Last year I posted about how a home isn’t a place so much as it is being surrounded by those you love. Home is anywhere we are together. I believe that is still true. Though I am still struggling with homesickness, I keep reminding myself that it’s not the house but the people you share it with that makes the home. It’s the memories. It’s the love that resides there. It’s togetherness.
That being said, I think there’s something to be said about how our homes and the atmosphere we create there make us feel. I’m not promoting materialism. *Stuff* does not make us happy, neither does pining after things we do not have. But I’m also realizing that as I have slowly (very slowly) improved the physical atmosphere of our home, the more we want to be there – Together. There’s something to be said about being in a place that feels warm and inviting. Everyone wants to be there. When the home is organized, when it’s clean and tidy, when everything beams a ray of beauty, we want to be there and if we’re there together than that’s the perfect place to be.
Home is somewhere I want my kids to always want to be as they grow up. I want them to think it’s the best place on earth. Not because I want them to think it’s the most beautiful place on earth, but because I want them to feel that it’s the most warm and comfortable place on earth. They should come home feeling that they belong there.
A home doesn’t need to be breathtakingly beautiful in order to achieve this and for everyone to want to be home together. I doubt that my home will ever be magazine cover worthy. I’m happy with a humble abode. Even the most humble of homes can be beautiful and create the desired atmosphere simply because of the love and the memories we have created are strong. Our home was very humble until quite recently, and even then, almost all of our furniture is still second hand, thank you very much, and we’re quite happy that way! Much of what we have is not fancy at all but quite humble. Our living room is the exception and that’s okay in my book. It’s not so much the physical environment as it is the emotional environment that we create. The feelings that we create there just by being together and making small everyday memories create the strongest atmosphere – an atmosphere of memories that translates into love. I think as we create a home, the small everyday adventures we have there and the memories they create of that place are what fill our minds when we think of the places that we call “home.”
I think that as I have grown wiser over the years, I have realized that these are simple truths. All we really need is each other. Yes, coming home to a place that is warm and inviting helps us want to be home together. But all we really need is to be together. That’s home. As I have worked hard to build our family a comfortable home that is warm and welcoming, the things that I have realized make us happy are the people we share that wonderful place with. Home simply isn’t home without the people we love most. To be together truly is my favorite place. I want my family to want to be home and happy to be there with each other. Togetherness. That is my purpose for beautifying any space. I think it also invites a spirit of reverence and love as we gather together in warm and inviting surroundings. Most importantly, it’s the love of our family that brings a sense of atmosphere to a home.
