Placing items?

[past caring]

I've seen lots of posts with screenshots where people have placed/stacked items neatly but I'm struggling with it. Obviously, in anything but the shortest run it's got more benefit than simply looking good (though I appreciate that too) as being able to see at a glance what you've got is really useful.

I'm not talking about the obvious stuff like lanterns and cooking pots - that I can do. I've seen bed rolls neatly stacked on shelves, ammo boxes neatly arranged by type etc. but I can't seem to do anything other than dump this stuff in a more or less random pile. I did wonder if playing with a 360 controller explained the problem, but switching to keyboard and mouse makes no difference....

[sierra 117]

Once item is dropped on the floor, hover cursor over the item then press left trigger to activate placement mode then right trigger to place.

Time to go decorate those base camps.