I suck at decorating

chamoo81

Usually when I buy a house I just go for the furnished package. I can't for the life of me do it all myself. Any tips on becoming a better decorator would be appreciated.

Jaimeh

chamoo81 wrote: »

Usually when I buy a house I just go for the furnished package. I can't for the life of me do it all myself. Any tips on becoming a better decorator would be appreciated.

First of all, it's helpful to have an idea of what you want the style of the house to be like (for eg. a hut, a farmhouse, etc.), and then evolve it as you go on. You don't have to use items that necessarily match the type of the house you have, but if you are a new decorator it might help, so if say you want to decorate a Khajiit house, maybe have a look at the Khajiit furnishings available (this is a great resource). Also, some styles go well with others, like for example Khajiit and Redguard, so you can start mix and matching items. Another way you can get inspiration for decorating is a) to look at the houses/buildings that exist in the game, and notice how items are placed and so on, and b) to visit other people's houses or check out forum posts or videos (some examples of awesome series are here and here) from people who share their projects. You'll be amazed by the creativity of this community, and will find numerous briliant ideas and tips. Finally, when you are decorating with an item, move it around, turn it upside down, stack it with something else, just to see what kind of different things you can do wit it. The more you play around with furnishings, and try different items out, the better you will become at decorating, but also come up with your own novel ways to use furnishings.

chamoo81

Thank you. I will be a pro yet!

Tigerseye

Jaimeh gives some excellent suggestions.

I would say (in most cases) definitely don't, exclusively, limit yourself to furnishings of the same race.

It's nice to give a nod to the race of the people, who built the house in question, by having at least some items of furniture (and especially, some fixtures and fittings) in that style.

However, if you stick exclusively to that specific racial style, it's going to be very boring and predictable and it isn't even always going to be the best match for the house, visually speaking.

For example, a house with a very dark, earthy interior, like Ald Velothi, with equally dark woodwork, can look quite depressing if you just stick, exclusively, with (the even darker) Hlaalu/Redoran/Dres furnishings in there.

Whereas, it can look absolutely gorgeous if you keep the overall furnishings slightly lighter, brighter and (softly) colourful.

Try to look at things neutrally and see what really does (and doesn't) go with what, in terms of colour (of the fabric, wood and/or metalwork), but also in terms of overall shape and patterns/motifs and so on.

If you keep an open mind, you will find that certain pieces, of a certain racial style, can actually look better with certain other pieces, of a different racial style, than they do with certain other objects of the same racial style.

I would also say imagine what you would, ideally, like the place to look like and then work out how you can best make that happen, with the available furnishings; rather than selecting a rigid set of furnishings and then trying to work out how you can best make them work in a house.

Remember, unless you are going to cover all the walls and woodwork in bookcases, or something, you can't really change fundamental things like the wall colour and the woodwork colour and so on, in this game.

So, even more than they do in real life (or in games like the Sims, where you can decorate) the furnishings really do, generally, need to work with the existing look of the house; not the other way around.

Not match, necessarily - but work.

notimetocare

I work for a moving company that often does high end jobs
I've worked in staging million dollar homes as well as with interior designers for some customers.

That said, what you want to do matters.
Open space is just as important as any item you put in. There are good and bad amounts of space. Is it a bedroom? Kitchen? Entertainment living room? Each needs a certain kind of space.

Matching is important. Not Imperial with Imperial, etc. Sometimes the Redguard chair works well with khajiit pillows and so on. Look for complimenting colors above most things, but don't go too crazy and ignore wood shape.

Knickknacks. A bedroom looks better with extra clutter on a vanity than say the hallway. You will have some candles and mini items all over, but with item limits you need to prioritize. Dining areas and kitchens are the highest priority (often where staged homes actually have extra decorative junk). Decide if you want an area to look more actively lived in. Is it a mages house? Focus more in the study than the bedroom. Mercenary? Add trophies to the wall over a box of oranges in the kitchen.

A couple examples:
You can make a bedroom look really good with 10-15 items. Think about how your bedroom looked as a kid (after you were forced to put everything away) and then think of the 5 items you used the most and place them where they often were.

Your kitchen, how many things were always left out? Obviously, the TES setting is going to fare differently? Of course, but to get a good idea, look up YouTube channels that do 15th it 18th century cooking .Townsends is a good 18th century channel that has a replica kitchen. You can see that even in a setting that doesn't have much for cupboard storage, its kept neat with the necessities out and organized.

Living/family room, this is one of those hard ones because it is so varied and subjective as to what we do with ours nowadays. This is where a theme comes in. Does your character entertain scholars? They got 6 kids running around? A thief that throws parties? Different needs for clutter and kinds of furniture.

If I weren't so tired I could probably add more, but I think I covered most of the important stuffs

MLGProPlayer

It's an art form.

I love interior decorating IRL, so it makes sense that I enjoy it in the game too. You can watch some HGTV for inspiration, but it's ultimately just a matter of you liking it or not.

Tigerseye

notimetocare wrote: »

I work for a moving company that often does high end jobs
I've worked in staging million dollar homes as well as with interior designers for some customers.

Oh, nice.

You say you work with interior designers, can I ask what your specific job is, just out of curiosity?

notimetocare

Tigerseye wrote: »

notimetocare wrote: »

I work for a moving company that often does high end jobs
I've worked in staging million dollar homes as well as with interior designers for some customers.

Oh, nice.

You say you work with interior designers, can I ask what your specific job is, just out of curiosity?

Mover. We put everything in place. We move every kind of client, but at least 1/3rd of the time it is 600k-1.5m dollar homes (which for the midwest is high end). In the last month, I've had 3 houses where the owner hired int decorators

Minyassa

A little mental role-playing can help a lot with decorating. It can be daunting to look at an empty house and try to envision what it ought to look like decorated, so what might help is if you approach the house as you would a real one. What do you need when you first move in? A bed, right, and someplace to sit. Bathing facilities. Something to cook on/with, or at least a table where you can eat your takeout, maybe with a chair set so you can look out the window during breakfast. Where do you put your clothes? Where do you put your armor and weapons (that they don't let us have yet, but we can pretend they are put away out of view)? Do you have a crafting trade or hobby that you need to accommodate? Figure out where the light is best in the middle of the day, put your desk or crafting table or rocking chair for knitting there. Just build up little by little, first by need and then for comfort and then for pretty. It takes a lot of pressure off to put away thoughts of "what should this look like finished" and decorate bit by bit and see it slowly come together. You can always rearrange as you go and add more pieces, as you find items through questing, as people give you stuff.

Alkapton

There are a lot of great youtube videos of peoples stunning housing to give some ideas. There are some videos showing how to make things ie. couches can be made from two beds and maybe some cushions.

For me, I had an idea what I wanted my house to be and over 6 months it has evolved into something similar to the original idea but better. To begin with it depends what you pick up - you get used to a limited selection. As your character evolves especially if you specialize in crafting you get more recopies, now I have 950 - just over half, but almost no vegetation. No rocks or boulders. So to create your dream you need to use the housing editor to buy from crown store (very many things available there) Then you get addicted to buying luxury vendor items once a week.

Like all things in this game it takes time to master furnishing - then if you are PC there is essential housing tools which adds a whole new dimension to decorating houses.

Futerko

The first comment give you the best answer, find your idea for house, like creepy castle, garden party etc and find your inspiration, good option is pinterest/youtube. You can also join for housing guild or discord, in both you find many ppl and dieas who can help you create the ebst house you want.

and if you have enough time, check older threads on the forum there was many post, about how create awesome house.

Shadow_Akula

I’m not good at decorating either but here’s my advice on what to do, as others have mentioned:
First think of some inspiration, a certain look/feel you’d like to see/feel when you enter your home.
Then go about collecting the necessary gear that you think can help you achieve this look/feel and place in the spots you think would suit best.
Keep going until your happy with the place

Or if there’s no ideas jumping out at you, take a few items from your pre-furnished homes and mess about with them and see what you can create, you never know this may be your inspirational spark and assist you in turning a house into a home

At the end of the day only 1 person needs to be happy with the decorating of the house, and that’s you.

SA96

Ostacia

I only have one thing to add to the above advice: Put the big stuff down first. Many times, I'll lay a carpet first and make an arrangement of furnishings for that area. A lot of spaces in the houses are long and narrow, so it's good to make smaller self-contained areas. I've also made large plantings indoors that can take up a good deal of space and create a cozier atmosphere.

Tigerseye

notimetocare wrote: »

Mover. We put everything in place. We move every kind of client, but at least 1/3rd of the time it is 600k-1.5m dollar homes (which for the midwest is high end). In the last month, I've had 3 houses where the owner hired int decorators

Well, sounds like you learned a lot while doing it - maybe you should consider a career change?

Also, have you shared any of your houses, on here?

I would love to see them.

whitecrow

I wish there was a way to buy or trade "services." I love decorating the outside (if there is one) but am usually at a loss at what to do with the interior (except bedrooms, they're easy enough I guess.)

Kagukan

The way I do it is one room at a time. I look up items on ESO Fashion and then try to find them in game. I complete a room the way I want it and move on to the next room. I am very slow at it also. Takes me many days to complete a house.

notimetocare

Kagukan wrote: »

The way I do it is one room at a time. I look up items on ESO Fashion and then try to find them in game. I complete a room the way I want it and move on to the next room. I am very slow at it also. Takes me many days to complete a house.

A good way to do it. Personally, I'd add the suggestion to start where you will have the most detail and fill it out. Then go down in item count. Leaving entryway sitting areas and hallways last. A set of couches and a table can make an entire room seem well furnished if set right

notimetocare

Tigerseye wrote: »

notimetocare wrote: »

Mover. We put everything in place. We move every kind of client, but at least 1/3rd of the time it is 600k-1.5m dollar homes (which for the midwest is high end). In the last month, I've had 3 houses where the owner hired int decorators

Well, sounds like you learned a lot while doing it - maybe you should consider a career change?

Also, have you shared any of your houses, on here?

I would love to see them.

Currently finalizing the interior of my snow globe, probably share it here and reiterate my points with it

As for a career change, I unfortunately like my job xD

Tigerseye

notimetocare wrote: »

Tigerseye wrote: »

notimetocare wrote: »

Mover. We put everything in place. We move every kind of client, but at least 1/3rd of the time it is 600k-1.5m dollar homes (which for the midwest is high end). In the last month, I've had 3 houses where the owner hired int decorators

Well, sounds like you learned a lot while doing it - maybe you should consider a career change?

Also, have you shared any of your houses, on here?

I would love to see them.

Currently finalizing the interior of my snow globe, probably share it here and reiterate my points with it

As for a career change, I unfortunately like my job xD

I look forward to seeing it.