No Wood Boxes: A Building Guide

I build underground caves
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Except it appears that you didn't build this one, someone else did:
http://forums.terraria.org/index.php?threads/what-does-your-house-look-like.1283/#post-14368
 
What about now? You like what you are seeing?

View attachment 151795
Very thematic, but do note that there IS a maximum room size to be a valid room. to get around that in things like your Temple house that the party girl is in, I'd add in some platforms in the gaps between floors so the Party girl's room is only the lowest level. As for the others, they feel a bit barebut that's just me, I like decorations and layers of housing.
 
My best build to date:
It's a spooky wood mansion, with some cult worshipping in the storage room.
Sorry for dark image, took it at night to add to the atmosphere.
Note the glowing weapons and paintings, too.

What do you think?

How did you do the glowing decor, it looks awesome and I would love to use it some day.
 
So, this is my first attempt at a nice looking house. Up on stilts, ~20 blocks up above a modest pond. Most of the "structure" / walls are out of mudstone, while the floors are oak wood. Started with the floors in mudstone, but black on black was way too little contrast :3 Rooms are arranged in a V-shape, for a surprisingly "practical" reason: They'll actually leave their rooms and chat with other NPCs :D Does leave them with almost identical boring rooms, but at least it's somewhat not-a-box. lol. (As an aside for anyone who wants to build this: Note the angled block below the ceiling near the windows. Without those there, the NPCs will get stuck in the corner until you remove the ceiling.

So, does the color scheme work? I sorta like it, but it might work badly with some kinds of furniture. As it stands, it sorta has a dimly-lit-castle feel to it. Which works with lighter woods and the like... Also not sure what to do about those stilts. The building was about half this size when I put them there, and they're looking a bit awkward now. The entire center section I only just put in. Farming's a bit out of place for that spot, but I'm not sure what to do with anything there yet.

The top of the building is going to be... something. Maybe just a roof. lol.
 
So, this is my first attempt at a nice looking house. Up on stilts, ~20 blocks up above a modest pond. Most of the "structure" / walls are out of mudstone, while the floors are oak wood. Started with the floors in mudstone, but black on black was way too little contrast :3 Rooms are arranged in a V-shape, for a surprisingly "practical" reason: They'll actually leave their rooms and chat with other NPCs :D Does leave them with almost identical boring rooms, but at least it's somewhat not-a-box. lol. (As an aside for anyone who wants to build this: Note the angled block below the ceiling near the windows. Without those there, the NPCs will get stuck in the corner until you remove the ceiling.

So, does the color scheme work? I sorta like it, but it might work badly with some kinds of furniture. As it stands, it sorta has a dimly-lit-castle feel to it. Which works with lighter woods and the like... Also not sure what to do about those stilts. The building was about half this size when I put them there, and they're looking a bit awkward now. The entire center section I only just put in. Farming's a bit out of place for that spot, but I'm not sure what to do with anything there yet.

The top of the building is going to be... something. Maybe just a roof. lol.
I like the design quite a lot, but what I would say is this: in relation to the stilts, you can always thicken them up by expanding them to 2 or three wide, possibly actuate some Mudstone blocks in diagonals to create a support structure through them so they don't look as flimsy. The rooms are nice, albiet a bit simple, but it gives all NPCs a chance to talk to each other, and that's what you were going for.
 
I hope I'm not hijacking the thread by posting this.
Just wanted to share my home and get some pointers to make the place a bit nicer.
XpbifuQ.jpg
^ How do I hide an image?
XpbifuQ.jpg

This is the third iteration of my main storage facility, where I hoard everything I come over in the game. I am a manic hoarder and this game is not good for my mental health :p
My main reason for the layout is convenience. All chests are accessible with no jumping, all the npc's can be reached from the same floor and the workstations are concentrated in one place with as little need for adjustment as possible while crafting.
I have an organized quickstorage on the main floor, spaced out a bit, where I run past while abusing the quick stack button sexually. When a stack is full I move it to one of the several categorized storage rooms, made expandable to the end of the world if I want to. When I'm in need of more categories I just add more downwards in the same fashion as the ones above.
The floor above the npc housing is going to be used as localized, tried-and-working experiments with gadgets and whatnot, as I find cool tricks and exploits. I couldn't fit the water-lava-honey tank in there, but it's a good example of what type of stuff I'll add there.

Aestetically I like using wall colors and chests to categorize the storage while trying to explain what is stored based on style.
I'm going to have each armor set on display in the clothing storage and display the nicest weapons and equipment while also show what you can find in the near chests. Due to the expandable nature and convenient layout I chose to forgo a lot of stylized opportunities, but I aim to decorate where I can, like the hellevator I've shaped like castle winding stairs. I used 3 different wood and stone walls all the way to the bottom to make a 3d illusion.
I've recently stared to decorate the npc housing based on who I want to live there. I'm at a halt right now as I'm not sure who I want more accessible than others, and I'm unsure how they would like their room designed :p I aim to make the rooms classic and obvious.

While I love how convenient the planters are for my greenhouse, expanded as I get more seeds, I have yet to find a way to harvest the flowers automatically, as actuators don't make them fall off the planters like regular blocks...


Any pointers of how I can incorporate style without sacrificing convenience, and any clishé designs for the npc housing is welcomed warmly.

one ancient druid said, dirt boxes is beautiful boxes!
 
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A house I made for myself. Please give any constructive criticism you've got, I can only improve. Also, thanks for this guide helping me out a bit.
 
I like the use of varied materials both in and out of the house, but my one critique I will give is the spike ball on the right of the house can be raised 1 higher so it doesn't interfere with the roof's shape adjacent to it.
 
I'm looking to make my crafting station + storage underground. How is it going in your opinion?

PS: My style is medieval on a(n) snowy ground, ill break the dirts and put snow blocks there.

ZMRG5a.jpg
 
Oh, I like this thread. Well here, have a look at my latest attempt


Firstly the igloo that I built as I wanted to try to build an igloo:
Capture 2016-11-24 18_12_24.png


Not sure about the sloping on the sides, if I could make half blocks like on top but cut vertically not horizontally then I would use that but I can’t so I haven't. The platforms are marble painted (I’m fairly sure) sky blue due to ice platforms not existing; windows are stained glass (any) painted white.




The main building at day and night:
Capture 2017-01-18 21_29_31.png

Capture 2017-01-18 21_21_10.png


The igloo is just out of sight to the left.

My biggest problem with this is the roof; I started with just the lower section then decided I wanted more space so dug out the two uppermost floors. I started with all blue shale except the walls of the rooms but didn't like that so turned it into this which I still don't particularly like; I may try all boreal wood except the surface layer next.

The dresser and mirror (just below, right of the bedroom) I believe I stole from somewhere in this thread; In the dining room (far left) I started with a bigger window but shrunk it so I could fit the paintings as the room looked to empty; The bookcase in the living room could do with being moved one or two over; for the far right of the upstairs balcony I kind of want a boreal bench as I don't like a boreal sofa or default wood bench there; The column for the spiral staircase is shadowed wall painted brown and the switch in the bedroom toggles all of the lights and shuts the door (the wire triggers a tile to the right of the doorframe that the door only occupies when open).



Finally the underground segment:
Capture 2017-01-18 21_33_28.png


Starting top left is my storage room, nothing of note. Right and above is the tavernkeeper wondering what's wrong with his wood box? Just below that is emergency NPC housing as I was bored of running to my housing tower and back (5% humane or your money back). Bottom left is the sauna and attached hot tub built off of a single reference image from google, I'm not to impressed by them. Next to that 100% humane* NPC housing. Far right my herb farm; white painted stained glass and ultrabright torches, after building that I want a transparent ice block that I can use for windows in builds like this instead of glass.


* Scientifically proven to be 100% humane **

** Research financed by alternate housing methods LTD
 
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