Aus oder von - from or from

While getting my homework together I discovered "aus" and "von" which kind of mean the same thing, but at the same time can have very different meanings. 

Here are some notes that I took while researching the differences:

Aus - literal translation is "out of". Another way to look at that is that it is the opposite of the English word "in/into". So aus carries the idea of "out of". This is not a problem when you consider this preposition used in context of buildings and places you can enter. 

1. places that can be entered 

Ich gehe aus dem Haus - (I go out of the house)

Ich komme aus Berlin - (I come out of (from) Berlin)

Since countries and cities are considered 'enter-able' in German, no matter the geographical size, it is perfectly OK to say that one comes 'out of' England. In addition, to say that you kommt aus a country generally means that you are a native to the country or city or have grown up in the country or city. 

Wir kommen aus Amerika. - (we're from America) Indicating that we are American

However, saying that you have come from a country or city may also mean that you have just arrived from said country  or city , rather than being a native. There are two ways to indicate the difference. 

1. Context (has the speaker returned from a holiday or business trip?)

2. To use the colloquial version and replace aus with von. Wir kommen von New York - We're coming from New York

2. material use. 

Aus can also be used when referred to material use. 

Der Tisch ist aus Holz - (the table is made from/out of wood)

While using von here would be more logical since a piece of wood is certainly not 'enter-able', the German language sees the table as more of an emergence. Just like plants that grow 'out of' the ground, a wooden table has been 'scooped' out of the wood. 

Von - von can be said to denote origins that you cannot enter and is literally translated as 'from'. The best example of this are persons. 

Ich komme von meinem Bruder - (I am coming from my brother)

Ich komme von der Reise - ( I am coming from a trip)

These two examples, brother and trip, are not 'enter-able'. This not 'enter-able' idea works fairly well, apparently, but there are of course some exceptions. An example being brand names

Ich komme von Aldi - (I'm coming from Aldi) Aldi, for those who don't know (a.k.a me) is a supermarket. 

Of course a supermarket is 'enter-able', but Aldi is also a chain. As soon as you specify which Aldi you are coming from then the prep changes from von to aus

Ich komme aus dem Aldi... (the one next to the gas station). 

In conclusion: 

Aus is used to indicate origins that you can enter(countries, cities, towns), that are material and that are human made geographical locations (buildings).

Von is used for origins which cannot be entered, like people, brand names and activities.