The Island Builder tool in Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is an impressively comprehensive way to start, build, expand and modify your island in the game, but where the possibilities are endless, decision paralysis can sometimes occur – what do you start doing when you can do almost anything?
In this list, we've found some inspiration for your Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream island decoration schemes to help you get started on designing the island paradise of your dreams. Create neighborhoods, parks, boardwalks, archipelagos and more with the items you unlock for building!
Updated June 27, 2026: Now that the game has been out for a while and we've seen more creative ideas on how to design your islands online, we're updating our list of island design ideas for Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream to include almost double the number of ideas we had right before launch. Have fun building and living the dream!
Default island goodness
If the default island layout in Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream wasn't so basically adorable, Nintendo would have given us something else, so there's no shame at all in sticking with this instant classic for a while!
Especially if you dress it up with the paths you unlock from the wishing fountain and various outdoor decorations like plants, seating, playground equipment and more, there's nothing wrong with sticking with the default island layout for a while. If you're just getting into making Miis for the island, it's a good idea to start small anyway to help you gain ground.
Jail Beach
Do you have a Mii that just won't stop asking if you're going to put the vending machine on the beach or just a grid or two away from the one you have for the beach umbrella? just put it there yourself? Is someone fighting with your favorite Mii and you need them to think about what they did? Make an island area for naughty Miis with a tidal pool of despair to think about their decisions for a while.
Make a small broken area on the island with a beach below ground level, but ignore any stairs leading in and release any Miis that need time out. They won't be there permanently, but it's a fun idea to have them on the bench.
It is a good time to feed them some of the spoiled food if they are also hungry.
Solitary confinement
But what about the times when prison beach just won't cut it? What if you made your romantic partner, but things go south and you need a moment to delete them? What if you have a themed island and your traditional loner character needs a little extra space?
Head into the water with the land tool and create a small island far, far away from the main area, unconnected by any land areas or beaches, and move the Mii in question there. They can occasionally appear on the main island, but we like to keep them isolated.
Busy promenade
While there aren't as many playground or theme park attractions in the game without creative use of design tools, you still have access to plenty of outdoor furniture and wooden paths to create your own boardwalk space. Between the Ferris wheel, the Tomoria restaurant, and all the beach furniture you can buy and place, there's plenty of room for creativity.
You could even use the Mii Network News tower to set the mood of the ride or just to have something different to decorate the area outside of the benches, palm trees, and colorful lights. Place colorful banners to welcome guests and you have a promenade worth visiting.
Suburban Islands
While you'll still technically be called a unique island in the eyes of the game, there's nothing stopping you from creating all kinds of outdoor neighborhoods outside of the main city space to really separate your urban and suburban areas.
Place all your shops and attractions on the main fountain island, then create outer islands for all your Mii homes. Connect them all with little beach paths and your Miis will be able to travel in and out of town without any problems. In suburban areas, you should leave some green areas with trees and plants and use stone paths to give the shopping island a more downtown feel.
Natural bridges
However, you can create independent precincts on your island if you don't quite like the idea of beach roads! This option provides more mixed areas for your Miis with different utility areas interwoven with houses and shops.
Everything is connected by thin ground bridges, which tend to work best if you leave them at least two spaces wide so your Miis can pass through the center without any pushing issues. You can even pave them with cobblestone tools to give your Miis stone or metal bridges. Your cutest Miis could even get a golden floor bridge if you're feeling generous!
Harbor bungalows
This island layout of Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream adds a tropical feel, placing Mii's houses at the end of wooden docks jutting out into the water from the central dock in the neighborhood. You can see this style a lot in Southeast Asia, and some users have even taken things a step further with custom exteriors for the region.
Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream – Complete list of souvenirs
Send your Miis far and wide with Travel Tickets in Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream and collect the souvenirs they bring back for you.
Guide your tropical Miis back to well-decorated beaches, place Tomori right next to the sand, and you can even make the island more of an all-inclusive resort than a residential area for permanent living if you want.
Expand the Fountain
The size of the fountain is one of the biggest gripes we've seen so far when people are looking for Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream island layout ideas, but why not turn the bug in the feature and make a cute pond to walk around the fountain instead?
You can carve out the fountain space and tastefully use decor and greenery to highlight it even more. You'll still see a lot of Miis here, and they'll have the stage space to do so – it's especially good for higher level islands that might not need access to the Fountain for more than normal daily gifts.
Seasonal parks
There are tons of buildings and decorations to place in Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, and the more Miis you make, the faster your island starts to fill up, but it's always a good idea to leave some green space for your Miis to enjoy throughout the year, especially with seasonal decorations.
Grab the plants, shrubs, and flowers you get from the Fountain at any time of the year — the ones you unlock after MNN Broadcast tells you it's the start of a new season — and revamp your island's green spaces to be more natural outdoors. Line the paths with seasonal decor like sakura petals or snowy borders, and you'll have an area you can consistently redecorate without getting busy.
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Maintaining order
After completing a few wishes, you'll be able to start unlocking all kinds of new paths from the Island Builder menu in the Wish Fountain, and with them you'll be able to get creative with the way you pave the streets and walkways on your island, like what you can see above.
Mii's houses all line up with the sidewalks and paved roads in the area, there are neat mixed neighborhoods with shops and similar houses, and the whole island always seems visually neat. Build some decorations and fences to keep things in line with your decorations and your island will always look well organized.
