When it comes to remodeling and renovating your home, a little Feng Shui can go a long way. It can assist in providing the best energy flow, known as Chi. And without good Chi, a house with bad Feng Shui can disrupt family dynamics, creating tension in the home and even interrupting abundance–including both wealth and love.
So, if you plan to renovate, it’s important to keep everything in a healthy and harmonious shelter. To find inspiration, here are some Feng Shui basics to keep in mind when renovating your home.
Keep the Kitchen’s Heart Healthy
These days, the kitchen is considered the heart of the home. It’s where guests tend to hover during parties and the central base where the family gathers for important news and daily rituals. And in Feng Shui, this is no different. In fact, it’s what the practice knew all along.
With this in mind, it’s essential to create a kitchen that is nurturing. It should be airy and welcoming with cheerful colors. If you plan to update lighting, be sure to use a variety of levels such as dimmable overhead recessed lighting, as well as direct task lighting like undercabinet or drop lights at the kitchen counter. Keeping the space open and minimal is key, too. For instance, avoid a cluttered countertop full of cooking gadgets. This is an excellent time to clear counter space and install a built-in microwave instead.
Install a Front Door with Presence
While it’s perfectly fine to install sliding glass doors that provide a lovely view of your backyard, it’s not advised for the front door. Your front door should be strong and protective enough to deflect any negative energy. Plus, as the mouth of the home, it should also be alluring enough to attract positive energy, thereby nourishing everything and everyone inside.
In Feng Shui practice, the front door should also open wide. Should you choose to renovate a foyer entryway, make it more spacious and remove opposing walls. Also, try to resist adding a nearby bathroom or bending a staircase toward the front door, as this chutes the energy right back out.
Choose Appropriate Colors and Elements
Referencing the Bagua energy map, you can determine which associated colors and elements are best.
For instance, the East represents abundance, vitality and health. Therefore, the East is represented by wood elements and the color green. In eastern rooms of your home, consider adding houseplants or even installing a style of hardwood flooring.
According to the Bagua, the South should be designated for more energetic areas of your home such as a home office. As fire represents energy, you’d assume correctly that its associated colors are bold reds and bright yellows. Here’s the perfect opportunity to install a fireplace or woodstove along a southern wall for extra luck!
As another example, you want to avoid bathrooms in the southern areas of your home, keeping this good energy from escaping with the bad. And while a southern kitchen may seem like a smart idea, understand that this can become tricky. As the heart of the home, kitchens thrive on energy. However, numerous cooking devices can create an overbearing fire element. So, you must be careful not to create an imbalance.
Avoid Stacking Busy and Restful Rooms
Certain rooms of your home are for rest and relaxation. Others—like the kitchen mentioned above—are full of energy. It’s important to maintain a balance of each, but also keep certain rooms separated.
For instance, it’s considered bad Feng Shui to position a master bedroom over a garage. Since the garage is a place where the family is constantly coming and going, this can disrupt the calmer energy of the above bedroom. Not to mention a vehicle’s emissions can emit toxins directly into your sleeping quarters.
Similarly, it’s not wise to stack a bathroom over a bedroom. Most bathrooms are used more frequently, but if it’s a guest bathroom that’s rarely used, this is acceptable.
Provide Harmony Among Kids Rooms
Since kids are full of energy, it’s no doubt these rooms will overflow with Chi. But unlike the mentioned fire element rooms like the kitchen, you should allow this vibrant Chi to flow freely, stimulating their creativity.
If you have siblings, however, it’s important to distribute this energy evenly. If possible, renovate your kids' rooms so that they are equal or similar in square footage. Not only does this maintain a balance, but it will let each child know they are equally loved. This will prevent tension between siblings that can cause negative family dynamics.
Install Features in the Direction of Energy
Certain areas of a home require a flow of energy, while some need to capture and redirect energy. It’s essential to make sure energy is well-distributed and not bottle-necking in one place.
For instance, if a home has an aligned front and back door, how you lay your vinyl plank flooring–width-wise against the door in this case–can redirect energy instead of allowing it to escape.
The same goes for bathrooms. Since bathrooms are a place we go to relax, the bad energy we release can become trapped, recycling back into the household. If you have a windowless central bathroom, this is an excellent time to remedy a major Feng Shui faux pas and move it toward a different area.
Draft Ideas Before Renovating
Not all architects or even interior designers are savvy in the basic principles of Feng Shui. Therefore, most homes already have some bad Feng Shui attributes. Luckily for you, a home renovation can take care of some of these issues.
Truly open up to your home and let it speak to you. Observe the current energy levels of your home. Recognize areas that need a little more love and tend to spaces that could use some serenity.
Now, take this and draft out the perfect blueprint to improve energy levels. Become inspired with paint swatches, new fixtures and even shift walls if good Feng Shui calls for it. By assessing the negative Feng Shui mistakes, you can accentuate the positive.
Author Bio: Ford Hudson is a Marketing Associate at Twenty & Oak. Every flooring product on Twenty & Oak has been hand selected for its outstanding performance, beautiful craftsmanship, durability, and environmental sustainability. Ford is passionate about the environment and thoughtful interior design. That’s why his work for Twenty & Oak is so important to him. A Charleston, SC native and avid Gamecocks fan he loves spending time in nature and cheering his team on.
