Living Room Feng Shui

Move your couch and improve your life.  Change the location of a mirror for better health.  Incorporating Feng Shui techniques in your living room can not only improve your life, it can improve the look of your room as well. 

Feng Shui is the ancient art of Chinese philosophy which addresses the flow of life energy, or ‘chi’ (pronounced chee) around us and through our home.  Feng Shui addresses home harmony and offers techniques for improving the flow of chi around us to improve our lives.

If you look closely at Feng Shui techniques, you’ll find that they not only make good design sense, but good common sense as well.

  • Angle furniture away from walls to avoid stale, dark corners where chi cannot flow.  Not only is it good for chi, but it can make a room look larger by offering a diagonal line to focus on rather than a room shortening corner.
  • Position the seating to face the door, try not to have anyone seated with their back to the door, and the door should always be visible from each seat.  Also position furniture in a semi-circle, as chi flows best with no sharp angles.
  • Your furniture arrangement should allow chi to flow freely through the room without turning sharp corners or having to ‘meander’.  If your furniture causes you to turn constantly to move through the seating area, consider rearranging the seating group.  If can’t move freely through the area, neither can your guests – nor your chi!
  • Use a mirror on wall space to reflect a pleasing view.  A view from a fireplace or window in the mirror is best for the flow of energy.  It also reflects light to make the room look larger and brighter.  Do not place the mirror to reflect the living room entrance, or it may just send the chi right back out of the room.
  • Use photographs in the living room that reflect happy people  - such as your family on vacations or during holidays.  If it’s the first thing you see when you enter the room it makes you, and your guests, happier when coming into the living room.
  • The southeast corner of your living room is considered the wealth area, and it is advised that water be added in a decorating element in that corner.  A vase of flowers will not work, as the water needs to be free-flowing or depicted as free flowing.  Stormy watered paintings or similar should be avoided, instead use a painting of a clear running stream.  Feng shui experts also use fish tanks in this area.

Incorporating feng shui techniques into your living room doesn’t need to cost big, it just takes good old fashioned sense, and a sense of how to improve the flow of the room.