Home.
A little tiny word with enormous meaning.
What feelings and emotions does the word ‘home’ evoke? What does it mean to you?
I’ve been thinking about this long and hard and I can’t think of a single straight answer. Home means so many different things to me. I can’t narrow it down to just one thing. So here are the first things that spring to mind.
Home is feeling safe and secure.
It’s pulling up outside the house and feeling relief and excitement wash over me, that I’m back in the place I feel the happiest.
It’s hearing my boy’s key turn in the lock — then hearing him whistle. Something he’s done ever since we’ve been together. That two-tone whistle is synonymous with home.
Home is our funny, beautiful cottage with it’s wonky walls and tin roof. And no, I’m not joking. It really does have a tin roof ;)
It’s sitting around the kitchen table, listening to the radio, with the warmth of the AGA enveloping us.
Home is snuggling in our giant bed, strewn with books and magazines — on a Saturday morning — with my three lovely boys (tiny boys and big, man-shaped boy).
Home is bimbling about in the garden, safely enclosed by mellow brick walls, listening to my babies laugh as they play around us.
It’s the excitement of choosing a tree from the farm, then decorating it with all of the trinkets we’ve collected over the years, with Christmas music playing in the background.
Home is the big Chinese cabinet that we’ve had in every house we’ve ever lived in. It’s our cats and chickens. It’s our house-plant called Gerald.
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Home is Wherever We are Together.
‘Home is Wherever We Are Together’ is really what home’s all about though, I guess. It doesn’t matter where I am really; as long as I’m with my little family, I am home.
I’ve designed the above image as a free printable, so you can print it out and pop it in a frame if you like it. Click on the link below to download the high res PDF.
What does home mean to you? Would you have written another quote? Let me know! I’m always looking for inspiration for new designs for my shop! :)
Caro Davies is a former art-director turned writer and content-creator, and editor behind UK lifestyle blog The Listed Home. She writes about home-related topics, from interiors and DIY to food and craft. The Listed Home has been featured in various publications, including Ideal Home, Grazia, and Homes & Antiques magazines.
This is such a lovely post and I agree – as long as I have my family with me then that is where my home is.
Thanks so much Karen. Yes — I think that’s the ultimate answer isn’t it? Home is wherever your family are. When all’s said and done, material possessions are just that. Home is a feeling more than a place.
What a beautiful post, love all the little things that mean home to you sounds pretty idyllic. LOVE your print, it is so cute and I have downloaded it hopefully display soon! xx
Thanks so much lovely! I could have written LOADS of things! I had to cut it down! The things I wrote are definitely the ones that spring to the forefront of my mind, that’s for sure x
Oh me too. I adore my home. You write such beautiful things Caro – I totally agree and can relate. You make me want to move in with you! Please adopt me. Jess xx
Thanks so much Jess — what a lovely comment! And yes — bring the family — we can all live in a commune :) My best has always wanted to do that!! LOL! Buy a massive mansion and all live together!!! Ha!
Your home sound so lovely and cosy – I love that you have a tin roof!!
Please can I come stay?!
The print is ace, thanks so much for sharing Caro! :) xx
HA, yes! We really DO!! It was put over the thatch in the war to stop the bombs setting the roof on fire.
And yes — DO come and stay!! We love a houseful of people and always have an open house policy! You’re welcome any time! :) x
Gorgeous post! And absolutely adore that printable. #HomeEtc x
Thanks so much Kaye! There were SO many versions of the printable!! Couldn’t narrow it down so ended up with my favourite colour!! You can’t go wrong with yellow!! ;) x
I love the print, Caro! I’m almost in two minds about home being where you are with your family. We lived in Switzerland for seven years and while it was lovely and my husband and two boys were there, it never, ever, ever felt like home. I think sometimes your heart is intricately linked with a place as well as people, and that place for me is the countryside where I grew up. Now that we’re back, it feels like everything is in place and I’m finally ‘home’.
Yes, I can see that if you were in a totally different landscape it still may feel a bit ‘off’. That said, I’m such a homemaker, as long as I was with my three boys I could be on the moon and make a nice little home for us ;)
You are right. Once you have your family around you, it doesn’t matter where you are. That said, I love my family home where I grew up and I love my own home one too. Both are quirky and cosy but completely different.
In Ireland we have a saying “Nil aon tintean mar do thinean fein” which means there is no fireside like your own fireside. I llove that one. It is our way of saying there is no place like home.
#HomeEtc.
Aaah what a gorgeous saying! Maybe I should create a printable with that on for all my Irish friends ;) Thanks so much for your comment xx
Aw this is a beautiful post and certainly got me thinking about what ‘Home’ means to me and my family. I love our home which we have been in for 14 years. Its filled with wonderful memories and happiness, and maybe an odd argument. Its our place where we can be safe, be happy and be content. x
Thanks so much Tracey! Wow! 14 years is such a long time to be in one place! We’ve managed 5 years in one house — that’s the longest we’ve ever been in one home! x
True – it’s not always about the things, it’s about the people and the safety they bring. #HomeEtc
Yes — there’s a lot to be said for the ‘feeling’ of home rather than the place — or even the objects — that are synonymous with home x
Aw can I move in?!! You make it sound so cosy, I know what you mean though I feel the same about my home. My favourite time is getting home on a Friday night, putting my pjs on and looking forward to a weekend with my favourite people :) Stevie x #HomeEtc
Haha! That’s so lovely that the words have conjured up an image. I LOVE our home — weekends are my favourite too. Wish they lasted longer! ;)