I've been searching for a good house to display my loot, haven't found one yet. Whiterun ran out of space fast, so did Rifton. I bought the Solitude house thinking more expensive = bigger/more display areas. However, the bottom floor is dark and full of cobwebs while the upper floors are very harshly lit. For such a large house very few shelves/tables are suitable for display without encasing the object in an eye-searing white glow.

Also, why is it that every single house with mannequins stores them in some dark far corner of the room? I want to see my cool armors, dammit!

Markarth house is pretty good (and some may argue better) for storage and displaying your items.

i prefer markarth's, the others are bland or decorated too little. But i'm really waiting for the real estate mod to hit skyrim.

I love the town of Markarth itself, and the house there is awesome. It not that much gold as well so it's a nice place to stay.

I like the house in Windhelm. It has a lot of places to display armor and weapons, only problem is the house is a little buggy if you don't buy all the decoration packages before going inside after buying it. It costs 21,000 all together.

How much does the house in Markarth cost?

The house in Windhelm is best for decorating IMO. Too bad about the uber buggy quest you need to complete to get the Jarl to like you...