What exactly is feng shui? It’s a practice based on the idea that our homes are a mirror of what’s happening inside us. The purpose of feng shui is to get your environment in alignment with who you are and where you want to go-to harmonize your energy with your home’s energy.
What is the purpose of feng shui? The main goal of feng shui is to help each space rediscover joy, beauty, and balance.
The recent celebration of Chinese New Year ushered in the year of the Dog. The dog is an animal known for its loyalty, faithfulness and, especially, it’s ability to remain perfectly happy and content spending time at home with its family. In the spirit of Chinese New Year, here are some ancient Chinese feng shui home tips to help you remain happy and content at home by creating a perfectly peaceful and prosperous space.
What is Feng Shui?
Feng shui is an ancient Chinese art. The words literally mean “wind water,” which are associated with good luck, and good health. Most people will say that a home that has been feng shui consideration feels more peaceful and harmonious.
How do you do Feng Shui?
By carefully considering what you bring in. How you arrange your rooms, and how you maintain the place. Everything has energy, even inanimate objects. Feng shui helps guide that energy and let it flow freely through your home. To increase the number of good vibes in your home, follow these easy feng shui home decor tips for a lucky, prosperous year of the Dog.
Go for Yin and Yang:
Yin and Yang’s elements shown in this living room include black and white accents and boxy furniture paired with rounded edge items.
Feng shui followers believe that everything is composed of two opposing but connected forces: Yin (feminine) and Yang (masculine). It’s the balance of forces such as dark and light, or night and day; one cannot exist without the other. When decorating, create balance by applying this concept to your home.
Clear clutter from your home:
The mess is the number one enemy of feng shui. Dead or uncared-for piles sap your home’s strength and block positive energy from entering. Most significant is entryway clutter, so deal with this first. When decluttering your home, a good rule of thumb is to minimize the number of objects that collect dust.
The single most important objective in creating feng shui is allowing for the flow of good energy, or chi, throughout your home. Chi brings good health, wealth and luck.
Decluttering must be thorough-simply hiding your stuff won’t cut it. Items under the furniture, overloaded bookcases and closets, and outdated or broken items all affect chi flow. It’s time to clear out closets, the space under the bed and all cabinets and shelves. Keep only the items you love-or ones that have special meaning and discard or donate the old and unused.
Clean the Windows and Oil the Doors:
In feng shui, the windows are the eyes of a home, and the front door is its mouth. To bring clarity to space (and to yourself), maintain them, making sure that they open, close, and lock well.
Repair and Replace:
Another important mandate of feng shui is that all appliances, plumbing, doors, windows, and equipment be in good working order. If your sink faucet drips, repair it immediately. Dripping or leaking plumbing is a drain on your water supply and in feng shui, this can influence a steady depletion of your money. If you can’t repair an appliance, replace it with one that works. That doesn’t necessarily mean a new washing machine if your budget won’t allow such a purchase. You can always purchase an older one that is in excellent working condition.
Get air and light flowing throughout:
Lots of windows let natural light shine in, and retractable doors circulate air.
To ensure the constant flow of good energy throughout the home, wind (air) and light must move as well. You’ve decluttered your home in step one, making it easier for energy to flow. Now open the windows to increase air flow. Maximize light movement by keeping all glass, mirrors, and windows clean. Have a dark corner or space that needs a little brightening? Add a lamp to illuminate the spot, or place a mirror to reflect light from a different spot.
Pathways and Doorways:
When designing each room furniture layout, make sure you don’t accidentally block a natural foot traffic flow. Don’t create new obstacles for your family and for chi energy flow.
Add plants inside the home:
A live plant attracts good chi energy in this contemporary feng shui kitchen.
Airflow is important in feng shui, but the air must be pure. Plants filter the air, creating a healthier, cleaner environment. Plants also attract vibrant chi energy due to their life force. As long as the plants are kept healthy, you’re attracting good energy.
Some plants are better for feng shui than others. In fact, some plants, like cactus, are considered bad feng shui, because they lack the need for water (water is like wealth), or they’re spiky and “unfriendly.”
Here’s a list of some of the best (and luckiest) plants you can invite into your space. Most of these plants are low-maintenance, and do very well indoors:
- Lucky Bamboo
- Peace Lily
- Rubber Plant
- English Ivy
- Palm
- Boston Fern
- Philodendron
- Spider Plant
Clear Intention Creates Greater Results:
Have a very clear intention of the change you want to bring about in your life as you are working with your new found feng shui decorating tips. If you were to start a new business, you would have a business plan in place so that you would be sure to have a successful business.
In the same way, have a clear plan of what you want to accomplish in your life when you feng shui your home or office. Then you will be really pleased with your wonderful results. Know that results don’t always manifest exactly the way we plan them, but they manifest in a way that makes our lives new and improved. The Universe can surprise us how it organizes our lives in greater ways than we could have imagined for ourselves.
Add more of your favorite colors to activate the energy associated with them:
The use of color plays an important role in feng shui. Colors play a very important role in feng shui; add them to wall art, decorative objects or paint.
Here’s a general list of what each color activates:
- Red: luck and wealth
- Orange: happiness and fun
- Yellow: mental stimulation, power
- Green: peace, balance, healing
- Blue: calmness, communication, spirituality
- Purple: wealth, high spirituality
- White: cleansing and purity
- Black: power, especially when paired with red
- Brown: nurturing
Leave plenty of negative space on shelves:
Filling your shelves with lots of décor, collectibles, and thatches creates a cluttered look. When you leave negative space on your shelves, you leave some breathing room and create a better energy overall in the space. At least 50% of your shelves should be free. Keep the decor isolated in clusters for a look that is stylish and good feng shui.
So Feng Shui style is also an interior design trend that can strengthen you, because it helps create an ambiance in your rooms that exudes calmness and pleasure, making your home a place where you can replenish your energy.
Know more about home decor:
- Feng Shui for Calm and Serene Bedroom Space Life Hacks.
- Best Metal Wall Art Design ideas help to fill the Lonely Wall of your Rooms.
- Elements of interior design – Most relaxing bedroom decorating ideas.
- Vastu tips for Bedroom Interior Design to get Positive Energy
- Modern Bedroom False Ceiling & Pop Light Design Ideas.
- How to incorporate texture paint ideas in house interior design.
These are just the basics of feng shui. There’s much more to the art and science, including directions, numbers, elements and more. Getting started with these 5 tips should be a good start; you should feel the difference in your space in no time!
Its principles maintain that we live in harmony with our environment. Its aim is to achieve balance in your living & working space and maximize your potential for success in all areas of your life. Literally translated, feng shui means ‘wind water’. The wind scatters energy and water holds energy.
Homes are a reflection of their occupants. If any part is missing, neglected or has negative energy then this is reflected in the life of its occupant. Adding some feng shui to your home? Leave a comment, and let us know how it goes!