How can I stop NPCs from picking up my dropped items?

I would like to decorate my home in Skyrim (Blackthorn manor, from the Blackthorn mod). I have one problem though: if I drop anything when a follower or my steward is nearby, they pick it up and give it back to me.

Is there any way to stop this behavior? It makes it virtually impossible for me to get any decorating done.

Solution 1:

It appears that these are all World Interactions (see here). Here is a thread that involves two users discussing how one would go about making such a mod (if you're up to the task!)

Apparently, you were up to the task! Here is a link to the impromptu mod created by @ZauberParacelsus to make NPCs ignore dropped items!