Feng shui focuses on balancing the flow of energy in your home.
Feng shui focuses on balancing the flow of energy in your home.

Feng shui is an ancient Chinese study focused on balancing the flow of energy through just about everything that surround you while you’re at home. Since this thinking first migrated into the western world it has been embraced by countless interior designers and homeowners alike who are trying to improve everything from their property value and beauty to their love life, professional life, and personal health, creativity, and finances! While this is a very complicated study, keeping some of the basic pillars of feng shui in mind with your home decorating can be easily done if you know where to get started.

Openness, Cleanliness, Organization

Feng shui requires the home to have clear, free-flowing energy.
Feng shui requires the home to have clear, free-flowing energy.

A major tenet of feng shui hinges upon the home having clear, free-flowing energy which, if blocked, can result in areas of unappealing stagnation both in the home’s design and in the creativity and comfortableness inspired by being in it. There are a number of ways to help improve your home design’s flow of energy including things as major as removing an obtrusive wall and as getting rid of clutter in just about every corner of your home. By keeping your home clean and organized you allow energy to flow freely through all the spaces you spend time while also freeing the space of distracting worries and stressors.

Find Your Element(s)

There are five elements associated with feng shui: earth, air, water, fire, and metal.
There are five elements associated with feng shui: earth, air, water, fire, and metal.

According to traditional feng shui teachings, every individual has a combination of the five feng shui elements within them. The unique combination of these five elements within every individual express things like the colors, shapes, and decor which best increase the happiness, comfort, and vitality of an area to that homeowner in particular. Today a similar style of thinking is still a major part of modern feng shui decorating with the logic being that by identifying the specific kinds of colors and decor which inspire the most comfort and confidence in your home and office. Find your personal feng shui element to consider some painting and decorating guidelines which will bring the most positive energy into your most populated spaces.

There are eight separate fields of a home that meet in the center.
There are eight separate fields of a home that meet in the center.

Bagua Reading: Improve Space Purposes and Definitions

Feng shui decorating (both in Classical and Western schools of thought) defines 8 separate fields within the home, each meeting in the center of the property in a space focused on personal health and well-being. These definitions are known as the bagua and can be thought of as a map for optimizing the happiness, comfortableness, and energy-flow of the home as a whole. While some homeowners opt to use their bagua reading as a precise measurement for decorating, many view the fields represented within this ideally feng shui home as guidelines for how to align the purpose and feel of each portion of their home. Ultimately the decision is yours on how directly the principles of feng shui should influence your home’s design and decorating style though its core message of inspiring a happy, comforting, and beneficial interior design style is certainly something which every homeowner can learn from.

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