Where do you feel at home?

Where do you feel
most at home?

For one in three of us, surprisingly, it’s not where we live.

That was the finding of a new Ikea report which takes an unsettling look at life in the 21st century. The company asked 22,000 people in 22 countries about where they felt “most at home”. 35% of those people said they don’t feel at home in their house or apartment, up from 20% just two years ago.

What’s going on? we wondered. And what can we do, as a leading New Zealand home renovator, to help make Kiwis feel more at home at home?

What makes a house a home?

We started by asking the question: What makes a house a home?

To find the answer, we went back to Ikea, who had followed up their report by asking that same question.

Relationships are a fundamental part of what makes a home, they discovered. Positive feelings around home increase when people live together. On the contrary, there’s also a strong need for privacy. It’s a paradox: We crave more privacy, but at the same time we want to nurture relationships, since they’re such a big part of what makes home so special.

How do you make a home more homey?

The importance of the senses as part of our experience of our surroundings came through in the Ikea report. The senses influence our feelings about home – the smell of baking in the kitchen, the feel of a soft carpet under our feet, the sound of the rice cooker or coffee machine bubbling.

These findings remind us that when renovating our homes, we need to go beyond the three dimensions of space into the fourth dimension, giving consideration for the dimension of the senses and how they make us feel about our home.

Getting away from it all

“It’s important having social as well as private spheres in the home,” said Fredrik from Stockholm in the report. . “In my dream home, I would be able to have a big social space where I could invite others for dinner, as well as a more private part with bedrooms and so on.”

Providing spaces where you can be by yourself when you choose to is an essential consideration in your home improvement planning.

Home is where the hygge is

Chances are, you’ve already heard about hygge, a Danish word which doesn't have any direct translation in English but means cosy, charming or special. 

As you can see from the image at right, the concept is as practical as it is existential, epitomising the Danish way of life but gaining acceptance around the world as people look to their homes as an antidote to our busy, stressed-out lives.  

Going beyond our four walls

Feeling at home isn't restricted to the space inside your actual dwelling – for most of us it extends out into our outdoor living spaces, decks and even the increasing number of secondary dwellings built as workshops, studios, sleepouts and man caves. 

To talk to an expert about what you can do to make you and your family could feel more at home at home, contact your local Pzazz Building owner. 

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