The housing editor looks like this:

The Edit/View button allow to go from Edit mode to view mode. View locks the items and shows you what your house will look like to a visitor. You can turn the global lights on and off from the view screen.
The Tiles button will show you your floor and walls and allow you to select different finishes, colors and available for them.
The Friends Palette is the red icon with the two people on it. It allows you to place friends inside your home.
The Inventory Icon contains the items that you can place inside your home. It has three tabs: Wall, Floor and Miscellaneous. Any items you previously placed in your suitcase will be assigned to one of those three tabs.
The Eye is the Show Button. If you click on it once, the room will go into blend mode — a semi-transparent mode that allows you to see items that may have been placed behind each other and as a result, hidden from view. Click on it again and the room will be placed in hide mode. Hide does exactly that: Hides all the items and people so that you can see the floor and wall textures.
The Clear Room Icon allows you to remove all items from the room and gives you a blank slate — so to speak — and make a clean start.
Every time you place an item in your home, you are given the choice to rotate it. Try different angles for a different look (and different flows of Chi. How Feng Shui!)

When you’re happy with what your room looks like, the Save Button will commit any changes you’ve made to your house. These settings will load back every time you re-load your home.

Can people take items from my home while I’m away?
No. All items in your home are locked. Visitors can look at your home, but cannot change placement of items and are certainly not allowed to take any of your items or furniture. That would just be rude!

Can I lock my house?
Yes you can. Simply enable Lock Home from the Account link of your profile page. Users in gaia gold Towns cannot enter locked homes.