I find the drawers mod to be a game changer. Revolutionizes storage/ base design.
As others have said, mass farming, and farm everything. For village deco you'll love farm everything, You can plant trees. bushes, lighted yellow mushroom paths, etc.
Epic Loot is fun.
If you don't like portal restrictions, there are mods for that.
There is a mod that adds a few equipment slots for your gear. Get it.
I like the clock mod.
Later on you might like the wind at your back mod for sailing.

Just poke around Nexus Mods. There are tons, many will suit your play style. Try them out. They are easy to add or remove once you know where your .dll files go.

Re: Carry weight. Carts work well on finished paths/ roads. If you are building a village, a cart is your friend. Not so much in the pathless wilderness though. Also, if you want to focus on building, learn the devcommands to set your time of day, or for clear weather. Takes a lot of the time pressure off. You can always turn the time and weather back on when you are done building.