9. The Blacksmith’s Open-Air Hearth House
What This Idea Means
The heart of any self-sustaining medieval settlement. This build features living quarters attached directly to a large, smoky outdoor forge equipped with an anvil, chimney, and water trough.
How to Make It
Construct a two-part footprint: a $6 \times 6$ enclosed residential house made of dark oak and plaster, attached to an open-air stone forge shelter ($6 \times 8$). Build a prominent chimney out of netherrack, lava, or campfires enclosed in brick walls. Place smooth stone slabs, blast furnaces, lava cauldrons, and anvils beneath the forge canopy.
Tips and Variations
- Use orange stained glass and lava hidden behind iron bars to make the forge furnace look like it is glowing with intense heat.
- Place tripwire hooks on stone walls to serve as hanging tongs and smithing tools.
- Variation: Swap out stone for deepslate to create a dark, soot-stained industrial smithy.
Materials Needed
Bricks, smooth stone, blast furnaces, anvils, cauldrons, lava buckets, iron bars, and dark oak wood.