When it comes to Animal Crossing: New Horizons your creativity is often your only limit. With so many different items, decorations, and patterns, players have crafted some truly breathtaking locations. Yet, an island is only as good as your Villager’s home which is typically filled with some truly wild and creative layouts. Broken up into six rooms (a second floor, basement, and four ground-level rooms), players can place any furniture pieces they want to customize their home. However, sometimes we need a spark of inspiration, so here are 20 ideas for your Animal Crossing: New Horizon house!
Keep in mind, we will be avoiding some of the most obvious choices like a bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom. While some choices may be clever alterations of these rooms, just a standard bathroom is a little boring.
Arcade
Probably one of the most popular and wildly used ideas, players often like to set up their own arcade for others to enjoy. With three distinct arcade cabinets, pinball machines, pool tables, and even a Nintendo Switch, you can easily craft your own game room. It also helps that Timmy and Tommy literally sell an Arcade Carpet and the Cityscape Wall really gives your locations a gorgeous, flashy appeal. Just check out Reddit user fauntasm’s arcade, which actually inspired my own house’s arcade layout!
Music Studio
As someone who had a makeshift music studio in his old home, this one is near and dear to my heart. There are a ton of musical instruments in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, so why not make a place to display and play them all? From guitars to a saxophone to a grand piano, there is an instrument for everyone and they look terrific next to one another. You can also purchase amps and even recording equipment that would put K.K. Slider to shame. Just throw a few records on the wall to complete the look!
Movie Theater
Another idea I don’t see a ton of, making your own personal movie theater in Animal Crossing seems like a no brainer. Sure, there isn’t a massive television, but you can mount a few on the wall to mimic this aesthetic. You can also put a popcorn machine or entire concession stand in the back so your guests can get food before the movie starts. This is also great for the different holidays since you can change the theming of the room to reflect the type of movie you’re watching. Similar to the Music Studio’s records, you can also throw Custom Design movie posters on the walls to show off your favorite films.
Dungeon
Sometimes a Villager just steps out of line and you need to throw them in jail. For those who want to have a dark theme to their home, you can easily set up a horrific dungeon in the basement. Not only does Sahara literally sell a wallpaper based on a jail, but you can purchase large iron-barred walls to craft makeshift cells in. It’s almost like Nintendo wants us to trap obnoxious villagers. I found that Reddit user Spiranix captured the horror vibe quite nicely.
Salon
Our next idea comes from Reddit user Ameiizing who turned a room in her home into a nail salon. This is done by using a combination of desks and items placed on top to mimic the different workstations you’d find when visiting. The televisions on the wall really sell this aesthetic, along with the counter on the left. You can also switch this up and turn it into a barbershop if you want to treat the male Villagers on the island. After all, all that landscaping isn’t going to pay for itself, right? Might as well make them pay you a few Bells!
Museum
Are you sick of having to make your way across the island to Blather’s museum to view all the art you paid for? Why not fill your home with it and make your own personal gallery for visitors to enjoy. This is also a great way to showcase all that fake art you accidentally bought since literally no one on the island wants anything to do with them. Alternatively, you could upload modern art pieces to display that aren’t in the game.
Nintendo Themed Home
Sometimes you just have to show some love to other games in the Nintendo library. Another pretty common theme I see in a lot of homes is a room or two dedicated to their favorite video game. The most obvious one is The Legend of Zelda since the rustic design of the world is easily mimicked in Animal Crossing. While this may take a lot of Custom Designs, you can easily feel like you’re stepping into an entirely different game if done correctly. Just make sure to get some pots to break.
Laboratory
For those who prefer to conduct experiments or just want to embrace their inner mad scientist, you can turn a room in your house into a secret laboratory. There are a ton of electronics and science equipment items you can use to decorate. You can even hide the door to the room behind a bookcase for extra, dramatic effect. Make sure to take a peek at liyamons laboratory if you need some visual help for how to decorate and what to use.
Gym
If you want to survive on this deserted island then you’ll need to build some muscle! Tommy and Timmy sell a ton of gym equipment that is just screaming to be put in your house. If you’re a fan of wrestling, don’t forget to purchase all four pieces of the ring. Similar to other rooms on our list, you can take a gym in multiple directions such as a shrine to boxing, a more modern gym, or even one that feels ripped out of famous sports films. Plus, the gym can double as a sports room to show off some love for your favorite team.
Store
If you’re big on trading within the Animal Crossing community then you might want to consider turning your home into a makeshift store. This can not only make trading more efficient but help your home fit into your island if you don’t care about sleeping there. You can also do this with other player’s homes to help them blend into the scenery of the island. It’s a popular method for adding more structures that you can physically enter rather than pretend to.
Diner
Another easy to assemble idea is turning your home into a retro 1950s style diner. Tommy and Timmy sell a bunch of diner themed items in their store such as booths, a counter, jukebox, stools, and even a cool neon diner clock. When put together, you can easily convince any villager that they have traveled through time. We’ve seen this idea a lot for points of interest on an island, but it can easily work just as well in a home setting. A good example of what this might look like comes from JTshirt on Reddit.
Spa/Bathhouse
You may see this one a lot as well, but New Horizons has a ton of Japanese-themed items that go perfectly in a relaxing spa room. Along with a nice bath, you can add some plants, bamboo decorations, and a few folding screens to give your Villager some privacy. This may take some time to truly finish since there are a lot of pieces that can only be obtained through Nook’s Cannery. Here’s a link to Reddit user rainygems spa for inspiration!
School/Classroom
This one will take a bit of work and possibly some trading on Nookazon, but you can completely turn your home into a school for all the Villagers. There are a number of colorful kid-centric items that you can pick up to decorate your classroom. As for the other rooms, just turn them into a bathroom, gym, and locker room so your villagers can store all their valuables. The real trick is getting them to actually pay attention during the lecture. We’re looking at you Roald.
Bar
Building a bar pretty easy, since there’s not a ton of furniture needed. Outside of a bartop, which you can alternatively use desks for, you’ll only need some stoles, tables, and maybe a television or a jukebox. There are a ton of bar-themed custom designs to give the back of your bar the appearance of actually having booze. This room also offers a ton of visual flexibility, as you can embrace a tiki, horror, or classic 1950’s aesthetic. Far and away the best bar I’ve ever seen comes from thirtytwoounces who faithfully re-created Tifa’s Seventh Heaven bar from Final Fantasy VII.
Trophy Room
There are a lot of fish and insects that you can capture in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, so why not design a place to display them all. Sure, you could donate them to the museum, but they’d look better in your house anyway. Similar to the library, you’ll want a lot of old, dark wooden furniture to give this room some character. Maybe a desk, a few bookshelves, and a few of your favorite specimens on display. Make sure to purchase the different models from Flick and CJ, along with the mounted heads of bugs for your walls.
Library
Another common theme, players often use the Library Wall sold by Sahara to create a book lover’s dream room. Just toss in some bookshelves, maybe a nice desk or couch, a bit of art and you’ll have a room you can lose yourself in for hours. This can also be a fun addition if you want to make a manor or haunted house since a spooky library is pretty easy to achieve with some custom patterns and a bit of blood. For visual inspiration, take a gander at Reddit user Jedi_m1nd_trixx’s library.
Casino
This is an idea I have been playing around with since I managed to get the slot machine furniture piece. While many will automatically default to making an arcade, those who prefer to up the stakes can turn one or the entire room into a casino. Along with slot machines, there’s a really cool chance wheel that you can spin. Using this, you can decide if visitors win any cool prizes when they visit or if they go home empty-handed. The only thing missing is a poker table, which is curiously missing in this game.
Haunted House
Even though the Halloween event is still months away, we’ve seen some pretty cool haunted houses bouncing around the Animal Crossing community. Along with a tarot card set, you can also get skeletons, an occult rug, and even a gothic mirror. Redd also brings with him a bunch of statues that can be pretty creepy in the right lighting. Alternatively, you could just get Lucky as a villager and decorate around his house with spooky items. Similar to the dungeon you’ll need to rely a lot on custom designs to really sell the terrifying concept of your home.
Cyberpunk/Sci-fi
On the other end of the spectrum, there are a lot of science fiction items you can pick up and use in your home. Along with the various neon signs, we recommend looking for the server furniture piece since it looks terrific when all the lights are out. If you just want to lean into more traditional or iconic science fiction themes, just get the surveillance wallpaper and recreate scenes from The Matrix Reloaded.
Literally Anything But a Traditional House
The beauty of Animal Crossing is the sheer creativity and freedom you have to make your home whatever you want. We’ve seen a wide variety of concepts including a castle, the bridge of a cruise ship, a gas station, theater, and even Hogwarts from the Harry Potter series. In most cases, if you can think up an idea then it’s possible in Animal Crossing. Consider using your or other player houses as additional buildings to really lend some more character to your island. There’s no wrong way to do it, even if most people seem to just default to a Japanese aesthetic.
That’s it from us! Make sure to share your home ideas below in the comment section or tell us about the coolest house you’ve come across. If you need ideas for your entire island, we also have a good starting guide to get your imagination going.
