I am an Architect & recently I realized (a strange habit maybe)that whenever I visit people homes I try to assess the personality of the family living there & without being immodest I can say mostly I have been almost correct.
This set me thinking that how when we occupy an empty house, make it our home, it suddenly transforms from a non living brick & concrete thing to this living & breathing being and probably becomes a mirror of our own personality.

When we enter a house, its smells, looks & the sounds tell us what kind of a household it is. It sets the tone of our welcome- formal(formal setting), informal(casual setting), family oriented(every corner utilised,less emphasis on decor)or sometime unwanted(if you are unlucky).

A home with few furniture pieces in their living room, few or no display areas or corners, many a times no central carpet or maybe a rug in the centre with simple sitting arrangement says that the owners are open hearted,have casual attitude & are not pretentious.

Whereas in a home where you’ll find everithing at its place as it should be with big sized sofas, display cabinet of crystals or artefacts, attractive centre table, cushions straight in their place refer to the owners tendency to show off their status & their home which is their status symbol. they are very particular about everything & belive in formal behaviour.

Owners of home which has ethnic setting, heavy wood furniture pieces, probably low seating, lot of fabric around as in cushions, ethnic artefacts in corner displays. walls are usualy painted offwhite or yellowcream or beige color are usually of conservative nature and formal.

Similarly a house with bright accented walls in their rooms, maybe an open kitchen, modern furniture of light wood & steel, mix & match of fabrics, colors & informal display areas shows that the owners are experimental, open, informal but not casual because they have taken effort in placing different pieces together.

Sometimes you also get to visit a home which is designer in all sense- just the right kind of furniture, fabric, planning, accent lighting in all the right places. The moment you see this place you can make out that this is a work of an artist & the owners had little faith in themselves & therefore what you see is the designers vision not the personality of the owners.Such home looks as if its missing its soul & is trying hard to impress the visitors.

These are some of my observations. You may also have framed some opinions about your hosts when you looked around their home or if not you should give it a try & see how correct you are in your observation. If nothing else its good fun.

What does your house say about you ?