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The fine art of feng shui can work wonders on a home. This ancient belief can create harmony and balance, improving the way rooms appear and the way they feel. But what is feng shui? And how can you incorporate it into your home? Here’s everything you need to know about feng shui and how you can easily enlighten every room in your home with this endearing philosophy.
What Is Feng Shui?
Feng shui (‘the way of wind and water’) is an ancient Chinese belief that the arrangement of a space can affect the harmony and balance people feel when in it. The philosophy stems from Taoists, who believed in chi, the life force in everything. Chi consists of yin and yang components, or opposing yet complementary forces. They believed that, by balancing these forces, positive chi could be encouraged and negative energy reduced, leading to prosperity, health and luck. [i]
The Feng Shui Bagua
The feng shui Bagua is an energy map that provides a way to visualise the energy field of a home or room. Bagua translates to ‘eight areas’, and these are fame, love, creativity, helpfulness, career, growth, health, and money. You can lay this grid over the floorplan of a home or room, so these eight areas match the space. Then, you can activate two or three of these energies by adding the correct elements to the area and boosting the energies. [ii]
The Feng Shui Elements
In feng shui, there are five elements that each encourage different energies. Therefore, you should incorporate these elements in room decoration where these qualities are most needed to create a balanced home. The elements are:
Earth
Earth relates to nourishment, stability and general well-being. Perfect for calming anxiety or grounding a room, earth can be added through colours such as brown, yellow or orange, crystals and square shapes.
Water
Water represents socialising, wisdom and career. This element can express our connection to the world through darker blues and blacks, water features and wavy shapes.
Fire
Fire is associated with passion, inspiration and visibility. Add this element to your home when you need to work towards a goal or openly express your emotions by choosing reds and oranges, triangular shapes and plenty of light.
Wood
Wood is related to healing, growth and vitality. For support during a new beginning, include wood with greens and blues, healthy houseplants and column shapes.
Metal
Metal represents efficiency, beauty and joy. It also relates to how we speak up for ourselves, so add whites and light greys, metal light fixtures and circular shapes for this confidence. [iii]
How To Feng Shui Your Home
Porch
According to Feng Shui beliefs, the entryway to your home (or the mouth of qi) is where good energy comes into your space. It is also a part of yourself that you present to the world; therefore, it’s essential to keep this area clean and tidy to not disrupt the energy flow. You should also ensure that your front door is easy to find and unobstructed since all visitors should easily reach the entrance of your home. To make this even easier, you may want to add a pretty light fixture to illuminate your entryway 24/7. This will add an element of light and fire to your porch, which encourages inspiration and visibility and will set the right tone upon entrance to your home.
Colours You Could Incorporate:
- Light blues
- Light greens
- Pinks
- Whites
- Light greys
Living Room
The living room is a place to gather family and friends and encourage fun, so it should be open, welcoming and comforting. Comfortable seating, such as classic wingback chairs, with room to comfortably fit everyone residing in the house, plus a few extra guests, is perfect for this socialising hot spot. Encourage connection here by facing seats towards each other instead of the television or other focal point. However, try not to place any seats in line with the door, as this opens up the sitter to a path of negative energy. Similarly, avoid the backs of chairs facing the doorway.
Finally, invigorate the room and add life force energy with healthy green house plants and your favourite paintings that contribute to the feel of the space. Consider the elements that these paintings depict as these will affect the energetic frequency of the room. For example, water represents wisdom and connection, which will add to the room’s atmosphere.
Colours You Could Incorporate:
- Blues
- Greens
- Earthy browns
- Yellows
- Neutrals
- Whites
Kitchen
Because Taoists believe that how we eat relates to how we show up in the world, it’s only natural that the kitchen should represent nourishment and health. In particular, the oven and fridge are connected to our wellness and prosperity, so they should be well cared for and used often. Keep your fridge tidy by cleaning out expired produce, which you should ideally compost where possible. While we’re on the subject, deep cleaning your entire kitchen regularly for a relaxed, calming atmosphere is paramount to feng shui. Also, use your oven at least once a day to keep the nourishing energy flowing, even if this is for simply boiling water or warming up food. If possible, your oven should be in the commanding position of your kitchen or put you in a position when using where you are in command of your life. To match this, place your oven where you can see the door without being in line with it. Wood is an essential element for a feng shui kitchen since it represents growth and vitality, so try to add this through decoration and colours.
Colours You Could Incorporate:
- Yellows
- Neutrals
- Whites
- Blues
- Browns
Dining Room
The dining room is where you gather family and friends to nourish and socialise, so should represent and encourage connection. Add supportive chairs, like these comfortable angel chairs, around a wooden dining table, preferably round, with enough space for people to comfortably eat without feeling cramped against one another. Make sure to include good lighting, too, so people can appreciate what they’re eating and who they are eating it with. Mirrors are also perfect for a dining room as they reflect positive images, encourage light and make the room appear bigger. Finally, you could add beautiful art pieces into the dining room – think metal for joy and beauty or water for knowledge. However, you shouldn’t hang a clock in your dining room. Reminders of passing time may rush people while eating and socialising, but it’s important for you to slow down and appreciate these moments.
Colours You Could Incorporate:
- Blues
- Greens
- Pinks
- Whites
- Greys
- Black
Bedroom
Since the bedroom is the room that represents you the most and the place you spend the majority of your time, it’s one of the most important. You should begin by ensuring that your bed is in the commanding position, placing it so you can see the door but are not in line with it. This will allow you control over situations without meeting any bad energy. Furthermore, try not to use the space under your bed as storage for anything other than sheets, blankets and bed accessories. This is because your bed is for resting and relaxing, so anything underneath will negatively affect your energy.
Earth elements are great for a bedroom as they provide support. So add some thriving house plants or earthy coloured embellishments to encourage this positive energy. You can also include all of your favourite colours in your bedroom, as long as they make you feel happy and calm. Finally, a bedroom aims to create balance, so incorporate your favourite things with positive elements and ideas for the ideal space.
Colours You Could Incorporate:
- Light blues
- Light greens
- Pinks
- Peach
Bathroom
Bathrooms can be a sore spot in feng shui because they have a lot of drains, which provide openings for healthy energy to leave the home. To minimise this, try and keep the toilet seat and door closed as much as possible. Nurture reinvigorating energy in the room by keeping it clean and organised. Emphasising wooden or metallic elements will also help minimise the dominance of water; however, earth elements destroy water, which is perfect for balancing the energies. Quarts countertops or marble sinks are beautiful earthy touches. Overall, you want to create as calm an atmosphere as you can for positive chi (energetic force), so use a mix of metal, wood, earth and water elements to balance out your bathroom.
Colours You Could Incorporate:
- Whites
- Greys
- Pinks
- Browns
- Black
Hallways
Hallways are the channels that carry qi throughout the house, so shouldn’t be neglected. Try to slow the flow of this positive energy and keep it in your home with elemental art work (metal, wood and water are perfect), long rugs or runners and wall lighting. Feng shui crystal balls work wonders for directing energy flow, so are perfect for hallways too. Hanging mirrors will do a similar trick, making the hall appear longer and reflecting positive additions to the space. In a longer hallway, add a specific focal point you like, such as a sculpture or leafy plant, for the chi to gather and linger for longer.
Colours You Could Incorporate:
- Light blues
- Light greens
- Pinks
- Light greys
- Whites
- Earthy browns
- Neutrals
Improve Your Energy Flow Today
Feng shui is the perfect way to invigorate your home and life. You can create a refuge of balance and calm in a world of chaos, allowing positive energy to flow freely and improve your well-being. To achieve perfectly aligned energies in your home, you could even contact a feng shui consultant and improve your energy flow tenfold.
What is feng shui to you? How do you create it in your home? Let us know in the comments!
Sources
[i] https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/feng-shui/
[ii] https://www.thespruce.com/your-feng-shui-bagua-guide-1275056
[iii] https://www.thespruce.com/color-as-expression-feng-shui-elements-1275238
Office and marketing manager for Sloane & Sons Stylish Chairs, who sell a range of high-quality tub chairs, accent chairs and more.
