Part 4: Additional Structures

Part 4: Architectural Improvements (Advice)

The additional structures you can add to your abode.

Extending Your Abode: Outbuildings

Animal Pen

A small enclosure is built against the wall of your home. Initially empty, you can ask your Steward to populate it with a cow or up to three chickens (see below).

Apiary

(Lakeview Manor only) For those wishing to harvest bees and honeycomb, build this beehive, which is much more flame-resistant than the ones in the Goldenglow Estate.

Armorer Workbench

If you want to hone your smithing, you can construct a workbench where you can improve any type of armor, provided you have the necessary Smithing Perks.

Fish Hatchery

(Windstad Manor only) A small hatchery is constructed in the marsh lake just below Windstad Manor. Initially empty, you can add fish or fish eggs to it, which will hatch into fish of the same type after a day or so.

Fish Hatchery Ingredients

• Silverside Perch
• Abecean Longfin
• River Betty
• Cyrodilic Spadetail
• Histcarp
• Salmon Roe
• Slaughterfish Egg
• Clam Meat

Garden

A large section of earth is tilled near the side of your house, and 11 patches of fertile soil are ready to receive food or ingredients that you’ve collected on your travels. Once planted, wait a day, and these sprout and can be harvested for several items of the same type. This is particularly handy if you use an ingredient in your potions that is usually difficult to obtain. Note that ingredients that don’t grow in regular weather conditions (such as Crimson Nirnroot) or that aren’t plants (such as Giant Toes) can’t be grown. For more planting spots, build a greenhouse addition.

Grindstone

A grinding wheel with a place to sit and sharpen your blades is positioned close to the other crafting stations a Blacksmith uses (such as the workbench or smelter). As with any other grindstone, you can improve your weapons here.

Mill

(Heljarchen Hall only) A small milling stone is sunk into the earth close to your dwelling. With three sheaves of wheat, you can create a bag of flour, which you use in many of your kitchen’s baking recipes. For this reason, you may wish Heljarchen Hall to be primarily a place where you grow crops in your garden and greenhouse, and you may want to install a kitchen addition.

Smelter

As with all smelters, you can reduce ore and raw materials (such as Dwarven scrap) into metal ingots, which are required to create and improve weapons and armor. Only now, you have a smelter in your backyard.

Stable

Do you want your Steward to purchase a horse of your own? Then construct a stable where your equine chums can whinny to their hearts’ content.

Extending Your Abode: Winging It

Choose your additions carefully; your properties can have aesthetic and functional differences, as shown in three finished home examples:

Once you’ve finished constructing a small house on your plot of land, your drafting table and carpenter’s workbench both have additional structures for you to build:

• The Drafting Table: This allows you to begin work on a main hall (a substantial, two-story extension), after which you can add a cellar and north, east, and west wings. You can also remodel your initial small house into an entryway (which opens up the far end of the original structure). As soon as you choose a plan, a series of perimeter markings appear on the ground where the section will be built.
• The Carpenter’s Workbench: This has a “Misc” menu to check out, which lists a number of outbuildings you can build (some of which are unique to that particular Hold, see above) and all the parts for the house structure you have selected in the drafting table.

Simply continue to collect the necessary components to build the structure you want. Your house can be as large or small as you wish. Once the main hall has been added and your building starts to look more like a manor and less like a hovel, inspect the various options available when constructing new “wing” additions.

When it comes to building a wing, you can build out in three directions (to the north, east, and west). For each wing, you must choose between three mutually exclusive options. For example, your west wing could house bedrooms, a greenhouse, or an Enchanter’s Tower, but only one of those. Look to the Beginner’s Guide to Homesteading (or the pictures below) for more information about what each wing adds to your home.

You can’t demolish an addition once it is built, so plan out what you want your finished manor to look like. Here are some design decisions to think about:

• Aesthetics: You may not think you need west wing bedrooms until you realize it comes with a large exterior porch. This offers elevated views of the scenery around your abode, so if your home is Heljarchen Hall (with arguably the best view), you might want this addition to show off the environment. Similarly, you might want a north, east, and west tower on each part of your domain so it looks imposing or symmetrical. But these decisions come down to your personal preferences.
• Functionality: The skills you’ve perfected and the items you enjoy collecting should dictate the manor you construct. Consult the lists that follow to find out what interior benefits you the most. For example, the Enchanter’s Tower allows you to construct an Arcane Enchanter. Is that crafting station important to you? Then favor the tower over an alternate west wing addition. Also consider how the additions relate to one another. For example, the storage room (north wing) has a porch you can connect to the east and west wings, provided you also build the bedrooms and armory additions.
• Maximizing: If you want to fully appreciate all three of the different options for each wing of the house, then you’ll need to build homes in all three Holds that offer them, and make sure you choose a different wing addition each time. This way, you can see and use every extension to your property that is available. Just don’t duplicate an Enchanter’s Tower if you don’t need two of them!
• Buyer’s Remorse: Don’t worry if you accidentally construct a bedroom when you really wanted a greenhouse! There’s no “wrong” addition, as you can always construct a different combination of rooms at a different manor.

The following sections cover all the different structures you can build together to create your main house.

Small House

This tiny cottage may be all you require, and you don’t need to add to it if you aren’t interested in a sprawling mansion. However, if you do want to add to it, be sure to remodel this into an entryway (as it is more aesthetically pleasing and allows for more interior furnishings).

Main Hall

This expansion substantially improves the footprint of your house and adds a main hall with a dining area, an upstairs landing, two bedrooms, and a back room. When further additions are made, they all connect to your main hall. Note that an Arcane Enchanter, alchemy lab, and anvil can all be placed in this area.

Addition: Cellar

Don’t overlook the musty basement you can dig out underneath the main hall (this is the last part of the main hall to be built). With more furnishings than any other addition, the cellar gives you numerous storage and forging options. Best of all, you can create a shrine to rival the Temple of the Divines in Solitude, with nine divinities to receive blessings from!

Addition: West Wing—Bedrooms

If you plan on adopting a child or just want more space to stretch out, choose this addition. There’s a master bedroom, two children’s beds, and several wardrobes and display cases with which to furnish the interior. The spacious exterior porch allows access on two floors and gives an excellent view of the wilderness around your house. It can be attached to the storage room for an even bigger platform.

Addition: West Wing—Greenhouse

For the horticulturist, the greenhouse has planters you can furnish the room with, allowing you to take the plants that you have and grow them in more clement conditions (see the Plantable Ingredients list). When used in conjunction with the garden outside, you may never again run out of ingredients for your potions.

Addition: West Wing—Enchanter’s Tower

An imposing tower designed with the magician in mind, this addition allows you to furnish the area with an Arcane Enchanter, and there are numerous racks and a mannequin for your staffs and robes. The tower features an exterior viewing platform, which allows for roof access and a vista.

Addition: North Wing—Storage Room

If you have an overabundance of items and need additional places to keep them, construct the storage room. The multitude of chests and cases gives you plenty of places to store and organize your items; you no longer need shove everything in one place. Think about the bedrooms (west) and armory (east), as the upper porch can be extended if you pick those two additions as well.

Addition: North Wing—Trophy Room

After a titanic struggle with a particularly fearsome foe, you may want to display your conquest as a trophy. If so, this room is for you (consult the Trophies section below for all the different, life-sized effigies you can create). Choose this extension if simple “wolf heads on a wall” aren’t showcasing your true hunting prowess.

Addition: North Wing—Alchemy Laboratory

Featuring the same imposing elements as the Enchanter’s Tower, this addition provides a three-floor chamber of solace for an Alchemist, including an alchemy lab and storage for your potions and ingredients. The tower features an exterior viewing platform, too, which allows for roof access and a vista.

Addition: East Wing—Armory

Perfect for adventurers with a penchant for weapon and apparel collecting. Use the anvil or the forge in the cellar, then hang your martial collections throughout the mounts, cases, and mannequins in this chamber. Think about the bedrooms (west) and storage room (north), as the upper porch can be extended if you pick those two additions as well.

Addition: East Wing—Kitchen

Chefs who crave the latest in technology should consider this kitchen, which allows you to prepare food in a brand-new device called an “oven”! Apparently, these are all the rage in Solitude and allow you to use baking recipes. For those who cook their own meals, this is the pinnacle of Nordic cuisine preparation.

Addition: East Wing—Library

Have you run out of space for your rare Lusty Argonian Maid first editions? Then create this imposing tower, which has more bookcases than you can hope to fill and a certain ambience those scholars familiar with the great book repositories of Skyrim will crave. Can you gather and display every book in Skyrim? Alphabetically?