I bought a book called The Feng Shui Directory a few years ago and it’s incredibly useful. It explains principles of feng shui, which pretty much come down to knowing yourself and supporting what you’re trying to accomplish. I’ve been re-reading sections of it recently as we prepare to move.
One of the things we want to change is how little rest we’ve had the past few years. So the new house is going to be more geared to recreation and relaxation. How do you do that? Soft furniture with soft lines. Fewer squares and straight lines, more curves. Cozy spots that invite curling up with a book or two people unwinding at the end of a day. If you think about how you want to use your space, you can start to see how to make it work for that purpose. And that alone sends an important message to yourself, that what you want to do matters enough to arrange your life to accommodate it instead of shoving your wants and goals into what exists and trying to make the best of it.
Think about restaurants, which are often designed to shove people in and out as quickly as possible. Uncomfortable chairs, noise that keeps people from relaxing. If you don’t want to be hurried away from every meal, get comfortable dining chairs and set up a relaxing atmosphere instead of one designed to encourage people to flee at the earliest possible opportunity.
I work best when I’m relaxed, so these changes will be good for me. Creativity thrives in places that cater to naps and day dreams. I literally can’t work at my desk here. I keep trying, and my back is to two open doors and I get up and go sit on the bed with my back to a wall. If you can’t work at your desk, look at the layout of the room and see if there isn’t a more supportive way to arrange your work space. Nobody can relax with their back to a door. (I’d move my desk but there’s no way to do it in this space. So I fixed the problem by working at the dining room table and in the bedroom. Not ideal, but better than not getting any work done.)
Maybe you’re not moving or ready to change furniture, but you can still use feng shui to make improvements. Look at your entryway; chances are good that it’s cluttered and dirty. Tidy it up, put things away, throw away accumulated junk mail, and clean the area. Just having a clean, inviting entryway makes a difference in how you feel every time you come home. Small changes in the environment we spend most of our time in can make a big difference in the quality of our lives.
I discovered something about furnishings a while back. I like restful environments, and colors have a big influence over my moods. Red is a wonderful color, and I like it a lot, but it actually makes me tense and jumpy to be around too much red. I figured it out eventually after having dinner in a friend’s scarlet-walled dining room and thinking of how it reminded me of this horrible car accident I once had to work; red reminds me of blood, which kicks in my medical training, which floods me with adrenalin, which makes me tense and jumpy.
When we moved to our new house, I approached color more as a mood influencer than a decorating theme. My guy and I both grew up near some of the most beautiful beaches in the states, and we love the colors of sand, sea and sky. I thought bringing those natural colors into our home might make us feel more relaxed, and I tested my theory by redoing our formal, rigidly-decorated Victorian master bath with a beach theme — sand, white, sea glass, shells, watercolors of boats, lots of light, uncluttered, very informal.
We both loved it, and as a room it felt so much more comfortable that I used that philosophy for the rest of the house. The fussy eggyolk-yellow farmhouse monstrosity of a kitchen we inherited from the former owners I changed over to subtle cafe au lait, opal and bronze colors of a quiet, elegant Parisian apartment. The master bedroom became a clean, Mission-style guest room at a lakeside B&B. The second bathroom carried on the beach theme but with the colors of an undersea view, complete with coral and jewel-colored fish.
I don’t know if it’s Feng-Shui to surround yourself with the colors and themes you love, and a real decorator would probably have a fit with the incongruity, but it is warm and welcoming for us, which I think is the whole point of home — it should always be someplace you love to be in.
Sounds like effective feng shui to me, finding what works for you and doing it! Your house sounds gorgeous and I bet everybody loves being there.
Colors have a big impact on mood and health, which is why hospitals are starting to change the walls to something that helps people get better faster. The psychology of color and design is used to disorient people in casinos, but those same principles can be used to consciously orient ourselves at home.
I’ve been wondering about how to create a living space that is warm and welcoming and incorporates principles of Feng Shui.
We are building a new home and still in the early stages and it’s a little overwhelming at this point. I liked the idea you talked about with setting a mood versus decorating theme. It sounds like you pulled it off with the bathroom. I would like the mood in our home to be a high mountain cabin and I really like warm, cozy colors. Maybe using more earth tone colors?
You have given me some good ideas to think about and I need to get busy.
Kimberly Aardal
Publisher, EveryDayRockingChairs.com
Kimberly, I highly recommend The Feng Shui Directory. It’s split into sections for different categories of life (career, family, romance, health, etc.) for fast reference, and gives a lot of information on how to apply principles for your individual purposes. Very, very easy to use and understand book. Each section also has a list of “quick fixes” so you can make small changes in the areas you’re most focused on right away.