Ald Velothi — Form and Function

Aurielle · July 2019

https://youtu.be/zmwK0MgSEsE

Okay, so this is my very first attempt at fully decorating a home with ALL item slots in use, so please be gentle! I am looking for feedback and some ideas.

I should say right from the outset that my approach to housing and decoration in ESO is basically this: if I’m going to spend a lot of in game gold and RL money on fluff, it better at least have some utility while also looking beautiful.

With that in mind, here’s what I’ve come up with so far. Credit is due to @Incognitius for some of the interior foliage ideas (which I originally saw here: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/371433/ald-velothi-harbor-house-garden-of-eden )

Ald Velothi — Form and Function

Exterior (Day)

The circular structure behind my precursor is the default well in the home flipped upside down.

I figure it makes a nice venting system for the precursor’s charging station.

Guar hutch.

A poisonous mushroom cave...

... with a fully functional hagraven Alchemy station in the back, for crafting poisons from said poisonous mushrooms.

Exterior (Night)

Interior: Main Floor

Again, credit to @Incognitius for the idea of placing that tree in the centre of the house, and lining the walls with ivy.

Blacksmithing station.

Clothing and woodworking stations.

Enchanting station.

Alchemy and jewellery stations.

Enchanted reading nook behind the jewellery station. I’m still not entirely sold on the blue glow... perhaps orange/yellow enchanted lights would be more appropriate?

Kitchen and cooking station.

Basement

Function here comes in the form of a music box on the dresser.

Second Floor

Landing between the main floor and second floor.

The second floor has been divided by bookcases into a vault and an outfitting area.

Though the outfitting station looks a bit dark from this perspective, the lighting is actually perfect when you physically use it.

Some decorative elements, and my PVE storage trunk, which was placed out of the way because I hardly ever PVE anymore.

I’m slightly annoyed by the overlapping wooden accents at the top of the bookcases... any ideas of something I can put on top of the bookcases or embed in them to cover up those overlapping elements?

The vault. Still not sure how I feel about that tapestry... Any ideas what I could put there instead, keeping the 400 item limit in mind?

Balcony

And there you have it! Again, some feedback would be appreciated, especially re: the vault and the enchanted reading nook.

Edit: I made a few changes after posting this, and I’m happy with the results.

Note the large purple flower to the right. It complements the cherry tree quite well, I think.

This isn’t a change, per se, but I realized you couldn’t see the netch very well in the OP.

I needed to free up some spots for the changes I made, so I made the cave a bit smaller. Still works!

I realized this crafting room was a bit too dark, and a well-hidden clockwork lamp fixed that problem.

Updated the reading nook. Definitely looks better with orange lighting.

Close-up.

Lighting was also off here, so I fixed it. Those clockwork lamps are amazing things.

Clockwork shelving fixed my bookcase problem a little better than the figurine. (It looks a little odd at this angle, but trust me, it’s symmetrical. Makes a nice little hexagon.)

Also updated the vault. Still not 100% happy with it, but it looks better without the tapestry, I think.

Delphinia · July 2019

Beautiful home @Aurielle ❤️ Elegance at every turn.. and I love what you did with your well! I also like the way you placed the small statuette over the overlapping curves on your bookcases...very creative!

Watchdog · July 2019

Much awesomeness in a single house. Pity I can only give you one Awesome for that post.

Aurielle · July 2019

Thank you.

I’ve made some edits to my OP. I’m still not sure about the vault/banking area... it feels empty, but as soon as I start fleshing it out more, it starts looking cluttered. I think a big part of that might be the wall itself; when it’s lit up, it looks a bit busy. Doesn’t help that it’s super low-res, too.

I kinda want to fill it in with something else, but I also like the convenience of being able to neatly arrange my storage containers.

Can anyone think of a way to pretty it up a bit while still maintaining that “vault” feel?

What I’d really like is to make the back wall look something like the image below, but I don’t know if it’s possible with the materials available to us and the low item limit for the house.

WTB more wall styles...

Aurielle · July 2019

Okay, so I think I might finally be happy with upstairs, haha. It wasn’t what I originally had in mind, but I think the ashen moss vines brighten the back wall up some and provide some higher resolution contrast for my Undaunted busts. I also realized that I could embrace the ugly overlapping pieces on the bookcases by plonking a matching cactus in between them.

Aurielle · July 2019

Last but not least, now that I’m happy with the finished product, a little tour:

https://youtu.be/zmwK0MgSEsE

I can see now how people get sucked into housing.

I just wish the textures were higher res... I seem to recall everything looking better pre-Elsweyr when I visited guildie’s homes, but I could be imagining things.