What makes a house a home to you?

Oh and missed out the grandchildren round

The people in it. We can have all sorts of material things in our homes but the people we live with or who visit us are the heart of any home for me.

somewhere you feel safe to sleep

Jane that’s odd that you say that, a recently widowed friend of MrOops came over a few weeks ago for supper and to watch a programme that they both wanted to watch, after the meal they were watching the TV and the friend went to sleep, when he woke up ( not very long) we laughed and said that he must be very tired to go to sleep on our sofa, he said, “well I’m with people I love, I’ve had good food and I feel safe”.

That’s the first time that I’ve considered that we need to feel safe to make our house feel like a home, apart from the usual personal bits and our family.

We are fortunate that we’ve never lived anywhere where we haven’t felt safe.

I love it when people nod off in our house Oopsadaisy. It makes it feel like home .

The people in it! The cats! And it being reasonably tidy and calm.

Oopsadaisy1

Jane that’s odd that you say that, a recently widowed friend of MrOops came over a few weeks ago for supper and to watch a programme that they both wanted to watch, after the meal they were watching the TV and the friend went to sleep, when he woke up ( not very long) we laughed and said that he must be very tired to go to sleep on our sofa, he said, “well I’m with people I love, I’ve had good food and I feel safe”.

That’s the first time that I’ve considered that we need to feel safe to make our house feel like a home, apart from the usual personal bits and our family.

We are fortunate that we’ve never lived anywhere where we haven’t felt safe.

I thought that was lovely Oops.

People, pets and comfort.

Somewhere that you feel able to take your bra off and relax!!

How did you know I have done that today Pittcity ? ?
I need my house to have the people I love in it, be comfortable so that we can come in, kick our shoes off and treat it like Home.
Usually I have fresh flowers around the place too.

I think you are all being very high minded and noble talking about feeling safe and other such things, why exclude having a house that is in good order and good repair with no repairs and so on

I am going well down the ladder. In my early teens I used to visit a friends house. It was a three hundred year old house with lots of exposed beams and open fireplaces and I knew that a house like that, really old with lots of beams was my definition of home. Add lots of books and lots of pictures and big comfortable chairs and that to me is the perfect home.

it took 40 years to achieve the dream but now when I open the front door on a cold wet miserable day and see all those beams and books and pictures, I know I have reached paradise.

Of course family, friends and all those other things are important, but they would be important wherever, whenever. But to drill down and say what is the perfect home - that is it. Age, books and pictures and a stove to sit round to enjoy them.

And cats,
you reminded me kitty
My cat must be in it !

My cats; fresh flowers; comfortable chairs and friends who know it's okay to just turn up and they'll be sure of a welcome.

And lots if people have said having fresh flowers about - I always have them in the hall!

Being with people you love and having things around you that make you happy.

Lots of the things mentioned make a home comfortable, cosy and pleasant.
But for me it's a home when the people I love are in it.

I have to have a cat and a garden. Having family and friends is a given, I would have thought.

Somewhere you can be truly yourself and know you are accepted and loved as you are.

An unmade bed ? otherwise, you call it a ‘hotel’ - don’t take any notice - the sun’s got to me…

The feeling that not only do you love your home but it loves you back.

Monica I was quite touched when our friend made that comment, nothing high minded about it at all and I’m surprised that you made that comment.

I’ve done the 400 yr old thatched cottage in the country, with the inglenook fireplaces, but all the beams and books in the world won’t help you if you don’t feel safe.

The people in it.

a cooks kitchen, comfy chairs, books around the place, knitting on a side table, a cosy feeling like a hug when I come home

Oopsadaisy1

Monica I was quite touched when our friend made that comment, nothing high minded about it at all and I’m surprised that you made that comment.

I’ve done the 400 yr old thatched cottage in the country, with the inglenook fireplaces, but all the beams and books in the world won’t help you if you don’t feel safe.

I agree. I too have lived in very old houses - the last house was Grade 2 listed - thatch, beams, etc - but my now ex and I were having a bad time in our relationship, so the house was not a home. In a Victorian terrace now and this is my home!