FENG SHUI ADVICE FOR DECORATING YOUR HOME
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Feng Shui (in Chinese thought) is a system of laws considered to govern spatial arrangement and orientation in relation to the flow of energy (chi), and whose favorable or unfavorable effects are taken into account when siting and designing buildings. This is a real and significant practice as it relates to real estate. There are some areas such as Southern California where this practice is such a significant lifestyle practice that if your home is not “feng shui compliant”, you will have a hard time selling your home. Even if you don’t subscribe to feng shui per se, how you feel when you enter a space is feng shui at work. Bright, clean, airy, uncluttered spaces feel comfortable and inviting while dark, cluttered, dirty spaces make you very uncomfortable. It’s the energy that a space exudes and you feel it immediately. Feng Shui is a vast topic with many nuances to it, so just to whet your appetite on the subject, we’ll discuss 5 feng shui principles around decorating your home.
1) If you just moved into a new home, I highly recommend a Space Clearing to clear the energies of the previous occupants and rid the home of any negative energy from those previous occupants and to activate good energy as you now occupy the space. I personally did this when I moved from my house into an apartment in the midst of getting a divorce. I did not want to bring any negative energy into the space and needed a “fresh” start. My Feng Shui consultant had me do many things including light candles and sprinkle fresh orange peels and rice in each room as she rang a bell throughout the space to activate good energy. Burning sage is a similar practice in other cultures as is bringing rice and salt to a home before you move in in Filipino cultures.
2) Personalize the Home to Reflect You. It is so important for you to make changes to a home to reflect you as the new owner/occupant. It can be as little as changing the paint color and putting up personal photos. I had friends who were having marital problems at one point years ago and their Feng Shui consultant gave them this very advice. The home they lived in for many years looked the same as it did when they purchased the home. They hadn’t made any design changes. It still reflected the previous homeowner’s taste and energies. Plus, the front living room was empty as it had not been furnished. They were advised to update the home to reflect their personalities and taste and to bring in new furnishings. Believe it or not, it worked because they are still married today…nearly 2 decades later.
3) Avoid Vertical Blinds. This has to be one of my least favorite window coverings ever created. The individual vanes act like poison arrows of negative energy that emanate into your home. Vertical blinds should be avoided and replaced immediately.
4) Bed and Desk Placement – never place your bed in line with the door so that when you’re lying down, your feet are pointed towards the door. This is known as the death placement as that’s how you are believed to be carried out of the room when you die…feet first. Having your bed in line with the door with your head towards the door is not good either since this type of position causes surprises from behind. This principle also applies to having your desk and chair against the wall so that your back is to the door. This is considered very inauspicious as it leaves you in very vulnerable position and subject to surprises. The best placement is in the command or power position – diagonal from the door, placed in the middle where you have a nice, clear view of who is entering the room.
Mirror Closet Doors are often regarded as a home design upgrade but from a Feng Shui perspective, this is highly undesirable because if the mirror reflects the bed, it gives the illusion of additional bed partners – not good! I have often seen mirror doors turned inside out in bedrooms for this very reason. Easiest cure is to replace the mirror doors with wood doors. As you can see most of these principles make sense and some are even common sense. Bottom line, if it feels off, the energies are probably not aligned and making some minor changes will make all the difference. This article was recently featured in the Fall 2015 Edition of the Asian Real Estate magazine. Thank you to the Asian Real Estate Association of America for the partnership. Click here to view the article and the entire publication.
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