Feng Shui In The Home - Is It The Right Style For You?

The use of feng shui in the home is the source of some debate for many would-be home decorators. Some people believe in its healing powers while others think it's nothing more than the lastest hyped up fad.

However, if you are like most people and don't have a strong opinion either way about this subject, then allow me to shed some light. Below is an explanation of what feng shui is and what it represents. But more importantly, you'll be able to determine if it right for you and whether you should you use feng shui in the home.

Feng shui in the home can be a source of relief for some people and disbelief for others. Some home decorators swear that balancing the five elements (wood, water, fire, metal and earth) creates warmth and harmony.

One key aspect of this balancing act consists of using colors and shapes that represent the elements and rearranging furnishings to complete the effect. Other decorators, however, are more skeptical and see feng shui in the home as just hogwash. They don't believe it is neccessarily to have all the blancing in place to create a beautiful room.

So, which side of the fence do you come down on? Does feng shui in the home have any appeal to you? If so, are you drawn to it because you feel that you need balance in your life? Or do you simply seek a new creative twist for decorating your home? Either way, feng shui may still be worth trying.

Feng shui stresses creating an enivironment of harmony in the home. By melding the five elements together in a productive and harmonious cycle, you just might enjoy their pleasing characteristics. Feng shui advocates say that, if your home is dominated by only one or two of the elements instead of having them all represented, the home's level of "Chi" will be weakened. This, in turn, could result in problems for those living there.

So what do you think? Does this have any appeal to you? If not, no problem, but you could be missing out on something that could also be a lot of fun.

Whether you're looking for spiritual counsel and view feng shui as a possible answer, or if you're simply tired of the way your home looks now and desire a more flowing design, feng shui could help. Of course, some feng shui advocates believe that, if you are not seeking balance in your life, you should bypass feng shui decorating all together.

There's certainly no reason to take that advice. While feng shui may not serve its original intent, it can still result in absolutely beautiful rooms. The rooms in your home can flow seamlessly and seem more uniformed, instead of looking like a messy garage with items and accessories all jumbled. The great thing about feng shui is that it can help bring a finished and polished look to rooms that seemed disorganized.

So, is feng shui the right style for you? It your choice, but I think it's more than worthy of a try.

Michael Holland is the creator of Home Decorating Made Easy.com. His web sites offers lots of FREE decorating tips and ideas for decorating your home.

Sell Your Home Quickly With Feng Shui

What the heck is Feng Shui? Originating in China almost 6,000 years ago, Feng Shui literally means "wind"(Feng) and "water"(Shui). Feng Shui is also referred to as "Geo-mancy" or "Earth Wisdom." It is an ancient method of constructing and optimizing residences to bring about happiness, abundance and harmony. It includes architecture, urban planning, interior design, garden design, and placement of objects in our environment. It also involves the layout, framework, materials and colors of building structures.

There are different types or "Schools" of Feng Shui. This accounts for a great deal of the confusion that exists. The two oldest forms are the Form School, which addresses external and internal environments and their effect on the occupants and the Compass School, which uses a compass to determine the orientation of a home and therefore its prosperity.

Why is staging with Feng Shui important? When people walk into a home for sale, they decide within 15 seconds whether they want to buy it. They spend the next few minutes either trying to figure out how to nicely back out of the tour, or mentally whipping out their checkbooks, and trying to make an offer.

What if your home could attract not only buyers, but money, success or even love? Feng Shui practitioners believe that arranging your environment can enhance your life in all of those areas. Now that Feng Shui is becoming a household word, people are starting to embrace it for use in staging their homes for sale in the cooling real estate market.

The First Impression: The Entrance!

In China, red is supremely powerful. It represents relationships, fame, reputation, and wealth. It's also a fabulous color to paint your door. It's very welcoming, and it leaves no guesswork up to potential buyers. They will be able to find the door quickly and easily. It also conveys that the owners are powerful, and even thwarts burglary!

All about Curb Appeal.....

A curvy walkway that lead buyers to your front door is not only good Feng Shui, it's good curb appeal. Plant some colorful flowers, especially red ones, and make sure to fix anything that is broken or dirty. If you house is overgrown with shrubs, have them trimmed back. Buyers need to be able to see what they are buying.

An imaginative paint job is another way to play up your house. If you are lucky enough to have interesting architectural details, use different coordinating colors to maximize the effect. Yellow is welcoming and it makes the house feel grounded.

Balancing out specific rooms

If a client's home has a room that is all wood paneling, we would say it had "too much Wood". We would balance out the wood by adding metal and fire, to "bring the wood down" a bit. Metal and Fire could be literal, or figurative. A metal table would qualify as "Metal", but so would a large gray rug, since gray is the color of metal.

Adding Fire might mean adding red candles all along the mantelpiece of the fireplace, or figuratively, painting some of the walls red, which is the color of Fire.

Oftentimes home stagers place a bowl of fruit out in the kitchen. A Feng Shui consultant might place that bowl of fruit in the South East corner of the kitchen, or the "Wealth Corner", since fruit is a symbol of wealth, to pump up the wealth of the occupants while they are selling the house.

Top Ten Feng Shui Hints for Selling Your Home

1. Paint your door red!
2. Clutter is the opposite of Feng Shui. Go for S-P-A-C-E by clearing out EVERY unnecessary item from your home.
3. Keep your porch and outside lights on at night! Make sure people can see your house numbers - make them large!
4. Make sure you cannot see a toilet from the bed. If your bathroom is directly in view, mask it with a decorative Japanese screen, or hanging curtain.
5. Make sure your feet are not pointing out the door while in bed. This is the "death" position. If you have to angle the bed, do it. The bed should be symmetrical - with matching nightstands and lamps.
6. A headboard is key. If you don't have one, get one, or make one. Paint the bedroom a soothing, light, neutral color, such as green, gold, taupe or beige.
7. No heavy beams or heavy light fixtures directly over the bed. You can paint beams the same color as the ceiling to make them visually "go away".
8. When planning seating arrangements, make sure no one has their back to the door.
9. Let there be light! Add lighting or mirrors to blah areas to pump up the energy.
10. Go for Yin, as well as Yang. Make a nice flow throughout the house by adding a round dining room table.

Kitchens and Bathrooms sell homes

It may seem obvious, but the best thing you can do for your home is to clean it (thoroughly) and remove all the clutter. With Feng Shui, you want to affect all the senses of prospective buyers. Even if the place looks amazing, a cat box smell can be a real show stopper. Light some pleasant smelling candles during your open house, or simmer a small pot of water on the stove with cinnamon or other spices in it. It will fill the home with a smell of something baking in the oven.

Men's favorite scents? Fresh cut grass, apple pie, and vanilla. If you can find a way to have all three going at your open house, bravo!

Women's favorite scents? Warm scents (like vanilla) top the list of Midwestern women's favorite scents. Women in the South go for clean/soapy scents. Almost everyone loves lavender.

In the kitchen, stage it so people can imagine cooking there. A large bowl of Granny Smith apples is a wonderful design touch. Or, put a bottle of wine on the table, with a decorative cheese and cracker plate next to it. Help the buyers use their imaginations.

If you can swing it, replace outdated fixtures, countertops, etc, with inexpensive but lush-looking solutions....such as a stainless steel "cover" for your dishwasher - which will instantly update it. A "remnant" of granite can be used to replace an outdated bathroom vanity for a really luxurious and updated feeling. To save money, do the demo yourself.

In both kitchen and bath, you can regrout the tile - in lieu of replacing it - for a fresh, clean look.

Super tip for the bathroom: scour your filmy shower door with one part muriatic acid and 10 parts water. Scrub it with steel wool. After rinsing, you will have a brand new looking shower door.

In Feng Shui, the bathroom is about getting rid of waste - consequently, you want to make the experience as pleasant and "spa-like" as you can. Add some plants, seashells, or other things from nature. Spring for some new colorful towels to quickly change the vibe. Remember, a can of paint costs about $25 and it provides the single biggest impact.

The Master Bedroom

The master bedroom should appear large, balanced, and "gender-neutral". This means that a flowered bedspread and pink walls are out. A classy duvet cover is a great inspiration for a design theme. Colors like beige, brown, cream, yellow, gold, maroon, and green are "gender-neutral".

If you need help, call the pros. People definitely need to see the master bedroom as a large, luxurious space. Remove personal items, such as framed photos, and stacks of papers. The buyer wants to picture what it would be like to move right in. Having personal items around makes them feel like an outsider.

Seeing the outside from the bedroom is a big plus. If you can, install a french door that leads to the garden.

Living rooms - focus on fireplaces, seating and lighting

If you have a fireplace, consider yourself lucky. If it's blah, you can quickly add zing by either painting it a contrasting color to the wall, or adding decorative hand painted tiles on the surround, for example. Keep items on the mantle to a minimum. Just a few key pieces is all you need. Put at least one tall, dramatic item on the mantle - a vase with flowers, a tall statue, candlesticks, a topiary, etc.

Hang either a key piece of artwork over the fireplace, or a mirror - but make it dramatic.

If you have a historic home, do not do any major work to the fireplace without consulting a professional. You could seriously bring down the value of your home by disturbing original elements.

When grouping your seating, make it "L-shaped", or "U-shaped" not "confrontational". In Feng Shui, when two couches are placed opposite each other, it actually causes people to become confrontational with each other, instead of having a nice flow of conversation.

To make the room feel more formal, make sure each piece of furniture has an end or side table. To make the room feel less formal, use a large ottoman instead of a coffee table. Stage the room with a snack or fruit on the coffee table, and some soft music playing. By all means, unless it's 90 degrees out, have a fire blazing in the fireplace! If your fireplace doesn't work, put a large candelabra inside, and light candles on it.

Play up your unique features

In Feng Shui, water is like money, flowing around you. If you have a water view, by all means play it up. Other super selling features are sun porches, wraparound porches, guest cottages, detached garages, finished basements, and original historic details.

Any way you can distinguish your home will help it sell. To pump up your home's "reputation", place red objects in the southern part of any room. Red is Fire, and Fire is the Element of Fame/Reputation.

Feng Shui and your personal taste Feng Shui is really an art, or a science. People often worry that Feng Shui will "clash" with their personal style. Others fear that it is a religion! Feng Shui is definitely not a religion. It is a way of balancing out an environment such that the energy meanders and flows in a beneficial way - and that, in turn, is palpable to the occupants and guests.

People tend to fixate on things they have heard, such as "Purple is wealth". While purple is definitely a prosperous color, if the client doesn't like it, we can offer a variety of other options, depending on their personal taste, and what's best in the environment.

Balance is what Feng Shui is all about. Whether it's your business or your home, having the right energy flowing through it is crucial. Oftentimes, after we Feng Shui a client's home for selling, they are so pleased with the results, that they decide to take it off the market and stay!

by Jennifer Emmer, of Feng Shui Style

Feng Shui and Real Estate - Why Feng Shui is important to Today's Real Estate Agents

How can the ancient art of Feng Shui be helpful to Real Estate Agents? With the diversity of the market, you will want to know what your clients may be looking for in their new homes and addressing these issues ahead of time will put you ahead of the competition.

A basic knowledge of Feng Shui is important for all real estate agents. Feng Shui is a widely held belief of many cultures where potential homeowners will look to see if a home will ?support? them in all the areas of their lives. For example, the front door is very important as many consider this area the ?Mouth of Chi,? a place where all good energy enters. Checking to see that the pathway leading up to the front door is clean and unbroken as well as having an immaculate front door will help a sale right from the beginning. In Black Sect Feng Shui, all doors are considered the ?voices? of the occupants. They should all be able to open freely without squeaking or knocking into each other.

What other things will your clientele be likely to be looking into? They are very aware of what we call ?missing pieces:? When a home is not in a square shape, depending on where the area is, they will determine this is a missing piece and will affect a certain area of their life depending on where it is missing. For real estate agents, having a simple understanding of The Bagua can help you to understand why they believe this. Feng Shui consultants who are trained in Western method as well as some of the other forms can make all corrections simply and inexpensively; they never believe a home won?t support the new occupants.

New homeowners are also looking at the new home in relation to the street or outside energies that are surrounding it. They are unfavorable to homes in Courts (where energy can sometimes pool) or T-Junctions where streets will cross-sect into their homes. Again, using Western methods these are relatively simple issues to address.

The number ?Four? on a home is probably the least likely of all of the other areas that will deter a potential buyer. For many, the number ?Four? sounds like ?death? much as like the number 13 is considered here to be unlucky. This is a difficult area to address though some have suggested painting the house numbers in a circle to ?contain? this energy.

They may well want to know a history of the home and something about the previous owners, so you may want to prepare for that was well. It is important for them to dispel the ?predecessor? energy of those that have lived there before.

These are just a few of the ideas you can arm yourself with when selling a home in today?s market. It might be wise to enlist the aid of a Feng Shui consultant who is familiar with various methods of Feng Shui including Western methods to dispel their fears and help you, as their real estate agent, sell the homes, knowing that someone who practices from a positive perspective will not deter the sale of a home.

Feng Shui Expert Carole Provenzale has been a Certified Feng Shui Consultant since 1997 and is the Founder of Feng Shui Long Island, providing quality consultations for all of Long Island, Queens, New York City and Online for those at a distance for Homes, Businesses, Offices, Renovations, New Construction and Corporations. She also works closely with Real Estate Agents to help support sales of homes. Carole is a keynote speaker for large and small corporations including Fox 5, Nordstroms, The Long Island Board of Realtors and is a published author. She seeks to make consultations affordable to all. Please visit her website at http://www.FengShuiLI.com or email her at FengShuiLI.com

Feng Shui And Romance - Using The Ancient Art To Enhance Your Romantic Space

If your love life needs a quick boost, you can use the art of placement to produce the romantic results you desire. Heidi Richards

Feng Shui (pronounced fung shway) is the ancient Asian practice of object arrangement and space planning designed to bring balance, harmony and well-being to your environment. Its purpose is to enhance prosperity, creative, health and romance. Feng Shui fortifies a home with positive energy known as chi. The attainment of positive chi is both an art and a blessing to those who manifest that chi. The word feng means wind and shui means water, each one associated with a good harvest and ultimate good health or good fortune.

If your love life needs a quick boost, you can use the art of placement to produce the romantic results you desire. Relationships need the proper environment to grow. They need the balance of the five elements, too much or too little will find the romance wither. Here are some Feng Shui tips to enhance your romantic space:

1. The first thing you must do is remove clutter out of your romance area (generally this is the bedroom). That means you must remove trash, dirty ashtrays, dead plants and nothing should be stored under the bed. Dust and cobwebs on the fans, walls, light fixtures and ceilings should be cleaned away.

2. Enhance your space with romance colors, such as shades of pinks, reds and whites. Guys, this does not mean it has to be feminine. You can use maroon, grayish tones of pinks and whites to achieve the same results. The key is to not use any one color so much that it overpowers the others. Other good colors include browns, beiges, lavenders, yellows and deeper shades of those are appropriate.

3. If you keep flowers in the room (an excellent way to attract romance into your life), make sure they are always fresh. At the first sign of wilting, toss them out. Silk flowers are an okay alternative, provided they are free of dust. Absolutely no dried flowers as they signify death. Also, make sure the roses are de-thorned. Nothing prickly such as cactus, unless your goal is to break-up.

4. In Feng Shui a Relationship Alter positively stimulates a relationship. Designate a special place in your romance area in which to put items that will encourage a healthy, loving relationship. Things to include in your relationship altar can include a heart shaped pink crystal quartz, a pair of candles, mandarin ducks.

5. Use the Pairs Principle to encourage love. That means two candles, two nightstands, two lights on top, two potted plants, two pillows, two chairs, etc. The Chinese symbol for love is Mandarin ducks. They signify love, romance, fidelity, affection, and loyalty in love.

6. Your bed should be placed in the commanding position of the room. This is to permit the widest possible vision. The door or entry to the room should be easily seen from the bed. And the head of the bed should be against a wall or against a corner. If you have nightstands, make sure one is on either side (a pair) and that the bed is accessible on three sides to attract and keep a partner. The bed should not be placed under a window.

7. The bedroom is for sleep and intimacy. No one should come into your room without your invitation. There should be no distractions such as workout equipment, a television, things that would remind you of work.

8. It is good to hang pink (heart-shaped) crystals and wind chimes in a sunny window to attract good love energy (yang).

9. Pictures of you as a child, your children or other relatives should also be removed from the bedroom or romance area. This space should be reserved for couples and should only display pictures of the two of you.

10. Dim lights will give the room a warm, inviting feeling. No harsh fluorescents or high wattage lighting, here.
While this is by no means the ultimate guide to Feng Shui for Romance, it is a good start. These ten tips will give your relationship area the boost it deserves and your romance the fulfillment it requires. Altar your space and you will altar your love life.


2005 Excerpted from the book, Romance on a Budget www.romanceonabudget.net.

Heidi Richards is an Author, Professional Speaker, and Business Mentor. She is the owner of Eden Florist & Gift Baskets www.edenflorist.com and the Founder & CEO of the Womens ECommerce Association, International www.WECAI.org an Internet organization that Helps Women Do Business on the WEB. BASIC Membership is Free. She can be reached at heidi@edenflorist.com.