Let’s be real for a second. Animal Crossing: New Horizons can be a slow burn, but the DLC? It’s a total sprint if you know which triggers to hit. If you’ve just touched down on Lottie’s archipelago, you’re probably looking at those gorgeous Pinterest builds and wondering why your partition walls are missing or why you can't polish your furniture until it literally sparkles. It's frustrating. You want the good stuff, and you want it now.
Getting through the happy home paradise unlocks isn't just about "playing the game." It is a specific, choreographed dance with the number of vacation homes you've completed. If you just mess around with one house for three hours, you aren’t progressing the internal counter. You need volume.
The Magic Number 30
Most people think the DLC ends when the credits roll. It doesn't. But the number 30 is the "Golden Threshold." Once you hit 30 vacation homes, the game fundamentally changes. This is when the music festival happens, sure, but more importantly, it's when you finally get the ability to remodel the homes of your own villagers back on your main island.
That’s the real prize.
Before you get there, you’re basically in training. Lottie is a boss who rewards output. To move fast, don't overthink the early designs. The villagers are surprisingly easy to please. As long as you unbox their three "required" items, they’re thrilled. You can go back and fix their terrible interior design later once you’ve actually unlocked the pillars and island counters.
Breaking Down the Unlock Tiers
It starts slow. You get the ceiling decor and those fancy accent walls after just a few houses. It feels like progress. Then, the game introduces the Poki currency, which is basically a trap if you spend it all on furniture early on. Save it. You'll need it for the Wardell catalog later, which is arguably the best perk of the entire expansion.
By the time you hit house six, you’re opening the Café or the Restaurant. Pro tip: pick the Restaurant first if you want more cooking recipes, or the Café if you just want a place to hang out. Honestly, the choice doesn't matter for the "meta" of the game, but the expansion of the physical office space is a huge psychological win.
Around house 15, you get the DIY sketches for pillars and counters. This is where the happy home paradise unlocks start to get technical. You can’t just buy these. You have to find the materials in the little box in the office. If you aren't checking that box daily, you're missing out on the "Simple," "Wooden," and "Brick" variations that make or break a modern room design.
The Soundscape Secret
Nobody talks about the soundscapes enough. You unlock these in batches. After 17 houses, you get the basic ones—nature sounds, ocean waves, that kind of thing. But keep going. By house 33, you get the "urban" and "space" sounds. It sounds minor, but if you’re trying to build a sci-fi laboratory or a bustling ramen shop, the background audio is 50% of the vibe.
Lighting and Polishing
Polishing is the "flex" mechanic of Animal Crossing. You start with the basic "make it shiny" effect after four houses. It’s cute. But once you hit 12 houses, you unlock the ability to add custom effects. You can make your furniture "smoke," "glow," or even have butterflies fluttering around it.
Most players forget that you can use custom design patterns for the polish effects. If you want a haunted house, use a ghost pattern. If you want a cozy kitchen, use a "steam" effect over the stove. It’s these tiny, granular details that separate a 5-star build from a 3-star one.
The Facilities: More Than Just Decoration
The facilities are the backbone of the archipelago. They aren't just for show.
- The School: Talk to the teacher (whoever you assigned) to get "star fragments" or rare shrubs.
- The Hospital: Visit the doctor once a week. They will actually give you bandages or a head patch if you tell them you're in pain. It’s a great way to get "injury" themed clothing without waiting for the Able Sisters to rotate them in.
- The Apparel Shop: This is the big one. It unlocks after 30 houses. It allows you to set a "vibe" (like Gothic or Cute) and buy clothes that match that style every single day.
Room Sketching and the Pro App
After you’ve designed enough homes, Niko gives you the Room Sketch app. It’s a godsend. It lets you design a room on your NookPhone while you’re sitting on the bus or waiting for a plane in real life. Then, when you’re actually at a client’s house, you can just "apply" the design. It saves hours of dragging and dropping furniture with a Joy-Con.
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Wait. There's a catch.
The Room Sketch app only works if you have the items in your catalog. You can't sketch with items you haven't touched yet. This is why the Wardell catalog—unlocked after spending about 150,000 Poki—is the true endgame. It gives you access to every single piece of furniture you’ve used in a vacation home, regardless of whether you’ve seen it on your main island.
The Villager Remodel: The Final Boss of Content
Once you hit that 30-house milestone and the festival is over, go talk to Tom Nook. He’ll mention that you’re now a "famous designer." This is the moment. For 9,000 Bells, you can go into your neighbors' houses on your main island and fix their terrible taste.
No more starter houses. No more "dirt floors" because the villager was one of your first two residents. You can give them the mansion they deserve. Interestingly, you can even change the size of their rooms, though it's limited compared to the DLC islands.
Dealing with the "Niko" Quests
Niko is the unsung hero of the happy home paradise unlocks. He’s the one who actually teaches you how to build the pillars and counters. He’ll leave notes in the DIY box in the upstairs office. He usually asks for materials—wood, stone, clay.
Don't ignore him.
If you don't give him the materials he asks for, your progression on the "DIY" side of the DLC will stall out, even if you’ve done 100 houses. It’s a separate track. Collect the materials on your home island and bring them over in your pockets. It's a bit of a chore, but the "Thin" and "Wide" pillars are essential for creating fake "rooms" within a single space.
Nuance and Limitations
It’s easy to think this DLC is limitless. It’s not. You still can’t change the exterior of a villager’s house on your main island to be any shape—you’re stuck with their specific house "shell," though you can change the colors and the roof style.
Also, the "Invite via Amiibo" function (unlocked after house 20) is great, but remember that some VIP characters like Isabelle or Tom Nook have very specific requirements and won't always let you change their roommates.
Speaking of roommates: that's house 16. It’s the best way to double your "house count" quickly. If you're tired of picking out new plots of land, just pair up two villagers who have similar vibes. It counts as two "homes" toward your total for most unlock purposes.
Actionable Steps for Completionists
If you want to clear the deck and get everything by the end of the week, follow this flow:
- Speed-run the first 10 houses: Don't worry about aesthetics. Drop the three required items, talk to the villager, and move on. You can always "remodel" later for zero cost to make it look good.
- Dump Materials for Niko: Every time you see a note in the box, fill it immediately. The pillars/counters are the most useful tools in the game for "breaking" the grid-based look of Animal Crossing.
- Spend Poki Daily: Buy the rare items in the shop even if you don't want them. You need to hit a total spend threshold (around 150k) to unlock Wardell’s full catalog.
- Check the Beach: There’s a DIY bottle on the DLC beach every single day. These are specifically for "glowing moss" and "vine" recipes. You won't find these easily anywhere else.
- The 30-House Push: Once you hit 30, go straight to Tom Nook on your home island. Don't wait. The ability to remodel your own island's villagers is the ultimate reward and changes the "home" game entirely.
The DLC isn't just a side quest. It's a massive mechanical upgrade for the base game. By the time you’ve unlocked everything, you’re basically playing a different version of Animal Crossing—one where the grid doesn't matter, the furniture is infinite, and you finally have total control over your environment.
Get to work. Lottie is waiting.