J.  Old sychronicity striking again.  I have just begun reading Frances Mayes Every Day In Tuscany...seasons of an Italian Life, and to your point about our homes, Mayes speaks of Bramasole thus:  "...the house lives powerfully on its own and I feel powerfully alive within its thick stone walls."
She and her husband find a second, mountain home, which they embrace, she states upon first seeing it, she felt "a molten energy...Feng shui doesn't have a name in Tuscany, but the principles must be universal.  Our little stone cottage takes power from the raucous discussions among five kinds of owls in the dark, the torrent's wet music in winter, charging herds of wild boar, the old-growth chestnut forest, the squawks of pheasants, spontaneous springs, and Roman roads cresting the mountain."
So our homes require something of us, more than maintenance, cleaning, preening; an understanding of their essence, their history.  Even a new-build stands on old ground.  Something, someone went before.  I love the Thai tradition of erecting a spirit house when you use a piece of land to build your home, to give the spirits who preceeded you a place to be which the Thais tend every day with flowers, incense and food.  Some may say this smacks of idolatry, but I think it is respect.