Wednesday, August 15, 2007

When is a House a Home?

We recently moved from an apartment to a house. I hate moving, but I love my new house, with its richly painted walls and tiny view of the lake through the trees (okay, so I wish it was an enormous view of the lake!) And I have my own office with that lake view. The boxes are unpacked for the most part (the ones up in the attic may be there for a while.) A few days ago I thought, this place feels like home.

But what is it that makes a house a home? Your home? I know, you're going to say the people in it, but I'm talking about the house itself. As we were going through this move, I figured it out, at least for me. It's the pictures - the paintings and photographs that hang on the walls.

When we got ready to move from the apartment, one night we decided to take all the pictures off the walls and pack them. After all, they're not like clothes or dishes we were going to use over the next few days. And after we were done, I looked around at the blank walls and the place didn't look like home anymore. It was a sterile, impersonal place.

We've rearranged the pictures a few times (along with the furniture) and our house now looks and feels like home. Our home.

What makes a house a home to you?

Natasha

1 comment:

Lanie said...

Hmm. I didn't realize that would be such a difficult question to answer. I immediately thought 'hey, I can answer that quickly', but then I couldn't, lol.

I'm still thinking about it, actually, and I can't honestly think what it is for me.

Anyways, while I'm thinking on it still, I'll say I'm happy that you found a new home and that you have at least a partial view of a lake. (Ours is obstructed by a tree-cutters truck *grumbles*)