Tutorials/Shelters

There are several things every minecraft shelter should have.

This is the single most important room and should be the first one built. A kitchen should include a crafting table, at least one furnace, and at least one chest containing key crafting materials.
 * A Kitchen

A room full of chests for storing all of the dirt, cobblestone and other materials that accumulates in your inventory while mining.
 * A Storeroom

It's generally a good idea to put the entrance to you mine inside your shelter. If you return at night, you won't have to make a mad dash to your house.
 * The Entrance to Your Mine

A room with a lava pit, for disposing of unwanted materials. Or, if you would rather not risk fire or death, put a 3x3 pit (4 deep) with water sources in each corner, a sand block in the middle of the floor and a cactus on that. Another alternative is to dig 3 blocks down, and create a 7 block long trench with a pit at the end. Put a ladder on the end of the last block before the pit and put lava in the pit. Then add a water spring on the first block of the trench, and cover the trench up except for the first block.
 * An Incinerator

Since spiders can climb walls some form of a ceiling overhang is a good idea to have.
 * An Overhang

Other Ideas
There are any number of things to add to your shelter and here are just a few of them (ideas needed, don't feel shy to add stuff!)

1. Add underground floors to your shelter.

Using this gives you a chance to find resources and in the case of invasion by mobs it will always provide a safer spot.

2. Add aboveground floors to your shelter.

It is advised to normally do this after building underground floors if you have a lack of resources. This could even give you a chance to "snipe" some creepers and spiders in the morning.

3. Build a mob pit.

Basically a 3 wide and 2 down pit around your houses preventing mobs getting too close for comfort, and can later be expanded into a mob killer (requires lots of ladders).

4. Build a perimeter.

Adding torches around your base can reduce the amount of monsters that spawn nearby, so add some light to your lawn! To stop monsters from getting to your base completely, consider surrounding your base with a large wall or moat (if using lava, take care to destroy all nearby wood and remove nearby water).

5. Make a farm extension.

Look at the farming tutorial for more on this.

6. Remake it out of a different material.

So much potential here!

7. Make a base in a new location.

Having more than one base helps if you need to travel farther to get resources. A base next to your spawn point is helpful if you built your main base somewhere else.

8. Add an escape tunnel.

You never know, that creeper might one day get you. Bonus points if the tunnel leads to your secondary base.

9. Make a panic room.

Put tnt throughout your base and have redstone leading to your panic room.

10. Make an underground farm and tree grower.

If you have a shelter underground, it might be a good idea to have these as returning to the surface may be tough and dangerous. Make sure your farming room is well lit and (for tree farming) has at least 5 free blocks upwards.

11. Make an indoor animal farm

Works well if you built a large structure (such as a castle) on grass, simply light up the ground level and passive mobs will spawn inside your home every day, so you can hunt without any risks

12. Lava lamp

Simply make a hollow space out of glass and fill it with lava, an efficient method is to run a vertical collumn through many floors powered by a single lava block at the top. Try not to carry a sword when around glass blocks, in case you accidentally click the left mouse button.

13. Obsidian Farm

Natural obsidian is dangerous to mine, let alone finding it. Make at least a 1x7 enclosed pit. The easiest way to get lava is in The Nether, but be careful! Pour the lava in the farthest block-space and immediately place a block to stop the flow. Delete and pour the next bucket. Repeat until it is completely filled, then make a safe way to pour the water in and you'll be obsidian rich!

14. ANOTHER Storeroom

After a few days worth of play time, you will start to run out of space. Continue making more places to store your dirt and stone, or better yet, dig 2 blocks under the original chest and place the new chest there (you need space for it to be able to open).

15. Organize

Always organize your items. It will make getting what you need very easy. My suggestion is to organize it like so: Also, put signs above your chests for easy sorting.
 * Dirt/Organic
 * Stone/Stairs
 * Wood/Sticks
 * Mob Items/Drops
 * Tools/Weapons (including armor)
 * Netherstuff
 * Dyes/Wool
 * Ingots/Furnace Stuff
 * Mining Equipment (can include pickaxes, shovels, buckets, torches, ladders, etc.)
 * Food
 * Sand/Gravel
 * Farming (can include plows, seeds, wheat, sugar cane, bread, etc.)
 * Man-made/Mechanisms
 * Decoration

16. Minecart Hub

If you have active mines scattered over the place and use Minecarts to haul your stuff back to your base, dig out a universal stopping point under your base.

17. Traps

If you're not satisfied with moats or a perimeter fence, consider adding a trap or two.