Yes! This is Furniture in Vanilla Minecraft!

That's right, you read that title correctly! All of the Minecraft furniture you're seeing in the picture above was created entirely within the bounds of the latest release of the vanilla game, no mods except for Optifine were used. From the beautifully soft pillows and sheets of the bed to the elegant potted plants dotted around to bring a little life to the apartment, Custom Minecraft furniture and decorations are the perfect way to fill a space in between the blocky walls of your favorite Minecraft house.

Minecraft buildings can be hard enough to get right on the outside, let alone the interiors! Minecraft doesn't give the player many choices to take an empty room and create something that looks like a space you'd like to spend a lot of time in, so using resource packs, I've challenged myself to go all out and decorate my flat in Greenfield as best as a young white man that lives alone could manage, and I've done it all within the same copy of unmodded Minecraft you have sitting in your taskbar.

So if you need more ideas in interior decoration, find the fun in decorating your spaces and walls with tables, chairs, and even a working fridge, or maybe those default bookshelf blocks and armor stands in the corner just aren't doing it for you anymore, grab your a cardboard box, your favorite tables and chairs, and fill your head with ideas because we're moving in!

How to get started with custom Minecraft furniture

So how did I do it? Is it magic? Well, it's sort of like magic. Not Winterhold's mage college magic, but more like the smoke and mirrors sort of magic! What I've done is use a series of resource packs to create the illusion of making Minecraft furniture unique to the game, and I'm going to pull back the curtain just for you!

Never again will you need to look at an unsightly double chest sitting in the middle of your modern or contemporary home, nor will you settle for a simple chair crafted from wooden slabs and a trap door. Let's take a look at another space in my apartment to ‌get a feel for the whole operation. I present to you:

Living Room

My living room!

Now, a few things probably jump out at you immediately. The flatscreen TV on the wall, the (frankly overkill) PC Setup by the window, Toaster Oven, my adorable little friend sitting in his cat tree, or maybe even the subtle but tasteful loveseat that brings the room together. I’m sure if I hadn’t spoiled the surprise already, you'd call this a mod and nobody would blame you, but yes, everything you see in this picture was achieved using just a few resource packs.

The easiest way to explain this trick might just be to disable the resource packs and show you what my living room looks like then. Behold!

It's just not quite as impressive anymore, is it?

But viewing the room from this angle reveals all of the opulent Minecraft furniture was nothing more than some items I've renamed in an anvil and slapped into an item frame. Yes, it really is that easy. To achieve this trick, you are going to need a few things;

MiniaTuria CIT - To add custom 3D models to your game.

MiniaTuria CIT Frame - To render all item frames invisible.

Goulcraft Resource Pack - Add even more custom 3D models to your game.

Optifine - To ensure everything works smoothly

And that's all! You can always search for different resource packs that serve the same function, but these are what I've used here today, In this particular pack, many of the furniture items have survival friendly methods of crafting, for example, all of the wooden blocks are made with wooden materials, like wooden slabs, and planks, while things like the TV and Computer are made of things like iron blocks and emeralds. Search around for the perfect pack for your needs, there may be some that works best with whatever theme you're going for, whether that be stone block textures, wood blocks, iron blocks, wooden blocks, grass blocks, or anything in between.

Going to either of their websites will direct you to a catalog created by the artists. These catalogs will show you exactly what item you need to rename and what you need to name it to get the designed effect. Pay close attention to how the item frame is placed in the world. Some frames need to be placed on the floor, like in the case of the cat tree. Some need to be placed on the front of building blocks, like the tables, and others may need to be placed in front of slabs, such as the couch. A wooden or stone slab will do the trick.

Wood blocks? stone blocks? How are they crafted?

All of these things can be yours with just a few easy steps, refer to the catalogue given by the resource pack authors and follow their recipes by renaming the correct block or item in an Anvil, and then placing the renamed item in an item frame. Another thing to note, because the Minecraft furniture is essentially just an item frame, It's not going to have any collision unless it is placed on another block, meaning you'll be able to walk right through it like it's not even there. Some may actually prefer this, but if you're like me, here's a little trick I learned to add collision to your furniture.

We’re still in that same living room, but you’ll now see where I’ve placed Barrier Blocks to simulate collision. In regular play, these blocks will be invisible to any player, to get them in Creative, simply run;

/give <player> barrier_block

Now that you know exactly how it’s done, let me show you my favorite room in the house.

My beautiful kitchen! Just look at those counters, that island, the cabinets and spice rack, even a bird cage made from iron bars for my pigeon friend. It all just feels so natural and much more complete than the ol' two spaces of quartz blocks and an iron door for a fridge. It's so cool to have built in my Minecraft world, this trick allows you to bring your interiors to a whole new level, and decorate differently than you ever have in the game.

Most of the Minecraft furniture in this pack can even be functional, depending on what block they're concealing. For example, the kitchen cabinets and the refrigerator are all functional barrels, even though you'd never be able to tell. Even the stove is concealing a smoker so you can cook all your raw food in style! Some things to note;

If you plan on playing around with this with your friends, you absolutely can! Just make sure everyone has all the same resource packs installed, and you're good to go. Be cautious with bigger projects, however. Since Item Frames are technically entities like mobs are, too many of them in one space can start causing some lag on weaker systems. Anyone who's ever built a map room knows that! 

And with that, I conclude my house tour. I may try to move to a nicer area in the future, but for now, I'm not doing too bad. Now, go off and build yourself your perfect dream home. I've given you your brush, now paint!