How to pick a Minecraft block palette

A good build usually uses five to seven blocks, and each one has a job. Pick them by job, check that they contrast where they meet, and test them on something small before the big build.

Give every block a job

Most builds share the same six jobs. Here they are on a medieval tavern. If two blocks do the same job, drop one of them.

  • WallsWhite TerracottaThe main mass. Most of your build is this.
  • FrameDark Oak LogCorners, pillars and beams that hold it together.
  • RoofSpruce PlanksStairs and slabs on top.
  • FloorOak PlanksFloors inside, paths outside.
  • AccentCobblestoneTrim, bands, door and window frames.
  • DetailBarrelSmall touches: windows, lights, greenery.

Make the walls and frame differ in lightness

The frame is what shows the shape of a build from far away. Colour alone does not do that: two blocks of different colours but the same lightness blur together in the distance and in screenshots. Pick a frame that is clearly lighter or darker than the walls. A gap of 20 or more on the 0 to 100 scale below is a safe rule of thumb.

Reads clearlyWhite Terracotta and Dark Oak Loglightness 79 / 32
Blurs togetherBirch Planks and Stripped Birch Loglightness 76 / 76

Keep big surfaces quiet

A busy texture looks fine as one block and like static across a whole wall. Use calm blocks for walls, roofs and floors, and save the busy ones (cobblestone, gravel, glowstone) for small areas: a foundation row, a chimney, a path.

CalmStone Bricks
BusyCobblestone

Roofs need stairs and slabs

A sloped roof is built from stairs, with slabs for the shallow parts and the ridge. Many good-looking blocks have neither, so check before you fall for a roof block. Blockroll only suggests roof blocks that have stairs.

  • Spruce PlanksStairs and slab
  • Deepslate TilesStairs and slab
  • TerracottaNo stairs or slabs
  • CalciteNo stairs or slabs

Use one accent, and repeat it

An accent ties a build together when it does the same job everywhere: the band at the base, the frames around doors, the row under the roof. Two or three competing accents make a build look unplanned. Here cobblestone is the only accent, used as a base course.

One accentCobblestone along the base only

Test a palette with a few constraints

Before a big project, build something small with the palette: a set footprint, a height limit and a few rules. Constraints force you to try the blocks in places you would not have chosen, which is where weak pairings show up. For example:

  • Build on 9 × 11 blocks, at most 12 blocks high.
  • Every corner gets a Dark Oak Log pillar, top to bottom.
  • Run a band of Cobblestone around the whole build.
  • Add a balcony or a porch.

How Blockroll helps

  1. Open Blockroll and press Space. You get six blocks, one for each job, picked to go together. Roof blocks always have stairs.
  2. Lock the blocks you like and press Space again. Only the unlocked ones change.
  3. Click a cube to choose a block yourself. Choosing locks it.
  4. Open Rules for a footprint, a height and three rules, and roll those the same way.
  5. The link always holds the palette, so sharing it with friends is copying the link.

Start from a palette

Medieval tavernTimber framing: light plaster walls between dark oak logs, a spruce roof and a cobblestone base. Barrels by the door tell people what the building is.Cherry cottagePale calcite walls let the pink cherry roof carry the colour, and dark cherry logs keep the corners crisp. Built for a small house in a cherry grove.Deepslate keepA dark stone castle that still has depth: lighter tuff brick pillars against deepslate brick walls, a dark oak roof, and glowstone set into the walls instead of torches.

See all palettes