When you purchase a house for the first time ever in Skyrim, you’ll notice that the house you get is pretty barebones.
Aside from an uncomfortable-looking bed, you don’t really get the furnishings or the decorations. The space resembles a warehouse rather than a proper home.
To make your house look more lived-in, you have to add the furnishings by purchasing upgrades.
The process of upgrading your house is pretty similar to buying a house. You need to speak with the stewards of the respective holds and then buy the upgrades from them by spending gold coins.
Note: Depending on your choices during the Civil War questline, the steward of the Holds can be different.
There’s a total of five different houses that you can upgrade and decorate in Skyrim,
- Breezehome at Whiterun
- Honeyside at Riften
- Hjerim at Windhelm
- Proudspire Manor at Solitude
- Vlindrel Hall at Markath
Note: Although the Severin Manor at Solstheim also counts as a player home, you cannot upgrade the house or place decorations in it.
Breezehome
Breezehome is by far the easiest player home to add upgrades as the costs are relatively cheap compared to other player homes.
To upgrade your house in Whiterun, you’ll have to speak with Provencci Aventus, the steward of Jarl Balgruuf. You can usually find him at Dragonsreach, right next to the Jarl.
On some occasions when he’s missing from the court, you can find him in the Great Porch behind Dragonsreach.
If you’ve taken the sides of Stormcloacks during the Civil War questline, then Provencci Aventus will be replaced by Brill, a commoner citizen. You can find him at similar locations as the previous steward.
We’ve also listed all the upgrades available for Breezehome in the table below. All upgrades except for Child Room are available in the base game. For the Child Room upgrade, you’ll need to install the Heartfire DLC expansion.
| Upgrades | Cost (gold coins) |
| Bedroom Furnishing | 300 |
| Dining Room | 250 |
| Kitchen | 300 |
| Living Room | 250 |
| Miscellaneous Decoration | 200 |
| Child Room | 250 (this upgrade will replace the Alchemy Laboratory) |
| Housecarl Room | Free (need to become the Thane of Whiterun) |
| Alchemy Laboratory | 500 (this upgrade will replace the Child Room) |
Note: Breezehome is the only player house where you cannot add the Enchanting table upgrade.
Honeyside
Next, we have Honeyside, the house in Riften. In order to upgrade this house, you’ll have to speak with either Anuriel or Hemming Black–Briar, depending on the current Jarl of the hold.
If Laila Law-Giver is the current Jarl of the hold, then you’ll find Anuriel to be her steward. If Maven Black-Briar overthrows the Jarl, then Anuriel will be replaced by Hemming Black-Briar. You can find either steward inside Mistveil Keep, next to the Jarl.
The upgrades that you can get for your house in Riften are as follows:
| Upgrades | Cost (gold coins) |
| Bedroom Upgrade | 600 |
| Kitchen Upgrade | 500 |
| Alchemy Laboratory | 1000 |
| Enchanting Area | 1000 |
| Garden | 800 |
| Porch | 400 |
| Child Room | 550 |
| Housecarl Room | Free (need to become the Thane of Riften) |
Vlindrel Hall
The player home in Markath, Vlindrel Hall, has the least amount of upgrades out of all player homes in Skyrim. All the available upgrades are pretty basic but cost a decent amount of gold coins.
To upgrade Vlindrel Hall, you must speak with the steward of Jarl Igmund, Raerek. You can find him in Understone Keep at Markath.
If the Stormclocks take over Markath, you must seek Reburrus Quintilius to buy the upgrades for your home. All of the available upgrades are listed below.
| Upgrades | Cost (gold coins) |
| Bedroom Upgrade | 900 |
| Entrance hall | 500 |
| Alchemy Laboratory | 1000 |
| Enchanting Area | 1000 |
| Child Room | 700 |
| Housecarl Room | Free (need to become the Thane of the Reach) |
Hjerim
The Hjerim house in Windhelm has the second-most expensive upgrades in the game. The upgrade cost ranges from 500 gold coins all the way up to 2000 gold coins.
You can add home improvements to Hjerm by speaking with Jorleif, the steward of Ulfric Stormcloack in Windhelm. You’ll find him inside the Palace of the Kings, next to the Jarl.
Unlike other stewards, Jorlief is a permanent steward and won’t be replaced despite the outcome of the Civil War questline.
All the upgrades you can purchase from Jorleif are listed in the table below.
| Upgrades | Cost (gold coins) |
| Bedroom Upgrade | 1000 |
| Kitchen Upgrade | 1000 |
| Living Room Furnishing | 1500 |
| Enchanting Area | 1500 |
| Alchemy Laboratory | 1500 |
| Armory | 2000 |
| Child Room | 1250 |
| Housecarl Room | Free (need to become the Thane of Eastmarch) |
| House Cleanup | 500 |
Proudspire Manor
The final house you can upgrade is the Proudspire Manor in Solitude. This home is perhaps the most expensive house in all of Skyrim (including the cost of the house as well as the cost of the upgrades).
The upgrades for the Proudspire Manor start from 500 gold coins and reach up to a whopping 3000 gold coins.
Like the Hjerim player home, Falk Firebeard is the permanent steward of Solitude and is your go-to person for home improvements. You can find him at the Blue Palace, next to the Jarl.
The upgrades available for the Proudspire Manor are listed in the table below.
| Upgrades | Cost (gold coins) |
| Bedroom Upgrade | 1500 |
| Kitchen Upgrade | 1500 |
| Alchemy Laboratory | 2500 |
| Enchanting Area | 2500 |
| Living Room | 2000 |
| Patio | 500 |
| Child Room | 3000 |
| Housecarl Room | Free (need to become the Thane of Haafingar) |
How to Upgrade Player-Built Houses?
The Heartfire DLC introduced the feature to build your very own house from scratch. These houses need construction materials and have different acquisition methods and prices compared to the pre-built houses in the base game.
Here, you dont have to seek Jarl’s steward to upgrade your home. You can upgrade the house yourself by selecting the upgrade at the drafting table and building it via the carpenter’s workbench. After constructing the upgrade, it will be applied automatically to your house.
You can hire your personal steward to make gathering resources and other home improvement tasks much easier.
