A HOUSE IS NOT A HOME-IT TAKES LOVE

It takes people and love to make any house a home. No matter how big or small a house is just a structure without the ambiance of family. A one bedroom apartment can have the sense of happiness more than a 5 million dollar mansion which is just for show. Those magazine pictures or real estate photos that stage homes are just that staged. Real homes have a little clutter, family pictures and the aroma of good food cooking. Even some nostalgia with a picket fence! And a front porch to watch the world go by! What do you love about your home? What makes it comfortable and cosy? Is the people? The pets? Tell me your story!

IS YOUR HOME A CASTLE?

We all know a house is not a home. A house is just a structure with rooms, a roof and a basement. A home is where the heart is. It contains love, support and a place to be away from the world. It could be a one bedroom apartment, a large home or a castle on the hill. Home is often equated with family and the connection needed to feel safe. People get home sick if away in a foreign country. The feeling after a long work or school day- time to go home! It is a concept not a structure! Yet all the decorating shows dupe us into making our home better and worth more money. They are really talking about a house! Sometimes home is just a thought, an idea we carry in our hearts and thoughts. What do you think? Is your home your castle? Do you care how decorated it is? Is it your sanctuary from the world-clutter and all?

A HOUSE IS NOT A HOME

In our modern times there is so much emphasis on the value, the cost, the design of our houses. Good location, better property value. Decorating, buying expensive electronics are all part of our lives. But a house is not a home unless there is love, comfort, a place to escape the world. The feeling our homes give us is very different than a house. It is as if the house is the structure, but the home is the heart of the structure. Like in the expression, home is where the heart is! Our house can be our home, of course. Even when adult children move out into their own houses, they often want to come home for short intervals back to the house where they grew up. The home is where the memories reside!

Do you visit another house and it feels just like home? Do you tell someone your house has such a homey feeling to it? Children when tired will say, I want to go home, not I want my house! Dorothy in the " Wizard of Oz", "there's no place like home." But it is more than a house- your country is your home, your home team, your home away from home, produce that is home-grown, and crafts that are home-made. People on the street are homeless even though they do not have a house or a place to live.- the word home implies alone with no place. Even birds come home to roost! What does the word home imply for you? Do you feel there is a difference between house and home? Where have you felt most at home?