Is it just me, or I can’t decorate for the life of me!

[acnh.eclipse]

I’m playing acnh and I can’t decorate, I start building and terraforming, it looks wrong tear it all down and start again. I’m stuck on how to make is look, I’m not sure to to separate area that are right next to each other! Does anyone else have this problem?

 

[_Donut_]

I personally really like decorating & terraforming so I don't have the issue myself but I know lots of people who get overwhelmed by it or have done no terraforming even after a year since they just don't know what to do/where to start.

My advice would be to first have a general idea in your mind what you want your island to look like (a general theme or feel), you can also find tons of amazing builds and examples from other islands via social media or here on the forum to give you some inspiration if needed. From there, I personally started little by little, I began at my airport with a "main road" and decorated it and slowly other roads/paths and houses started to go along the way. Don't overwhelm yourself with huge areas of your island all at one, just start part by part.

Not knowing how to "nicely" separate areas besides each other doesn't have to be a disadvantage. I really enjoy lots of different themes and areas flowing throughout each other, I'm personally not so keen on VERY planned out builds like roads and things being 90 degree angles and everything has to line up...just have fun with it, make it goofy, colourful and sometimes a bit messy can look great!

 

[Romaki]

Yeah, I'm not good at it either. I'm not that kind of creative, I can't decorate anything in any game.

I really enjoyed this video. It shows someone's island progress starting from the beginning. It's so interesting to see someone who is creative build up their island and work with it day by day. I like this better than seeing someone's completed island, it gives me more hope haha.

 

[moon_child]

I don’t decorate much either. I like visiting islands that are well decorated for tours and such but my own island, I like to keep simple because I play a lot meaning I run around a lot and shoot balloons and shake trees and smash rocks and dig up fossils and roll snowmen so I can’t really make elaborate designs on my islands because my favorite part of the game is…well, playing the game lollll and I can’t do that with elaborate terraforming and 192836252728293 items on the ground. That’s why I’m delighted with the HHP DLC where I can decorate to my heart’s content without worrying that the balloons will disappear if they landed on them. Lolll

 

[Pig-Pen]

A good way to start if you're struggling with design/decorating is to watch some youtube videos (which there are tons) or google a design and just recreate it, maybe tweak a few things and make it your own..... the more you do that the more intuitive it becomes.

 

[Orius]

Pinterest helps generate inspirations. Mostly, I just wing it and does whatever looks good. lmao I don't really know what I'm doing either, and I'm only terraforming to either remove rivers or shift its flow somewhere else. I'm not really interested in cliff decorations yet.

Just start with a theme and see where it goes, whether it's a desert theme or a Japanese island theme or a pirate island theme.

 

[Lars]

I want to make my town as symmetric as possible, and i can't
This bugs me to no end, so i know and understand your feelings.
But i will find a way to make it look nice, even if that means that it will not be symmetric.

 

[Dunquixote]

I like to decorate but I am not very good at terraforming and don’t have the patience with it tbh . I rather play around with furniture than mess around with terraforming. I may try terraforming later if I want to change some of my areas, but for now I’m okay with the land and just want to make the most out of what space I have left.

 

[Xara]

i’m afraid i don’t have any new advice for you, but you’re definitely not the only one. i’ve had the game since launch, and i haven’t decorated/terraformed much either because i honestly have no idea what i’m doing lol. i have plenty of ideas, but i can’t figure out how to get everything to flow together nicely, what items to use, where to put my buildings, etc. it’s a mess lol. i was actually working on my island entrance the other day for a few hours, and in the span of those few hours, i only managed to do two things that i actually liked the look of — place a fountain down and plant 4 bushes around it LOL.

decorating/terraforming can be tough and overwhelming, but i’m sure your island looks great and that you’re doing a lovely job! like @_Donut_ suggested, having a general idea of what you’d like to do before you begin could definitely help a lot, and if you’re unsure of what you wanna do like i am, there’s plenty of islands you can visit/look at for inspiration, and taking inspiration from real life places, a tv show/movie you enjoy, etc are also always options as well!

focusing on one area at a time does wonders as well. when i first began trying to decorate/terraform, i kept looking at my island as a whole instead of only focusing on one area at a time, and that made everything feel even more overwhelming. i definitely recommend only focusing on one area at a time, whether that area is a shopping district, a yard for one of your villagers, or even just a corner of your island lol. i know it’s stressful, but there’s absolutely no rush at all — you don’t need to come up with a million ideas or have a fully decorated island all in one day. go at your own pace, and take as many breaks as you need. good luck! <3

 

[nocctea]

Don't worry you're definitely not alone feeling that way! I've never been much of a decorator in animal crossing, I like decorating my house and my character, but that's kinda it. I've looked at terraforming videos and pictures, and I have an idea of what I want, but whenever I try to implement it, it just doesn't turn out right

Maybe planning everything out, like drawing a map or using those island decorator programs will help? I haven't really tried them either but maybe we're the type who can't just wing it or something haha! But good luck! I bet whatever you make will turn out great!

 

[Tiffany]

I'm the same way. I have done almost no terraforming except for making my ponds heartshaped(watched a youtube video to show me how) and slightly altered the shape of the top level pond to make fishing easier. I am too scared I am going to mess it up and not be able to fix it. This is why I wish we could have 2 islands so I could have one to experiment on. I don't have a lot of outside decoration either. And don't let me even get started on how long it took for me to do the interior of my house,craziness. Youtube videos seem like the best place to start for ideas and how to's. Good luck

 

[elo-chan]

Terraforming was the hardest thing for me, so I took most of my inspiration from Instagram (forest builds, lake builds, autumncore town builds). But I knew that I wanted to make a little town/village with foresty areas the deeper/farther you go into the map, so what helped me the most was starting to decorate and build around my plaza and shops first, since I had that layout in mind. Not sure if this advice will be of help to you, but I found it much easier to plan out walkways when I started with my shops.

As for interior design, that's always been the most enjoyable game activity for me. Like others have said, look up real life images of home interior design on Google/Pinterest and then try to mimic that using in-game items (it helps when you have a sense what all of the furniture in the game is) -- do this a couple of times and I guarantee it will help you become a more intuitive designer

For example, the other day I was trying to plan out my house and go for a rustic cottage type of feel. I just googled "rustic interior design" and tons of bedroom/kitchen ideas came up. You can probably recognize a lot of similar wallpaper, carpet, and furniture items just from these few images:

 

[StarlitGlitch]

Nah I can't either. In real-life too I don't work well with large, open spaces with endless possibilities. I tend to do better when creatively when they are some limitations e.g. smaller spaces. I liked designing areas around buildings but having so much open space has been tough for me.

We should be getting a ton of new furniture so hopefully that'll help! If nothing else, I get a lot of my inspo on Pinterest (which I think is mostly taken from Instagram)

 

[MOON TRIPS]

I struggle with putting together rooms in my house... I had the same problem in New Leaf. not sure what it is, really. I'll figure it out eventually maybe probably...

 

[moonshi]

I feel the same way! I'm just not a creative person period. I have to look at a lot of ideas and get inspired. I wish I was though! I love how others can just whip up ideas and pretty decorations on the fly.

 

[DJStarstryker]

What might help is to visit others' Dream Addresses and/or watch island tour videos on YouTube to get some decorating and terraforming ideas. You don't have to use others' ideas wholesale necessarily, but maybe seeing their ideas will give you inspiration. Those things help me when I feel stuck.

 

[nocctea]

Terraforming was the hardest thing for me, so I took most of my inspiration from Instagram (forest builds, lake builds, autumncore town builds). But I knew that I wanted to make a little town/village with foresty areas the deeper/farther you go into the map, so what helped me the most was starting to decorate and build around my plaza and shops first, since I had that layout in mind. Not sure if this advice will be of help to you, but I found it much easier to plan out walkways when I started with my shops.

As for interior design, that's always been the most enjoyable game activity for me. Like others have said, look up real life images of home interior design on Google/Pinterest and then try to mimic that using in-game items (it helps when you have a sense what all of the furniture in the game is) -- do this a couple of times and I guarantee it will help you become a more intuitive designer

For example, the other day I was trying to plan out my house and go for a rustic cottage type of feel. I just googled "rustic interior design" and tons of bedroom/kitchen ideas came up. You can probably recognize a lot of similar wallpaper, carpet, and furniture items just from these few images:

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thats such a good idea! i had never thought to use real life images before, i'm definitely gonna try that, thank you!

 

[Violet Witch]

I have to be in the mood to either terraform or decorate in general. When I am I think I’m pretty good at it but I’m always striving to be better at it. Hopefully with the 2.0 update and paid DLC with more furniture options to inspire us will help elevate our decorating skills.

Well that’s my hope in the coming weeks.

 

[Tianna]

Yesss sameeee! My island right now is an overgrown flower mess with random trees everywhere and I don’t even have a single fully decorated area (except maybe my rock garden but even then, I’m starting to become unsatisfied with it). I tried to watch a bunch of island tour and building videos for inspiration but it always seems to stress me out more than it helps me and then when I try to build on my own, I get so stuck and don’t like what I’ve created. ;;

 

[AmyK]

I feel like a lot of people put a lot of pressure on themselves by thinking they “have to” get everything ready in a certain amount of time or that they “gotta” make their island look appealing (social media and YouTube, I’m looking at you) in ways that other people approve of or they overthink until they don’t even feel confident about placing a single flower…

Don’t get me wrong, I understand that you kinda wanna “get somewhere” (aka make visible progress) at some point and that it can get frustrating if you don’t have anything that you feel you can show, but I think that’s also one of the beautiful things about Animal Crossing: You don’t have to! There’s no rush. No need to compete. You’ll be okay! Rome wasn’t built in one day and so on and so forth. Enjoy the process!

Like the others said, my best advice is: Start somewhere and start small.
Themes or general ideas and asking yourself some questions can help a lot. Is it a small or a big area? Where do you see it on your island map (keywords: accessibility and elevation)? Are there any items that you love and/or really want to use and where could that be? Do you want specific villagers in specific areas of your island and incorporate their houses/yards somewhere? Example: My Lobo owns a pumpkin farm! Things like that.

For example: I wanted a little “waiting area” in case the tailor shop gets crowded, so I put something to sit on next to it, a table and a tea set that I customized afterwards because I found it cuter. Then I was like “Hm, this could actually be a terrace!” and added bushes and matching tiles. Followed by “Hmmm, it’s so comfy here. Let’s get them something to read!” and later I added a tiny little lattice fence. The space isn’t even ten tiles wide, but it has turned into one of my favorite places on my island. Just make it your own! Anything that “feels nice” to you will work just fine.

You can also “connect” things by dividing them naturally. Walls, bushes, paths, a bit of fencing or a few intentionally placed items can do a lot, even if they’re kinda random. My Marshal has a little pool outside of his house. Why? Well, there wasn’t enough room for a big one where his house is, but as the local celebrity he insisted on having something similar at least.