Little things to make a house a home
By dorannmwin
@dorannmwin (36392)
United States
March 26, 2013 2:29pm CST
When we move from one place to another, we are really moving into a house, but it definitely isn't a home when we first step foot in the door. I tend to believe that there are little things that all people do to transform their new house into their new home.
For us, the first things that we did to make our house a home after we bought it were to paint the walls in most of the rooms of the house, demolish and rebuild the bathroom and also to hang a lot of our family pictures on the wall. These are things that really make me feel at home when I walk through our door.
I'd love to hear what some of the little things that other people do to make a house into a home when they have moved from one place to another. It is very interesting to me to see ways in which people are different in their thinking of the things that make a house a home.
2 people like this
16 responses
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
28 Mar 13
I, unfortunately, don't have many hand crafted decorations in my home. However, I have chosen a lot of decorations that I've purchased that really do express my personality.
For example, I've decorated our mantle with dolphin figures that I've collected over the years.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
28 Mar 13
I do think that those little personal touches are something that really is very important. I'm sure that the pictures that you put up of the brats will be something that will bring you daily smiles when you move into your home.
@bounce58 (17387)
• Canada
4 Apr 13
We still live in the first house that I ever bought. Although we've been in apartments before, I never really considered those as home. I always had a 'temporary' feeling about those places.
And I think that when you first move in, it is just a house. What makes it a home is when you've spent time in it, and built memories within the house.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
8 Apr 13
That is something that is true too. Our house was our home when we first moved in because we had spent a lot of time here making changes and letting the kids play before we even moved into the house.
@RitterSport (2451)
• Lippstadt, Germany
1 Apr 13
hi dear dorannmwin as this rented apartment is the first place I rented together with my husband, most of the choices are his. We took his furniture as it was in better condition than mine (honestly I hate the black furniture in the living room) and he also chose the wallpapers for most of the place.
I only chose the wallpaper for my own room and all my books which overcrowd my bookshelves by now make the place my personal home and its my refuge for bad days. LOL.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
3 Apr 13
At least you do have a place in your home that you've chosen your own way of decorating so that you do have your own personal refuge in your home.
@Bluedoll (16774)
• Canada
26 Mar 13
Make a mess, demolishing is good.
Seriously, I like art and personal things that help identify the house to ours. I rent and sometimes they will say you need permission for some things. I ignore that within reason of course. It is my home and I like to make where I live my own too.
Places are really about activity and what we do in a room can reflect it. Just hanging up items for example in the kitchen under the cupboards has made me feel I belong. A garden gave me a sense of being part of something. If I ever move I might take the soil with me. 
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
28 Mar 13
We definitely don't have a problem with our house being a mess. With the two kids that won't even put their dirty clothes into the laundry, our house is always in a state of disaster. It looks like a tornado has gone through here.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
3 Apr 13
I definitely agree with you that a house is not a home if everything is in pristine condition.
@Bluedoll (16774)
• Canada
31 Mar 13
I remember cleaning a house from top to bottom and taking pictures.
On the other hand visiting homes that are spotlessly clean and perfect in organization. It is kind of like a model show house and just doesn't seem live in.
For a house to be a home perhaps we need a certain amount of...
On the other hand visiting homes that are spotlessly clean and perfect in organization. It is kind of like a model show house and just doesn't seem live in.
For a house to be a home perhaps we need a certain amount of...
@Hugsy25 (274)
• Canada
31 Mar 13
We actually just moved around the 15th of January to a new place. But where we are only in a rented townhouse we couldn't really do too much to make the place our own. I think we can paint if we want but were I have a small baby an no where else really to stay with her I don't really want to get too much into smelly paint right now. But one of the first things I did was set up my fish tank in the living room and I got the two older kids each a tank for their rooms. The both really seem to enjoy that. I also hung pictures and let the kids pick out new posters for their rooms.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
3 Apr 13
You are definitely more limited on what you are able to do to make your house a home when you are living in a rented property. However, I think that setting up your fish tank and also allowing the children to pick out posters for their rooms was a great idea for personalizing your home.
@dawnald (85135)
• Shingle Springs, California
27 Mar 13
I unpacked all my books, but I still need to put up pictures....
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
28 Mar 13
In the inverse, I made sure to put up pictures soon after we moved into our house, but I still have a lot of my books that have never been unpacked yet.
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
26 Mar 13
like you its hanging my photos, putting my things in the kitchen and its MY bed moved in. only thing is thats likely why i didnt feel at home here in my sons house at first. his gf at the time was the woman here first and she talked me into leaving my bed and some things that were mine because she said what would she do with the extra bed and the things already here. little did i realise id always feel like a visitor until she left. then she took her stuff and i had to replace/buy things of my own. its likely another of the reasons ive gone broke and live from pay check to check.
oh well, many times ive started over but it usually works out@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
28 Mar 13
I consider myself to be lucky that I've never had to start over with my life, but I know that if I was faced with that kind of a situation that I would survive as well because I know that I would have my family by my side and at the heart of things, they really are those things that are the most important to me.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
28 Mar 13
Well, the pets and the kids too for me. I do have some things that I treasure, but as long as I always have my family I know that I will be okay.
@marguicha (215346)
• Chile
27 Mar 13
Most of the houses I have had were built by my husband so I had them brand new (and often unfinished too) This house I`m living was one he built when he was already very ill. He wanted to take care for me up to the end. He left before it was finished so I have been doing things to it all these years as soon as I have some money. I changed some years ago an awful (and very unexpensive) carpet that was the only one we could buy then. Later on, I painted again my whole house. I invited my friends and they did most of the job. I had an awesome lunch for the "painters". The house has changed little by little, but is is still what we dreamed about with my hubby.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
28 Mar 13
Our house was an already existing house, but we bought it as a house that did need a lot of work and those are changes that we've been making a little bit at a time as we are able to afford things. The two things that I am most looking forward to changing now are the outside of the house, we want to do vinyl siding and then on the inside of the house we want to put matching wood flooring throughout the main floor of the house.
@ShyBear88 (59282)
• Sterling, Virginia
27 Mar 13
The first thing I do is put wall stickers on the kids wall and try to set things up where toys can be found easily. The good thing is that we have walls already painted but wish I could paint them a different color.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
28 Mar 13
I've never done wall stickers in my children's rooms, but they too have done little things to personalize their own rooms.
I painted their doors white and told them that they can decorate however they like. The thing that is great about that is when they are tired of what they've done, it isn't that hard to throw another coat of paint on the door.
@doroffee (4222)
• Hungary
27 Mar 13
I do absolutely agree! I don't think you don't need more than some family pictures and beloved wall arts, memory ornaments and some things that mean a lot to you to make a house instantly feel a home. And of course, you can follow it by finding the perfect colors, textures and materials of your taste, choice and style for your walls, bedsheets, pillows, bedframes, carpets and curtains :).
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
28 Mar 13
The pictures are definitely the things that are the most important to me. I really have a struggle every time that I'm at the store and I see a great set of picture frames because I always want to buy them so that I can further enhance my home to my personal taste and style.
@roshigo58 (4859)
• Pune, India
27 Mar 13
Hi,
We have shifted to this new house on 26th Jan. It is our rented house. We left our own house and shifted here. Because we have decided to live with our son together. We are planning to buy new house here after selling our old house. Existing house is also nice and we are feeling it like our home. But it is temporary home for us. We would like to have experience of decorating our house and feeling like home soon.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
28 Mar 13
Once you have the opportunity to get all of that decorating done, you most definitely will start to feel a lot more at home.
@yume11 (183)
• Romania
26 Mar 13
I know how you're feeling. Five years ago I moved in another house too, and at first I wasn't feeling like homw, wanting to go back in my old house. But things changed after I begin to make some personalized cleaning my room[to move things from a corner to other, to paint the door or to make mess :)) ]..but tis wasn't enough..until some friends came at me and said :''Oh..I like very much your room!''. And this was like a reaminder for me, that ournew house..was..our house...[it's sounds a bit strange...]. After this I invited more friends and relatives in our house/my room and their joyness, compliments and the good memories of them made me feel like home. I think that good memories make a place a ''home''..like how it's said:''Home it's where your hear is.'' :)
Have a nice day ^^!
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
28 Mar 13
Home is definitely where your heart is. For me this is something that is very true because I can feel some degree of comfort no matter where I am as long as my family is with me because my family is my heart.
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
26 Mar 13
hi dorannmwin we lived in apartments bu t my son and I had several things we always did when we moved to a new apartment and that was to hang my hanging plants and make room for the others on my big coffee table then came the welcome mat with Garfield on it.That mat had accompanied me when my hubby and i first moved into an apartment and the last one my son and i moved into, the one that almost demolished us when my son got laid off and we spent all our savings and still got evicted and made homeless and I was forced to come here to GoldCrest where I still am. My son with the help of section 8 got into a one bedroom apt for just 400 dollars a month just thirty percent of his wages. He now has
the Garfield welcome ma.
lol lol.
lol lol. @dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
28 Mar 13
That is great that your son has been able to hold onto the Garfield welcome mat. I'm sure that when he sees it, it is something that reminds him of his childhood and his adulthood and is something that does bring him comfort.
@Raine38 (12257)
• United States
26 Mar 13
You're right, a house isn't a home unless family is there and we have with us our possessions with significant sentimental value for us. For me, it wouldn't be home unless I smell those brewed coffee beans that my husband likes, or the fridge with my family's cards and letters. It wouldn't be home for me as well if I can't see some pictures of loved ones strewn around.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
28 Mar 13
I really never did think about the smells, but you are definitely right, that is something that is very important about a house being a home as well. Ours is peach scented candles. I absolutely love the smell of peaches.
