Tutorials/Furniture

This article describes different pieces of furniture you can construct in Minecraft. Note that the majority of these are just for decoration, with the exception of beds. This tutorial provides a wide variety of furniture designs, covering items from chairs and ovens to closets.

Making your furniture have a purpose instead of being merely decorative will enhance your house and make it more functional. For example, a fridge could hold food in a way so the block holding the food is hidden but still accessible. Or, a fireplace can be used as an item incinerator. Try coming up with ways to incorporate uses into furniture.

There are also some mods to the game that can make some furniture more functional.

Bedroom furniture
The most essential piece to a bedroom is the bed. You can make a 'fake' bed using wool, But this article isn't about that kind of thing. This is about decorative furniture (for the most part). Let's start with some basics: Dressers, desks, and bookshelves.

Dressers
A dresser is a stack of double chests. An idea for a more interesting home is to have themed chests with only certain things (i.e. Only store armor in the dresser). A good idea is to place Item Frames next to the dressers to show the items inside.

Dresser #1- Put two wood planks next to each other on the floor, then double it. Then you put trap doors on all of them.

Dresser #2- Put two wood planks next to each other on the floor, then double it. Then put buttons on all of them.

Dresser #3- Put two wood planks next to each other on the floor, then double it. Then put signs with the letter O on the second line to represent drawers.

Bunkbed
For the bunkbed, you need a wall with 4 width and 4 height. Get fence pieces and place them each on the outer rim of the wall, then place planks in the wall spaces on the bottom only. Place a bed on top of the two blocks. Next, get rid of the blocks under the bed and then place a bed where those blocks were. Note: The top bed will not change your spawn point unless there is a solid block with two empty blocks above it one block below the bed and directly adjacent and you will wake up on top of the bed, so there needs to be more than one block of space above the bed.

Bookshelves
To make a bookshelf, stack as many bookshelf blocks as you desire. It's also a good idea to add a crafting table to your bedroom, and possibly a jukebox. As well as bookshelves, you can use slabs and stairs stacked on top of each other to simulate normal shelves.

Potted Plant
To make a potted plant, you can either use Flower pots or use the following method.

Place a block of dirt. (If you have a pickaxe with Silk Touch, you can use grass instead.)You may also get a long grass, a rose or a yellow flower. Next, dig out the blocks around it on the floor.

Above each hole, place a trapdoor. Then make them all in the open position, with its flat side against the side of the dirt block.

After that, fill in the holes. Then put a dirt or a stone block, tall grass piece, or fern on top of the dirt block and you're done!

Another way to make potted plants is to put signs around a block of dirt as the pot and then put a plant on top of it.

Desks
To make a desk, take your choice of support (Fence or fence gate are best) and place 2 for a freestanding desk, 1 for a desk attached to the wall. Then make a surface (wooden slabs work well). But, with the beta 1.8 update, pressure plates can be placed on fences, creating a much flatter surface. Additionally, if three fence blocks are placed in a row, two could be covered in pressure plates, and one with glowstone or a redstone lamp on top, making a "lamp".

Another neat way of making easy and simple desks is to have a set of pistons lined up in patterns in rectangular shapes or lines. After the pistons are placed, put a single redstone torch under each one of them, causing the pistons to activate, and thus making a quick and simple table. An adaptation of this is to put a piston in the ground facing up and put pressure plates around it. When you walk up to it, the table/desk pops up.

A different way of making desks is to make a huge table out of blocks. There should be four "leg" blocks, acting as the "legs" of your table. On top of the "legs" you can put slabs or blocks, making a simple table. This form of table is one of the easiest to make.

The last type of table is the "Block-by-block" table. It consists of a simple arrangement of multiple blocks. By putting many blocks in a rectangular, square, or straight pattern, you can make a very simple table useful for keeping things on. This form of table is mostly built with white, plain wool, because it causes the table to look like the table is covered with a clean, white tablecloth. [Credit to Minecraftfurniture.net]

Another way to make a good looking desk is to place two upside down stairs on the ends with slabs between them, the stairs act as the legs.

Computers
Place an iron block, a painting on the side, and a "keyboard" in front of it. Some people use a powered minecart rail, mostly because it looks like there's buttons on it in the original texture pack. Best use with a desk. You can use 3x2x1 logs and put the "computer" in the middle. Alternatively there are several mods that can provide you with computers. A good example is ComputerCraft, which can be found under the Forums(Mapping and Modding, Minecraft mods).

Another way to make a computer is by placing a wooden, or stone pressure plate. From the outside (or rear of the 'desk'), place a sign on the edge of the pressure plate (check for the black outline showing the plate as selected). This sign can be decorated with common logos, like real monitors. Now move to the front of the 'desk' (or back of the sign, which is now floating) and place a picture. An optional lever can be placed on the left or right as a mouse. Two of these screens can be setup (the pressure plate is required to hold the sign) for dual monitor configurations.

Alternatively you can use the item frame method to set up a computer. Place an oak wood block next to the wall. Above it on the wall put an item frame. On the wood block put a stone pressure plate and there you have it! You can also expand by putting another block of wood on one side of the first one and placing a flower pot on one and a lever on the other. You now have a laptop with some coffee and a mouse!

To make a disk drive, place a jukebox close to a wall and place a stone or wooden pressure plate on the jukebox. Add a picture on the wall and then place any block beside the jukebox and place a lever on it. Now you have a computer that can play music!

Lamps/Light sources
Using a Redstone Lamp is the easiest way to create a toggleable light source. Alternatively you can use one of the following methods:

To make a lamp, place a fence block and put a torch (or some glowstone) on top.

Or, to make a different kind of lamp, build up 3 blocks from your original ceiling, place glass blocks where the original ceiling was and leave one block open for an escape hatch and start placing lava. This would be best used in creative mode in a netherack/nether brick structure (creative mode because depending on how big your house is it might take a lot of lava to cover the ceiling!)

Mood lighting can be made by placing a glowstone block and shield it on all sides but one. Next, place a slab in the remaining spot. The result is a small patch of slightly whiter light. This will not create a radius of light however, so its solely for the effect.

A modern/futuristic style light can be made by placing down any block and then a stone slab (or any half-step) on top. Then remove the bottom block and put another half step in its place. Put a glowstone block on top of all of it. It should look like the glowstone hovers above the stone slabs.

Another modern way is to have a wall with stairs on all of the bottom row of blocks but the corners, and place glowstone in the corners. Then place one more stair piece next to the glowstone to make an 8x8 pixel square of glowstone. Lastly, place a half slab of the same type of the stair(wooden plank, cobblestone, stone brick, sandstone) on the glowstone. There you have a modern 'glowing' couch piece. I recommend either stone brick(modern) or sandstone(blends in with glowstone).

Using lava as lighting can create a cool effect. Place a non-flammable block on the ground. Place a block next to that, and place glass on there, before removing the second block you placed. Do this on all sides, before placing any amount of layers of glass on top of the glass. Pour lava down the resulting tube, and place a non-flammable block on the top. Note: This is dangerous if anything with 4 blocks of your lava lamp is flammable. Not recommended for houses with lots of wood/wool.

Living room furniture
The living room is your house's heart, where you can gather with friends (if you're on a server) and spend your time, if you want to.

Tables
Tables are an essential furniture item in every living room. Read on to find out how to make many different table designs!

Coffee Tables
To create a coffee table, use any type of slab and place them near your sofas, chairs, etc.

Corner Tables
Build a fence and add a wooden pressure plate on top for a good looking table. Another option is to place a piston in the ground with a redstone torch or block below it. The piston will activate, and will create a nice, one block table.

Dining Room Tables

 * Place two stair blocks facing each other. Next, place two slab blocks of your taste on top of them. Some crafters believe that slab floors will make the table more aesthetically pleasing.
 * You could also try the piston table. The piston table looks cool with a cake on it! Again, some crafters believe that slab floors will make the table more aesthetically pleasing.
 * Place four blocks (e.g., wooden planks) for the legs of your table. Then place some upside down slabs in the center of the four legs you just created. Next, place four upside down slabs between the legs to make an awesome table.
 * Place a dark block (e.g., such as Nether Brick blocks) in a 3x2 hole in your floor. On top of your dark blocks, place glass blocks.
 * For larger tables, you can place stone pressure plates to serve as dishware.
 * For a a simple table, with an actual use, simply use fence posts against your wall, then put wooden pressure plates on top. Once that is done, simply replace the blocks on the wall right above the table (on the same level as the pressure plates) with droppers (dispensers work too, but require a bow to make, unlike droppers). Now, fill the droppers with food, and then all you have to do is walk up to the table, and voila! you have food.

Modern Table
Place two glowstone blocks where you want the center of your table to be, then surround the glowstone blocks with glass panes for a cake and coffee table that will light up your living room!

You can also make some more rings of glowstone around the middle glowstone block.

Simple Table
Place 2 blocks above where you want your table, now create a 2 block deep hole below the blocks above your table(3 if you include the gap for the table which should already be there), get into the hole, look up and place 2 stairs facing each other on the bottom of them, get out the hole and fill it in, now remove the 2 blocks above the table, you now have a nice simple table.


 * ~88~ 8=Block
 * ~##~ #=The stairs
 * 88 ~=Air
 * 88
 * 8888

T.V.
There are two main designs for televisions in Minecraft. You can make a decorative TV that is really just black wool or obsidian decoratively in or on the wall or floor. You could also just use a 2x1 painting starting from left to right to imitate a flat screen TV. You can also put two blocks of any material, two fence uptop and a 2x1 painting on the fence.

If you have space then there is another method. Build a frame 4x4 out of black or gray wool. Next carve out a small room within the frame. Put a row of glass along the lowest row that isn't the frame. You can then lure an animal or monster into the frame or if you're on creative mode use a spawn egg to get a villager, animal or monster. Just put in another layer of glass and you have a TV!

Using this method, you could also put item frames behind the glass, with things such as heads, food, or tools in them.

A more expensive method is a redstone lamp in the wall with a lever next to it and a painting over the lamp. When the lever is pulled, light will shine through the painting.

Another modern design is to place two furnaces at the bottom, two obsidian on top, and a 2x1 painting in front where you want the screen, then place two iron blocks vertically across the sides and place a button on each one.

Sofas and Chairs
A sofa can be made using 2-4 stair blocks, with a sign attached to either side as "arms". An alternate type of sofa can be made by placing 2 or more slabs in a row and surround the sides and back with slabs. To make a 'leather' sofa, use slabs surrounded by wool blocks.

Chairs can be made similarly to sofas, but the 'sitting' area is only 1 block wide. There are many variations of the chair, so experiment!

If you have a dog (tamed wolf), you may also want a dog bed in your house for it to sit on. You can make one using 2 wood slabs in a row, with signs attached on the sides, front and back.

There is also one more. place 4 wood planks in a row with wood slabs on top and then put 2 wood planks on the edges and put 2 minecart tracks in between the wood and put normal minecarts and there you have a couch you can actually sit on!

A throne can be made by placing a minecart track on the ground with a block (stone, cobblestone, or iron blocks are best) on one end and a staircase on the other end. placing another block on top of the first and one on either side of it. Then, four stairs are placed to the sides of the minecart track and the original staircase. Then place two stairs on the two side blocks. Put a minecart on the track and enjoy your throne you can sit on.

A step up into the modern world of interior design is the "lounge Bench". Make an extra long "sofa" with a 90 degree angle in it somewhere, no sign "arms", and possibly using slabs and blocks, instead of stair pieces. If in a corner, a bookshelf looks appealing in the corner, and blends in with the wood's texture. You can also place any type of stairs (oak wood stairs are reccomended) and place block on the sides.

Fireplaces
Fireplaces give your living room a more "homey" feel. A fireplace can literally be a little hole in the wall with netherrack in it. Or it can be a sleek, ultra-modern piece of contemporary minecraft art. A nice design is a brick outline in the wall and floor(slabs can make the area around it on the floor elevated). Then make a 1x2x1 hole in the wall inside the brick outline and put in netherrack. Light the netherrack, and add a chimney for all the smoke to go out through (and outside decoration!) A more contemporary and "sleek" design is to make the same brick outline, but then, add lava instead of netherrack, and put glass in front of the lava, making for an ultra-modern, "artificial fireplace" feel. Iron bars can be added around the fire to look like a fire guard for a more realistic look.

For an alternate fireplace design, pick a spot away from any flammable material. Next, dig a 2 block deep hole and put netherrack in it, then light the netherrack with flint and steel. Next you should place a glass block on top of the fire, not the netherrack, so you wont burn yourself (you will have to put a block adjacent to the hole to place the glass block then later remove it). Put chairs and/or couches surrounding this and you have yourself a fire pit and lounge.



Minecart fireplaces are fireplaces that will not burn your house down. When a minecart is on fire it produces an animation similar to fire but not real fire. To make one of these just set a minecart on fire (to do this make a railway directly around a lava column, make the minecart go on it). Then put the minecart in your wooden fireplace and remove the rails. Make sure the fireplace is a block deep so that when you put the minecart in it will not be visible. If you are in creative mode, you could have a minecart with a blaze in it, so that you can have a fire you can turn on by punching, as well as a "unique" look.

To build an old style brick built fireplace, you will want this next to a wall. First dig a 3 block deep hole. After that, add netherrack at the bottom and light it up. Third, place netherrack on the top of the hole. Next, place a brick on both sides of the fire and put another brick on top of those and in the middle of the ones in the top. Repeat in front of the bricks so you cannot throw things in the fire. This part is optional. If you want to add a chimney, add bricks on the top to the sides and the front of the fire. Keep adding until you reach your roof and then break the area where the fire is. Add 2 - 3 more levels of the chimney on the roof. Finally, add netherrack on your roof level and light it up!

Alternatively you can build a Traditional Style fireplace, which is similar to the Old Style fireplace, but more elaborate. Simply make a 5x2 floorspace from cobblestone, and replace the centre-back block with netherrack. Next, place a 3-high column of stone bricks on each side of the netherrack, and place stone brick stairs on each side (place them so that the steps go towards the centre). Add a stone brick between the two stairs, and attach an additional stone brick below. Build up a column of stone bricks upwards from the centre brick, until it exits the house, placing a torch on top to imitate a chimney stoke. Finally, ignite the netherrack and add nether-brick fences around the opening. You could also add stone stairs to the underside of the opening. See the image for reference. IMPORTANT: Wood blocks and stairs will ignite if they are less than 4 blocks above the fire or any adjacent blocks.

Make a huge fireplace 3x3 with netherrack so it never burns down, and then add a nether brick fence at the side (not normal fences, they will burn!) and progress it to the center. It should be 3 blocks from the ground. Now, descend it to almost the fire level (2 blocks away) and add a cauldron to the nether fence. Add water in and it's done! Very fun if making witch houses.

Shelves
Building a shelf is simple. all you need to do is place a trap door where you want your shelf to go, and you're finished! You could also place slabs on a wall. That way you can put stuff on them, such as a cake.

Placing stairs upside down allows functional stair shelves. Place a block, then get out your stair and place it on the block. So long as you were facing upwards it will become upside-down and you can make non-floating cake holders or do it outside under a window for a window seal or maybe even use lot with crafting tables mixed in for a cat play tower.

Ceiling fans
Ceiling fans are an optional add on, but are only recommended for houses with 3 blocks or more between floor or ceiling. A simplistic design is arranging slabs on the ceiling like a fan. There are also more complex designs involving pistons. To build a design like this, place four pistons, pointing outward from a central block of whatever type you choose. You can add some wiring in the ceiling of your house to sequence the pistons. The basic idea is to build a 3 clock and attach two oppositely facing pistons from the fan directly to the clock. Attach the other 2 through an inverter. The circuit's speed will make the fan alternate quite fast, simulating a spinning motion.

Chess/Checker Board
To make a Chess/Checker Board, place a noteblock anywhere to form the table and board. You can build any type of chairs you like for the table. Notice how the noteblock looks a lot like a chess/checker board.

Note: This may not work with alternate texture packs.

Piano
Need some music in your house? Here's how to make a piano that plays music or just notes.

All you need is:
 * 2 Netherbrick Stairs
 * 1 Note Block
 * 1 Jukebox
 * Several Music Discs

Now to the building:
 * Place the jukebox and note block together side by side (preferably against a wall).
 * Place the netherbrick stairs on top of both music blocks facing you.
 * Voila, now you have a piano that can play music or just notes.

The Concert Piano

 * Get out into the open and put a fence and black wool on top of it.
 * Behind the first piece, put another piece and one to the right of it. On the right piece, put another fence.
 * Do that one more time but do three wool pieces.
 * Put quartz stairs facing you.(3 of em')
 * Put quartz block chairs as a bench.

Cool Fences
To make a "cool" fence, place a stair where you want your fence to go, then place a slab block on top of each stair. You can also use ducaleefston's method of placing glass panes with slabs on top. Iron bars and cobblestone walls will also work.

Kitchen
A kitchen may consist of a small chest with food products, such as meats, bread, or raw ingredients. You may wish to add a Crafting Table as well as a few Furnaces, to simulate a working area and an oven. Counters are made by placing Stone, Stone Brick or Wooden Plank blocks in any manner a real-world kitchen would be placed in. Also, the kitchen should be placed on Cobblestone or Stone Brick floors, rather than Wooden Plank floors. You may also make a fridge by placing a dispenser on the floor, an iron block on top, and an iron door in front. Then just place a button next to the dispenser, and when you press it, the iron door will open, and the dispenser will dispense your food! If you have a slanted roof put a 2x1 hole in the ceiling near the wall and over the counter and put two stair blocks there and make it look like there is just two solid blocks there the put a large chest underneath it and you got yourself a cabinet!

Sink
A sink allows you to have a water supply right in your kitchen. Many sinks use a 2x2 square. You could also create a 1x1 block sink just for show, or a flowing sink. You can use a caldron filled with water then a lever above it representing the tap. Putting Iron Blocks below or surrounding your sink would look cool, or Gold or Diamond Blocks if you have the resources.

Materials: 1. place the cauldron against the wall. 2. place the tripwire hook above the cauldron. (Optional) Last, fill the cauldron with water from your bucket.
 * 1 cauldron
 * 1 tripwire hook
 * 1 bucket of water (optional)

Alternate sink

Materials: 1. Place the Iron Blocks on the floor against a wall like the diagram below. Fill the empty space between the Iron Blocks and the wall with water. (Place the water diagonally for the sink to automatically fill the rest.) (W = wall, I = Iron Blocks, * = water)
 * 1 Red Wool
 * 1 Blue Wool
 * 2 Water Bucket
 * 2 Button
 * 8 Iron Block or other solid blocks (see Wooden Plank)

WWWWWW I**I I**I IIII

2. Above the water blocks closest to the wall, place a red wool on the left and a blue wool on the right. On the front of those wool blocks, place buttons. And you are finished! Now you have a functional sink that looks nice.

Fridge
You can make a refridgerator for a nice finish, and to make your kitchen more distinguished. Many fridge designs allow you to store food inside them, making them functional as well as decorational.

Design 1

Materials: This fridge will look fancy and you will have the ability to store items. Firstly dig a block where you want to put your fridge, then put in there a chest, leave the above block blank. Put above it an Iron/Quartz/Snow Block, then put an iron door and a lever above or next to it.
 * 1 Chest
 * 1 Iron Block (Quartz or Snow for alternate texture packs)
 * 1 Iron Door
 * 1 Lever

Design 2

Materials: This fridge will give you food when you need some. Place a dispenser on the ground with an iron block on it. (You could also place the dispenser on top of the iron block. See fireglo450's fridge.) Place an iron door in front of those and place a button on the iron block. When you press the button, the door will open and the dispenser will drop the food you stored.
 * 1 Dispenser
 * 1 Iron Block
 * 1 Iron Door
 * 1 Button

Design 3

Materials:
 * 2 Iron Blocks
 * 1 Button
 * 1 Dispenser

This fridge needs to be built on a wall. To build it, dig one block into the wall. Place a dispenser in the wall, and from inside fill it with food. Place two iron blocks in a stack in front of it. Place a button on either side the bottom block. When you press the button, instant food! Perfect if you need some food in a hurry.

Design 4

Materials: Place a dispenser and on top, put an iron block. Then place an iron door in front of it, and put A button or lever on the iron block. Then just fill the dispenser.
 * 1 Dispenser
 * 1 Iron Block
 * 1 Iron Door
 * 1 Button/Lever

Design 5

Materials: To set up this fridge, make a 2 wide and 3 tall rectangle out of the iron. Make sure it is against a wall and in a corner. On the side facing into the corner, cut out the walls and place the sticky pistons, setting up redstone torches appropriately as inverters to the pistons. Then, attach the lever to the 2nd block up on the non-piston-attached side. Wire this lever into the piston inverters, and voila, a working fridge. inside the fridge, place an iron block in the middle, a stone slab as the roof, and put a chest in the top space. At the bottom, put a block of ice in as a sort of "freezer."
 * 7 Iron Blocks
 * 3 Sticky Pistons
 * 2 Redstone Torches
 * 1 Lever
 * 8 (?) Redstone Dust
 * 1 Block (any kind) to place some of the redstone dust on
 * 1 Ice Block (Obtained in survival with silk touch or pushed into place with pistons)
 * 1 Chest
 * 3 Stone Slabs

Design 6

Materials: This is a good fridge that has the ability to store items. Make a tower, three blocks high, of any solid block. Now add another solid block in front of the three high stack. Add a rail to it. Put a storage minecart on top of the rail. Destroy the block with the rail on it so that the minecart falls down. Add a normal piston on the top of the 'tower', facing down. Now, put the block underneath the piston that you want your fridge to be made out of (I.E- I want an iron fridge, so the block underneath the piston will be iron). Now put a redstone torch/block on top of the tower. This will force the piston down. Destroy the piston, the tower and the redstone torch/block. You should be left with a block with a shading error. Add blocks around it so that you can't see the black... stuff. You now have a fridge!
 * 4 of any Solid Block
 * 1 rail
 * 1 Storage Minecart/Minecart With Chest
 * 1 Piston (not sticky)
 * 6-8 Blocks of the material you want your fridge to be made of (I.E- Iron or Quartz)
 * 1 Redstone Torch or Redstone Block

Design 7 by -metalmanII-

Materials: Instructions: place 2 dispensers one on top of the other, then fill with food.
 * 2 dispensers
 * Iron door
 * 2 buttons
 * 2 blocks of any kind (preferably iron blocks, you can use the blocks of your wall material if you are building this fridge into a wall)

Jump on top and place an iron door so it is touching the dispensers.

On either side place your 2 blocks, one on top of the other.

Add buttons to these blocks.

Result: a nice compact fridge! When you press one of the buttons, the door opens and one of the dispensers launches food out, then the door closes.

Design 8

Materials: Once you pick a spot along a wall where the fridge is going to go, dig a two-block deep hole and place one iron block at the bottom of it. Next put the chest inside that hole, then destroy the three blocks behind, left, and right of the chest. replace those blocks with iron blocks. Next, place an iron block two spaces up. (If you place a solid block directly on top of the chest it won't open, therefore, make one space between the chest and the iron block.) Optional: At this point, you can place an upside-down quartz stair on the iron block. Since the quartz stair is not a solid block, the chest can still be accessed. However, the quartz stair will not match the iron blocks, so they may need to be replaced by quartz blocks, but they will still not match the iron door. If you do not plan to use the quartz stair, place an iron block on top of the iron block behind the chest. Next jump on top of the iron block (which should only be two spaces above ground) and place the iron door in front of the iron block, making the door and the block touch. Jump down and place the pressure plate in front of the door, or place the lever on the side of the iron block. You will notice that on each side of the fridge there are holes, just places things next to it (i.e. walls, wooden planks, crafting tables, etc.). Now you are done, you can put perishable foods in the chest like milk or eggs.
 * 6 Iron Blocks
 * 1 Iron Door
 * 1 Pressure Plate (not weighted) or 1 lever
 * 1 Chest
 * 1 Quartz Stair (optional)

Design 9

Materials: Place the iron into a 1x2 rectangle, then put the button on the top block. There you have it. A simple and pretty decorative fridge. It looks chunky, but it's still pretty cool.
 * 2 Iron Blocks
 * 1 Stone Button

Cupboards
All you need is a bookshelf and trapdoor. Place down a bookshelf (preferably next to a fridge or furnace) and on the side of the bookshelf facing you place a trapdoor and close it. Now it looks like a bunch of boxes of food or colored cups in a cupboard when you open the trapdoor.

Bathroom
You can make bathrooms with even running water, but these would mainly serve as decorations since you (hopefully) can't actually take a bath or use the toilet. Technically, any small room with an infinite water source and a door, qualifies as a "water closet". However, here are some ways to build fixtures that can be used for disposal and/or decoration.

Toilet
A toilet is basically a single-block hole with stuff arranged on top for looks (the "throne") and leading down to a disposal for items. Generally, there's a trapdoor atop the hole, by way of a "toilet lid". What you put in that hole will depend on how quickly or thoroughly you want to destroy items... or players who fall in! The options for the hole are fairly simple:
 * 1) a block of water, or full cauldron. Items will stay until they despawn or are retrieved.  The cauldron will hide the items.
 * 2) a hopper with a chest beneath it.  Items will disappear, but be saved in the chest.
 * 3) A block of water flowing downward into a deep hole, or sideways under the floor.  No real threat to most players, but carries items out of easy reach.  This can be combined with the next item.
 * 4) An oubliette -- basically, any hole too deep to jump out of, up to and including a dropshaft into the depths.  Note that if there's a waterfall, players can swim back up.
 * 5) Lava.  With attention, water currents can be used to carry items to the lava.  Items will be destroyed.  Having lava at the top of the "bowl" may be hazardous to your health or your base.

Toilet tops
Levers generally represent the flush lever, and can even be functional with a bit of redstone work. All you need is a trapdoor, and a bucket of water. Dig your hole, place the water, put the trapdoor on top, finally put the lever next to the trapdoor.

A slightly prettier version uses 9 or 11 blocks -- wool works fine if there's no lava below it, but iron adds a more modern look. Arrange the blocks in a ring shape around the hole, place your trapdoor within. Place three more blocks at the back of the toilet (or just one in the middle), and put a button on the middle of those.

To make a slab toilet, you need the following: Materials:
 * 1 trapdoor
 * 5 half blocks
 * 4-6 whole blocks (optional)

Surround your hole on 3 sides with half blocks, then place 3 of the 4-6 blocks on the ground as a back wall(of course), then place the 1-3 blocks you have left on the 3 wall blocks, then place the trap door above the hole.

To make a nice toilet that you can sit on and do your business, all you need is:
 * 3 Solid blocks (you get one of these back)
 * 1 Rail (you get this back too)
 * 1 Minecart
 * 1 Trapdoor
 * 1 Lever

You may need to dig down a couple of spaces in front of the hole, if you want the cart under ground level, instead of sitting on the floor. 1) Place the 3 blocks in an L shape with two blocks stacked on top of each other and one block placed in front of the stack. 2) On the block in front of the double stack of blocks, place the rail and then the minecart on top of the rail. 3) Now destroy the block that is under the minecart; this will cause the rail to break and let the minecart fall onto a block without a rail making it unable to move (easily). 4) Place the trapdoor in the space above the minecart connected to the top of the 2 stack of blocks. 5) Place the lever on either side of the same block as the trapdoor.

Shower
You can place slabs on the ground to mark off the edges of the shower. This should usually be built in a corner. Then place a piston in the ceiling or wall and place water behind it. You can use a lever to turn the shower on and off.

Another version is that if you make a wall around 3x3 blocks and put holes in the roof and cover them with glass or trapdoors and then everytime it rains if you open them you can have a nice shower.

Another option is to do what it says in the paragraph above this one but don't make holes in the ceiling. This is the easiest and quickest option but you won't have a functional, water-spewing shower. The reason for this option is purely for decoration and you would not be able to use it.

Sink and Mirror
For the sink proper, you can use a hopper, a cauldron (full or empty), or a minecart (try the rail removal trick from above). You can make a very acceptable looking sink and mirror combo by making a section at least 3 blocks wide of your floor material. In the middle "2nd" block place your chosen sink. Surround the left and right sides of the sink with your wall material as well as the back at least 2 blocks high. Replace the block that is behind and above the sink with your "mirror". If you have it, you can use ice, otherwise use a glass pane and completely surround it with wall blocks to make it a full pane. You might put a water block behind the glass, just for "atmosphere".

A lever or triphook can be added above the cauldron sink, as a faucet.

Miscellaneous
This section is for pieces of furniture that really don't fit in any categories listed above.

Water Spigot
Use this if you're making an outside enclosure for your farm animals. It looks nice and is refillable with rain water.

First put a 3x3 base of cobblestone. Then place a cobblestone fence post on top of the middle cobblestone. Then place a lever and Tripwire Hook on opposite sides of a chiseled stone block. Add a Cauldron under the Tripwire Hook, and there you go a sort of working water spigot!

Water Spigot

Pet Door
A pet door is actually quite simple to create and will save you the trouble of having to keep the door open for your pets. To make a pet door make a 1x1 hole in the wall then put pressure plates on both sides of the hole. Inside the hole, put in a fence gate. Now you pets can come in with ease and no monsters will be able to fit in (except for Cave Spiders, Silverfish, and the small slimes)!

Radio
Basically, all you need are 2 note blocks and an Iron block. First, place the note blocks. Make sure you have a 1 block gap between them. Then, place the iron block in the gap. You could even place buttons or redstone torches on the blocks to give the feel of having knobs and an antenna or replace one block with a jukebox to play music.

Fancy Jukebox
For this you will need 4 stair blocks, a juke box, a redstone lamp, a lever, a chest and 2 more stair blocks. (Optional) and maybe a few buttons for decoration. First, place the redstone lamp on the floor with the jukebox on top. Then, place two stairs next to the redstone lamp, then place the other two stairs on top of the stairs so it makes a [ shape. If you have buttons, add them where you would like, then place the music disk inside the jukebox! If you are using the chest, place the chest on top of it and add on the other two stair blocks next to the chest on top of the previously placed stairs.

Redstone
Try using Redstone to "deploy" furniture. You can even try to make a barren room with everything hidden, with a lever that reveals or creates furniture. Trust me, this sounds weird, but it is really cool when you actually use it.

Put furniture where the "?" is.

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