By MICHAEL FRENCH

So, what turns four walls and a collection of rooms into a HOME?

I’ve had this discussion with friends and family many times through the years. The word “home” has a much deeper meaning and is far more intangible. Home is the one place where you can do what you want, when you want, and how you want.

You are not constrained by anyone else’s standards. Home is your most personal and valuable possession.

Is where you sleep, and hang your hat after work, the parties, and where you introduce new friends to your most private world just an impersonal and colorless canvas that says little about you? Or, is your inner voice of how you view the world, what gives you comfort, happiness and peace heard through out the spaces of the place you call home? Would someone reasonably be able to tell you lived there if they didn’t know the home was yours? They should.

More than anywhere else, home should be a sanctuary where you can recharge, and refresh your soul. Make your “castle” a personal oasis where you can quench your thirst for solitude, and the freedom to be totally yourself, stripping off the “mask” you may wear at work etc.

What makes a house a home is the comfort level one has when he is there. Being in a safe and nurturing environment is so important. You are safe because you know with absolute certainty you can be yourself and be accepted by people who love you. Nurture yourself with a wall dedicated to the places you’ve been, and to beloved friends and family. Fond memories will make your heart smile. Being in a comfortable and familiar environment is so important to your sense of well being.

People, refreshingly so, are realizing all the space in the world isn’t the answer to happiness, nor is it prudent. More space equals higher taxes and it’s less friendly to the environment. Too many of us are almost enslaved, being more concerned with creating stoic, mute showcases, making “Keeping up with the Joneses” the primary goal instead of what makes us happy. It’s YOUR HOME. Decorate in the fashion which gives you the most intimate, personal, aesthetic and spiritual pleasure.

A house can be absolutely gorgeous with beautiful designer furnishings, a high end chef ’s kitchen full of the latest appliances and shiny granite, a bathroom with five star spa amenities, and a master suite with glistening silk sheets and an eider down duvet fitted bed. Without love, warmth and harmony it’s like a stunning, attractive man with the personality of a stone.The greatest ingredient that turns a house into a home is the people in it!

There’s something comforting about being around the things you love. My parent’s house always felt like home because it was full of warmth. Home is cozy. Home is lived in. It’s a pair of shoes in the corner, a blanket on the sofa, or “Fido’s” nose print on the window pane, left there while he was impatiently waiting to see your face, and magazines, not perfectly displayed, on the coffee table. All those things say, “Someone LIVES here!”

Kick off your shoes. Just throw the clothes on the bed. Put on the most comfortable T-shirt and jeans you have. Heck, throw all your cares to the wind! Turn on your favorite music and wildly, dance naked if you want! Just don’t scare the dog! Remember it’s YOUR HOME! Go the kitchen, pour yourself a nice glass of wine, step outside onto your patio or in the tropical, private paradise you created. Now, sit down. Relax. Yeah, put your feet up on the table. No one cares. Take a deep breath, let it out with a big sigh, and bask in the serendipitous luxury of YOUR “Home Sweet Home!”

Michael French, is Agenda’s Home
from Home columnist. Contact
Michael at mf7954fla@gmail.com