I found an interesting concept on page 90, when Miller talks about au pairs and the rooms their host families prepare for them. It sparked the thought of “house vs. home.” Both in my life and my friends, the topic of a house versus a home has come up. We are all in college, and for some of us it was a difficult adjustment. “I want to go home” was a phrase I said an innumerable amount of times my freshman year, but some people have said “couldn’t you have just gone back to your dorm room?” The answer is no. There is a distinct difference between a physical house and what someone may consider home. It can also be a mental state. To think of one’s home and a “home away from home” is represented by college life extremely well.

“It seems that most families didn’t think twice before deciding that IKEA represented the perfect au pair style. Not just IKEA in general, but specifically white melamine IKEA furniture, which was found in approximately half of the photo-documented au pairs’ rooms we studied (90).” This bland colored living space made for au pairs by their host families represents the ease of simply replacing something or somebody. IKEA furniture is fun to put together, I will be honest, but after a few years of wear and tear, it might not even function correctly. Their products are cheap, very affordable, and will surely only last a few years. Miller describes this IKEA furniture in the UK as “cold” and “anonymous.” Plain, white, and there to temporarily serve. This is the au pair’s house. What items they choose to place inside of it will make it their own, their home. Additionally, if they do choose to call it “home,” that is their choice, and backs up the statement of home being a state of mind.

On the following page (91), Miller talks about having the autonomy to be able to put things in your house. Say you have purchased a house. You will reside there long-term, maybe start a family, host your own family for holidays. If you’re going to be living there for years to come, you should make it your own. This is where the items come in; pictures, furniture, electronics, appliances. The ability to feel comfortable in a space and call it your own is what makes a home. In my own dorm room, I have posters of my favorite TV shows and pictures of my friends and family. Whenever I go back to it at the end of the day, I feel welcomed. I feel safe. If I see someone’s dorm room and the walls are bare, I am confused. They are just going back to an empty space, but that is also their choice. I wanted my dorm room to be warm and welcoming, and I wanted it to feel like a home instead of a hotel. Some people have an easier time thinking to themselves that college is only permanent, so maybe that is why they have nothing on their walls to welcome them back at the end of the day. I won’t know, though, unless I ask them. If there is nothing in someone’s home, I can assume they are boring, bland, extremely minimalist, or anything else that pops into my mind. The only thing that will explain a complete lack of items is what they have to tell (much like George’s in “Empty.”)

I firmly believe that a house is the building. A home is something you make your own through your objects and personal expression.