can add trees, bushes, or even the evergreen ash item to create a nice, natural barrier.

On the other side, I think because you have more visual of the outdoor theater, it can be more clean-cut. Maybe more of the flower beds. I don't know what the moat is but it looks like a focal point, and you can place a bench facing it or a make that area a cozy grass knoll. Maybe the plaza bench would be nice because it has the little birds on it. I do find the colors of that bench a bit garish; you just have to be playful and explore.

Decorating is a process.

 

[ShawnFuzz]

I think it might help to take away some of the brick path and let the area behind Able Sisters just be grass. It's kind of letting the area breathe a little. In the example above, you can add trees, bushes, or even the evergreen ash item to create a nice, natural barrier.

Everything was helpful, but taking away the brick paths was probably the most helpful! After you said that, I walked my island and realized I got a little path happy!

On the other side, I think because you have more visual of the outdoor theater, it can be more clean-cut. Maybe more of the flower beds. I don't know what the moat is but it looks like a focal point, and you can place a bench facing it or a make that area a cozy grass knoll. Maybe the plaza bench would be nice because it has the little birds on it. I do find the colors of that bench a bit garish; you just have to be playful and explore.

Agreed. First, the "moat" is just the river running through the island. This is my first island and decided to keep terraforming to a minimum, so I designed everything with the idea that in real life, I am probably building around natural rivers. (On the newish second island I started, I may just completely flatten and arrange rivers and falls for more aesthetic purposes). I have used the flower beds on other parts of my island, and love them, but don't want to use too many. I agree the park bench is a bit too much, colorwise. I used my nook miles to buy a couple, but I haven't been able to find a use for them, even with customization... too vibrant.

I hope my response doesn't come across negative, you gave me great advice! You definitely have me thinking in a different way on how to decorate!