What makes a house a home?

It's different for everyone. Some can't do without their favorite colors on the wall. Others have a special piece of furniture they cannot live without. But sometimes a certain scent or the way the sunlight flows into a room can make you feel right at home.

It took me a while to even feel somewhat at ease in my appartment. Noisy neighbours, bums who roam the halls at night and the fact that the building has the charisma of a concrete parkinglot do not help when you're trying to create a home. And after living here for 3 years I still am a long way from home. But little by little I am turning this heap of concrete in a warm cosy comfort zone.

My latest piece of decoration is old, rusty, beaten down, tired and if I plug it in this whole building will probably go up in smoke.. But I love it to bits. It just brightens up my living room in a whole different way.

My dad used to have a lamp just like that. He kept it tucked away in a corner of the living room. He used it when he had to take splinters out of our fingers, help us with our homework, when my mum needed to thread a needle, pay the bills or when he had to mend one of our toys (again).

So many memories I have of my dad are somehow connected to this old lamp. He really makes my house feel a bit more like home.