Where do I go from here?
Before reading this section, please make sure you have completed the entire tutorial. To navigate to various sections of the walkthrough, see below.
Tutorial
You may be wondering to yourself: What do I do now? Where do I go from here? This may be especially true if this is your first Animal Crossing game. AC:NH is a sandbox game, which means that beyond the tutorial, the direction of the game is almost entirely up to you. Unfortunately, this can feel overwhelming for some players. Not to worry – if you find yourself at a loss of direction, are confused, or are simply bored and would like some goals to work toward, this section may help you.
Upgrade Nook’s Cranny
Much like past games, you can upgrade Nook’s Cranny to it’s larger, more polished version. In order to do this, you must meet the following requirements:
- Made at least 200k bells in total transactions (this includes both buying and selling).
- Mabel must visit at least once.
- Nook’s Cranny must be open for at least 30 days.
Once all 3 requirements have been met, the Nooklings will inform you of the shop upgrade.
What’s the difference?
An upgraded Nook’s Cranny unlocks the following:
- A third slot for houseware/wall-mounted items.
- Seasonal items are now sold, and appear in the lower left corner of the shop.
- The cabinet is now to the right upon entry.
Nook’s Cranny base shop: 
Nook’s Cranny upgraded: 
Upgrade the Museum (Art Wing)
The last and final upgrade to the museum installs an art section. To unlock the museum upgrade you’ll need to donate a total of 60 critters/fossils to Blathers. Since you have already donated 20 artifacts in the process of unlocking the museum, you’ll need to donate 40 more for a grand total of 60.
See previous days in the tutorial starting here for further guidance.
As of the 2.0.0 update, players who opened their museum after this update was released will automatically have the upgraded version, and DO NOT have to donate 60 things for it to upgrade.
How do I obtain art?
The next free day after Blathers talks about the art expansion, Redd the fox will pay you a visit. You can purchase art to donate to the museum from Redd. The first time he visits, he will be wandering around your island. Each subsequent time, you’ll be able to board his boat to peruse his selection of art.
Per the previous note, players who automatically get the art expansion will see Redd after opening the museum, and he will let you onto his boat on his first visit. The player will not have to buy his painting in order to board his boat on subsequent visits.
When will I see Redd again?
See here for the NPC schedule.
Upgrade your house
You can now upgrade your house to have more rooms and storage spaces! Additionally, you can unlock various exterior customizations. You can obtain these upgrades once you have paid the previous loan, then talk to Tom Nook using the option “About my home”. The upgrades can be found here.
You can’t continue to the next upgrade until you have paid off the upgrade you just got. i.e. If you just bought the back room addition, you’ll need to pay the 348,000 bell loan off completely in order to get the left room addition. Also note that you do not need to continue to the next upgrade if you do not want to.
What next?
Beyond the above goals, there is still much to do, but we’ll leave it to you to decide what is most important. Here are just a few suggestions we’ve gathered from the community – feel free to use this as a to-do list!
Day 5-7 More questions? Check out the FAQ!