how do you even find good items for indoor/outdoor decor?

[sleepey]

i’m great at terraforming, but have been stuck for years trying to imagine how to decorate and how to even acquire the items i need to decorate.

lately, i’m starting again with just trying to imagine, conceptually, what i think an area would have, and working from there to see if any corresponding items exist in-game.

i just feel like there’s so much… how do you keep track of it all? O__O

gotta watch some island tours, maybe…

 

[Wolfsbane]

I'll admit the HHP prompts have helped me a great deal with inspiration. I love how they have a selection of items that fit a certain theme, it narrows it down a lot when looking for a specific thing. Sometimes I'll just go with the flow and expand on my villagers' houses/aesthetics, plop down whatever fits with the theme around their houses. (❁´◡`❁)

 

[daringred_]

i haven't played new horizons in a while, but i honestly just used the same items so my island would be consistent. log stakes, garden rocks, the rabbit ornaments, the gazebo and the pillars, both ruined and whole, the archway that matched those pillars. i had some (fake) statues around the museum. lots of bushes and flowers. the triangular topiaries, wooden buckets, the barrels, those stone lanterns customized to be mossy, same for the stone tablet, the occasional flower wagon. some picket fences to border paths or trees. a lot of if not all of it was stuff you could craft iirc so that made it easier to get the items in bulk. it was mostly just to fill in space off the paths because all the emptiness annoyed me lmao. obviously if you're going for a specific theme that isn't just natural/rural like mine, a lot of those items are probably a little useless to you, but.

 

[mermaidshelf]

it is overwhelming! like you, i'll envision a theme for a room or area and then go through the entire list of available items to try to find items that'll fit the theme. sometimes i'll get my inspiration from one item and build an area around it. For example, if I wanted to use the robot arm, i would think about what kind of room i could make using that. oh maybe i could try making a laboratory? then i would add the science set and clipboard, etc. or maybe i could try making a factory and have a bunch of robot arms building upright speakers. sometimes an inspiration will come from a wallpaper or flooring. having the room sketch app unlocked or using harv's really helps because you can see how items look when put down, not just like a floating catalog image that doesn't give you a sense of size and how it'll look in a room. as for looking through all the items, i use nook.exchange (website) to keep track of what i have and what i still need to acquire. it has a complete list of everything so it's very helpful. i try to look through each category one by one, like first all the housewares (items that can't go on top of tables or other items), then all the miscellaneous (items that can go on top of tables and other items), then all the wall-mounted, etc. after going through the lists over and over, you eventually learn all the items are in the game, or at least i do. sometimes i do forget or i just skip it thinking i'm not ever going to have to use it but later i'm like "oh i forgot that this was an item!" it's helpful to look through the lists again and again. it is overwhelming but the more you do it, the less you need to because you familiarize yourself with what's available. as for acquiring certain items, you can use nookipedia or guides to see if there's a certain thing you need to unlock to get it or you can use TBT's marketplace and buy from other users.

 

[Pyoopi]

I'll use a website/app that will allow me to track items I want for a specific area. I prefer Nook Exchange because I like the layout, ease of seeing all the images + variation colors, and that you can create custom lists. Then I will begin accumulating those items in-game to the point it looks like a hoarder pile.

Once that begins building, I'll use the Room Sketch app (or even Harvey's Photopia) to play around with different items. Of course, for exterior decorating, you have to put on your thinking cap and imagine your terraforming, but it has really helped me.

Spoiler: Sketch App progress of a restaurant build

There was terraforming involved, so I had to really think where my cliffs were which was hard. This helped with size, what kind of items worked and the cost.

We're kind of getting there..

A layering disaster!

Spoiler: Harv's Photopia

Trying to layer a Diner neon sign with other items to make it more interesting.

Okay this might not be in the photopia, but same idea like above. I'm building a market stall and trying to make it look like it's being used.

A lot of the exterior decorating is honestly a push and pull, trial and error journey. If you have HHP, turn one of the villager homes to a WIP for you to play around helps too. But it's inevitable to place an item down, push it, pick it up and repeat that process over and over until you want to scream, lol.

 

[skarmoury]

Looking through all individual items is tiring…!! I usually just look at pinterest photos to see what items would fit my vibe and work my way from there. If I find another items later on that fits the vibe more, I can always go back and revamp!

Like others said I’m also pretty consistent w the items I use for outdoors; for my island for example, it’s a worn-down island so my go-to items would usually be wheat fields (i have more than a hundred of them around my island at this point), brown items, wood-based, maybe some bikes and scooters, and just a lot of random trees and flowers. If I wanna switch up the vibes I can always go back to it later on anyway. You don’t have to perfect it at once!

Spoiler: example

idk if this is a hella good example but this is the general vibes of my island! I usually try not to stress out too much about the most perfect items and just think about what could generally fit in the meantime.

this is what my pinterest board looks like, gives me huge inspo and a general list of what items would fit my vibes!

 

[Dunquixote]

Last time I played, I was starting my second island. I’m not at the point where I can decorate much yet but I have ideas. I’m going to make it based on Persona 5 similar to this. Just thinking about it, I was and still am overwhelmed; I am waiting before I purchase items. When I get to that point, I’ll revisit their dream address, go back in my Persona 5 game (i need to finish my playthrough too still) or look at screenshots. I use villagerdb acnh site to keep track of my items (still wip) from my main island which is how i’ll get what I need, also sometimes the nintendo app to look at my catalogue. What I should maybe do is write down somewhere what items i’ll need for each area, and work on them one at a time.

What I’ve done in the past on my main island for events and when I was still working on it was pretty much wing it. I do a lot of planning in Harv’s studio. I order items that I think will go with idea and then go to area and start playing around with the items, ordering other furniture as I go. During the halloween event, room sketch had been helpful for the indoor portion, so I may try using that more for my second island now that I’ve tried that.

Tbh, I’ve been kinda at a loss at how to go about it, which was part of why I asked for how people got inspiration for their island.

Sorry if this doesn’t really help and for it being all over the place. I haven’t played in awhile and am still trying to figure out myself the best way to go about making my idea for my second island work.