The ancient legend of how Andraste fully furnished Lakeview Manor in one evening...

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Andraste hadn't intended to settle in Skyrim. She hadn't meant to be there for more than a couple of weeks. After seven years' of service in the Imperial Legion, she had only meant to visit the grave of her friend who'd died in service to the Empire, now buried with his family in Falkreath. But Alduin the World-Eater had ensured that she didn't even get to Falkreath until several months after her arrival in the frigid home of the Nords.

By the time she had actually managed to visit her dead comrade's grave, she had embarked upon an adventure of epic proportions. She had slain dragons and usurped their power. She had met Daedric princes, and in at least one instance thwarted their perverted plans. She had defeated the World-Eater of legend in Sovengarde, saving both man and mer and fulfilling an ancient prophesy as foretold in the Elder Scrolls themselves. She temporarily rejoined the Legion, feeling as she was duty-bound to help the Empire she once served resolve a brutal civil war that benefited none but the Aldmeri Dominion. She had defeated a powerful clan of vampires, and protected Nirn from their plot to darken the sun. She had journeyed to Solstheim and stopped the First Dragonborn from trying to kill her every five minutes.

And she had met Stenvar. First a mercenary she'd hired to help her fight through a dangerous Dwemer ruin (and carry some of the spoils), then a friend and comrade in arms, and finally, her husband, and the father of their adopted child, the ever-resourceful Sofie.

Some retirement this had turned out to be.

But her most epic quest still lay before her - furnishing her new home.

Now married to a man for whom the very land of Skyrim ran through his veins, returning to Cyrodiil was no longer an option, even though the dragons were in disarray, the civil war was winding down, and her friend's grave was suitably honoured. She had no particular attachment to Cyrodiil, despite being an Imperial herself, and Skyrim was now firmly Imperial territory once again, but the cold of the frigid northlands was simply too much for her non-Nordic flesh to bear for the rest of her life. So they compromised, and decided to settle down in Falkreath hold. Close to the Cyrodiilic border, and not quite as cold as the rest of Skyrim, this picturesque woodland would prove ideal for a magnificent house, and with Andraste's newfound fame and great wealth, it took little effort to become a thane and purchase an idyllic slice of land.

And the new house was simply magnificent. Andraste had designed it herself, her lengthy service in the Legion having given her some degree of battlefield engineering expertise that inexplicably made her a professional architect, and she was proud of it. It even had an armoury, ideal for a loving husband-and-wife-at-arms.

But they couldn't move in until it was properly furnished. Andraste had hired Adelaisa, a fellow retired Imperial Legionnaire and now a manager of Windhelm's East Empire Company, to be her steward. Adelaisa was a capable warrior, experienced at managing complex estates and logistics, a loyal citizen of the Empire, and she and Andraste had become friends after working together earlier. The perfect woman to protect and manage their estate.

Except, buying furniture seemed to be an impossible task for the experienced company manager. Adelaisa's best estimate was two months before the newly-built Lakeview Manor was habitable. How could this be?! It had taken Andraste less time to build the Daedra-damned place! Furnishing it couldn't be such a monumental task by comparison, surely?

Frustrated by the lack of progress, Andraste rode her faithful steed, Ali, to Falkreath, just down the road, to take care of some business. She was only there for an hour, and returned to find... progress! Had simply riding to the nearby town and back spurred Adelaisa on? Was the woman really so insecure that she would only do work if Andraste returned regularly to check on her progress?

Keen to test that, Andraste rode back to Falkreath and immediately returned. More furnishings appeared. How could it take two months to furnish the house if her steward seemed capable of summoning tables from Oblivion in a few short minutes? Did Andraste even need to go to Falkreath to spur her on further? Was it simply the act of leaving and returning?

So she road out to the road south of the home, and straight back, a process that took 20 seconds at most. More furnishings. Simply crossing the border of her estate and then returning seemed to summon more tables! Perhaps her new steward had exclusive access to a plane of Oblivion where only furniture existed - if that was the case, her salary might need to be renegotiated. It was about 3pm by that point, and, having nothing better to do (Stenvar was still back in their old home in Solitude with Sofie, preparing the move), Andraste rode back and forward between Lakeview and the road to Falkreath until nightfall. Adelaisa at one point asked her what in Oblivion she was doing, to which she replied "oh, just exercising Ali, you carry on." By 9pm, Andraste dismounted and went inside.

Lakeview was a palace! Beautiful beds, a grand dining table, armour and weapon displays in the armoury, a fully outfitted trophy room, ready to receive mounted dragon skulls and stuffed bears... the works! Simply riding backwards and forwards acoss the border to her new property for a few hours had spurred Adelaisa to fully furnish every square inch of Andraste and Stenvar's new home. An estimate of two months had been reduced to a single evening, and all it took was for Andraste to look a bit silly for a while!

And so it was that Andraste, the Last Dragonborn, Hero of the Empire, Harbinger of the Companions, Nemesis of Daedra, Slayer of Vampires, completed her destiny and became known in the Scrolls as the Furnisher of Lakeview.

By riding backwards and forwards like an idiot enough times for an attention-seeking Imperial lady to successfully pull entire beds and tables out of her Oblivion portal.

tl;dr

I figured out how to furnish your self-built homes quickly! It seems to be based on how many times you enter the area! Find the border of the property and just run backwards and forwards over it. I figured out that the border to Lakeview seems to be somewhere between the house and the road to the south (I rode the whole distance between them just to be sure), so I guess it's probably a similar amount of distance to the edges of the other properties' borders. It works! No more waiting for in-game weeks or more before you can live in your new mansion!
 
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