ACNH - Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Designing Your House | How to Use Storage and Decorating Mode

ACNH - Designing Your House

To enter decorating mode in Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ACNH), hold down the Down Button while inside your house. Read on to learn how to place and move furniture as well as how to use the storage and the decorating mode.

What Can You Do with Your House?

It is finally satisfying to see your house after upgrading from a tent. Now what should you do with your house?

Click to jump to a section!
Decorate with Furniture Store Items
Upgrade for More Rooms Change Up Your Look

Decorate with Furniture

ACNH - A resident enters Nook

Collect furniture and other items to bring life to your home. From furniture to bugs and fish, you can display just abuot anything in your home!

Get furniture and other items by purchasing from Nook's Cranny or Nook Shopping.

Get Ranked by Happy Home Academy

ACNH - A resident receives a rating and a gift from Happy Home Academy

Each week, the Happy Home Academy rates your home from your interior decorations. You will get gifts from them every time you rank up.

How to Raise Your Happy Home Academy (HHA) Rank

Earn Nook Miles with the Hoard Reward

You can earn Nook Miles based on the number of items in your house.

Hoard Reward
Activity Summary Miles Titles
Place 5 pieces of furniture in your home. 300 Interior/Sort
Place 15 pieces of furniture in your home. 1,000 Tentative/Remodeler
Place 30 pieces of furniture in your home. 2000 Comparative/Sundires Fan
Place 100 pieces of furniture in your home. 3000 Assumed/Appliance Fan
Place 150 pieces of furniture in your home. 5000 Abounding/Interior-Design Fan

Store Items

ACNH - A screenshot of items in storage
Gain access to your storage space after upgrading your tent to a house. The initial storage space can hold 80 items and increases with every house upgrade.

Earn Nook Miles with the Good Things in Store! Activity

Hoarding and storing tons of items will reward you Nook Miles, so as long as you still have space, fill that storage up!

Good Things in Store!
Activity Summary Miles Titles
Have 20 items in your storage. 300 Overstuffed/Stylist
Have 50 items in your storage. 1000 Partially Obscured/Talent
Have 100 items in your storage. 2000 At-Capacity/Manager
Have 200 items in your storage. 3000 Self-Possessed/Coordinator
Have 300 items in your storage. 5000 Invulnerable/Life Hacker

Upgrade for More Rooms

ACNH - A resident finishes paying off their home loan
Pay your loans and keep upgrading your house to unlock more rooms for you to decorate. Click on our guide below to learn more about house upgrades!

How to Pay Off Your Loan and Upgrade Your Tent and House

Earn Nook Miles with the Dream House Activity

House loans may be a pain in the pocket, but the Nook Miles you get from it are rewarding.

Dream House
Activity Summary Miles Titles
Upgrade your home once. 500 One-Room/Loner
Upgrade your home for the second time. 1000 Single-Occupant/Beginner
Upgrade your home for the 5th time. 2000 Homey/Sentiment
Upgrade your home for the 6th time. 3000 Second-Floor/Landlord
Upgrade your home for the 7th time. 5000 Basement/Backbone

Earn Nook Miles with the Decorated Decorator Activity

By getting an S rank, you will unlock the Decorated Decorator activity from the Nook Mileage program.

Decorated Decorator
Activity Summary Miles Titles
Get an S ranking from the Happy Home Academy. 1000 Happy/Overachiever

Change Up Your Look

Change Your Face and Hair Using a Mirror or Vanity

ACNH - A resident stands in front of a mirror to change up their look
Use a mirror or a vanity to change your hair, face, or even add custom designs to your face.

Learn more through our detailed guide below.
How to Change Your Face and Hair

Change Your Outfit Using a Closet... or a Fridge?

Any furniture that serves as a storage space can be used to access your clothes to change your outfit. This includes dressers, closets, cabinets — and yes, even refrigerators!

How to Decorate Your House

1. Place and Move Furniture
2. Select Your Wallpaper and Flooring
3. Adjust the Lighting
4. Access the Storage
5. Enter Decorating Mode

Place and Move Furniture

ACNH - A resident moves furniture inside their house
Display items in your house by opening your pocket and placing the item on the floor. To move an item, hold down the A button to hold the object and move the left joystick to move or rotate the object.

You can also face the wall and hang items such as clothes, hats, and other furnishings.

Select Your Wallpaper and Flooring

ACNH - A screenshot of Nook
You can purchase wallpaper and flooring at Nook's Cranny, or get ones from Saharah, a special visitor. You can even get rugs of all sizes from her!

Saharah's Rugs, Wallpaper, and Flooring

Adjust the Lighting

ACNH - A screenshot of a room with different kinds of lighting
Set the mood of the room by adjusting the lights. You can choose between warm or cool light, or no lights at all by pressing the Up Arrow button.

Access the Storage

ACNH - A screenshot of items in storage
Access the storage from inside of your house by pressing the Right Arrow button. To learn more about using the storage, check this section of the page.

Enter Decorating Mode

ACNH - A screenshot of a player entering Decorating Mode in-game
To decorate your house quickly, the decorating mode allows you to move items around the house easily. To enter decorating mode, press the Down Arrow button.

Learn more about using the decorating mode by checking this section of the page.

How to Use the Storage

Press the Right Arrow Button to Access the Storage

From inside your house, you can press the Right Arrow button to open up your storage. You can then see the items which are sorted by category and select them to place them in your pockets.

Put an Item to Storage from Your Pockets

ACNH - A resident selects an item from their inventory to place or put in storage

To put an item in storage, open up your pockets while inside your house. Select the item by pressing A and choose Put in Storage.

How to Use the Decorating Mode

Press the Down Arrow to Enter Decorating Mode

Enter decorating mode by pressing the Down Arrow button.

Lights

ACNH - A room with no lighting

Up Arrow Adjusts the lights to warm light, cool light, or no lights.

Storage

ACNH - A screenshot of items in storage

Right Arrow Opens up the storage and you can directly place items on the floor or on the wall.

Pockets

ACNH - A screenshot of a player opening their pockets in-game

X Button Opens up your pockets and you can place items inside the room.

Camera

ACNH - A screenshot of a room taken at a certain angle by rotating the camera

Right Control Stick Rotates the camera around the room.

Switch View

ACNH - A screenshot of the wall view in the house

+ Button Switches between floor and wall access.

Turn Guide Off

ACNH - A screenshot of the room with the Guide turned off

- Button Hides the guide. Press - to turn it back on.

While Pointer is Hovering Over an Item

Grab Item

ACNH - An item being grabbed

A Button Rotates the item.
A Button (Hold) Grabs an item so you can move it around with the left joystick. Release to place item.
Y Button Puts the item in storage.

Switch Between Layers

ACNH - A comparison image of a pointer selecting through different laywers

L Button Switches between the item placed on the ground and the item placed on top of the previous items.

Select Multiple Items

ACNH - A pointer selecting multiple images

R Button (Hold) Drag with the left joystick and release to select the items.

Related Guides

Beginner

All Tips & Tricks

House and Storage

House and Storage
house upgrade partial.pngHow to Pay Off Your Loan and Upgrade Your Tent and House ACNH - How to Store Furniture and Other Items partialHow to Store Furniture and Other Items
ACNH - Designing Your House partialHow to Use Storage and Decorating Mode HHA rank partial.pngHow to Raise Your Happy Home Academy (HHA) Rank
ACNH - Feng Shui Color and Effects GuideFeng Shui Color and Effect Guide ACNH - How to Get Rid of Cockroaches partialHow to Get Rid of Cockroaches
ACNH - How to Get Moving Wallpaper partialHow to Get Moving Wallpaper ACNH - How to Get Moving Flooring partialHow to Get Moving Flooring
ACNH - List of House Customization Options partialList of House Customization Options ACNH - All House Upgrades.pngAll House Upgrades | How to Pay Off Your Loan

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