This article deals with houses and objects. Based on anthropological fieldwork on materiality in two well-off neighbourhoods
in Denmark, the starting point are localisations of global flows in the privacy of houses. Filters and control showed out
to be a major theme concerning the passages of things in and out of houses; these passages follow two rules: “something in
means something else out” and “what comes in must be activated”. Openness and transparency showed out to be important themes
concerning the house; there is a tendency towards large windows, few inner walls and large rooms, which are both poly-functional
and poly-social. Furthermore, the filtering mechanisms for objects and the openness of the house are related to virtual flows
from computers, telephones and televisions. Classical anthropological theories are used to understand this subject matter:
the concept of haul (the spirit of the thing), exchange and social relations at large.
Keywords Filters - Control - Openness - Transparency - Housing