Decoration- Dens and Colonies

This guide will show you how to REALLY decorate your spaces
*Cover image is an AI image

Starting off strong

Just ran out of ideas for redesigning your den? Just can't think of how to make your garden look good? Then you might want to read this!
If you can't think of anything, think of something you like, like vibrant colors or black and white. You could also look at other dens. If you are friends with no one, you can look at the wiki.
What do you want out of your space? What really fits your den?

Trying to decorate your colony? Try scrolling through some styles and seeing which ones you like. Like multiple? Maybe you want to add more than one section then. You could also vary the styles to add variation. Just like variation in styles, mix and match your paths too. Not too much or too little, though.

Here are some example ideas:
Cottage town in a meadow, cozy
Ashen volcanic forest, dark
Temple town of water, chill
Mountainous wilds, cute

Don't be afraid to mix and match your style and vibe for what YOU want your colony to be, or spend lots of time designing. Time is all part of the process~ I spent over 2 days designing my colony.

Laying your foundations

As long as you have a style in mind, start making basic changes first. It doesn't have to look good, make it simple. You can decorate everything later. Make a basic layout of what you want your space to look like. Place your paths and dens, or your rooms and beds.
After you have the basics, think on what you want the areas to be. Say you want a small room on the left to be your record player room? Give it a little bit of space, it's not much, but it has potential. Place the record player and some of the basic furniture to get an idea of what you want it to be.
You can use the same method with colony design. Want the area around Krampy's clinic to be a mystical swamp? Place the paths and water first, with where you want Krampy's clinic to be in mind.
Then, simply place it!

Decorating the area

There's a lot that goes into decoration. Take note of layering your decor, to make things look like something they're not. No overgrown pillar? Make one by sandwiching a pillar between vines. Or you could make walls by stacking bushes and stone walls.
Go all out, use everything that could fit in your space, but don't blend it all together! Add some contrast, like putting a dead tree in among some normal ones, or a bush somewhere in your flowering meadow.
Decoration is important, and the finer details are important, because even small details add up. The grass scattered on the map is very simple, yet effective. Take every small idea and put it into your design. Make room for some creative paths, too! Even if you pack together a forest, the cats of your colony may find a clever path through it. Take that path and make it a bit more obvious.
Make sure to variate your paths and decor, otherwise, it could look bland and boring, and you don't want that! So, mix some paths, like the concrete and gravel paths.
One important detail to note is transitions. Lets say one half of your colony is forest and the other is rocky. Slowly fade out your forest trees, while increasing the stones going into the forest. Think of it like fading colors, like red fading to blue. There is going to be a bit of purple, and that's your transition. Dens are very hard to transition with, so I'd make my hallways to other rooms 2 tiles away if its a different style. That way, you don't get walls bleeding into other rooms.

And that's my decoration guide! Feel free to comment some suggestions or inspiration. These techniques work for faaaaar more than just Cattails, so you can take these tips and skills to any future designs. I hope this guide serves you well!