Thoughts on the essence of home, by Kate Riley, publisher of Centsational Style—a website and blog dedicated to design, pattern making, DIY, and travel.A home is a sanctuary.Home is comfort.Home is inviting.Home is a refuge from the world.Home is cozy.Home is lived In.Home is a pair of shoes in the corner, a blanket on the sofa, books and magazines strewn about, and jackets and scarves on the hooks.Home is coffee cups left on the table and beds left unmade.Home is where you wear your coziest clothing with only comfort and never fashion in mind.Home is where there are kids ’fingerprints on the windows. And pet chew toys under the couch. And pets who sneak up on the couch.Home is where there is a junk drawer that always needs organizing. And laundry piling up.Home is where you celebrate that there are messy piles everywhere. Because those messy piles mean you have loved ones among you.Home is filled with your favorite smells. Be it soaps. Or candles. Your husband’s cologne. Or freshly baked cookies. Your momma’s banana bread. Or your dad’s BBQ.Home is a little corner of God’s green earth to call your own.A place where you might steal a Sunday afternoon nap.Laundry on a line or kids playing in the yard.A tomato garden or a lettuce patch.Roses that need pruning and a lawn that needs mowing.Or maybe just a patch of weeds.But it’s yours.Home is where you are surrounded by the simple possessions that make you smile and decorated with your favorite things.Home is filled with your personal touches and your sentimental collections.Home is time spent slowing down. Sitting down. Lying down.Home is filled with the most tender touches.Home is where you begin your morning, and where you meet your loved ones at day’s end.Most importantly. Unlike the gorgeous houses in glossy magazines. Home never ever looks perfect.(And yet, it is.)