Hearthfire added many new housing options to the world of Skyrim. After making a deal with a Jarl and purchasing a plot of land, you are presented with the exciting possibility of building a house with exactly what you want inside. You will need a lot of materials, with every part needing the proper components, and the ones left for you to get started soon begin to run dry.
Related: Skyrim: Which Hearthfire Home Is The Best?
So, where to next? Not all sources are created equal. Why spend unnecessary time and Septims when you could be doing something more fun, like baking crostata or trying to save your house staff from horkers?
9 Stone And Clay - Your Own Property
Quarried Stone and Clay are the backbones of your construction efforts. You will need to gather a lot of these if you want to get anywhere in building your Nordic dream home. Fortunately, these are some of the easiest materials to come by. Quarried Stone is needed for floors, foundations, and most major house features, while Clay is required for smelters, plinths, and walls.
Any land you purchase will have both a Stone quarry and a Clay deposit somewhere on the property, and they will output a large number of units before running low. If you don't want to sit and watch your Dovahkiin hit something with a pickaxe for ten minutes, there are other options. If you've appointed a steward to your property, they can purchase Stone or Clay for you, at 20 Septims for 20 blocks of Clay, or 100 Septims for 20 chunks of Stone.
8 Sawn Logs - Lumber Mills
One of the other major cornerstones of your building projects is Sawn Logs. These can be bought from one of the various lumber mills around Skyrim, at 200 Septims for 20 Sawn Logs. If you've appointed a steward, they can do the legwork for you, then you can buy the logs from home.
Related: Skyrim: Best Stewards For Hearthfire Homes
If money is an issue, it's possible to operate the mill yourself and saw your own logs, with each cut giving you ten for your log pile. You can't just jump in though, as you'll need to befriend the lumber mill owner first. This can be done by cutting a lot of firewood for them, though some also have quests that will help. Aeri of Anga's Mill needs a letter delivered to Morthal, and Horgeir at Dragon Bridge will appreciate it if you return his Dragon's Breath Mead to him.
7 Straw - General Goods Stores
Straw is a useful commodity that comes up in a few plans for furniture, including beds and archery targets. It's also not necessarily obvious where you can get hold of it.
Straw will show up in general goods stores, the ones with scales on the signage. Belethor's General Goods in Whiterun is one of these, though it's advisable to look in a few of them as there's no guarantee of Straw being in stock on any given day. It can sometimes be stolen from houses and stores as well.
6 Iron Ingots - Mines and Smiths
Iron Ingots are needed for nails, hinges, and most other metal pieces used in construction. They can be a bit of a pain to come across in large quantities.
Blacksmiths may sell a few at a time, or you can stop off at an Iron mine. Left Hand Mine near Markarth and Stonehills in Hjaalmarch are both convenient, as they have Iron and a smelter right outside. If that all sounds like too much hard work, and you don't mind less-than-legal ways to get your hands on it, The Scorched Anvil in Riften has a big stack of ingots on the lower floor that you could liberate. They probably won't miss them too much.
5 Corundum - Darkwater Crossing
Corundum is more valuable and noticeably harder to find in ingot form than Iron. Fortunately, it’s also not needed in anywhere near the same quantities. Most of what you will need it for is making locks, which require one ingot and are often needed when adding additional rooms. A good source is Darkwater Crossing, as it has a smelter on-site and you’re unlikely to be bothered while you’re there.
Related: Skyrim: Best Mines To Dive Into
If you're the larcenous kind of player, you can also pick up a few ingots that sit out in the open by the smelter — especially if the miners have gone to bed. Well, they shouldn't leave them lying around if they don't want someone to pick them up.
4 Glass - Shops And Caravans
Despite the name, Glass in Skyrim is not used to make glass weapons — they're made from Malachite, which does make you wonder about the name. Was it too long for the Nords?
Items in your house, on the other hand, are made from actual Glass. It can be found in cupboards in homes, whether taken legally or lifted while the owner isn't looking. It will sometimes pop up in general goods stores' inventories, and can also often be sold by the Khajiit caravans — if you can find one camped out.
3 Pelts - Hunting Animals
Pelts of some kind are used to craft mounted animal heads. The important thing to keep in mind here is that you will need the respective pelt of the animal you want a trophy of. As many animal encounters in the wild depend on your level, things like bears and sabrecats might be a little trickier to find early on. You can have a go at taking on the Helgen cave bear if you want a trophy to show off as early as possible.
If you're less worried about species specifically, The Rift is a good place to hunt, as its birch forests are invariably teeming with wildlife. Finally, a reason to actually want to be mobbed by the super-aggressive wolves of Skyrim.
2 Leather - Blacksmiths
Leather Strips are used in a number of household items, as well as being helpful in some weapon crafting. They're made from Leather, which is in turn made by working Hides on a tanning rack. If you have plenty of skins stocked up, it might not be an issue, as there's a tanning rack available at your property fairly early on.
If you don't have Hides on hand, it's probably easier to head over to the nearest blacksmith. They always have Leather Strips in stock, and they're very cheap, so there's no reason to take a whole hunting trip unless you want to.
1 Goat Horns - Goats
No prizes for guessing where you get Goat Horns from. If you want to make lighting fixtures, a goat is going to have to go and meet the Divines. You can find these passive herbivores wandering wild around Skyrim, and you will almost inevitably find at least one on a farm.
Keep in mind that goat murder is taken quite seriously in the northern kingdom, so being seen attacking one will earn you a bounty in the local hold. If hunting isn't fruitful, and you don't want to embark on a life of crime, you can sometimes find them for sale at general goods stores.
Next: Skyrim: Things You Completely Missed In The Hearthfire DLC
