What Makes a Place Feel Like Home?

We are in the process of moving to our 75 acres in Louisiana. We have been going back and forth between the city and our property for the past few months. The house in the city is now nearly empty. It doesn’t really seem like our home, just a place we are staying at, when we stay here. Conversely, the camp, our mobile home, is starting to feel more like home. Our daughter says that she will miss the house that she grew up in, and I understand. The memories of the house I grew up in, still seem like home, even though the house has changed over the years.

So, this brings up the question, what makes a place feel like home? Is it how cozy it feels or how comfortable? Do you have a sense of peace and security when staying there? Is there a place for your belongings or having family or pets living in it with you? Or, is it a sense of familiarity with the place? It’s not any single factor, but a combination of living at ease, security and comfort, and more importantly the place should also provide for your emotional needs.

The small three-bedroom mobile home that we are moving into will allow us to remain close to our house while it is being built, then provide some office space and craft space for me and my mother. My husband has a good size metal building for his projects. As we are filling the mobile home with some of our furniture, it starting to feel somewhat like a home. For me, the longer I stay at a place, the more it seems like home. I also consider outside spaces as part of the hominess feeling of a place. Especially, features like a fire pit and large porches and wooded scenery.

Also, since our neighbors are so spread out, I love the peacefulness of the place. We have lots of wildlife, some of which, like feral pigs, we may have to thin out as necessary. Also, there is a small risk of running into a bear or large pack of coyotes, one needs to be careful on walks. I will be able to take the dog on long walks with me without having to worry about traffic.

I grew up at the edge of woods and a large swamp that I crossed to get to the river that we kids played in. This was when I was growing up in the 1960s and 1970s. We ran into snakes, poisonous and non-poisonous, and alligators. So, I’m familiar with dealing with wild animals.

So, for me, the question of what makes a place feel like home, the place should make me feel happy, secure and comfortable. The sense of place for me is more than just the house. It is the land surrounding it, the neighborhood and nearby town, and finally having the people, animals and belongings I care for near me. It’s a place where I want to go back to when I leave it.