How to Collect Cute Furniture Quickly in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
One of the most beautiful things about Animal Crossing: New Horizons on the Nintendo Switch is that the game is whatever you make it. While we get a little something out of all of the game's fabulous features, our favorite thing just might be finding adorable furniture to help us make our greatest interior design dreams come true.
Of course, you likely won't be able to build your dream home in a day. Collecting the right pieces to make your space shine is a process, with a lot of what you receive left entirely to fate (or RNG, if you want to be technical). However, there are a few things you can do every day to speed the process along. Here's how to make it happen.
Shake All of Your Non-Fruit Trees Daily
Trees in Animal Crossing aren't just for growing fruit and looking pretty. You can also shake Hardwood and Cedar trees (the trees that never bear fruit) to dislodge bags of bells, tree branches, wasp's nests and even fabulous furniture items. The latter almost makes sense, given that a piece of furniture resembles a leaf in your inventory. Every day, shaking these trees should yield two pieces of furniture, and you never know quite what you're going to get.
We recommend shaking all of your trees from the bottom while carrying a net, so you'll be prepared for up to five wasp attacks on your island per day as you seek out furniture. It's also a good idea to get your fruit trees organized, so you know exactly which ones they are (even when they're bare) so you don't waste time needlessly shaking them. And if you do Mystery Island Tours, the majority of islands will also have trees which will give you one piece of furniture and one wasp's nest.
(Animal Crossing: New Horizons via Nintendo)
Be Generous With Your Neighbors
Once you get familiar with your animal neighbors, the game will give you the option to gift them an item every day. You can give them anything from unwanted furniture to clothing to fruit, flowers, bugs, insects and even bags of bells. While you can never predict precisely what they'll give you in return (we find that bells and apparel are the most common), they'll occasionally reward you with great furniture. You can also send them gifts by postcard from your island's airport with the hope of the gesture being reciprocated.
Sometimes when you're talking with the animals, they'll also give you little errands to run for them. Whether that involves delivering presents to other villagers, catching a fish or bug for them or playing some kind of game, there's always the potential for a worthwhile prize.
(Animal Crossing: New Horizons via Nintendo)
Check Your Beach Daily for a Message in a Bottle
Every day, a message in a bottle should wash up somewhere along your beach. These bottles always contain a DIY recipe, giving you the opportunity to learn to craft new clothing and furniture. Sometimes, you'll even find an extra bottle in the sand when you go on a Mystery Island Tour.
Speaking of DIYs, it's also wise to keep your inventory at home well-stocked with extra wood of every variety, plus weeds, stones, tree branches, clay and iron nuggets so that whatever recipe comes your way, you'll have what you need to DIY it. Of course, if you find yourself short, you can also spend some time harvesting extra resources on your island.
(Animal Crossing: New Horizons via Nintendo)
Visit Nook's Cranny Every Day
Once Timmy and Tommy set up shop in town with the opening of Nook's Cranny, it's a good idea to visit them every day to see what they have in stock. The more the store expands, the more their little shop can hold, and the greater variety of items they'll carry. The front of the store contains items that you can buy multiple times, while the items in the back will sell out after they've been purchased. If you're visiting a friend's island, you should also see what their store is offering—but check in with them before you snag their big-ticket items.
(Animal Crossing: New Horizons via Nintendo)
Check the Nook Stop's 'Special Goods' Daily
The little kiosk in the corner of the Resident Services is also a good spot to check daily for new goodies. The "Special Goods" section of Nook Shopping in particular has a rotating set of items that changes out every day, and you never know what cute new furnishings might be available there.
(Animal Crossing: New Horizons via Nintendo)
Always Talk to Excited Villagers
Sometimes when you're running around town, a neighbor will shout to you to try to catch your attention. When that happens, it's worth chatting with them to see why want to talk to you. Sometimes, they'll have gifts for you, or give you the opportunity to buy something off of them. The same goes for when they're quietly pondering to themselves. Check in, because you never know what they might have in store for you.
(Animal Crossing: New Horizons via Nintendo)
Shoot Down Balloons With the Slingshot
Occasionally, you'll see balloons with presents tied to them flying overhead, and the only way to get them out of the sky is with the aid of a trusty slingshot. Don't forget to carry one with you wherever you go so you never miss out on great items. In our experience, yellow balloons tend to contain bells and blue tend to include crafting materials, so you're most likely to find furniture and recipes in the red and green balloons. Still, we like to pop every balloon, just in case.
(Animal Crossing: New Horizons via Nintendo)
Swap Furniture With Friends
Trading is one of our favorite ways to get great furniture in New Horizons because it takes the guesswork out of things. You know exactly what you're going to get when you swap furniture with your buddies. There are also a lot of pieces with colors that can't be customized at your workbench which must be collected one by one, and you might want to trade with people to get exactly the pieces you want.
It's also handy that most non-crafted items can be re-ordered from a catalog once you've had them in your inventory, so you can pick up a piece of furniture and return it to the original owner to give yourself more options. If you have extra DIY recipes laying around, you can also give them to friends and have them return the favor when they get duplicates of their own. The more, the merrier.
(Animal Crossing: New Horizons via Nintendo)
Check In on Your Neighbors at Home
You're not going to be the only one crafting DIY items on your island in New Horizons. As long as it's not the middle of the night and you have at least a few animals living on your island, chances are that there's someone crafting something at home at any given moment. Visit your neighbors when they're inside (their lights will be on and smoke will be coming out of their chimneys) and you'll likely stumble upon at least one of them will be working at their DIY table. They'll share a recipe for whatever they're working on, allowing to you to make that piece of furniture, too.
(Animal Crossing: New Horizons via Nintendo)
Participate in Events
Many unique pieces of furniture within Animal Crossing: New Horizons are only available seasonally during certain special events. Earlier this month there was Bunny Day, which allowed us all to craft Easter-themed items, and collecting cherry blossom petals let us create beautiful pink spring furniture. When C.J. and Flick show up, you can have them make beautiful models by giving them fish and insects, and participating in Fishing Tourneys and Bug Offs will also help you unlock exclusives. The only way to keep up with it all is to play often, so don't forget to check in!
(Animal Crossing: New Horizons via Nintendo)
Trying to recruit an Animal Crossing buddy? Click HERE to discover all the things in New Horizons that are better with the help of a friend.