I don't know about the small houses, but with the notables, a furnished house usually turns out to be a great deal compared to the cost in the crown store.

I enjoy furnishing homes and making them cozy.

For you I would recommend to start with a smaller home, preferably with a garden. Exactly, this is to make sure it isn't overwhelming. As stated above, purchase for gold, not crowns.

Autumn's-Gate, unfurnished is a good mix at a relatively low price, 60.000 gold.

When you get your own home, try imagining how you would want this property to look like, if you were to live there by yourself ^^

Good luck, and please enjoy it

I never buy furnished houses, not because I don't buy anything for crowns in general, but because this is the most enjoyable moment when you enter your new house and find it empty for your own ideas. Getting a house ready with furnitures (even if you can change their positions) is just too easy and doesn't give this unique feeling like when you slowly fill the area with your own crafted or bought furnitures. I never buy anything for crowns, mainly because it's too easy and there is a huge range of items available in many guild stores and from overland achievement vendors.

Also I don't recommend buying small house, rather earn more gold and buy yourself at least medium house with a courtyard. More space more fun. After buying small house you will crave for more space very soon, I'm sure about that .

I bought Serenity Falls Estate furnished using crowns from subscribing. Then I decided I wanted to turn it into an outdoor trading bazaar. So I'm stuck with a lot of furniture and not sure where I want to put it. I do have around twenty other houses though I bought with gold so eventually it should find a home.

I bought the home furnished thinking I would just place the furniture where I wanted. For me turns out part of the fun is deciding what to put in the house as well as where to put it. So getting the furnished house took away from that.

If you're thinking of getting a small or medium home, then yes, I'd recommend purchasing with gold. I've purchased three homes with Crowns, and it is a pretty good deal (relatively speaking) over buying it unfurnished with Crowns, as you do get a decent amount of furnishings (depending on the home), and sometimes can get Crown Store only items. I purchased Amaya Lake Lodge this way, as back when I bought it, Vvardenfell furnishings and plans WERE NOT readily available. I also purchased the Alinor Townhouse furnished, since I was a bit impatient, but I also had a good experience with Amaya Lake Lodge. Yes, it gives you a head start and for some may be considered "too easy," but they were by no means my first homes.

I've done the whole decorate from scratch many times, so for me, it was worth it to get these larger homes partially furnished. Also, I completely rearranged Amaya Lake Lodge and added tons of my own furnishings, so I still spent a lot of time on it getting it to the way I wanted it. To each his own, though. But, I do recommend starting out, as others have said, with a small/medium home unfurnished, so you can get the full experience of crafting furniture, shopping guild traders and in-game vendors, scouring all of Tamriel for furnishing plans. It's great fun, though a huge gold sink. I'd certainly have millions of gold in the bank if not for housing.

Oh...and the third CS house I purchased was Tel Galen - only way to get it. EDIT: I mean the only way to get it was from the CS, but you could certainly buy it unfurnished.

EDIT 2: Also, keep in mind that when buying a home unfurnished, it still comes with plants/trees (if there's an outdoor space) and some lights. Further, buying a home furnished doesn't mean it's completely furnished. I don't recall now how many furnishings were in Amaya Lake Lodge when I bought it, but it was probably only 1/4 to 1/3 full, so there was still a LOT of slots left to fill. Also, with Tel Galen, which I haven't touched that much, but I have added quite a bit of outdoor furnishings and some indoor, I still have 200 or so slots left. So, getting a place furnished doesn't mean that you're done with the place. It just gives you a head start with some basic pieces, lighting, some artwork, and maybe an exclusive CS furnishing or two.