Underground Starter Base in Minecraft

Earlier this year, I wrote a Minecraft Instructable telling how to build an underground base (you can click here to read it), only the base was quite tiny and was a bit cramped. So, upon request by noel_hello, I built a slightly bigger one that is still survival-friendly and is somewhat quick to build. Let's get started!

Supplies

Keep in mind that it can be hard to count the blocks while I am building something, so there might be a few errors in the amounts given below.

35 Stripped Oak Logs

12 Regular Oak Logs

4 Oak Wood (the six-sided kind)

10 Chests

8 Spruce Planks

5 Barrels

25 Spruce Stairs

4 Spruce Slabs

10 Spruce Trapdoors

1 Oak Trapdoor

1 Stone Brick (optional)

4 Stone Brick Stairs

6 Glass Blocks

2 Stone Pressure Plates

3 Furnaces

3 Blast Furnaces*

3 Smokers*

2 Crafting Tables

1 Anvil

1 Grindstone

1 Enchant Table

15 Bookshelves

1 Bed of your choice (I used red)

2 Lanterns

4 Leaves of your choice (I used oak)

1 Flower Pot (optional)

1 Flower of your choice (optional) (I used a cornflower)

1 Water Bucket

*Can be substituted with regular furnaces if you are not far enough along in-game.

Step 1: Dig a Hole

To start building your underground starter base, begin by digging a hole as you see in the pictures above. Hopefully since it is a small hole you should be able to count the blocks easily by looking at the first image. The hole should be four blocks deep, as seen in the second picture.

Step 2: Replace the Corners With Oak Wood

This step is a little bit hard to explain, but what you need to do is dig out one block from the "corners" (Picture #1) and replace it with a block of oak wood--the six-sided kind (Picture #2). Place one more block of wood on top of that one (Picture #3) and repeat with the other corner (Picture #4).

Step 3: Creating an Outline

Dig out two blocks as shown in the first picture and replace them with spruce planks (Picture #2). Do the same for the other three sides (Picture #3).

Step 4: Finishing the Outline

Place spruce slabs and spruce trapdoors as shown in the first two pictures. Repeat on the other side.

Step 5: Making the Outline Look Fancy

Put a stone pressure plate on top of each of the oak wood blocks (Picture #1) and two leaf blocks surrounding it (Picture #2). You could also add flowering azalea leaves to add a bit more color and interest. Repeat on the other side once again.

Step 6: Skylight

Fill in the outline using glass blocks, leaving the center open so you can add a trapdoor for getting inside the base.

Step 7: Starting the Interior

Open the trapdoor and jump inside. The thing to do now is to dig out the corner blocks beneath the wood (hard to explain so look at Picture #2). The base is still very small so continue digging until you have a nice 5 x 5 area.

Step 8: Get Some Lighting Down Here

As you can see in the first picture, the base can get quite dark at night, so you need to light it up. Locate the two wood blocks again and hang a lantern on the bottom of each one.

Step 9: Pillars

Build a pillar of oak logs in each corner of the base.

Step 10: Make Some Arches

Small arches like these look really good in underground bases, and basically any kind of house in Minecraft. To build a basic arch for your bunker, place two upside-down spruce stairs as seen in the first image, and add a spruce trapdoor in the middle. Build an arch for all four walls of the base.

Step 11: Making the Elevator

Your soon-to-be home needs an easy way to get in and out, otherwise it does you no good. For this base, I will show you how to build a simple water elevator.

Locate the block in your floor that is directly under the oak trapdoor and dig it out (Picture #1). Dig out the blocks around it to make a plus sign, or cross shape (Picture #2)

Place stone brick stairs as shown in Picture #3, and you can replace the block in the center with a stone brick as a small detail (optional)

Stand in the very center of the base and look up at the oak trapdoor. Crouch/sneak so you can waterlog the trapdoor without opening it (Picture #6). Your elevator is done!

Also feel free to use this elevator design in any other builds you may have as well (such as a skyscraper or tall tower).

Step 12: Smelting Area

Now it is finally time to start making the base into a home.

Go over to any of the arches and dig back one block (Picture #2). Add your furnaces in the space you just dug out as seen in Picture #3. I used all three kinds of furnaces but if you are in a somewhat early stage of the game you can just use nine regular furnaces instead.

Step 13: Storage Area

Every house in Minecraft needs a place to store all the resources and items that the player may gather on his adventures. Follow the steps for an easy storage "room."

Find the arch to the left of the furnaces and dig back two blocks. Dig back another block (Picture #2) but leave the pillar of dirt where it is.

Dig out one block at the sides of the room and replace with stripped oak logs (Pictures #3 and #4). Repeat on the other side.

Add a pillar of stripped oak logs on either side of the dirt in the back of the room (Picture #5). Make another pillar of stripped oak logs directly in front of the dirt (Picture #6).

Place spruce stairs on the ceiling as shown in Pictures #7 and #8. Stairs are used instead of planks so the chests can be opened. (Chests cannot open if there is a full block above them.)

Place your chests as shown in Pictures #9 through #11.

Add a line of barrels in the middle (Picture #12).

"Hide" a crafting table in the floor as you can see in Picture #13.

That's the storage room complete!

Step 14: Bedroom

The most important part of a house in Minecraft (and IRL) is a bedroom, for sleeping and setting your respawn point.

Find the arch to the left of the storage area and start by digging back two blocks.

Create a nice looking ceiling using spruce stairs and a spruce trapdoor. It is hard to explain how to do it so just follow Pictures #2 through #5. This is a great way to give the "vaulted ceiling effect" to a very small room.

Dig out the sides (Pictures #6 and #7) as well as the back of the room (Picture #8).

Replace the sides you just dug out with stripped oak logs (Picture #9). Replace the back with stripped oak logs with barrels in the middle as seen in Pictures #10 and #11.

Furnish the bedroom with a bed, a chest, and a crafting table. This happens to be one of my favorite bedroom designs ever.

If you are able to, I would also suggest placing a flower pot with your choice of flower on top of the crafting table. You will need to crouch to do this. However, this is just a small detail that you can feel free to leave out.

Step 15: Library

The last thing your underground base needs is an enchanting room, or library as I like to call it.

Locate the last empty arch in your base and dig back two blocks.

Create the same "vaulted ceiling" that you built in the bedroom in the previous step.

Dig out the sides and the back as shown in Picture #3. This will leave you with a 5 x 3 room.

Add the bookshelves the way I did in Pictures #4 through #7. (Again, quite hard to put into words.)

Go to the gap in the back of the room, dig out the dirt block and replace it with a stripped oak log (Picture #8). Replace the block at the top of the gap with a spruce stair (Pictures #9 and #10). Repeat for the other two gaps.

Place a chest or ender chest in one gap (Picture #11), an anvil in another gap (Picture #12), and a grindstone in the last gap (Picture #13).

Finally, set down your enchant table in the center of the library. Because of all the bookshelves you placed, you should be able to get some level 30 enchantments.

Step 16: Thanks for Reading

Your underground base is now complete, and I hope you like it. Thanks for reading.

Let me know if you enjoyed it in the comments section and maybe then I might build a much bigger underground base.

Also be sure to check out my blog; I could really use the views to help with the search engine algorithms.

Bye!