What Makes House a Home?

I was reading a post called "What makes house a home?" by Sharon at Your Elegant Bed and Bath. She said, "Home should be a place we can feel at ease and comfortable, even protected if need be. How each of us creates that feel in our homes is an individual thing." In other words, home should be a haven that protects us from the chaos, trials and tribulations from the rest of the world.

Sharon thinks we need to surround ourselves with "things that are important to us, that have an emotional resonance." I totally agree on this. In my own home, I have many items and decorations that represent my own history, cultural heritage, achievements of me, my DH & my children, and of course memories of our family & extended family.

For example, the front of my refrigerator is covered with photos of my children, my parents, friends, extended family, etc. I put them all in various-size clear acrylic picture frames with magnet on the back, so they all look uniform in a sense & stay nicely on the fridge. Some of the photos are from when my kids were babies, some are our family & friends from far away. These photos are a daily reminder of the love and relationships we have with our friends & family. Since all my family live either in other states or in Asia, it's good to have that visual reminder, especially for my kids, of their grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins.

I also have a photo of my "sponsored child" Tran Ly who lives in Vietnam, and whom I've sponsored through Child Reach since she was a baby. Ly is almost 12 now (5 months older than my own daughter LK), and I picked her back then partially because she was so close in age with my LK and in a way I felt like I was adopting a "sister" for my LK. I hope someday we will be able to visit Ly and her family in Vietnam, and let the "sisters" meet each other. :-)

By the way, Sharon's blog offers new ideas and trends for home decorating or remodeling. She also likes to find new ideas for "green" living. Check out her blog.