A home is where you return to after hard day’s work, to relax and unwind with your family and friends. A home reflects the tastes, styles and requirements of those who live in there. Today, it is easier to create our own environment because of increasing number of materials available to us. While some can look for easy and practical ways to live, others can be trendy and fashionable while designing their home.

What Makes a House a Home?
A home gives the feeling of belongingness, a sense of security, happiness; where people can be themselves.

Listed below are ways to make your own ‘sweet home’:

• Find Your Own Style: While designing your environment, it is important to create a space that you find comfortable living in. While one may be influenced by the latest trends and fashion, they may not suit the style, layout or shape of a building. You can make changes to a particular trend without following it entirely so that it suits your tastes and requirements.
• Observe and Analyse: While browsing you may find something appealing and want to include it in your own house. You can start by thinking and asking yourself questions – Is it the style or the arrangement of the furniture that is appealing? Or is it the color of the wall that looks inviting? Will it suit a particular lifestyle? Will you like it in the long run or is it just a passing fad? Once you know these, you can think whether the style is practical or not. You can also think of ways to recreate it in your own environment.
• Consider Liking of Others: Taste changes with time and circumstances. For example, you may not find a particular thing appealing which you used to find as a child. Again, when you are living independently you can start experimenting with schemes that you like. But when you are living with your partner or with family, you have to give consideration about their likes or dislikes. You can express your own taste while decorating your own room. In case of kitchen, you can consider the practical aspect such as surface that can be easily and regularly cleaned. You can decorate shared spaces like dining or sitting room in such a way that it is comfortable to everyone.
• Make Your Home ‘Comfortable’ with Warm Colors:  Warm colors like red, orange or pink can make you feel nice and cozy. These colors can also make your guests feel comfortable. While red color can evoke passion, orange color can promote good will, cheerfulness and good conversation. Pink color can have calming effect on mood. Pink color can also encourage socializing. You can consider painting your bedroom with warm red color with blue undertone to make it appear a real cool warm color! You may consider painting your rooms with orange or pink color where you want to entertain your guests or sit with your family. Such warm colors can make your home inviting for everyone.

Ultimately what matters is the feeling of love and pride that you feel for your home. Everybody wants a beautiful home, but that beautiful home has to have a ‘lived in’ feeling. Otherwise no matter how much immaculate it looks, people living in that home will not be happy for fear of disturbing the spotless look. So, somewhere you have to strike the right balance to build a real ‘home’.