u/TheRetroWorkshop

Note: I'm just covering the basics of how to actually edit the files, and an overview on creating your own Pack (or mash-up, or version-specific edition to an official or popular Pack). But it's still a very long post. I don't feel bad about a long post here, because creating Texture Packs requires far more work than reading for a few mins.

PART I: EDITING THE FILES; OR, HOW TO ACCESS TEXTURE PACKS

Step 1: 'Start' (on Desktop Windows; no idea about Mac) -- enter %appdata%, or click the 'Texture Packs Folder' button in Minecraft's menu. Either way, you want the dot Minecraft folder.

Step 2: Open 'Versions' folder (unless you haven't yet loaded up the version you want to edit). You should now see that your version, (say) b1.7.3 is there. If it's not there, you need to go load that version up first, then it'll be there.

Step 3: Open the version folder. Now, you'll see two files: open the JAR file with 7zip or Winrar.

Step 4: Delete all the class files (BE CAREFUL to retain the Font text file, Pack text file, Terrain png file, Particles png, and Pack png; they're annoyingly hidden within the large number of class files), and also delete the META-INF folder.

Step 5: Download Paint dot net (free software; you don't require Photoshop at all, despite popular opinion (likely because Photoshop is easier and widely used for modern, post-r1.5 Packs)). You'll open, edit, and re-save the png files in Paint dot net.

Step 6: Simply drag the png Terrain file into Paint dot net, and edit the block textures. The same is the case with Mobs, Items, and so on.

Step 7: This is very important. DON'T zip the entire folder, from outside the folder; instead, select all the folders/files from within the folder (where you started back in step 4). This will create a zipped folder of all the files, and will create it into said folder, right alongside the terrain png, etc. If you zip the entire folder, it won't work when you try to open it in Minecraft. This is the biggest mistake people make.

It should look something like this; instead of zipping the folder I'm in, called 'ValleyCraft (r1.2.5)', you zip the files and folders inside said folder. The pack file (VALLEY CRAFT) will almost certainly be improved (needs more colouration and greater contrast).

Step 8: Drag the zipped Texture Pack folder into your Minecraft Texture Packs folder.

Step 9: Open the Texture Packs menu in Minecraft, and select the Texture Pack. It should be working. If not, it'll show up as greyscale (little icon) and force you to the Default Texture Pack (or, in some cases, will have missing/broken/weird textures, despite everything else working perfectly). There are a few ways these things happen. Let me know if you run into any problems.

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PART II: MAKING A TEXTURE PACK; OR, FROM VISION TO BLOCKS

Every Pack is different, and starts differently. I tend to start with the GUI, Cobblestone, Grass, or some other particular block. But sometimes I start with an overall tie-in (e.g. Batman Forever (1995)). Whatever it is, you need to start somewhere. That's all that matters. And on that note:

Tip #1: Save everything in a changeable, easily editable state (e.g. as a paint dot net file with a transparent background). You don't want to lose anything or have to redo a lot of work. Assume that everything will change. Nothing is finalised until you publish the Pack; even then, you may find improvements and/or errors.

Here are a few ideas to get you started, and some guidelines to help you work efficiently, quickly, and effectively. Start by making a folder on your computer, dedicated to the Texture Pack. Make sub-folders for texture ideas, and anything else you'll use (e.g. other 16x16 textures) or reference.

Tip #2: You may want to make a Pack for more than one version; ideally, every Pack-centric Golden Age version. That's Alpha v1.2.2 through r1.2.5. This requires some work, but you actually only need to create a few Packs. Packs downport automatically, but they don't up-port. You only need to make a few Alpha Packs, b1.6.6, b1.7.3, and r1.2.5. But if you want to skip Alpha (most of you will), then you only need the latter three, and two of them are almost identical. The only real difference between b1.6.6 and b1.7.3 is the lower Bed texture (it's moved down in b1.7.3 through r1.5, when the terrain png is removed -- this way, it actually sits in its proper place).

Testing items + GUI placement (16x16 Slots) + contrast + quality + Hotbar.

The cyan circles indicate issues. I still make notable mistakes (I'm just not a diligent enough person). But it's fine to make mistakes during early dev. Keep saving and opening the Texture Pack to test. There is a big difference between locking into what you're doing in Paint dot net, and actually experiencing the Pack in-game. Bullet-point list, then.

(1) The bottom of the Shears is at the top of the Melon Slot (one pixel; I was clearly being careless with rapidly copying-and-pasting sprite files from Stardew Valley into the png). Double-check everything is my rule... that I sometimes fail to adhere to!

(2) Some of the items are relatively large (16x16). This is since they're taken directly from Stardew Valley (the theme of this Pack). That's another video game, I believe partly inspired by Minecraft, so it's quite translatable. This means, I want a very clean-edged, large Slot (16x16 for the standard Slots and at least 16x16 for the Hotbar). You want as much contrast as possible, but you also want it to be very readable, which requires negative space between the item and Slot border (1 pixel is enough; sometimes even zero is fine). As you can see, I've accidentally not biased some of the icons enough. Most of the items are too low, and one is far too low (Flint and Steel; not even a 1-pixel gap between the icon and Slot border).

Most players read from left to right, and top to bottom. But the primary reason to bias items to the top-left is to keep them away from the stack number, which cannot be edited in Vanilla, to my knowledge. The stack number is large and sits in the bottom-right. (This is only acceptable, in my view, when the icon is 16x16; thus, it won't have negative space on any of the sides, at least not entirely.)

(3) Contrast is very good for almost every item shown, excluding the Flint and Steel; the Steel part has poor contrast with the default Slot background. I have two choices: either make the Steel part near-black (if it's not dark enough, it won't have good contrast with the Flint part), OR make the Slot background relatively dark; but in this case, I need to ensure that every item is relatively light (or at least has a bold outline; in this case, not all items have bold outlines, due to the style/default sprites).

Tip #3: Since we're on the subject, let's talk about style. This is your first Pack (at least, this guide is aimed at players who have never made one before). I suggest that you first copy somebody else's art directly; either a film, another video game, or another Texture Pack. This is the best way to learn, and is likely what you want before trying to invent your own textures from scratch.

Context: I've been making Packs on and off for 2 years, and I have some artistic ability -- yet, I struggle to invent my own textures from scratch. I do much better as a mash-up artist, as it were. So, unless you're profoundly artistic, you won't come up with a good, original design. Side note: ConcernedApe himself (the dev of Stardew Valley), said that he was terrible at pixel art until he studied it for about 3 years, in creating Stardew Valley; and he's far more artistic by training and nature. Nonetheless, it both shows what is possible, and how difficult the possible tends to be!

You're really looking to learn two things:

(1) How to properly edit Texture Packs, and how to learn good habits in being fast, and not making blunders, or at least ensuring that you correct them sooner rather than later.

(2) How to spot good design, and begin to create your own ideas, over time. In particular, I heavily weight style. A style, to me, simply means inner consistency, to borrow Tolkien's term. It's what makes everything feel 'right' and 'lived-in' and 'part of the same world' and 'atmospheric' and 'unified' and 'pleasing' and 'interesting'. And that's exactly what you want. To quote Kubrick: 'Real is good. Interesting is better.'

Question: When do you know you're starting to have 'good ideas'?

Answer: According to QT, he started to write good screenplays when he could no longer tell what was his own writing and what was the original script. Well, the same logic applies here. If you cannot tell or forget what you created and what was already in the Pack (if you're using from a Pack, or downsizing it, or taking it from r1.12, etc. down to b1.7.3) or was taken from the Internet as a texture/segment image, you're likely creating good, original work.

Tip #4: Something else I want to talk about. Look at the 'Twig' (looks like a tree branch); that's a 'Stick' in-game. It's 16x16. It looks good. But it may or may not be too large, and 'not worth it'. What does this mean? Well, since I want everything to be coherent, I may want to use one of the smaller stick/twig-like sprites, instead. Yes, it loses some 'style', but it gains (a) proportionality; and (b) functionality/readability (if not of the icon itself, then the totality of the interaction -- player experience by way of UI design, in other words).

So, we can formulate a few 'rules', now.

Golden rule: Form follows function, as they say (Mies?). Style beats vacuity; function beats style. The player experience always comes first. Second is the style; the actual look of the Pack.

Silver rule: Never have 'blurry' or overly resized textures. This is a common mistake people make. I made this mistake often when I first started out. The way people make this mistake by grabbing a texture, (say) 'stone cliff' from Google or a higher res (32x32 or beyond) Pack, and simply downsizing it to 16x16. This causes the blurriness and business, and often not only a lack of contrast but also a loss in quality; you literally cannot see what it's supposed to be in the worst cases.

Bronze rule: Adhere to a singular style and theme. When in doubt, copy a pre-existing texture in your Pack, and simply recolour it; and when you don't know what to add to a given texture, simply add a pre-existing texture, or some part of it. I already did this with Flint and Steel: I simply kept the original Steel, recoloured it, and overlapped it with the new Flint texture (this, akin to how it's done in both DokuCraft and Sphax, two of my favourite Packs of all time).

This forces a certain degree of consistency, by definition. Some people knock Notch (that's fun to say -- knock Notch). Anyway, some people say that the original Default Texture Pack isn't great or is uninspired and lazy, because he used just 6 (ish; 2 to begin with) textures, and simply changed them around to form dozens of new ones. But I think this decision was not only logical, from a coding/time management standpoint, but meaningful, from an artistic standpoint. I firmly believe in this, unless you actively desire a completely different texture somewhere.

New rule (?): Adhere to associated (real or feigned) and/or Default Texture Pack materials**.** I'm a huge fan of this idea, unless you're really aiming for additional textures for building purposes (e.g. Green Wool becomes runway light fixture or some such unrelated object). If you're working with Cobblestone, don't stray too far from what 'cobblestone' means within the confines of your skull.

Problem children: There are a few 'problem blocks'. You can see them in the Alpha-Beta Default Texture Packs, as well. They tend to be innately 'busy' or 'grainy' materials or textures. They just don't work well at 16x16 if you're trying to make them 'smooth' or 'realistic'; you require either 32x32+ OR a more stylished approach. Such blocks are Cobblestone, Netherrack, and Gravel. They're either blurry or difficult to unreadable, or so busy that they hurt your eyes. (You can solve this, but it's difficult and relatively limits your options/styles; though that's a good thing, according to the aforementioned rules and tips.)

Close-up terrain png (blocks) + testing 16x16 textures in blank/unused Slots.

Just a not-so-quick note on blocks. This may or may not be meaningful, but I tend to start with Stone, Cobblestone, Bedrock, and Obsidian (though not always). Cyan circles highlight changes made thus far. This is very early into the process of creating a new Texture Pack. Notably, there is an alt Torch texture. I'm testing them out. Sometimes, as may be the case here, I switch Stone for Cobblestone, or Cobblestone for Stone. In this case, the Stone texture will go to either Stone Slab or the trash pile; likely the latter since I already have a SV texture in mind for Stone Slab.

Some of the texture ideas at the bottom of the file won't be used. That's okay. They're just stepping-stones as I figure out what works, and realise the exact texture, colour, and material I want for each block.

The Obsidian is likely to change, too; maybe it'll go to Bedrock, instead. It's good to reuse textures, as I said, but you may not want too many different materials/blocks to use the same texture (in this case, three blocks have the same smooth stone sort of texture).

The Torch is imperfect: the arm things at the sides also mirror north-south, which means they look weird at angles (four of them show up), but look fine if you're perfectly lined up with them; as a result, I'll likely choose the alt Torch/lamp texture. I would say, I like the primary one more, but if the alt one functions better, then I like it more. Function over form. The alt Torch is also simpler, less busy, and brighter (thus, more charming); and that fits the Pack's theme and philosophy more. When in doubt, simple/less busy is always better for 16x16 Minecraft Packs, I would say. The only reason I'd reject -- or tweak if possible -- the alt Torch is if it looks terrible or fails in some area, in-game (no idea; not tested it yet).

On the topic of Mobs and overall GUI, I suggest sticking close to the Default for your first Pack. Mastering items and blocks is already difficult enough, and is the primary part of any Pack. Likewise, for now, keep the lighting and other files Default. You can make Grass a little darker or lighter by simply changing the top Grass greyscale texture, though (the texture in the top-left), but this will mess with the Biomic map; likewise, you can change the lightness of Leaves and their shapes (greyscale, under the Birch Logs and under the Obsidian; the first is for Fancy/see-through and the second is Fast/opaque).

Don't overly lighten Mobs or other files, by simply adding more lightness; it won't come out well in Minecraft. You can darken it a little without harm, or even lighten things slightly -- but not by much in Paint dot net. Minecraft doesn't like it; it'll look either washed out in the case of lightening, or difficult to see in the case of darkening. This is another huge mistake people make when first creating Packs. I make this mistake all the time. There's a fine line between 'lighter/darker' and 'looks terrible'. You have to keep testing different values.

Title Screen, etc. elements require a bit more work to get right. But certainly aren't difficult once you have a handle on how the pngs work, and understand shadows, contrast, and border design. For now, just keep the Default shapes and sizes, etc., or streamline them all; but you can easily recolour them to fit the rest of the Pack.

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PART III: THE ART OF DESIGNING FOR COLOUR-BLINDEDNESS & POOR EYESIGHT

I'm still trying to get a handle on these topics, myself. But I've decided to start taking them into consideration. Not only do they expand my talents in UI and good design in general, but they capture more and more players.

You need to strike a balance between 'function' and 'style' in this case. You need to work around your style, without losing it. There are two ways to do this: first, take the Mojang approach -- make everything different colours and different shapes. The second approach is a little different. For example, let's look at Dyes.

Close-up Dyes (items png).

As you can see, I think I've found a way to create different colours and shapes, and forms -- all within the same style/world. You simply use different types of bottles/containers, etc. In this case, Coca Beans are 'Pine Cone' (it's the closest sprite to what I wanted; it actually looks a bit like a real-world coca bean, interestingly). Then, we have four bottles/containers: 1 flask/thing (in Stardew Valley, it's also 'Squid Ink'), 2 jars (different types; one 'Pickles', one 'Energy'), and 1 wooden jug ('Large Milk'). And I may add another.

The other notable example is Ore block textures (the raw Ore in Stone ones). The Default textures somewhat solve this: all the original Ores are the same shape but different colours, but aren't the major colour-blind hues; the blue Lapis was added later, and I believe Dinnerbone (an early dev) was colour-blind, so they gave it a different shape; thus, it wouldn't be confused with Redstone. Some Packs go so far -- both for colour-blind purposes and style -- as to create unique Ore shapes for every single Ore block.

The items and blocks also want to be as large as possible (16x16 at most, of course) -- I don't like going under 12x12, regardless. But some of them end up being something like 12x8 (Default Torches, lest we forget, are only 10x2). Coal is an oddity in this Pack: 8x8 (far smaller than Default's 13x12). I may need to hand-craft a new, slightly larger Coal in the same style! I try to force everything to be even (e.g. 12x12) but odd-numbered items and blocks are fine, off-set to the top-left, anyway.

What if Minecraft was a soft RPG? Had a long-term progression system? Was easy to track? Didn't require any mods? Had real weight to your choices? Vital blocks and items were actually expensive and far more valuable?

Note: I suggest using some kind of RPG-themed Texture Pack, such as my Nomad Mash-Up Texture Pack (since the Gold Ingots are replaced with Gold Coins, and it all has a fairly dark, realistic fantasy feel to it).

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Alpha-Beta (namely, b1.7.3):

Crafting Blocks:

*Throw the unused resources (payment) into Lava or whatsoever.

Rule 1: Bed costs 192 Wood Planks and 192 Wool (3 stacks of Planks, 3 stacks of Wool), per Bed. (Nullified if playing a pre-Bed version.)

Rule 2: Chest costs 512 Planks (8 stacks of Planks), per Single Chest.

Rule 3: Doors cost 384 blocks (6 stacks of Planks or Iron Ingots), per Wooden or Iron Door.

Rule 4: Piston costs 576 blocks (3 stacks of Planks, 1 stack of Iron Ingots, 4 stacks of Cobblestone, and 1 stack of Redstone Dust), per Piston.

Rule 5: Sticky Piston costs 65 blocks (64 Slimeballs and 1 Piston), per Sticky Piston.

Rule 6: Repeater costs 384 blocks (3 stacks of Stone, 2 stacks of Redstone Torches, and 1 stack of Redstone Dust), per Repeater.

Rule 7: TNT costs 576 blocks (5 stacks of Gunpowder and 4 stacks of Sand), per TNT.

Rule 8: Dispenser costs 513 blocks (7 stacks of Cobblestone, 1 stack of Redstone Dust, and 1 Bow), per Dispenser.

Crafting Tools:

*Cannot skip an Ore-based Tool tier, and the cost to Craft them is default (rule 10-13).

Rule 9: Stone-Crafting is perma unlocked after you're holding 64 Cobblestone in your Hotbar.

Rule 10: Iron-Crafting is perma unlocked after you're holding 64 Iron Ingots in your Hotbar.

Rule 11: Gold-Crafting is perma unlocked after you're holding 64 Gold Ingots in your Hotbar.

Rule 12: Diamond-Crafting is perma unlocked after you're holding 64 Diamonds in your Hotbar.

Rule 13: Bow costs 384 items (3 stacks of Sticks and 3 stacks of String).

Rule 14: Fishing Rod costs 320 items (3 stacks of Sticks and 2 stacks of String).

Rule 15: Bucket costs 192 Iron Ingots (3 stacks of Iron Ingots).

Other:

Rule 16: Death costs 10 Gold Ingots (not Gold Ore blocks); throw them into Lava, etc. If you don't have 10 Gold Ingots in your Inventory or Chests, you must lose everything in your Inventory if you didn't already lose it all. (This is a nice RPG mechanic and balance between permadeath and free death.)

Rule 17: Can only build a new settlement/build away from your starting base every time you collect 64 Mossy Cobblestone (from Monster Room floors). (This encourages exploration, and gives a more realistic pattern to your construction and movements.)

Rule 18 (EXPLORER EDITION): Cannot strip-mine. Can only gather Stone and Ores, etc. that are exposed (on the Surface or in Caves); vein-length (which includes tripled-up veins, etc.). You can dig any amount of topsoils (Dirt, Sand, Clay, etc.). By default, I'm defining 'Stone' as being a 3-block vein generation, so you can mine 3 blocks into the walls of Caves and the Surface rock, etc. (and this is typically how many blocks of Dirt/Sand you'll find on the surface, before you hit Stone).

Rule 18 (nullified; MINER EDITION): Can strip-mine/mine out large underground areas.

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(r1.0-1.2.5:)

Rule 19: Enchanting costs 10 Lapis (per Enchant); throw them into Lava, etc.

Rule 20: Pumpkin-farming unlocked after you're holding 64 Pumpkins.

Rule 21: Melon-farming unlocked after you're holding 64 Seeds.

Rule 22: End Portal unlocked after you're holding 64 Ender Pearls.

Rule 23: Brewing Stand costs 256 blocks/items (3 stacks of Cobblestone and 1 stack of Blaze Rods).

Note: A full day IRL (about 24 hours of playtime).

First, I travelled to nearby land (not on the monorail route) for some supplies (mostly Sand and Saplings). Found a Village, among other things.

Then I turned the Sand into Sandstone (pink granite texture in my Texture Pack), and started building the Portal platform/thing.

I finally made it to z=1 in the main tunnel -- the true start of the monorail strip-mine.

And I made the Tree farm bigger, trying to get as many Planks as possible before removing this (it's a good idea, anyway, to always have Trees growing within 128 blocks of you, no matter what you're doing or for how long).

I mined out the entire area under the ceiling. I did this in two tiers, as you can see where the temp floor was. Now have 8 Double Chests full of stuff (about 25,000 blocks and some other items, etc.). I have a plan for the back wall of this place, and will add a storage area behind it, or something. (Still not certain on Nether base idea yet; maybe just a central storage room.)

Started to build out the monorail itself. Cobblestone layer (3x1), with Stone Stairs on edges, and black block (Netherrack) as the rail, above the Stone Stairs in the centre. Just need to put track down, and slowly get it to real land ~3,000 blocks away.

Note: A full day IRL (about 24 hours of playtime).

First, I travelled to nearby land (not on the monorail route) for some supplies (mostly Sand and Saplings). Found a Village, among other things.

Then I turned the Sand into Sandstone (pink granite texture in my Texture Pack), and started building the Portal platform/thing.

I finally made it to z=1 in the main tunnel -- the true start of the monorail strip-mine.

And I made the Tree farm bigger, trying to get as many Planks as possible before removing this (it's a good idea, anyway, to always have Trees growing within 128 blocks of you, no matter what you're doing or for how long).

I mined out the entire area under the ceiling. I did this in two tiers, as you can see where the temp floor was. Now have 8 Double Chests full of stuff (about 25,000 blocks and some other items, etc.). I have a plan for the back wall of this place, and will add a storage area behind it, or something. (Still not certain on Nether base idea yet; maybe just a central storage room.)

Started to build out the monorail itself. Cobblestone layer (3x1), with Stone Stairs on edges, and black block (Netherrack) as the rail, above the Stone Stairs in the centre. Just need to put track down, and slowly get it to real land ~3,000 blocks away.

I'm humorously calling this the NEB house: narrow, expandable, bungalow.

NEB is inspired by my Red House, itself inspired by all kinds of things -- including my own gameplay needs (very limited r1.2.5; closer to b1.7.3), and Frank Lloyd Wright's homes.

Frank Lloyd Wright pioneered a few things:

(1) Organic -- underground, inset, earthwork -- architecture (or relatively low, narrow, and long)
(2) Open floor plan
(3) Modern room flow
(4) Side main doors and inset, separated double front doors (often elevated)
(5) Floor-to-ceiling windows (often equal width and spacing)
(6) Coherent interior and exterior design
(7) Ribbon windows
(8) Horizontal lines
(9) Minimalist approach to Art Deco
(10) Holistic approach to function, material, location, and form
(11) Mixed-usage middle class family home
(12) Japanese, Mayan, and Egyptian elements, blended into a wholly American style
(13) Symmetry (in various ways)
(14) Overhanging eaves (though he didn't invent this, of course)
(15) Centralised kitchen
(16) Various levels/internal elevations

Frederick C. Robie House is an archetypal Wright house. Designed in 1908, built in 1909-1910. Many of his earlier houses are similar to the Robie House. It tells you almost everything you need to know about Wright, at least pre-1925 (he radically changes his style later in life; once in the 1920s and again in the 1950s, with the bridge being his most famous house, Fallingwater, from 1939).

Random graphic I found online; Wright's Robie House.

Drawing floor plans I found of Robie House. Beautiful room flow.

NEB house walls/interior. It's about 72 blocks long. Nether + sand garden + library area; Nether/other storage + Smelting area; front and back halls; Bedroom; SPARE room (Enchanting Room, Stairs to roof, etc.); main storage + Smelting area; 3x3 area down to strip-mine; 3x3 area down to Tree farm/otherwise; kitchen + food/other storage; wood storage area OR car if modern; front entrance (with inset twin doors on both sides); back porch area (directly open to outdoors -- if you need to avoid Mobs, add doors, etc.). 4 blocks tall; 6 in total with ceiling + roof.

Underground/blank version, with vertical, thinner windows (can change style if you want); hidden lighting everywhere; no other windows. If underground, can add Water behind windows, giving effect of being underwater; or directly into a Cave. As you can see, 6 blocks tall.

Surface-based, skylight/garden-roof version (any Biome, but more Desert/Plains-centric). It's a very large, blocky Desert Village type structure, but with only Sandstone. Add details to the exterior as you see fit. This can be modified to various styles; more so, if you go a bit bigger. I suggest not going longer than 128 blocks. And a slightly wider one can allow for a dining table/area where the wine storage is located. I'd struggle to make it any smaller than this, without losing something. Now, 6.5 blocks tall around the edge (Sandstone Slab).

Back hall + central skylight. Costly Clay ceiling; use whatever you want. And fairly annoying to get all that Wool on b1.7.3, too. Do it over time, or use a different interior wall block! Change skylight design as you see fit, or remove them; instead, you may want to cover the entire roof with farms, etc.

Nether sand garden area, with skylight. Stone blocks as standing rocks. Very costly library, so use fewer Bookshelves if you want, or add to it over time; or do something else around the edge (e.g. water feature wall).

Kitchen. Off the screen, there are Wood Planks with 'drawers' on the front using the yellow and white border 1x1 Paintings. And compare the counter tops of Wood Plank island with image below. With and without Stone Pressure Plates.

Wine? Or other shelves/storage/details -- can see kitchen + main storage; library at far end. As you can see, Kitchen as different floor material and is on a lower level. Adding levels to certain areas/rooms adds more depth and realism. Dining table here if you make the house a little wider.

Central hall of storage + Smelting. You can see Sandstone behind Furnaces; this wall area is only 2 blocks thick, so you must do something up there, such as adding even more Furnaces (that's what I did).

Front hall (looking to wood storage entrance); floor to ceiling windows, inset; double thickness everywhere (in case you want wallpaper/otherwise material + limestone (Sandstone) or otherwise external wall material). It's quite empty, so feel free to detail it as you see fit with Paintings, chairs, and flowers/bushes/saplings/plants (depending on version/block choice).

Bedroom + music area + desk + rare storage/temp storage + Paintings.

Wood storage area (identical to front entrance, other than the fact you can only enter one way here); Lever as 'axe in Wood'. See Glowstone in corner, cover it with a Trap Door. For more modern direction, add a car here. Gravel used for all the outdoor areas.