The art and science of Feng Shui offers a system to use for arranging your home or office so that it feels comfortable and allows energy to circulate. Energy in Feng Shui is referred to as qi (pronounced “chee”). Like gravity, qi can’t be seen, but its effects are real. Your health, wealth, and relationships are directly affected by the Feng Shui of your home. When buying a home, good Feng Shui has a big impact on whether or not you are attracted to a certain property. When selling a home, Feng Shui impacts your home’s sales price and how long it takes to sell it.
You don’t have to know anything about Feng Shui to know when a house feels comfortable or uncomfortable. Ever had that uncomfortable feeling when visiting a particular space? Do you find that you feel more relaxed in some rooms of your home than in other rooms? When a space feels comfortable, you are intuitively feeling the effects of good Feng Shui. When shopping for homes, people are generally more comfortable in a home with good Feng Shui and will more readily want to buy it.
Many things contribute to having good Feng Shui in a home. Features that help sell a home include rounded corners on walls, organically flowing shapes (instead of sharp angles), open floor plans, good lighting, and good proportion throughout the house. Open floor plans allow qi to circulate. This is important because healthier qi can circulate and nourish all rooms in the house. Rounded corners help qi move and prevent harmful energy produced by sharp angles. Good lighting helps keep qi from stagnating. Common things such as fresh paint, a well-landscaped yard, and clutter-free spaces are a selling point and are also good Feng Shui. Features which fall into the dual categories of bad Feng Shui and low buyer appeal include stairways facing directly toward the front door, low ceilings, irregularly shaped rooms, rooms over garages, dark rooms, and spiral staircases. These features tend to cause negative circulation of qi and generally do not have redeeming qualities.
Fundamentally, the goal of Feng Shui is balance. In a home the correct balance of yin and yang is desirable. The principles of “Yin” and “Yang” corresponding to female and male respectively, describe the basic types of energy in the universe. Simply put, yin’s qualities are quiet and dark, and yang’s qualities are active and light. The bedroom is a yin room. The kitchen is a yang room. Kitchens with little natural light are undesirable because windows and light are needed to support the active purpose of the room. Without windows, the room is too dark, too yin. Alternatively, bedrooms should not have too much light (yang energy) because they are areas of rest which are best supported by quiet, yin energy. Too few or too many windows in a home can cause discomfort because instinctively people feel that the home is not balanced.
One of the most important criteria for a buyer is location. Vibrant and well-maintained neighborhoods indicate good energy in the area. Feng Shui principles state that it is best to have the front yard open and without obstructions so that the home can receive qi. To keep qi, a house should have hill or large fence located in back of the house and supported on the left and right side of the house in the form of other houses or landscaping. This arrangement can be compared to the form of an armchair. Generally speaking, this is the optimum way to situate a home. In urban neighborhoods homes with good Feng Shui are situated a good distance from the street, have support on both sides, and have a hill or neighboring home in back of them.
Homes are best located on streets that have slow traffic. (People don’t like to live on highways!) Feng Shui principles explain that slow meandering streets are best so that energy does not move too quickly and can accumulate in front of the home and come inside to nurture the home. When the street traffic is too fast qi rushes by and has difficulty entering a home. If the house is located on a “T” junction, with a street directly pointing to the front of the house, it gets a lot of energy coming right at it. This is too much energy for a home and can cause health problems if it is not buffered by landscaping or distance from the street. People intuitively get an uneasy feeling about this type of location. Another problem is a house situated on a very steep street. In Feng Shui a home on a sloping road will not be able to keep qi inside easily. Qi nourishes the home and brings opportunity. Sloping roads can allow wealth to slide away.
Proportion is also important in Feng Shui. A hill or fence in back is great, but if it is only six feet from the back door it is not desirable. People have a negative reaction to being so close to a large obstruction. Having a noticeably small house or large house in comparison to neighbors homes is not desirable in Feng Shui and can affect occupants negatively. It is best to have your home in proportion with your neighbors’ homes. Additionally, a home should be well-situated on the lot. When a home is close to the street or when it is situated on an unevenly shaped lot it is not an optimal situation. Qi is not able to be gathered as well when the lot is oddly shaped.
Most homes have a combination of positive and negative Feng Shui aspects. There is no perfect home. If a home has a feature that is not great Feng Shui, it does not mean that the entire house has negative Feng Shui. There are techniques to help improve the Feng Shui of any home. To help with selling your home quickly and at top dollar, it is wise to give it a Feng Shui make over. Even if your home has some of the negative features described, rest assured that simple things like fresh paint, colorful flowers, de-cluttering, and attractively furnished rooms will make a big difference. And remember, what looks good is almost always good Feng Shui!
Elizabeth Golembiewski can be reached in Austin, Texas at 512.922.4822. Please visit Design for Prosperity and her Prudential site to learn more about how she can help you.