6 Essential Strategies to Creating a Feng Shui Home
One of the hottest long-term trends in home design is feng shui. The phrase describes an ancient Chinese art that aims to improve every facet of your personal life and career.
Feng shui addresses the flow of energy throughout your home, from the front door to the living room to the bedroom. When you arrange the environment of your living spaces so everything has a properly balanced relationship with everything else around it, the overall effect should be a peaceful and productive environment.
Feng shui seeks to create a feeling of harmony that most modern homes should have … and too often do not. The discipline of feng shui also tends to involve the use of all-natural elements, specifically wood, fire, Earth, metal, and water.
There are also eight areas of influence, according to the energy of feng shui. They are:
- Career
- Knowledge
- Family
- Wealth
- Fame
- Marriage
- Children and Creativity
- Mentors and Travel
As you apply feng shui design to your home, you’re likely to experience an improvement in at least one, if not all, of these areas. Before you start designing or remodeling your home, consider the following suggestions.
- Declutter
There’s nothing peaceful about a cluttered room. Begin your journey to a more harmonic existence by removing some of the excess. Recycle and/or donate items for which you no longer have any use. Organize cupboards and drawers so you know where everything is. When the clutter is reduced, you’re already halfway there.
- Arrange the Furniture
Apply space planning techniques to maximize the paths between your furniture. Make sure objects are evenly spaced and there are no obstructions. You can select your furniture in whatever way appeals to you, but typically, feng shui design involves plenty of space between furnishings, and sleek lines.
- Install a Fountain
Water is an effective tool for achieving flowing energy in the home, and a dripping faucet doesn’t count. Select an attractive water feature that fits with the larger design of your home, and you can have the sound of flowing water help you find inner peace.
- Place Plants in Nooks and Crannies
Too much dead space ruins the effectiveness of feng shui design. Fill the dead spaces with plants. This covers yet another of the essential elements in positive energy flow. It also improves the air quality in your home as well as providing attractive decor.
- Improve the Air Quality
Pure, clean air is essential to clear thinking and healthy lives. As mentioned above, plants can help to purify the air, as can mechanical air purifiers and natural aromas. Using citrus to clean, for example, is a natural solution that can also keep the air smelling fresh.
- Let There Be Light
Change your light bulbs to CFLs that will increase your home’s efficiency and cast a more natural light in every room. Use light window treatments to let in as much natural light as possible, and position your furnishings near the windows.
The sun and fire are often considered synonymous in feng shui, so this will bring a solid element of the peaceful art into your home.