I don't use EHT either. I have tried it and while it worked well it just wasn't for me. Philosophically I'm against user addons since I consider them ways for the game companies to ignore functions that should be part of the base game.

Sadly many of the houses are on the dark side without any means to increase the ambient light level. You might try using one of the brighter light sources like the Culanda and/or Varla stones as a temporary source to get a lot of light. If you stack the two you will get a bright white light that can be toned down by placing in walls or ceilings for a nice effect.

For placing items I have found the perspective you have when you select the item makes a big difference. For example if I need to place something perfectly parallel to a wall I will frequently walk up to it, get my view to overhead then select the object. Other times I might crouch first to place an item correctly under another. I've also found getting into walk mode helps with fine tuning item locations. In the end it is just a lot of practice getting use to the way the housing editor works and placing items where you want them.

+1 on the idea of placing a "work light" first. There's a small clockwork one (Clockwork Illuminator, Compact) I often use, that doesn't take up much space, and you can pick it up and move it as needed.

You'll likely also use it to decide where the light sources need to be, replacing it with something that matches the decor, after you know where the light needs to come from.

Magenpie wrote: »

Hi there

I'm trying to furnish a room for the first time and I'm having a few problems with placing furniture. I can't get far enough out or high enough with the camera to see what I'm doing properly. And the rooms are so dark!!

I know there's an amazing addon, but it's a little bewilderingly complicated for me at the moment. I wondered if anyone could recommend a video guide and maybe a light weight addon to help me get started? I've had a look on ESOUI, but can only find the ones which have been added into Essential Housing (I'm not being rude about EH btw, I'm sure it's amazing.)

And is there a way of turning up the lighting just for placing furniture?

Sorry if I'm asking really obvious things.

Many thanks!

@Magenpie I use Culanda/Varla Stone, Glowing (sometimes both together) to brighten up my workspace (and I tend to build really dark). Easy to move, small and affordable. They are Luxury Furnisher items, but there should be plenty available from the guild vendors. Hope this helps.

Re: EHT - It is a truly amazing addon. If you are willing to try but need kind of an "easy mode" you will need to do three things:
1. Go to your Settings - Addons - Essential Housing Tools - scroll down to section "Editing Items" and make sure that your Directional Editing is set to "Relative". (This mode moves the selected object depending on what direction your character is facing).
2. Go to Controls - Keybindings - Essential Housing Tools - bind Select/Deselect key (for me it's Num +)
3.Check if your Select tab (first tab while in main EHT window) is set to: Selection Mode to Single Item, View: Selected Items Only (these should be set by default, anyway).




If you want to change the way the main EHT window looks like you can do it by clicking the "underscore"/"minimise" symbol in the right upper corner of the main window (there are 4 different "layouts" just keep clicking the "underscore"). I find the full window the most comfortable to use, though.

You can adjust the movement precision with the slider at the very bottom of the window.