A home is successful when the people inside it can become more themselves there.

The test of a home is what happens to the people in it. If they become more relaxed, more honest, more themselves the longer they are there, it is working. If they get quieter, more careful, more managed, then something is wrong regardless of how well the household functions on paper.

Watch what happens to people over the course of an evening in your home, including you. Do they open up or close down. That observation tells you more than any amount of tidying.