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.

Business Prosperity And Feng Shui

Whilst it is clear that not everyone is destined to own and run a business and certainly there are a lot of budding entrepreneurs entering the world of business today. Effort, energy, attitude, skill and knowledge are all factors that govern, at least to some degree your ability to own and run an efficient and highly profitable business. Another factor that can impact on the degree of business success that you experience is ? Feng Shui.

Feng Shui is the force that is said to be able to influence your destiny. It is able to modify the standard and level of your success. And there is an abundance of evidence from many satisfied customers, globally, that claim Feng Shui assists in changing the level of gains or losses in business.

There are two types of Feng Shui environments. The first is the physical, commonly known as ?Form School? and this refers to the actual visible surroundings. Examples of this are; the external environment such as the general landscape, mountains, rivers, roads, other buildings, the internal design and layout of the building, the position of our desk, chair and settee. Each one is considered to bestow some Feng Shui influence in your life. To this end, there are certain ?shapes? that can reduce prosperity and especially if you are searching for New Premises then you would do well to keep them in mind.

Sharp pointed objects; Sharp edges facing a building are considered a physical ?sha?. A curved blade, a road, a river, a flyover with the curved edge facing your building is considered bad Feng Shui. This is usually explained as the blade of a sword cutting through the building. However, the truth is, that it is considered to be inauspicious because your prosperity is turning away from you. Indeed the reverse configuration, i.e. when the curve of a road, a river or any of the above is embracing your building it is considered beneficial and is often called the ?jade belt?.

Water cutting the feet; a building standing right at the water front with little space between the foot of the building and the ocean or river is not particularly good. In this situation the water is considered too strong and symbolizes a lack of a strong foundation.

A building such as a police station is said to be related to violence. A Church, temple or religious building is said to absorb the beneficial influences of the surrounding environment, leaving little prosperity for its neighbours. Other sites such as hospitals, funeral parlours, prisons and graveyards are associated with sorrow and misfortune ? therefore not good neighbours to have.

Also as a part of the ?Form School? principles, there are some guidelines for placement of furniture. What is particularly important in an office environment is the placement of desks. Therefore after determining the entrance to the offices, the next step is to place the desk in the best possible location. The natural position for placing the desk should be at the corner of the diagonal line from the entrance, so that the person can face and see the entrance and has a solid wall behind you. To enhance the symbol of power, the desk should lean against a solid wall.

Sitting on a straight line towards the entrance, or with your back against the entrance, is not recommended.

It is not advised to place the desk in the middle of the room without leaning against any wall. This promotes a sense of floating and thereby a level of insecurity.

The second type of Feng Shui environment is somewhat more abstract and therefore subject to much speculation. Nonetheless, this influence is derived from the invisible, directional forces and has an impact on your life based on your buildings exact degree of orientation and the factor of time. And lets face it, if we think logically, absolutely everything changes with time and so you cannot ignore this very important factor.

So what are these invisible directional forces?? Some of us say they are magnetic waves; others suggest they are cosmic rays, celestial energies etc?.. It really doesn?t matter how you or I translate this more abstract quality ? most of us agree that there is ?something else? that influences our lives. The Ancients from China however, seem to have discovered a pattern to trace the indiscernible influences so that we can predict their movement and, just as importantly they developed theories enabling us to fully utilize these enigmatic forces. These techniques have indeed emerged from a lengthy and committed study of nature thereby providing a solid foundation of Chinese metaphysical views about the universe and nature.

With respect to the invisible Feng Shui inflluences during 2007, there are some adjustments that you can make that will be valuable, at least to some degree, through the course of the year. These modifications can also be placed in the correct sectors of your home as well as your business during the coming year.

You will find a troublesome influence coming from the Northeast bringing with it difficulties and obstacles. If this part of your business is very active such as a front, back or side entrance, a passage, the reception area, boardroom or even the directors office, then this energy needs to be dealt with by placing an all-metal wind chime or metal prayer bell in this area particularly in the months of February, August, and November. Now, this is not always easy to achieve depending on the area therefore, at the very least place a metal object such as a ?five element pagoda? in the appropriate position.

The Centre resonates with the force of sickness during 2007. Therefore you will require a string of six metal coins to be placed in this area, and this is particularly important if a major thoroughfare is located in that area of your business premises.

An energy of arguments is located in the Northwest and so it could be valuable to place a red object or the more traditional option of red paper in this area to help minimise this influence.

Another destructive influence is arriving from the North. Hence, it is best to place Four bamboo stems (only those that grow in water) in a clear glass vase within the North sector.

Finally, do not sit with your back against due West, especially whilst you are working. It is also advisable to not carry out large-scale construction work in the Northwest for the coming year, as this is the location of the ?Grand Duke?. Should your business face Northwest then place a Dragon Tortoise to face the same direction.

Juliana Abram is one of the leading Feng Shui consultants in Australia having been traditionally trained in Hong Kong by Chinese Feng Shui Master Raymond Lo.

Juliana specialises in ?Flying Star? Feng Shui and the Four Pillars of destiny.

Juliana runs her own Feng Shui consultancy ( see http://www.fengshuicentre.com.au )

and her own online Feng Shui store ( see http://www.fengshuishop.com.au ).

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 For The Office

Whether you are an employee or a business owner with his or her own office, you can use feng shui to make your office space more productive and harmonious.

Your first step is to stand at the doorway of your office or workspace and map out the areas according to the feng shui bagua. You can download a diagram of the bagua from our web site.

Your main focus will be your wealth and fame areas, although you should also pay attention to the other six areas and decorate them accordingly.

Here are some tips to keep the energy flowing in your office:

1. According to office feng shui guidelines, your desk should be placed at a diagonal to the doorway or directly facing it, rather than with your back to it.

2. If there's more than one desk, place two on a diagonal facing towards the door and any others on a diagonal facing into the center of the room. They should not be placed in rows in a traditional classroom layout or back to back.

3. If the doorways of offices that face each other across a hallway are not exactly aligned, place a mirror on the front of each door.

4. If you face a partial wall or partition when entering an office, place a mirror on the partition.

5. Soften jutting walls with plants. If you don't have a 'green thumb', artificial plants are just as effective as live ones.

6. Break up dull walls with mirrors or paintings.

The feng shui elements that are easiest to blend into an office decor are pictures and photographs. Look for pictures that represent the various aspects and display them in the appropriate areas of the room. Very obvious feng shui symbols may invite unwelcome questions from visitors or co-workers.

Feng Shui For A Home Office

Use office feng shui if you're working from home to maintain a professional approach to your business.

1. Use a separate entrance to your office if at all possible.

2. Otherwise, choose a room near the front or back door of the house or apartment.

3. Separate your office from living areas to keep your business and personal lives separate.

4. If your office space is part of another room, divide it from the rest of the room with a screen or large plants.

5. Take a short walk before entering your office to work each day and another one at the end of your working day. This separates the business and personal aspects of your life.

6. Place your desk on the corner diagonally opposite to the doorway.

7. Don't place your desk under a window, but let the light reflect on it from the side. Some people prefer to have their desks facing east.

8. Leave space between your furniture (bookshelves etc.) and the walls. Feng shui experts suggest leaving a 7-9 inch gap.

9. An important aspect of office feng shui is to keep your workspace tidy to allow a free flow of energy throughout the room.

10. Differentiate between clutter and storage. Stored items don't have to be catalogued and labeled but they should be stacked neatly in a cupboard or in binders so as not to impede energy flow.

Obviously theres a lot more to feng shui than what weve discussed in this article but you now have the basics for applying feng shui to your office space.

When youve made whatever changes you choose to incorporate, take a slow walk through your office and notice your spontaneous reaction. You should experience a sense of ease and flow, as opposed to feelings of claustrophobia, stress or overwhelm caused by too much clutter.

Marguerite Bonneville is a Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) whose passion is publishing information online. Her web site, Hidden Keys To Wealth, offers a range of resources for people committed to achieving financial freedom. Visit http://www.hidden-wealth-keys.com for NLP and wealth mindset tools, tips on choosing a wealth creation vehicle, and a step-by-step guide to starting a small business.