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While Minecraft is, at its core, a sandbox game, it’s impossible to deny the appeal of its survival mode.
While creative mode—as the name implies—offers limitless creative freedom, there’s a certain appeal to gathering your own building materials instead of having access to unlimited quantities of your choice.
Still, though, everyone starts off small. It’s part of the process.
Getting to the point where you’re able to build massive structures takes a lot of time, and the early game in particular can be a brutal slog.
Even if it’s temporary, it helps to have a place to call home. Early on, though, resource acquisition can be difficult, so it helps to keep things simple. We’ve listed some of the best simple houses down below.
Do you have an awesome Minecraft starter house design? Have you put together a tutorial on how to build it, or a YouTube video that shows it off? Send us a link to it in the comment section below and we’ll consider featuring it in this post! Also, please consider subscribing to these YouTuber’s channels as they have put in some real effort in bringing you these tutorials.
1. Easy Cottagecore House
This first entry by Dio Rods is one of my favorites, despite being a tad more complex than your typical starter house. The inclusion of a greenhouse is a nice touch for an early game food source, and the video touches on some nice suggestions for future upgrades.
2. Starter House Tutorial
This design by SheraNom is similar to the previous, but uses cobblestone textures rather than smooth stone. The use of deepslate for a darker palette gives it a more earthen appearance, and the mix and match of different stone blocks makes this build surprisingly customizable. The included upgrade paths are a nice touch as well.
3. Small Modern House Design
The inclusion of quartz in this build by Rizzial means that it’s not quite a “Starter House”, but its small size means that you won’t need much of it. The modern look definitely isn’t for everyone, but this one’s small size makes it an appealing option all the same—as long as you’re willing to plunge into the Nether a bit earlier than normal.
4. Starter Surival House Idea
This design by heyimrobby is bigger than most other entries, but its focus on the bare necessities makes it surprisingly accessible as an early game dwelling. There’s not really much else to say here. If you’re just looking for something simple to get through the early game, this is the way to go.
5. Simple Survivor House Design
This entry, designed by Zaypixel, focuses on being as compact as possible. Despite its relatively small size, it features a small food garden, as well as a small stable area. It also blends styles from other designs, making use of different woods as well as stone.
6. Simple Starter Minecraft House
Another one of my personal favorites. This design by Sv Gravity elevates the player’s living area, leaving room for farm area underneath. Not only is it small, it uses easily attainable materials, and the build itself being recorded in survival mode makes it much easier to follow.
7. Easy Survival Farm House
This build, designed by SheepGG, is the most stylized build on this list so far. Despite the relatively complex design, it maintains the small size that you want out of a starter house. It still requires a tad more investment than other comparable builds, but the end result is well worth it.
8. Two-Player Survival House
Another entry by SheraNom, this take on their previous starter house is specifically geared towards a two-player survival world. It’s similar in the sense that it makes use of deepslate for a darker palette, but the actual layout is fairly different. If you had a sibling like me, you probably have fond memories of squabbling over the Minecraft houses you built together.
9. Starter Treehouse Idea
When I was little, I had an obsession with hollowing out trees and building houses inside them. It drove my brother crazy—mostly because it never turned out very good. This (far superior) take on a treehouse by Mia Bloom is a tad large, but is relatively easy to scale down. Plus, it won’t annoy your sibling.
10. Japanese-Style Survival House
Another stylistic design, this build by SheepGG takes a decidedly Japanese approach to its aesthetic. The contrast between the textures of deepslate and spruce wood gives a decidedly cozy feel, and leads to a lovely blend between both rugged and more homey styles.
11. Small Survival House Tutorial
This design by A1MOSTADDICTED MINECRAFT uses stripped spruce logs as its primary block of choice. The smoother wooden texture gives the whole build a more natural feel, and the cylindrical structure makes it look like it was hollowed out of an already existing tree. It looks complex, but it’s rather simple, and keeps the resource cost low.
12. Another Smaller Survival House
Another build by Rizzial, this is one of the smallest (and simplest) ones on the list. While other builds try to fit the more “primitive” style of Minecraft as a game, this one looks like it came straight out of the suburbs.
13. Compact Starter House
By far the most compact build on this list, csx42 built this in an entirely new world within a matter of minutes just to prove his point. The build itself also serves as an excellent foundation for expansion, as shown in the video.
14. Easy Round Starter House Idea
This two-story build by A Novice Builder in Minecraft remains compact while still affording the player more than enough room to go about their in-game day-to-day life. While the video features a mostly wooden build, following the tutorial with your block of choice is a simple matter.
15. Simple House Idea for Survival
Yet another entry by SheepGG, this build follows the “level” design of previous entries, elevating the main room to make room for farm area. There’s also a stable for farm animals. This build is on the larger side, but its simplicity leaves it as a reasonable starting point.
16. Easy-to-Build Minecraft House
This design by One Team takes notes from many previously featured builds. It blends together pretty much every texture available in the early game—cobblestone, smooth stone, stipped wood, trap doors, and so on. The exterior seems complicated, but the build itself is simple and easy to follow.
17. Simple Taiga Starter House
This second build by Dio Rods is one of the few builds out there geared towards a specific biome. The spruce-based home fits right in with the surrounding biome, making use of mossy cobblestone to give it that weathered look you’d expect.
18. Easy Mountain Starter House Design
In addition to hollowing out trees, I loved building things into the sides of mountains. This habit didn’t annoy my brother so much—mostly because he couldn’t see it. This mountainside build by Random Steve Guy is definitely a “hole in the wall” so to speak, making it perfect for players just starting out.
19. Simple Two-Story Starter House
Another 2-story build by KellyMeow, the design for this one draws some influence from previous builds as well. The stripped birch wood logs contrast nicely with the unstripped spruce logs, and the upper room with a glass wall is a nice touch as well.
20. Larger Starter House Idea
Last up is one final entry by Rizzial. This build offers plenty of space up to the mid (and even end game), while keeping the material costs low. It’s a tad larger than other builds for sure, but it won’t have you feeling claustrophobic once you start getting into the groove of things, either.
