Oblivion’s vanilla hovels make you wonder why the Hero of Kvatch would want to live there. House mods for Oblivion Remastered change that, from a reworked Waterfront Shack to mansions you can summon with a spell wherever you are.
Psst… I have a whole collection of Oblivion Remastered articles with guides and mods, so remember to look there for the rest. For now, let’s see what we can do about housing.
Eli’s Waterfront Shack Overhaul
The standard Waterfront Shack is so miserable that even the local beggars shake their heads sympathetically when they see you. This turns it into a proper home with plenty of room for junk and even a garden.
- Loads of safe, non-respawning storage
- Plenty of decorations and furniture
- A garden with harvestable alchemy ingredients
- An alchemy laboratory, purely decorative but good-looking
✅ How it changes gameplay: You no longer feel like a pauper sleeping on hay. Safe storage solves the main problem: where to keep your loot before you reach a decent house. The garden provides regular potion ingredients. Important: don’t save inside, or items may start duplicating, a bug affecting most house mods. Also, the crate outside is NOT safe, so don’t leave valuables there.
Leyawiin House Overhaul
The original Leyawiin house is rather empty and dull. This completely reworks it with everything a mage or alchemist needs.
- Lots of storage: almost every pot and crate can hold something
- Access to spellmaking and enchanting altars
- Ingredient beds, including rare magicka flowers
- Fully furnished, without buying upgrades separately
✅ How it changes gameplay: You no longer need to run to the Mages Guild whenever you want to enchant an item or make a spell. Everything is right at home, saving a huge amount of time. Remove all your belongings before installation: the mod deletes the base items, and you could lose your possessions.
Imperial City Player Home
A luxurious mansion in the Elven Gardens District for anyone who wants to live among the nobility. It’s free, which is odd for that neighborhood, but who’s complaining?
- Ground floor with a fireplace, kitchen, set dining table and reading area
- Private quarters with a lavish bed, wine station and study
- Basement with a training area, valuables safe and secret sewer passage
- Enough storage for everything you’ll find in Cyrodiil
✅ How it changes gameplay: This is the first house that really feels like a wealthy hero’s home rather than a pauper’s. The secret sewer passage offers a quick exit from the city, useful when the guards are after you. The basement training area lets you practice skills at home. It’s easy to find: fast-travel to the Elven Gardens District and look behind you. An alternative version is available if MagicLoader gives you trouble.
New Player Home — Abandoned House
An abandoned house directly across from the Imperial City: ideal for the start of the game. No cost, just walk in and live there.
- Safe, non-respawning storage
- Your own bed
- Lighting and a roof over your head
- A fast-travel marker once discovered
✅ How it changes gameplay: An excellent start for new characters. Instead of carrying all your junk or spending money on a house, you get a base immediately after leaving the sewers. Simply swim across the water and turn right. The fast-travel marker makes it convenient for farming. Admittedly, it isn’t the prettiest house, but it’s perfectly adequate early on.
My Imperial Home
Tired of the old shack? Move into a splendid Talos Plaza mansion, full of display cases for your trophies and room for storage.
- Display cases for equipment
- Shelves and tables for collections
- Safe bedroom storage
- A location in the prestigious Talos Plaza District
✅ How it changes gameplay: A home for collectors. If you enjoy collecting unique weapons, armor and artifacts, everything is here to show off your trophies. Talos Plaza is central, making journeys quicker than from the Waterfront. The author reused an existing cell, so the house is called “Test of Castle Interior Places” in-game. Don’t be alarmed. It has the same saving issue.
Waterfront Shack Extended
This adds a secret basement to the standard Waterfront Shack. Perfect for Thieves Guild characters: a successful thief should have a hidden base.
- An additional master bedroom
- An office with storage
- Access through a trapdoor beneath the fireplace
- Luxurious furniture contrasting with the main house
✅ How it changes gameplay: The original shack remains unchanged, but now there’s a secret refuge underneath. It adds a roleplaying element: pretend to be poor while hiding treasures in your lavish basement. The author recommends combining it with mods that raise house prices to make it more plausible. It’s a beta, and some items may fall from shelves when loading. Buy the house and all upgrades before installing, or the game may crash.
Bridge Player Home
A bridge camp south of Bravil with a basement. A simple, functional option if you don’t want to live in a city.
- Safe, non-respawning containers
- A bed
- A map marker south of Bravil
- A portal to the Imperial City Market District
- Health and magicka restoration fountains from Oblivion
- A basement with extra space
- A boat to the Shivering Isles
✅ How it changes gameplay: More of a traveler’s outpost than a full home. The portal to the Imperial City Market District makes it a convenient trading stop. Restoration fountains from an Oblivion realm are an unusual touch that saves potions. The Shivering Isles boat is handy if you have the expansion installed. The author openly admits that the hand-built roof is crooked. 😊
Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Mansion
A Dungeons & Dragons mansion summoned with a spell. Once a day, you can create its door anywhere in Cyrodiil.
- An enchanting room
- A spellmaking room
- A bedroom
- A large dining hall
- A main entrance with collection displays
- Loads of storage
✅ How it changes gameplay: A mobile base you can take anywhere. Reached a remote corner of the map? Summon the door for access to every convenience. Buy the spell from Athragar at the Chorrol Mages Guild. If the door doesn’t appear, try changing locations or quicksaving and loading. Leave the door in place for repeated use, or summon it afresh each time.
Dagonshrine
A hub between every Daedric Prince’s realm. A conquered Sigil tower now belonging to Prince Sheogorath, formerly the Hero of Kvatch.
- A bed at the top of the tower
- Safe storage in an Ayleid chest
- Doors to all Oblivion worlds
- Portals to other Daedric Princes’ realms
- A magical portal to the Arcane University
✅ How it changes gameplay: For anyone who wants to revisit Oblivion realms or start an alternative playthrough. Skull-marked doors lead to random Oblivion worlds with respawning Sigil Stones, making farming possible. Quest doors lead to unique locations, but be careful: entering before the relevant quest can break your save. The author warns that only doors from Tamriel are safe; everything else is at your own risk. An excellent option for a new-game-plus-style run.
Dreadstone Keep
A large, atmospheric Imperial-style home full of secrets. Still in development, but it already offers plenty of content.
- A working mannequin system with limitations
- Vampirism controls: cure yourself or become a vampire
- All shrines in one place
- All divine altars
- Spellmaking and enchanting altars
- Respawning chests with varied loot
- Loads of storage, plus three secret chests
- Artifact displays
- A system for changing race, class and birthsign
- A gold pile for clearing your bounty
- An arena in beta
- A full navigation mesh for companions
- Fast travel from inside
- An outdoor forge with an Armorer skill buff
- Horse stables
✅ How it changes gameplay: More than a house: a complete base with gameplay systems. Changing race, class and birthsign at home is a major feature for experimenting with builds. The bounty-clearing gold pile saves you from constant guard trouble. The arena lets you practice or watch creatures fight each other. Respawning chests supply a steady flow of resources. Requires UE4SS TesSyncMapInjector. The garden can cause FPS drops because of its many plants.
Sennar Manor
A manor formerly belonging to the Mages Guild. Buy it for 50,000 gold through a quest beginning at the Arcane University.
- Purchase through a lore-friendly quest, without console commands
- Fully localized in English
- A working fireplace with a switch
- Lockable exterior doors
- Plenty of collection displays
- Every container is safe and non-respawning
- A manor secret to uncover
✅ How it changes gameplay: The only home here you earn through a quest instead of cheats or free access. 50,000 gold is a serious sum, so you’ll have developed your character by the time you buy it. Start by reading a guild letter at the Arcane University. The switchable fireplace adds comfort, and lockable doors make the house more realistic. Before updating the mod, remove all your belongings, save, disable it, wait three in-game days, save again and only then update.
Mod Installation Recommendations
All house mods require basic installation knowledge. If you haven’t modded Oblivion Remastered before, see my installation guide for step-by-step instructions.
The rules I follow when installing house mods:
- Always back up saves before installing
- Don’t save inside houses, as it causes item duplication
- Load saves from the main menu rather than from within the game.
- If a mod changes an existing house, such as Waterfront Shack or Leyawiin House, remove all your belongings first.
Most house mods require Magic Loader. Some need extra tools such as UE4SS or TesSyncMapInjector: read each description carefully.
The Best Homes for Different Oblivion Remastered Playstyles
House mods differ in functionality as well as size. Mages will appreciate Leyawiin House Overhaul or Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Mansion, with enchanting and spellmaking facilities. Thieves will like Waterfront Shack Extended’s secret basement. Collectors will find everything they need in My Imperial Home or Imperial City Player Home, with their many displays.
Early on, choose New Player Home — Abandoned House, free and immediately accessible, or Eli’s Waterfront Shack Overhaul if you intend to buy the standard shack. Want something grand? Dreadstone Keep offers an entire complex with an arena and character-changing systems. Sennar Manor makes you quest for the house rather than giving it away, as these mods usually do. For other parts of the game, my remaster mod setup will help you find what you need.
If I’ve missed a mod or you know a good option that isn’t here, write to me: I’ll test it and may add it. It’s always interesting to find more mods that make Oblivion better.
