Are you tired of seeing your poor spouse setting up shop in your living room? That's not worthy of the Dragonborn at all! I decided to try my hand at making small counters or 'shops' by the entrance of each house. You may occasionally find your spouse sitting there waiting for customers.

I'll admit that the spouse will not stay put all day; this is just cosmetic. Houses also will have a sign outside to point out general goods are sold inside.

Careful when placing weapons or equipment in the chest (or, in the case of Hjerim, safe, and Vlindrel Hall, Dwemer-style cupboard) next to your spouse's chair - they may think it's a donation to the store and sell it off! I also included a special book written by yours truly - check under the counter. Something to be said about it, too - due to how I made the mod (each counter is a separate module), you will get a skill point each time you read a copy. Loadsa Speech!

A bit of detail on each:

Breezehome (Steam Workshop)
This was my first attempt at the Creation Kit ever. It's quite basic; I removed the table (useless in my opinion, what's with Bethesda and tables everywhere?) and put a common counter, some equipment, and a comfortable chair.


Honeyside (Steam Workshop)
After making the counter in Breezehome, I decided to try and make one for my second favorite house - Honeyside (gotta love dem chickens). I decided to up the ante a bit; nicer counter and more expensive merchandise than the previous mod. Honeyside is, after all, a pricier house than Breezehome.

The cupboard behind the spouse's chair is safe to use - it was included with the vanilla house, and I just spun it around. Also, due to space constraints, I had to get rid of one of the kitchen chairs. Hope you don't mind!


Vlindrel Hall (Steam Workshop)
The house's entrance hall was way too narrow to put a counter near the main entrance, as I did with my previous two mods, so I took the liberty of stealing the small enchanting laboratory adjoining the living room. I moved the enchanting table to the alchemy lab in order to keep it in the house, and to compensate, I added two Dwemer-style player-owned containers, so there is plenty of storage for enchanted items and potions.

The former enchanting area is now basically a full-fledged store. I liked the shape of the room, and the amenities already available (shelves, two weapon plaques, two shield plaques, and four weapon racks) sounded good for display. I organized the store a bit; when you enter, to the left, you have a section about enchanting and soul gems; next, we have alchemy; then equipment (weapon and shield plaques, chosen by the Dragonborn); and a mix of Dwemer culture and apparel. The counter itself has an assortment of items. And, finally, I tried my hand at making a working mannequin, but since it didn't work, I replaced it with a Dwemer statue.

Another thing; the chest behind the door is player-owned, so feel free to store your things there.


Hjerim (Steam Workshop)
In this particular case, I advice you to install this mod only after you have purchased and improved the house. I was hoping to make something colorful and cheery, and I think it worked. I like the results a lot.

I took a break from modding these, and by the time I got back to it, I had learned a couple of things, so this time I placed some weapon plaques, a rack, and a mannequin, so you can help your spouse set up shop. If you enter and see the mannequin wandering, just activate it; that should set it motionless again.

The two cupboards behind the chair are safe to use; one of them was included in the vanilla house, and I just moved it around. Same with the barrel.


Proudspire Manor (Steam Workshop)
The store is in the basement, right by the door that leads to the street. It may not look very big, but I did what I could with the room I had; this corner was walled off for some reason, so I just removed the walls and set it up there. Hopefully this means there should be no conflicts with any other mods, unless they make massive changes to the place.

I placed some weapon racks, a bookshelf, an anvil and two mannequins, so you can help your spouse set up shop. Just as before, if you enter and see the mannequins wandering, just activate them; that should set them motionless again. Due to engine limitations and personal taste, several items are static and cannot be removed, just so you know.

In this particular case, I wanted to see if I could make the spouse own the chair, so they would actually spend some time there, but since the spouse faction is not set to own anything in the game (how unfair!), I enabled the ownership flag to see if it would work. I haven't married in my new play-through, so feedback on this is appreciated.


Hearthfire Houses (Steam Workshop)
THIS MODULE OBVIOUSLY REQUIRES HEARTHFIRE.

For your convenience, this mod changes the tree houses at once! (Although, I must admit, being in the middle of nowhere, who is going to bother to walk all the way to your spouse's place to buy stuff? No idea...) Since the three houses are basically the same, the counters are the same too. I think it makes sense, doesn't it? I tweaked the navmesh around and added some more lights; I don't know if it's just me, or the entryway is really dark...

I organized the store a bit, separating potions, ingredients, weapons and enchanting. The top shelf has a couple of toys added by Hearthfire for some variety.

Of course, since Hearthfire is a mess of variables and triggers in the brink of exploding, you really should install the mod after you have finished building, since I removed several things to make room. Of course, if you happened to build things I removed, they will still be there. (The beauty of Hearthfire, keeping the items around even when they have been deleted...) In that case you may end up having to use the console to 'disable' the offending items.


Notes
I originally made this mod for the Steam Workshop. To install, place the files in your 'SteamSteamAppsCommonSkyrimData' folder. Then activate the mod through your preferred launcher by ticking the checkbox next to the esp.