Has anyone literally built their house from the ground up; meaning-

Physically walking to locations that harbor logs, clay, and/or quarried stone?
Gathered all the detailed supplies such as goat horns, glass, fur, etc... to build furnishings?

I mean we're talking about the tedious route of doing things? Just curious.

Yes. I think hundreds of people have done this.
Well where else are you supposed to get it from?
You can only get logs from the Mills, and stores don't sell clay/stone. (except maybe the occasional scrap)
The amount of iron you need is so huge, that you can't mine it all. You gotta get some from the stores.
Pretty easy. Travel to the stores, and hunt some animals to get the rest.

Seems like a lot of people on the forum have completely finished their house and all the furniture. (some people even did all three houses)

Well, there's a difference between getting our Steward to do this and us walking ourselves.

I never buy iron ore and I furnish everything,not my steward.That's why I bought HF.The only thing I buy is glass and straw.

With my first house, I gathered, cut, and mined everything I needed, then built and furnished it all myself. After that, I bought some iron, but still mined ore also. I mine when I see ore veins anyway.

Doing it all myself was the most fun.

Edit: yeah, did have to buy glass and straw.

Using a steward to furnish your home takes too long.. i rather just spend an hour or two fast traveling town to town to gather everything i need from smiths and general stores.

Ah, I see...
I have never had a Steward.
Not only does it just see silly to me (from a roleplay idea) I hear it takes longer to wait for them to buy materials than it does to just get it yourself.

Getting a steward is definitely worth it, just not for furnishing. They are excellent at everything but furnishing. They are also extra protection and can be followers too. You don't have to pay them either. lol

But if, like me you do a mission/quest whilst you wait for materials then it isn't that much of a wait. I use my steward to purchase/get materials for the house. Furnishings are a different matter and i'm more than happy to get those myself.