subject: Harmonize Your Home By Decorating With Feng Shui [print this page] Whenever you walk into an unfamiliar home for the first time, how do you react? Is there something about the way the furniture and accessories are arranged that makes you feel immediately comfortable, as though everything within the room exudes a positive energy, a sense of belonging and peace? Or does entering the room seem jarring, not quite right in some way? Some rooms seem to amplify negative emotions. Long ago the Chinese realized that a room or living space is not separate from the flow of the natural world, and developed a system of living and decorating with Feng Shui.
Feng Shui is an art that strives to achieve the creation of harmonious spaces. It is based on the principle that everything around us, living or nonliving, is filled with movement. This idea may seem a little elusive to some people, but in actual fact everything is composed of atoms and molecules that are in constant motion. The energy of this movement can actually affect and shape our lives to a much greater degree than is realized. Every living or working area has a flow of energy, and Feng Shui seeks to tap into the positive aspects of that flow.
A random, cluttered arrangement in a room can broadcast negative energy which can be picked up by people. We've all entered rooms that appear to be neatly arranged, but that somehow just don't feel right. This can occur because the elements are not in the proper balance. Feng Shui recognizes five elements that are part of the overall flow of energy, or Chi, including metal, earth, wood, water, and fire.
Each of these elements has a particular property. Flowing water in a fountain, for example, can be central to communications or opportunities, as opposed to a running toilet or dripping faucet, which simply means waste or poverty. An earth element should exude stability and solidarity, or permanence. Metal conducts and transmits energy, and fire represents passion and high energy. The element of wood inspires motivation and creativity. The aspects of elements are important alone, but the more important concept is the potential positive and negative influences they have on each other.
Interior design today makes use of these principles. It takes more than good taste or expensive furnishings and draperies to make a room have good energy. Ornate homes filled with antique treasures can still give off an aura of coldness, intimidation and discomfort if not arranged in accordance with good energy flow. One way this can be done is to create a Bagua Map. This is an actual diagram of a home done in the form of a square, and divided into the nine parts of life.
Each of these areas of the Bagua Map corresponds to one of the nine parts, including wealth, family and health, knowledge and wisdom, and career. In addition, there are areas of love and marriage, creativity and children, reputation and fame, helpful people, and the overall center of energy called Chi. Each of these areas of energy have colors assigned to them, and each color creates and sustains the flow of overall Chi through that space.
For example, wealth is associated with the colors blue, red, and purple. Red itself means strength, warmth and attraction, and is a very energetic color that should be used sparingly. Another category, health and family, is denoted by blues and greens. Likewise, the career area should have black, blue or brown decorative elements. Each part of the map has its own corresponding colors. Once you have determined an area of your house that needs better flow, or Chi, you can add objects or symbols in the color of that map region.
These concepts may seem a little nebulous for people more used to the traditional rules of interior design, seeming to be a branch of the new-age movement. The truth is that these principles have been widely used in modern building design, and not just in Asia. It is true that there is no concrete way to actually measure the benefits, but positive feedback proves that these principles can make a big difference, and many modern designers and architects incorporate them into their work. Anyone, however, can utilize this method and reap the benefits of decorating with Feng Shui. If you are uncomfortable with your surroundings, this mode of interior design may prove to be the best solution.
