Minecraft Survival is all about the thrill of the hunt. You are dropped into a world with nothing, and you have to build your way up to prowess so you can face—and conquer—the challenges of the game’s many biomes and mobs.
If you’re playing Minecraft survival mode, you’re playing to create and survive. That means building a house is a crucial part of your success—after all, if you don’t have a safe place to spend your nights (and somewhere to store your stuff), you’ll probably get slayed by mobs pretty quickly.
Luckily, there are plenty of options for staying alive in the wilds of the Minecraft world.
We’ve put together a list of some of our favorite Minecraft house ideas for survival mode, from simple to utterly-intricate builds, just to get you started.
Minecraft Survival House Ideas & Designs for Creative Survivalists
1. Secret Underwater Base
If you’re looking for something adventurous and unique, we highly recommend building an underwater base. This Minecraft house idea is perfect for those who are tired of the usual wooden house and want to venture out of their comfort zone.
While most Minecraft players go for a simple and solid house on the land, you can build an underwater base with an elegant design that comes complete with a glass roof so you can see the aquatic mobs swimming around.
However, before you start, we strongly suggest using a potion of “Water Breathing” or placing a Conduit nearby to avoid drowning while working on your project. You can easily expand this idea with an infinite number of variations.
2. Survival Watchtower
You’ll need a proper view of your surroundings to thrive in Minecraft’s Survival mode, especially if you’re planning on exploring a cave or going out at night. The Survival Watchtower Minecraft house design is an ideal option for any beginner.
It utilizes the height advantage to let you see off nearby hostile mobs before they even get close. The tower is made with some pretty basic materials, so you can easily build it right from the beginning of your Survival world.
The design is all about giving you a 360° view of your surroundings while also keeping you safe from nearby hostile mobs.
You can fit this watchtower anywhere in your game, and we recommend placing it close to some crops so that players can prepare their food while they keep an eye out.
3. Skull Mountain Base
We’re sure that you’ve seen various odd houses in Minecraft, but we doubt that you’ve seen anything like this before.
The Skull Mountain Base brings together two things: creativity and functionality. You have to admit that it is one of the most creative survival houses in Minecraft.
It is shaped like a skull and combines various blocks and items to create an exciting layout on its interior, while still offering the liberty to switch around the intended design to make it your own.
Besides, the menacing skull with its eyes lit with Lanterns will look sinister as hell during the night.
While most players tend to opt for traditional builds as their base of operations, there’s no need to follow such standards when it comes to your Minecraft homes.
That being said, we think it’s one of the most creative Minecraft survival house ideas if you’re looking for something unconventional.
4. Nether House
The Nether is a place of dread and danger, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make it your own. A Nether house is unlike any other type of Minecraft survival house, and it’s got the potential to be truly menacing, fitting right in with the environment.
You may need to spend some time gathering all the materials, but doing so will make it a fun challenge. The house has a unique look because of the Nether Wart replacing flowers or bushes. If you’re looking for something different for your next survival house, this one is worth a try.
The only drawback is that while building your home in the Nether you’ll need to keep an eye out for zombie pigmen, ghasts, and wither skeletons. All of these enemies pose serious threats to your health, especially if you’re trying to build without armor or weapons.
5. Japanese-Inspired Base
You’ve been a Minecraft player for long enough to know that the community has always had a soft spot for Asian-inspired buildings. That’s why you’ve decided to build a Minecraft Japanese house—and it’s going to be amazing.
You need some Deeplslate for this project, but you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding it underground. After you’ve returned with your materials and set up the basic structure, you can then begin to fine-tune how the place will appear.
The build has plenty of decorative elements that should keep you busy for a while.
You’ll get all your Survival essentials in this base, including a furnace, crafting table, and chests for storage. We love the intricacies and the level of detail involved in this project.
6. Twin Survival House
If you are looking for a house to suit your twin survival needs, then this is the one. This house is well efficient, spacious, and contains all the necessary equipment within the house. The house even holds a farm or two for your convenience.
You might think that building this house will be hard and tedious, but it really isn’t. The main courtyard is dedicated to crop farms, and you can also keep your animal pen with sheep here. You can also add any crop of your liking here, to make it yours.
There is enough space for you to keep barrels, chests, bookshelves, crafting tables, beds, ladders, and more chests to line up in your attic space area. The base can easily accommodate two players at once with its 21×21 area.
7. Spruce Mansion
If you’re looking for a house that will challenge you and give you a chance to really customize, this is the one. With a full library, an all-around balcony, and even 68 Campfire blocks, you know you’ll be in your element if you choose to build this mansion.
But it’s not all work and no play! There are plenty of fun features, too. The design includes a beehive surrounded by bee-attracting flowers, for your own personal honey supply. And that’s not all—the design also includes a waterfall and pond to catch fish for dinner.
It takes a lot of time to complete, but it’s worth it. Once completed, you can build up your own ideas based on this mansion. There are tons of space to add additional design and give your own spin to the blueprint and make the base truly yours.
8. Beachside House
Whether you’re looking to get away from all the bustle and relax in total peace, or you just want to have a little fun with friends, building a beach house is the way to go. It’s totally possible to build this kind of house in Minecraft, and you’ll be so proud to see what you’ve accomplished.
To get started, you’ll need to gather some materials. You’ll want to find a jungle wood slab, oak wood slabs, jungle planks, jungle leaves, crafting tables, glass panes, item frames, paintings (for decoration), lanterns, barrels (for decoration), smokers (for decoration), strings, and campfires.
With these materials at hand, your dream beachside home is within your grasp. For an added touch of authenticity and coolness, try putting glowstone blocks under all of your slabs so they light up at night and provide a mesmerizing view.
9. The Georgian House
The Georgian House is a house straight out of the movies. This towering mansion is best suited for the elitists of the game, with an entrance that is significantly embellished, windows with decorative headers, and flowers. The stairway leading up to the front door is what really steals the show.
This house idea is fairly involved and isn’t part of easy Minecraft house ideas, so you should dive in being fully aware of this slight hiccup. If you consider yourself skilled and fit to handle a wide variety of building projects, this Georgian build is not the one to miss.
The interior has one large room with a bed, workbench, crafting table, and even an indoor tree farm. Moreover, even the entrance is protected by stone brick pillars that are made to look naturally carved for a more aesthetic look.
10. Mushroom Base
Feeling bold and looking to enliven your Minecraft world with adorable houses? Then you’ll definitely want to check out the Aesthetic Mushroom House—it’s one of the cutest Minecraft house ideas out there.
The materials needed include Red Mushrooms, Mushroom Stems, Green Concrete, Stone Brick Walls, and Spruce Wood Trapdoors. You’ll also need a crafting table and an enchanting table for all of your essential work.
Once your materials are gathered, it’s time to get started building! The house follows a 4 by 4 format with four additional blocks placed diagonally to each corner. It can be created in any biome—just make sure you’re clearing out the grass first before getting started with it.
11. Winter Log Cabin
If you were looking for a compact and simple house to live in, the Winter Log Cabin is your best bet. This starter Minecraft house idea is perfect for beginners as it’s made out of basic building materials like Wood Logs and Stone Bricks.
The exterior boasts flowerpots, lanterns, and glass panes that provide a stunning view of the surrounding environment, making it a great place to keep an eye on the mobs. It has an immersive visual appeal to it as well.
The interior is spacious, with plenty of room to store your items and keep them safe from harm. What’s more, the roof has been built using logs which makes it look like an old-fashioned cottage (perfect if you want something different).
12. Nordic Mansion
Minecraft has been providing players with countless hours of fun for almost a decade now. The building mechanic allows players to bring their creativity to life and come up with unique yet amazing houses like this one.
This Minecraft house idea is one of the most versatile ones. You can combine stairs and blocks in different ways to make them even more impactful. With enough time and effort, you can turn yourself into the envy of your friends with one of the greatest survival houses in Minecraft.
The Nordic Mansion is a survival house that will definitely give the creeps to your enemies. With a design hailing back to the fearsome Vikings, this mansion will stand the test of time and give your foes nightmares.
13. Farmhouse Base
This is a crazy base build for all you Minecraft survival players who want something new and interesting to build. This base has the allotment for farming placed right next to the home, and it has an interesting round shape instead of a square.
The wooden bench on the front porch is also a lovely touch. Instead of having the farm allotment and house separated, they have cleverly tied the two areas together in a staggered structure creating one complete build.
The farmhouse base idea really does show how cleverly crafted your home can be without the use of mods or fancy equipment. It’s just down to some good old-fashioned craftsmanship and design that brings this home together.
Final Words
Minecraft survival house ideas also require creativity on your part. This means that you have to imagine what the finished product will look like and stick to the image in your mind while you build it (which, honestly, is a lot harder than it sounds).
The good news is that there are plenty of different ideas out there for Minecraft survival houses, so even if you’re not super creative, you should be able to find something that suits your tastes.
