The Functional Home
Cut along the dashed lines and pass the cards around the table.
Before we open the book, what is one small thing (a smell, a sound, a lamp, a mug) that instantly makes a place feel like home to you?
Where were you curled up while reading this, and did your own home feel any different to you while you were in the middle of it?
The title puts 'functional' right next to 'home.' What does a home that truly works look and feel like to you, and how is that different from a home that just looks tidy?
Which moment or passage gave you a warm, comforting feeling, and what do you think it was reaching in you?
The book thinks about the daily routines that hold a household together. What is a routine or ritual from your own home, past or present, that you would want to pass on?
Did anything in the book make you think of the home you grew up in? Share a memory it brought back, happy or bittersweet.
By the time you finished, had your idea of what makes a home 'work' shifted at all? What feeling did you carry with you when you closed the book?
Homes are rarely perfect. Where did the book make you feel more forgiving toward the messy or unfinished parts of your own life, and where did it gently challenge you?