Here's my Ashlands base if you're interested.

Hall interior (pre-furniture):

Hall interior (partially furnished; meeds more light sources, other bits and bobs)

Exterior:

Also, the Portal Stone allows you to teleport metals. I usually build temp ones at existing portal locations and just change portal designations if I need to transport metals. One of the best additions to the game, especially since having to navigate back to the Ashlands every time you needed iron or something would be terrrrible.