I by no means have a fully decorated and cohesive island but i'm hoping that by typing this out it'll help me organise myself in the endeavour to finish decorating my island haha. i always start with the entrance because I feel like that's the easiest starting point, plus it means if you ever get visitors for trades you at least look like you have yourself together a little bit. and then i do other 'big' areas that i know roughly where/what i want - campsite, shopping area, museum. from there, you can fill in little gaps around your preexisting decorations, and then in bigger areas you can do what you want and branch out with similar builds. oh and also villager areas! for me personally i change them a little with the seasons so i leave a little more free space there that i can work with
i don't think this makes sense?? basically it's all about patching things together, and like others have said if you do similar things close together it feels more cohesive naturally!
I just rework sections of my Island over and over again, I've got some areas I like that I keep hold of, others I dislike over time and remove them. Currently my island is a big mess though, I'm waiting for all the new furniture and things to give me some inspiration for new areas, got a lot of big open spaces I want to do something with.
I recently reworked my swamp, which I've had since last year, I tried to make it a bit prettier.
I start with basic stuff. Like streetlamps, fences, hedges. From there, I add flowers and trees. Then a piece of furniture or two.
By first creating a boundary (fences) around a blank space, it helps me focus on just that particular area.
Start by keeping designs simple. Going for complicated layouts and decor right from the start will only waste your time. Do it AFTER you laid the basic foundation of your island. That way, you only need to adjust and make little changes, rather than redoing everything.
Also, don't be afraid to use repetitive furniture, especially if you are going for a theme. Consistency helps because it keeps things around the island unified, even if you don't have a theme.
I started in my main area, where my house and main buildings are, and then extended out. If you notice below, I have “two” islands— a southern one, where I placed most of my buildings to create a more centralized village, and a northern one, which gets progressively more natural the further north you go. I focused on the southern island first, and then moved to the second.
What I found to help is to plan out where you want buildings, followed by actually laying down your paths to help give you an idea of how you want things to flow. Then you can really begin to decorate.
Also to note: I don’t terraform/flatten (I have only used terraform once to prepare sites for inclines). I find that the organic approach to design makes it much easier to enjoy your island, and not second guess yourself. However, everyone is different!
I normally try to pick a map I like and then work with that map. Like, I wouldn't completely raze an island and then start building. Maybe someday I will try that but it's very time consuming and I would have to have a vision in mind. I see a lot of nice city islands created that way but I'm not very good at making cities.
I just choose villagers that I like, bring them onto the island and then build biomes that complement that villager somehow. The interesting part is bridging these different biomes together with different pathing, fencing, furniture, etc to indicate where one begins and the other ends, etc. My island is a little bit odd in that I didn't start near the plaza like many do, but slowly 'colonized' it over time. The villagers ended up being spread all throughout the island based on how much space I thought I needed for each biome, and then I worked on ways to connect these biomes together. There are still a few areas that are rather wild, but with the update fast approaching there will be more than enough ideas to fill it in. It's by no means nothing like these insane dream islands you sometimes come across, but it works enough that I enjoy being on it, and that's a big factor I believe.
I like to keep things simple and natural. Thus I only like placing items outdoors that belong outdoors, and don't like making fake buildings with the divider object or using ground patterns that look unnatural and messy.
With that said, I'm sure a lot of people would find my island exceptionally boring. but oh well.
