Home, what is home? This question I think is very personal and will be different for everyone and hence, I asked this question to a few people and I got the following answers-
“The place I long for after a hectic day.”
“Home is where you can be yourself.”
“A place where I would want my day to end.”
“A home for me is something that has an inherent quality of contentment, peace, and solitude.”
“A place which my comfort zone, is peaceful and at the same matches my personality. The place which speaks about me.”
Certainly, a home is everyone’s haven and comfort zone. It is where we want to start and end our day, where we took our baby steps, where we celebrate. When I enter your house, I want to perceive people that live in, through the artwork put up on the wall or the collectibles that are kept on the coffee table, or through the books that are stacked on the shelves of the library unit. I should be able to tell you if you love music or you are a football fan, you love traveling or you are a vivid reader. It evokes the personality of the user or the personalities of the users. These little things that I call details are not just the details but they make the whole space come together and tell a lot of the people that live in it.
No, I am not the only one saying this,
“Essentially, what your home does is distill a very long history of behaviors and choices,” explains Sam Gosling, Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas.
Further, he adds,
“We use our homes to make purposeful and deliberate statements about ourselves,” he explains. “I call these “identity claims, and they’re designed to reflect our attitudes, our goals, our values, our roles, and priorities. You might be displaying cultural iconography, photos of you with your partner, certain books you want people to see. You’ll find these in your public spaces, places where you’re trying to essentially say to people visiting ‘this is who I am and this is what matters to me.”
While designing houses, most people go by the trends, meticulously going through the images on the internet to check what’s trending and what’s not, getting the best design done to flaunt it to their friends and family. When you get your home designed by an Architect/Interior designer or self-design it thinking about what others will have an opinion about it, you will never be able to create something close to you, something that you love. Your home is very personal, if you like a particular color put it, you like a material use it, you like an accessory keep it. Your home should tell a story of who you are, what you aspire to be. It is for this reason that Interior designers and architects take a keen interest in your choices and preferences. Also, there is a manifestation that the most beautiful homes designed are often the most expensive, however, I don’t think it’s true. I have designed spaces with a tight budget that turned out exquisite.
“Architecture is a visual art, and the building speaks for themselves”
-Julia Morgan
Just by looking at a picture of some structure, we can tell which city or country it belongs to and also traits of that particular place. Looking at a haveli, what comes to your mind is Royal Rajasthan. A mud house or a bamboo house will remind you of South India. Similarly, a house is a clean canvas, it’s a story told through design.
“I believe your home tells a story about who you are and who you aspire to be. We represent ourselves through the things we own. I don’t believe in trends. I believe in collecting things that you connect with. We should surround ourselves with things we care about, that have meaning.”