I usually start from the entrance or resident services because the amount of possibilities is overwhelming for me, so starting in an area I can’t relocate helps. But I like building town or city type islands where the structure is important- if I was making a more natural, unstructured island, I would probably start either from my house or just wherever inspiration hits me.
I like to decorate around the houses but I kind of just do whatever I feel like. I hardly decorate at all because I’m the least creative person ever, so most of my island is just a mess of flowers with a few random half-decorated areas scattered throughout.
I'm kinda having a very mix match sort of decorating. Since, I didn't personally, and still don't know what areas to really decorate or what to put where. But, my main decorating was finding river and pond ideas and that was where I sttarter first, to see if I can add that to my island and work around what to where afterwards.
I really just wanna start adding trees now, so I can have an idea what areas can be different what furniture can be added.
Also finding the right path before I add anything really helps otherwise I just have to keep going over and removing pavements to add items.
I did the pacement near my clothe and nook shop, and then added items around that area to make it look more nice.
There are still many areas I have no idea what to do. Since I wanted more of an abondaned town, but I do wanna add furniture around. It's just finding the right things, and honestly even doing something up, you can always suddenly think, nah, we need to change all this etc. XD
i started with the entrance area which is directly in front of resident services on the current island so decorated those areas at the same time before moving onto the shops which are close to the entrance. after that i’ve just been decorating randomly whenever i get some inspiration for part of the island which most recently has been the back of the island.
I start from the front and work my way to the back of the island. Before and decorating though, I layout my paths. The first decorating I did though was basically the tutorial from the beginning.
i always start with my entrance since i do a lot of trades :^D this is also why i have to remind myself to keep my entrance open and free of clutter; people can drop off items easier this way!
It's been a few years, but from what I can remember, I started trying to work around resident services first. Since the placement is permanent it felt like an easier place to start, and I'm also weirdly picky about there being a certain amount of space around it. Like, I knew I didn't want any buildings (villager houses, shops, the museum, etc.) too close to the area, so it felt easier to work around that. I believe the entrance was an earlier stage of my decorating/terraforming as well, though my entrance went through SO many changes over the past few years ksfgkfgk.
First place that I worked on and terraformed was my house and the area around where I knew where I wanted my house to be.
I remember that I had to get a garbage bin and I would just dig up all the flowers there that I didn't want and chucked them all in the bin instead of running back and forth to sell the flowers. They weren't enough bells to justify the cost of them
I’ve always found myself starting with the entrance when designing my island. It feels like the most natural place to begin, so I like to get that part out of the way early on. Once the entrance is done, I can move on to smaller areas, tweaking and refining different sections as I go. I feel like the entrance really sets the tone for the whole island. That’s why it’s always my top priority, because it serves as the foundation for everything else.
with a few random half-decorated areas scattered throughout.
