1: imagine how you want your build to look like
2: use wood logs for an outline, you can remove them, or you can keep them
3: make sure that you're using different colored materials for contrast
4: plant flowers and trees like cherry, oak, spruce, or azalea trees around the build based on the theme
5: make sure you have a theme for the materials like cozy theme (various wood for walls and floors with white carpet and stone kitchen floors and roofs and glass pane windows), rich theme (ore blocks arranged to make patterns around your base), or amusement park with mostly a path material, and a wall material (like cherry planks for walls and stands, and cherry logs and cherry wood for paths)
6: use stairs for stairs if you are building small or medium houses and other small or medium builds, slabs for stairs for large houses, amusement parks, and other large builds
7: add redstone machinery to make it interesting or at least a bell for your door
