Children, then, will benefit from growing up in a Feng Shui house because magically good Feng Shui is synonymous with a happy, harmonious family life: it guarantees good relationships, health and wealth. By incorporating Feng Shui into their house design, people can aim to achieve this very same harmony.
Here’s the Parachute founder and decorator David Daniel Kennedy’s best advice for good feng shui. 1. I don’t buy collectibles. You can be attracted to a house and not to another – so why would you spend money getting a timepiece that’s not right? 2. It’s all about embracing – I love sculptures and art, but one big artwork can take a room over. 3. Set a destination. When you walk in, see where you’d like to end up, then have a path to get there. It could be a sofa, chair or a corner you want to meditate. 4. I don’t like overhead art, there should be a break between sofas and the ceiling. 5. People are attracted to light. 6. Lastly, eliminate clutter.
Cultivating these four virtues begins with clearing space. Metaphorically clearing the clutter from your desk is sometimes necessary to find the areas or opportunities we’ve previously missed.
Color
Feng Shui gives many easy suggestions: an interior that is already calm can be further hindered by colours such as red or yellow; soft hues of blues and greens can calm it down further and can actually improve it.
Patterned fabrics paired with textured surfaces are patterned fabrics paired with textured surfaces. And patterns worn by people. Texture is the subtle detail at work in each of these examples. Textures add depth and dimension to the widest field of vision or the smallest detail. A design scheme can be lifted by the layering of shiny and rough surfaces, tall and feather-soft ones. And the people in your space? It’s easy to match a textured scarf with a textured throw. Both of which could complement each other if worn by the same person at the same time.
Clutter disrupts the energy flow in your home, upsetting the balance of the home. Clear outs (de-cluttering) is a simple essential Feng Shui health and happiness practice.
Furniture
From your bed for restorative sleep to your living room for revitalisation and your dining table for digestion, Feng Shui furnishings can be used to create alluring environments for body and soul. Through simple techniques – energising with soft colours, decluttering, or bringing in natural elements – you can generate the energy that flows through a room for the benefit of both body and soul.
Five elements – wood, fire, earth, metal and water – represent specific aspects of life: they’re used as symbols for specific aspects of our existence: wood for growth, fire for passion and inspiration, earth for stability and strength, metal for abundance and water for reflection and balance. Decluttering is achieved by using decor containing many shapes and textures to balance out yin with yang to create a relaxing yet nourishing environment; in feng shui this ends up meaning to place focal points in a room through furnishing pieces that serve a function but are also visually interesting making an item of furniture a chance to declutter at the same time.
Lighting
Feng Shui is built around the idea that energy (qi) permeates everything and moves through your surroundings. It is achieved by bringing yin and yang elements into harmony and increasing the beneficial flow of qi into your home or business. This will bring health, wealth and a happy home life.
First, de-clutter and leave all surfaces clear. Second, select furniture and decorative items that activate the desired life area; for example, in the southwest area of a Bagua map for relationships, place art or pictures of friends and lovers here; and in the north area for career undertakings, place water features such as a fountain or aquarium here to support a healthy flow at work.
Complements create harmony, which you can achieve by adding textures that contrast – a soft plush rug would look good with a hard concrete accent wall, and a wool rug could be placed next to a steel table.
Plants
It’s always important to have plants in your home for Feng Shui because having plants in your home will create the proper flow of energy favouring your home or space, helping you have fresh, clean air flowing into your living spaces by dissipating air pollutants, and also boosting what Feng Shui practitioners call Chi.
Choose plants that are easy to care for and have attractive foliage or that make bright displays. Avoid buying plants that have dangerous stingers or spikes or whose sharpness might aggravate your or others’ tension or defensiveness.
Clutter disrupts the flow of chi, thus regular de-cluttering is part of living Feng Shui. Soft lights with warm tones are also essential to creating the optimal Feng Shui environment and natural textures contribute to peace and calm; think wool and wood. Feng Shui believes in a connection to nature, another related concept is Biophilia, which in an organisational context refers to people’s attraction to nature and connection with the natural world.
Doorways
Yet, to a great degree, doors are taken for granted – we use them to go in and out, but most people do not consider them often. However, we cannot do feng shui without them because they connect buildings with different spaces, and control the energy within a building.
Keep within and around your front door clear so energy can move freely from the outside into your home and also for safety reasons. Clutter in a front doorway blocks positive energy from flow through it, but is also a problem for burglars.
If your door is north-facing, it has a water energy and brings a calm, serene aura into your home – perfect if you work from home. Front doors can also be power-boosted through additional plants, or colours that complement any bagua hotspots in your home.
