What makes a house a home?

The lovely Terri at Wind Lost posted a brilliant blogpost about 'the acquisition of things'. In this post she used William Morris's famous quote: "have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful". And quite validly Terri theorises that whilst this is admirable, it is really not possible. But, this got me thinking about those few things that we do love in our abodes, and what is it that makes a house a home.

For me my house is made a home by having my books around me, photos of loved ones, fresh flowers, art on my walls that brings me joy, mementoes of my travels, lighting candles on the dining table, gifts from family and friends, keepsakes from my parents (who sadly passed away a long time ago).

Fresh flowers in my living area

Books in my bookshelf and a small, favourite piece of art (and a cup of my favourite green jasmine tea).

My bedroom drawers - the woven storage box was a gift from my mother over 20 years ago (she passed away in 1991 when I was quite young) and is very special to me. The red perfume bottle at front is Tumulte by Christian Lacroix. It was purchased from a shop just off Place Vendome in Paris - I love both the scent and the design of the bottle. Every time I look at this perfume bottle it brings back fond memories of a wonderful trip.

And these are the candles on my dining table - we don't keep them for special occasions, we like to light them most evenings.

What makes your house a home?