Episode One- Small House: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jH2BAzeQx0

Episode Two- Large House: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI8JYEfAGdY

Episode Three- Inn: www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3jpLLszsf0

Episode Four- Blacksmith: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpdz7Wl0kpw

Episode Five- Jarl's Palace (Part 1): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41yushE7lLY

Episode Five- Jarl's Palace (Part 2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP1vAgyzQY4

Episode Five- Jarl's Palace (Part 3): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMfK2B1NXfc

Episode Five- Jarl's Palace (Part 4): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7V7Xj8jm1E

When designing any type of build, the materials which you use and the colour scheme which you are creating are very important. For Nordic builds, I tend to use the same type of wooden planks as the logs which I am building with. This is to maintain some consistency in the colour scheme, as with these types of builds, too much definition (use of different materials to vary your design) is a bad thing. I always recommend that you use a wood which is not too light, but also not too dark; although this depends on your texture pack, I generally say that oak wood works best, as it also complements a lot of other colours. Moving on to the colour scheme, there are a few things to bear in mind when you are choosing which materials to use. As I have already said, you do not want to create too much definition, so you should aim to pick colours which do not contrast each other. What I mean by this is that if you are using very light wooden logs, and very dark wooden planks, then this will create far too much contrast; this is why I suggested using oak wood for both. Although there are plenty of materials which go well with oak wood, you also want to use materials which make sense to use in your design. For example, you wouldn't expect to see diamond blocks being used in a Nordic settlement, so don't use them. Even though Skyrim isn't exactly realistic, you'll notice that all of the buildings are generally true to the Nordic style. So, if you need some ideas, you can look at buildings from Skyrim; they use a lot of cobblestone, and thatched roofs. Having said this, I do not usually create thatched roofs for my builds, as you cannot create a curve as effectively as using wooden planks, stairs, and half-slabs. It would be possible to build a thatched roof if you really wanted to, so for more information please see the 'roofs' section.

The base of your project is something which will influence your entire build. You should always use an odd number of blocks for the front, and back walls. This ensures that you roof will end in a nice point, instead of being flat on the top. This just adds to the overall look of the build (see the 'roofs' section for more details).

When designing builds, I always work from the ground up. This allows me to select the colours which will match the flooring, so I can get an idea of which materials to use. I also use a general rule for building floors; I use cobblestone for the ground floor/cellar, and wooden planks for the other floors. This helps to make the build more realistic; in medieval builds, in real life, this is often how they are constructed. This is because it would be extremely difficult to transport heavy cobbles to upper floor, and to create an entire floor, but wooden flooring is very light. So, cobblestone used to be used on the ground floor, where it was easy for the builders to transport it to. If you have already read the 'base' section, then you will probably be designing your project in the 5x5 flooring sections. If so, you will have upwards-facing wooden logs on the inside of your build. To improve the look of the interior, you should remove these logs, and replace them with horizontal ones. I like to make them face in the direction of the shortest wall; this makes it look as though you have a very large beam running the whole length of your floor. You could place them in the other direction though, it just depends on your personal preference.

Walls are very important to your build, from an aesthetic point of view. This is because, as you are walking up to your finished creation, the walls will be level with your eye. So, it is important that they match the rest of your build well. I usually make all of my floors have 3 blocks headspace (3 blocks high on the inside), so I extend all of the upwards-facing wooden logs on the outside of the 5x5 structures by 4 blocks; I then join them all with horizontal wooden logs at the fourth block up. Next, I fill in the 3x3 sections inbetween the logs with the wall material of my choice. Then, I create more floor sections for this floor. So, you should now have 3 blocks between your two floors. For more details on materials to use on different floors, please see the 'floors' section. From the outside, you will be able to see a row of horizontal logs on the outside, at the top of your build. Now, you can simply continue this technique for as many floors as you want.

If you followed my 'walls' section, then you should have 3x3 sections of whichever material you chose to use for your wall material. To create a basic Skyrim/Nordic window, simply remove the middle blocks from the top, and the middle layers of these 3x3 wall sections. Then, just replace them with either glass panes, or glass blocks. I would recommend using glass panes over glass blocks, but that is just a matter of personal preference.

You should then extend all of these new logs to the same height as the top block of your walls. You can then join the top block of these pillars to your walls, using intricate designs, and patterns. Please watch some of the videos in the 'video tutorials' section, for more information of how to do this. If you have more than one floor, then you can create balconies to add a more interesting feature to the front of your structure.

Many people say that the roof is the hardest part of these sorts of builds... and, unfortunately, they're probably right! You should definitely see the 'video tutorials' section for an in-depth look at creating roofs, although I'll go over the basics here. An important thing to ensure that you do when designing your roof is to make sure that it is not diagonal. Most people will create a roof using only wooden stairs, and these stairs will simply be diagonal, and end in a single block. What we want to do to make the build look much better, is to create a curved roof. To do this, you must follow a couple of rules of thumb; the steps in which your roof goes up must increase in height, you should try to use not only stairs, but also half slabs, and full blocks, and finally you should try to add some definition to your roof. In simple English, try and mix up the design of your roof, so that it looks more interesting. For example, one technique which I use is to count in two blocks from each side, and raise the entire column by a whole block. I then lower the next two columns, and finally raise the fourth column to the same height as the first column. I do this for both ends of my roof, so that it is symmetrical. For the top, one thing which I feel really gives it that Skyrim/Nordic feel, is to add a horizontal beam to the top of the roof, which hangs over each end of the roof. Then, at each end of this beam, I like to add some intricate scrolls, such as the dragon heads which can be seen on top of the roofs in Skyrim. The final thing which I do when creating roofs, is to extend the roof out at each end, so that it protrudes over the side walls. This section was definitely very difficult for me to explain, so please make sure that you take a look at the 'video tutorials' section, and then you can watch some of my YouTube videos, which will certainly explain it much more clearly.

It's always a good idea to add some extras to your builds, so that if you are creating multiple of these builds, they do not all look the same. For example, you could add some lighting, a fireplace with it's own chimney, or perhaps even some plants in the garden. Finding different ways of changing your builds can sometimes be tricky, but it's definitely worth it!