Announcing the Winners of the ESO Home Decoration Contest

ESO recently challenged you to decorate your home in Tamriel based on four themed categories, and you didn't disappoint! After much deliberation, it's ready to announce the winners of the ESO Home Decoration Contest.

Fight Club

This category overall really showed us how much everyone loves arena fighting. There were so many creative uses of blocks to make stairs, walls, seating decks, and lots of tracks that were designed to cause players to fall to their demise. We were really impressed with the variety of fight club styles, from Khajiiti Murder Pits to quiet martial arts dojos.

Winner: “Igni" from Magstadt, Germany

We loved the Elder Scrolls look of this particular fighting pit. The creative usage of the Nord, Orc, and several Achievement Furnishing banners in addition to the Sword hanging from the ceiling really made it stand out as a Tamriel event. The added bonus of the spear pit really brought out the danger!

“First off, the housing editor is great and I had lots of fun building this arena. It's a challenge finding the right stuff for the parts you need because there are limits in construction material. On the other hand, that's the challenge, right? The most fun in building is finding use for items which in itself were not intended for that particular function. For example, the Orcish bar counters as platforms or flag poles as spears. Or take two of those nice Redguard canopies and you've got yourself a nice beach chair!

Creating the screenshot was easy. Despite its size, the arena has three tents on the spectator side from where the screenshot was taken. I actually had to take one tent out because the angle wasn´t perfect and it would have interfered with the view. But it's in its place now, and I would like to welcome anyone who wants to visit the arena to take a place on one of the spectator seats." –Igni

Runner Up: Tim Fischer from Rheine, Germany

This one was really impressive because of the effort that it displayed in each item. Lots of Trophy Busts adorn the walls, which really showed Tim's dedication to dungeons. Several statues, including the Vaermina achievement furnishing statue from Stormhaven, were used to decorate the exterior, too. We liked the unusual shape of it, the repetition of the blocks and the punctuated decoration of the medallions.

“This arena took nearly all 600 free places in my home. Also it took 11 hours to build, and the best part is when people come to look at it and I don't know them. They just want to see it." – Tim

Honorable Mentions

Hoarders

Hoarders was a category that cast a very wide net. We saw lots of hoards that would thrill any thief with well-placed piles of treasures and fantastic collections from all around Tamriel. We saw players who collected almost every light in the game, or homes with statues made entirely of fruit, and dozens of the most amazing libraries. Not to mention, all the sweet rolls hoarders! There were some homes with curtains literally made of sweet rolls, and others with thrones and beds covered in them as well (which honestly seems a little sticky and crumbly). This category was a ton of fun, and we loved the different interpretations!

Winner: “Flameborn" from Arkansas, USA

This room felt like a Hidden Object Game set in Tamriel, and it's the definition of a Hoarder's home. You can see the Craft Bag furnishing achievement, the Kwama egg from Stonefalls, the Poisoner's cabinet & case of vials from Master Writs, some trophy busts here and there, and of course just lots and lots of clutter. Everywhere you look there's clutter, but it's all extremely well organized. We saw a lot of cool and creative interpretations of the category for Hoarders, but this was definitely the one that captured that feeling of claustrophobia the most.

“My wife also plays ESO and all (or most) of the items in the picture were things she saved up for and got me for my birthday. So this is a pretty memorable birthday now!" –Flameborn

Runner Up: “Aloysius Laroque" from New York, USA

We received a lot of amazing libraries, but in the end, we picked this one because it's not only a hoarder of books with an interesting style, but also shows off a ton of achievement furnishings. You can see the Skyshard which can be purchased only if you find all Skyshards in Tamriel, and the Madgod's Cheese Cutter from doing 30 Mages Guild dailies. There are achievement furnishings for the Adoring Fan from the Thieves Guild main quest, all of the Shalidor books, the Decorative Safebox from picking 100 Safeboxes, the Scales of Justice from paying 100k gold to the Fence or the Guards, the Gargoyle Statue from Rivenspire's Hero of House Tamrith achievement, and so many more hidden away. This is the home of someone who is hoarding away parts of Tamriel, and we loved it.

“My wife and I worked together on this project. We love books and libraries, and in game, I've collected over 3,000 books. It was her idea to use the Skyshards as spotlights and to have the books flying off the shelves to make it feel more fantastic. The library was constructed within the Daggerfall Overlook home and the most time was spent getting the shelves aligned properly. We're very pleased it was selected as a winner in any sort!" –Aloysius

Honorable Mentions

House Party

Wow, you all have some amazing parties! With fireworks and many groups of people enjoying each other's company, it was all so festive and imaginative. We loved seeing the different groups of people working together to create a fun and exciting scene.

Winner: “Ulfgarde" from Virginia, USA

Now, this looks like a fun party we'd like to attend! Lots of good friends hanging out in a well decorated party villa. One of our developers said it looked like something from an old timey Hollywood party; it's just classy and decorated by somebody who is obviously highly engaged in the system. You can see luxury goods furnishings like the gazebo, and the Jester's tree from the holiday, and tons of little achievement furnishings all over the place including the Skyshards for spotlights. In addition, we love that they included their friends in the shot!

“I knew that I wanted to incorporate outdoor features, such as magnificent hedges and trees, strobing lights, and plenty of rich and powerful displays of wealth, but wasn't sure how. I was interested in that type of 1920's Great Gatsby-like, "American Dream" fiasco. Skyshards were perfect for the scene, and I wanted to include that in the picture because of how amazing they look, and it especially invokes that nostalgia of collecting your first Skyshard and such. A lot of the furniture I used was actually perfect for the angle; for instance, the flower boxes on the ledges were made from horse troughs along with flowers from Achievement vendors. It was also difficult to light up the whole scene; through most of it, I had to manipulate candles, lights, etc. in hidden areas, but even outside the picture angle, it looks great when you explore the area.

And, of course, I needed materials and people to indulge in the scene. Thus, my favorite parts were gathering the materials and getting guildies to join in the picture. I spent so much gold on gathering the materials and designs - having to buy some of course - and a lot my guildies pitched in as well with Mundane Runes, Heartwood, some furniture, etc. Even so, getting everyone together for the photo to pose was so fun as well. People turning off lights to mess with it, someone not sitting down properly, or that one person who goes crazy and dances naked in the background. The whole process took about half an hour, and even so, it was my favorite part of the picture by far." – Ulfgarde

Runner Up: “MrCraks" from California, USA

This one is well staged to show a bunch of friends hanging out together. We love that it has some achievement furnishings and paintings, and it just overall looks like everybody is having a blast. The best thing about a house party is hanging out with your friends, and that's exactly what's going on in this picture.

“My guild, Fist of Oblivion, were a big part in creating the screenshot. Every person in the screenshot is in the guild, and the screenshot takes place in our guild hall. My favorite part was getting together with the guild and taking part in something fun together. I also want to give a shoutout to my girlfriend and Queen of the Fist of Oblivion, sioniann, who helped a great deal in decorating the guild hall, Earthtear Cavern." –MrCraks

Honorable Mentions

Fantastical Constructs

Holy smokes! The creativity in this category cannot be overstated. We saw telescopes and drum sets made of barrels, cars, planes and trains made of planks and fishing poles, gyms made of rocks and ropes, floating islands from Coldharbour, and many pirate ships! In addition, there were so many interesting composite sculptures, like dragons made with tapestries or rocks, or spaceships made of room dividers, counters, and braziers. We could not have hoped for a cooler collection of homes submitted, and we are so impressed with everything that we saw. It was incredibly difficult to pick winners from this category, and we ended up coming to a dead split between two – so we picked both!

Winner: “Felgod" from North Carolina, USA

At first, we had to double check if we actually had a musical organ that was already in the game because this looked so professional. The lighting alone is stunning. We loved how it's made from Redguard Urns, Curved Dividers, Books, Shelves, Potion bottles, Sign Posts, Bookshelves, and Enchanting Gem boxes. This creation is so well done overall, with such an obviously keen eye for lighting and staging.

“I think my favorite thing about the organ is that the keyboard section has proper key placement despite being made up of books and kitchen knives. The signposts that I used for the pipes were darker than I wanted, so I sunk candles into the cabinets to brighten them and it ended up giving the whole screenshot a warmer color." –Felgod

Winner: “EmmieFish" from Maryland, USA

We were so impressed with the creativity here using only rocks to create the most iconic Elder Scrolls Online image possible – and not only that, but to include friends in the image as if they're all fighting Molag Bal together. It's such a well-organized, creative and Elder Scrolls image!

“My inspiration actually came from the fact that I originally was going to make Godzilla walking up out of the water, using the Skyshards for his radiation breath and Meridia's light shards for his glowing spikes. But, I decided that might be an IP infringement and then realized Molag Bal would be a fun alternative that I could still use aspects of my original idea for. I created it by choosing the specific vantage point I would take the shot from and only working on it from that spot, as much as I could. I think my favorite part was getting my friends and guildmates to pose on the sculpture!" –EmmieFish

Honorable Mentions

We hope you enjoyed seeing some of the most creative and inspiring entries from Home Decoration Contest. Which one was your favorite? Thank you for reading and good luck in your next adventure. Or you can buy ESO gold on our site that will help you get a more pleasant game journey!