How to make my town look better, I guess

Sorry if you want pictures of what my town is currently like. I might post them later but...

Okay basically here's what I want my town to look like. I want it to look kind of rural and abandoned, a quiet, nature-filled overgrown forest with run-down old houses. The kind you might find fairies living in. Like something out of a fantasy.

This is also the reason I don't have paths in my town, I'm trying not to keep the man-made elements at a minimal. (Aside from buildings, which are of course, mandatory.)

So, I tried planting trees everywhere to get the "overgrown" look, but it didn't work. It just looks crowded and cheesy now. Everything clashes.

You see, the problem is that the trees in this game are tiny and NONE of the houses look like run-down wood with ivy and vines taking over the exterior.

So, does anyone have any ways to make this idea work? Maybe I should add tree stumps? Or should I give up on this theme?

If so, perhaps give me a new idea or theme for my town. I'm open for suggestions. Maybe I'll just take advantage of the cheesy graphics and make it a cute, whimsical little town instead...

I think this pic of part of my town might give you an idea of how to get that "overgrown" look. Gotta plant bushes and, (I love bamboo) bamboo for it to look overgrown, imo.

Bamboo and bushes are a great way to make your town look forest-y without being over crowded. Also, try playing around with ideas like mushroom circles. They're super cute and they look great when you go from lots of trees and bushes to a small clearing with mushrooms in a circle. Very whimsical. Stumps are also great - snag a few silver axes from the island and use the gold for the first two swings to do the brunt of the work then use the silver for the last cut - it will make a pattern every time. These also look good with clovers and mushrooms around them.

Also think about your PWPs - something like a well would look great with your theme I think. Go onto Google, Pinterest or even Tumblr and see what other people are doing with their towns - you get a lot of great ideas that you can appropriate for your own town. Hope this helps!

In addition to the tips from other people about looking overgrown (which I totally agree with by the way, using bamboo and bushes/flowers is key), you could also have dead trees throughout your town sporadically by planting perfect fruit trees and then harvesting the fruit until the tree dies. I think this would help by making your town look less "attended to," sort of like a "the town is dead and so are the trees" kind of thing. Idk haha, just an idea. Also, PWPs like the log bench, sandbox (it looks dreary in my opinion, it's so bare), stone tablet, stonehenge, scarecrow maybe, and streetlight (it just looks kind of old and worn down) might make it seem more empty/abandoned

Bushes, "dead" fruit trees, stumps, random looking flowers that are the same color and types.
I'd use the stone hendge thing and fire pit and log bench, bus stop, and probably qrs with a rock pattern sprinkled around "paths", clovers are cute, using bamboo cut off makes a cute fence.
I know you said no man made things but using run down man made things like the light pole that looks broken and old, that kind of stuff can make it more run down feeling.
That's off the top of my head though.