Styling and designing a new home can feel exciting and overwhelming in equal parts, and many new homeowners seek guidance from current trends or what’s new on Pinterest to inform the look and feel of their space. While this is often a valuable course of action, there is an ancient styling method that is timeless, easy to achieve and may even encourage abundance in many areas of your life; Feng Shui.
Your new house build provides the perfect opportunity to alter the furniture placement you’re accustomed to or strategically plan your rooms’ layout to promote a healthier mindset. We’ve developed this guide on creating a harmonious space to help you on your design and styling journey. Read on to find all the inspiration you need to practice Feng Shui in your home.
Feng Shui is rooted in ancient Chinese culture and refers to space arrangement that promotes harmony and balance. The goal of Feng Shui is to help those who practice it to create a space that fosters prosperity in relationships with family and friends, career success, travel opportunities and good health. Professional Feng Shui practitioners believe that a person’s perception of their environment can determine how they think and feel in life, ultimately influencing their behaviour and outcomes.
Originally formed based on energy, chakras, and a balance of yin and yang, a modern Feng Shui approach refers to the use of colour, homeware items and the arrangement of furniture or layout of a room. This can be as simple as removing clutter to promote a clearer mind or as traditional as embracing strict furniture placements and avoiding certain Feng Shui “no-no’s”.
Feng Shui speaks in metaphors and symbols based on six principles.
| Yin and Yang Energies | This refers to the Chinese philosophy that everything has an opposite and complementary energy. Both are needed to create balance, such as light and dark, hot and cold, masculine and feminine. |
| The Five Elements | These are wood, fire, earth, water, and metal. Feng Shui promotes that each element affects the feeling of the space and that everything can belong to one or more of these categories. |
| The Bagua Map | Mandarin for “eight areas”, the Bagua Map splits the room into eight or nine sections to provide a guide to set up the space. Each area represents a different area of your life, such as wealth, work, and relationships. |
| Colours | Once a Feng Shui consultant has determined the room’s different sections, they will often apply colour to support the space, such as greens and blues for abundance in the home office. |
| The Commanding Position | This is the most well-known principle of Feng Shui, and many people practice it without even realising it. The Commanding Position refers to furniture placement, such as giving the bed a clear view of the doorway and having a sturdy wall behind you while you work to give confidence. |
| Mirrors | Mirror use in Feng Shui allows the practitioner to be strategic with how they set up their space. For example, if there is no option to set up your desk to face the doorway, you can use a mirror that allows you to “watch your back”. |
When you design your home’s interior using a Feng Shui approach, expect to embrace natural light, open planned living and clutter-free areas. All of these design elements create modern home design while supporting day in and day out functionality.
Creating a more harmonious home isn’t just about creating a calmer morning routine for your family or getting the dog to stop barking at the neighbour. A balanced layout and design can help your day to flow effortlessly. You may even want to consider your new home landscaping design to figure out if elements of Feng Shui can be incorporated.
Some Feng Shui practices, such as placing your furniture in commanding positions, can promote confidence and clarity in everyday life. Using colour and being strategic with your paint jobs will promote calmness, focus and productivity, creating a prosperous and harmonious home.
Feng Shui is a form of self-help, just like decluttering or doing morning meditation. It is about setting up your home to encourage your ideal life and state of being. Sitting with your back to a wall can make you feel safe and supported. Facing your bed towards a doorway prepares you for whatever may come your way.
Your exterior space impacts how you feel on the inside, whether that is a messy room making you feel overwhelmed or a dull space leaving you uninspired. If you’re looking to give the environment of your home the best chance at making you feel uplifted and at peace, use these Feng Shui tips during your next furniture shuffle.
What it means: Feng Shui is all about balance. This begins with striking the right mix of the five elements – earth, wind, fire, metal, and wood.
How to do this: Add a fireplace or burning candles to your home. Fire brings motivation to a muted space. Add blue and green colours to bring harmony to a stressful environment. Examine the literal and metaphorical elements you wish to bring into your home to ensure you aren’t favouring some more than others.
What it means: In today’s fast-paced world, we are surrounded by symbolism. From the moment we wake up, we are presented with advertisements, ideas, and messages.
How to do this: Ensure the symbolism in your home is used to support the emotional state you wish to achieve. In such an intimate environment, we are even more susceptible to being emotionally impacted by the images around us. Hard to “keep your head above water”? Perhaps you have placed an image of water above your eye line. Feeling lonely? Check that you’re not decorating with “singles”, such as a single vase or single candle. Use grounding elements like wood, florals, and live plants to slow down the home’s energy.
What it means: Many Feng Shui practices find their roots in being clutter-free. They advise a clear path from the front door to allow a clear energy flow.
How to do this: Everybody is guilty of having things in the house that don’t serve a purpose. Feng Shui believes that clutter is more than just visually unappealing and can limit clear thinking. Clutter weighs you down and encourages feeling ‘frazzled’.
What it means: It is no secret in the design world that natural light makes people feel happier and brighter. Feng Shui practitioners love the use of mirrors to enhance natural light and reflect a more expansive room area.
How to do this: In your house design, do what you can to promote natural light. Remove heavy curtains and plan your windows strategically to ensure they are facing a beautiful view of nature.
What it means: Feng Shui principles suggest that the positioning of the furniture governs how you position yourself in life.
How to do this: For example, your bed represents you. Your desk represents your career and even the stove can represent your abundance. Place these key furniture pieces in positions that allow you to see the doorway so you will be in a place to receive positive energy, anticipate what is to come, and embrace new opportunities.
Create your perfect Feng Shui space today
Whether you want to embrace some of Feng Shui’s simplest features or embrace all of it after building your new boutique home, it’s ok to play and experiment with what feels natural to you.
Inspired to create a brand new space?
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