Elrond’s house per se was no doubt perfect, whether you liked food or sleep or story-telling or singing (or reading), or just sitting and thinking…

But Rivendell itself was a significant, powerful, populated, well-organized and fortified elven refuge and stronghold, founded in SA 1697 that endured nearly 5000 years against Sauron and multiple sieges by Angmar.

In SA 3431, the Last Alliance armies of Gil-galad and Elendil gathered in Rivendell prior to crossing the Misty Mountains to besiege Mordor. Elrond muses about it at his eponymous Council:

"I remember well the splendour of their banners... It recalled to me the glory of the Elder Days and the hosts of Beleriand, so many great princes and captains were assembled. And yet not so many, nor so fair, as when Thangorodrim was broken..."

The total army size of the Alliance has been estimated at 100-150k fighters here. Some (Oropher, Celeborn, Durin VI, et al.) did join on the east side of the Misty Mountains, so conservatively assume the number assembled at Rivendell was half that, 50-75k. Add to that an unspecified number of support personnel. Assuming a “tooth to tail” ratio of 2:1, that’s at least another 25k people.

Inferable is the sufficient quartering economy of Rivendell to feed and support an army of that magnitude for years (SA 3431–3434). Another reasonable inference might be the household’s confidence it could do so in a way that would not decrease the war-waging capabilities of the Alliance while they waited.

I imagine the elf menu probably consisted exclusively of lembas…

Only elven queens knew the recipe and could distribute lembas. That suggests some important elven woman was around in Rivendell, running things.

Elrond and Celebrian don’t wed until TA 109. Can we assume a long elven courtship, perhaps beginning during the Last Alliance?

One can easily visualize Celebrian, daughter of Galadriel, stepping up and managing the Last Homely House during this time, possibly as Acting Last Alliance Quartermaster, with her own Yavannildi crack force, as such tasks might be deemed beneath one so wise as Elrond.

Things got hot again in the mid Third Age…

Rivendell successfully defended itself from the Witch-King around TA 1400. Knowing the Witch-King’s penchant for using overwhelming force, this sounds like a big blitz-style siege, involving attrition, thousands of troops, trolls, magic, stores of goods and arrows, miruvor, etc.

Shortly thereafter, Rivendell was able to assist King Araphor against the Witch-King at Carn Dum TA 1409 - implying sufficient force in Rivendell soon after the TA 1400 siege ended to both project decent force and defend against another potential siege.

Finally, in TA 1975, Glorfindel led a force from Rivendell to the Battle of Fornost to recapture Arnor from the Witch-King. Again, doubtful Elrond would have emptied Rivendell, leaving it unprotected even though this promised to be the proverbial last battle.

This all sounds like at least few thousand troops to me, maintained over 5000 years, perpetually in need of decent quartering, training, repair of fortifications, with a military chain of command, lembas and miruvor production, engineering, weapons production, accurate maps, contingencies, roads, etc.

To me Rivendell seems a sophisticated, well-ordered city, capable of effectively projecting military force all over Eriador, mounting fierce defenses against superior numbers and extended sieges, and the wherewithal to quarter tens of thousands of troops for years in a pinch, (albeit in Elrond’s rather bucolic and pastoral style).