FENG SHUI CONCEPTS
10 Feng Shui Tips for Remodeling Your Home
By Jenny Liu, M.A.
The famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright wisely said, “Man builds the house and
the house builds the man.” What does your house mean to you? For most of us, our
house is a place in which to settle down, feel safe and comfortable, and raise a
family. For others, their house is a status symbol, a show room, or a place to
display possessions to impress and entertain others. Then there are those who
are rarely home, whose house is like a hotel that they merely sleep in.
Like a highly-trained detective, the feng shui master can analyze details of a
house and literally tell you what the walls would say if they could talk. This
analysis is based on the natural law of cause and effect. Since our house is an
extension of our physical bodies, we can actually effect positive changes in
different aspects of our life by changing corresponding areas of our home or
office environment.
Though the condition of your home is one of many factors that affect your
overall well-being, it is an important factor, making it worthwhile to remodel
or decorate in a manner that will enhance your energy and not deplete it.
Following are ten remodeling tips based in feng shui principles to help you
create the life you want.
1) The house is an extension of your body and any alterations will have an
impact on your well-being. The different orientations of the house are
associated to different body parts, as well as different life aspects such as
career, children or marriage. Depending on which part of the house is being
remodeled, it can affect the associated areas of the body. The main door
represents your mouth; the areas to the right and left of the main door are your
lungs, the flow created by rooms and hallways in your house are replicated in
your circulatory and digestive systems.
2) Do not live inside your house during a major remodel. Living within a house
while it is undergoing a major remodel exposes you to the unstable vibrations
of demolition, harmful pollutants and the noise of construction. Absorbing these
defeating energies can cause different negative occurrences, depending on the
orientation of the house and the areas being remodeled. In most cases, your
energies become erratic and you are prone to illness, accident, argument and
financial instability.
3) Select the right time for remodeling. In the philosophy of feng shui
everything is connected, so the timing in which the remodeling takes place
affects your well-being. The universal energies the house will be exposed to
depend on the orientation of the house and in which time period the remodeling
takes place. Ideally, you should select a time that is favorable to you. In
doing so, you will absorb positive energies to manifest positive change in your
life.
4) Use promoting elements, colors and materials. Every color and material has
its own frequency described as earth, metal, wood, water and fire frequencies.
These elemental frequencies affect you subconsciously and physically as they
interact with your personal energy. When selecting colors and materials, use
those that promote you based on your birth chart.
5) Build out all the missing sectors of the house. Do not create missing
sectors. As an example, let’s say you have an L-shaped house that is missing its
west sector (associated to your wealth and respiratory system) and you find that
you are having physical problems associated to these missing sectors. It can
benefit you to extend the house so this area is no longer missing, making the
house “whole.”
Likewise, if your house is already a symmetrical square or rectangular shape, be
careful not to create a wing that makes your house asymmetrical, thus creating
missing sectors. You may be doing very well in your home and find that after the
remodeling, a negative effect has been created.
6) Shift all aligning doors. Doors are the mouths of the house and the rooms
within, so when two doors are aligned it is like two mouths opposing each other.
When two bedroom or office doors are aligned, it can bring conflict between the
occupants who use these rooms. This is especially true if the occupants have
opposite energy patterns.
7) Minimize hallways. Hallways are usually narrow spaces that are dark and have
stagnant energy. Whenever possible, it is a good idea to open up a hallway with
mirrors, lights or bright colors.
8) Locate the stove to promote you. The kitchen stove should be in your negative
direction and facing your positive direction. The stove represents your food —
your basic means of survival — and relates to your income. It is also a source
of fire hazard and pollution. Thus, on a safety level, it should not be located
in the center of the house or in your positive (compatible) directions as these
are the areas where you sleep and work.
However, on an energetic level, directing the fire energy to your positive
orientation can bring you prosperity. So, if you are doing a kitchen remodel and
the stove can be moved, it benefits you to move it to a good location. The stove
should not be aligned with the sink, bathroom door, or be under a second story
bedroom where the bed is located.
9) Locate toilets correctly. Toilets, in which our wastes are disposed, are
considered a negative energy source. When remodeling or adding a bathroom, be
sure that bathroom doors do not align with bedroom doors, beds, the main door or
desks.
10) Create storage to minimize your clutter. One of the most common problems in
our homes is clutter. Clutter blocks energy and makes the house’s energy
stagnant. This is usually due to having too many unnecessary things and a lack
of storage space. A cluttered house usually results in low energy and unfocused
minds in its occupants. When remodeling, it is a good opportunity to get rid of
those unnecessary things and create sufficient storage space.
Jenny Liu holds a Bachelors’ Degree in Environmental Design from
UC Berkeley and a Masters Degree in Architecture from
UCLA. She is an expert in the 8,000-year-old Chinese philosophy of Feng
Shui who also shares her knowledge through seminars, workshops, periodicals and
the Internet. Awarded for her Master’s Thesis on Feng Shui, Ms. Liu is a
fourth-generation practitioner with her own consulting firm. For more
information, visit: www.Liu-FengShui.com or
call her at
(626) 272-4901.
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