How home life keeps changing

Home sweet home. It seems so simple.

But while the idea of "home" remains constant - the epitome of the familiar and reliable - actual home life is messier and changes all the time. So says Judith Flanders, author of The Making of Home: The 500-Year Story of How Our Houses Became Our Homes (Thomas Dunne Books, September 2015), in which she traces the evolution of the home, and concepts of home, in northern Europe and America from the 16th century to the early 20th century.

She looks at changes in technology, such as plumbing and toilets, tableware and furniture, windows and window dressings, light bulbs and kitchen gadgets, as well as changes in culture, such as marriage patterns, hopes and customs.