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The Power of Color in Feng Shui: How to Use it to Enhance Your Space and Life
Color plays a crucial role in feng shui, the ancient Chinese art of creating balance and harmony in the home. Different colors represent different energies and can influence our mood, emotions, and overall well-being. Choosing the the best colors is important whether you are a home builder, resort hotel, or just looking to add color to your own home or office.
In feng shui, the use of color is an important tool for creating the desired energy and atmosphere in a space. I’ve gone over colors in a previous post, but wanted to dive into the individual colors a little more in-depth here.
- Red: Red is a bold and powerful color that represents passion, energy, and vitality. It is often used in feng shui to bring warmth and excitement to a space. It is also believed to attract good luck and wealth, making it a popular choice for the front door. Be sure to use it in areas where you want to promote your fame & reputation. Be careful, though, because too much red can be overwhelming and create a chaotic atmosphere. It’s important to use red sparingly as an accent.
- Orange: Orange is a vibrant and cheerful color that brings joy and happiness. Orange is also believed to promote good digestion and healthy eating habits, making it a suitable choice for the kitchen.
- Yellow: Yellow is associated with creativity and is a great choice for artistic spaces or areas where you want to encourage new ideas. Yellow is also associated with learning and can be a good choice for a study or library. However, too much yellow can be overwhelming and cause feelings of anxiety, so it’s important to use it in moderation.
- Green: Green is a calming and refreshing color that represents nature and growth. It is believed to promote healing and balance, making it a suitable choice for a bedroom or relaxation area. Green is also associated with financial abundance.
- Blue: Blue is a calming and soothing color that represents tranquility and peace. It is believed to promote relaxation and clear thinking, making it a great choice for a meditation space. Blue is also associated with communication and can be a good choice for an office or study.
- Purple: Purple is a color that represents royalty & luxury, features of prosperity & wealth. In feng shui, purple is a great choice for areas where you want to attract abundance. However, too much purple can be overpowering, so it’s best used as an accent color.
- Pink: Pink is a gentle and nurturing color that represents love, marriage, and intimacy. It is often used in feng shui to create a romantic atmosphere, making it a great choice for bedrooms and spaces where you want to promote intimacy.
- Black: Black is a powerful and grounding color that represents protection and career. In feng shui, it is often used to create a sense of depth and to anchor a space. Because it is associated with the water element, black can be used to enhance the career and life path areas. However, too much black can create a heavy or oppressive atmosphere, so it’s important to balance it with lighter colors.
- Grey: Grey is a neutral and balanced color that represents stability, calmness, and sophistication. In feng shui, it is often used to create a serene and elegant atmosphere, especially to promote helpful people & travel. Grey is also associated with the metal element and can be used to enhance clarity and precision in a space. It is a versatile color that can be paired with other colors to create a harmonious environment.
- White: White is a pure and clean color that represents clarity, creativity, and new beginnings. In feng shui, it is often used to create a sense of openness and to promote a fresh start, so it is great to use in areas where children will spend their time. White is also associated with the metal element and can be used to enhance creativity. It is a versatile color that can be used in any space to create a bright and uplifting atmosphere.
While the energy of colors can be powerful, please make sure you align them fairly well within your space by observing the feng shui bagua. For instance, if you insert a lot of blue objects in your Fame & Reputation Area, you will figuratively douse the flames of your success.
In feng shui, the use of color is an important tool for creating the desired energy and atmosphere in a space. By understanding the energies associated with different colors, you can use them to enhance the energy and overall well-being of your home or office. Remember to use color in moderation and consider the desired energy and atmosphere when choosing colors for your space.
Keep in mind that color is only part of a holistic view of the feng shui energy of your space, and should be used together with the five elements, materials, the bagua, proper lighting, etc.
If you need more specific and custom guidance to improve your space and your life, I’m available to help. Learn more on my website today and book a virtual consultation. Better feng shui can help you in profound ways on life’s journey.
I am a 3rd generation feng shui expert and have helped thousands of people add harmony and balance to their homes and offices without making it look like a Chinese restaurant exploded.
I can help you attract the life that you deserve with feng shui. Contact me today!
Hollywood Reporter: Where to Put Your Oscar? Feng Shui Experts Have (Strong) Opinions
Stay away from that bathroom! Home harmony pros dish on the best and worst places to perch an award and reveal the actor-producer whose decor is tailored for success: “No wonder she’s doing so well.”
March 8, 2024 9:30am
As Hollywood legend or, rather, a recycled talk show anecdote tells us, Kate Winslet keeps her best actress Academy Award for 2008’s The Reader in a guest bathroom. This location allows visitors some private time with Oscar — a chance to hold him, gaze in the mirror, maybe mouth the acceptance speech they’ll likely never give. But her statuette’s proximity to the toilet could be the reason Winslet has yet to win a second.
Placing any symbol of career achievement or good fortune in the bathroom is generally a feng shui no-no. “I’ve certainly been in many homes with a Grammy in the bathroom,” says Kim Colwell, a Los Angeles-based interior designer and feng shui practitioner. “I get the punk rock attitude, but, from a feng shui standpoint, that’s good energy going down the literal tubes.”
Feng shui is the ancient Chinese practice that uses energy (qi) to harmonize people with their environments. Evidence of this method goes back more than 3,500 years. And while contemporary approaches vary wildly, there is one clear throughline: The arrangement of furniture and objects in one’s space, particularly the home, has a direct impact on the energy flow in that person’s life. This means that where an Oscar winner chooses to display their trophy is not merely an aesthetic decision — it could potentially sway their career toward fortune or frustration.
According to feng shui experts, ideal perches for any award are the office and living room, never isolated and instead surrounded by other accolades, decorative items and personal mementos. “You want to think about it as an object, its tones and scale,” says Colwell. “An Oscar is gold, so what would you do with a gold vase? Let it enhance the decor so it can be discovered and not just stand out.”
Ill-advised spots include anywhere in the primary bedroom (Melissa Leo), a place where no reference to work belongs; the kitchen (Jared Leto), where the environs tend to be chaotic; and a hallway, in which any object is likely to be ignored or otherwise disrespected. But the biggest misstep of all, and Geena Davis is guilty of this, is positioning an Oscar on that all-time classic pedestal: “There’s a lot of symbolism attached to the mantel above a fireplace,” says Cliff Tan, TikTok’s leading authority on feng shui with 2.9 million followers. The London architect, who released the book Feng Shui Modern in 2022, cautions that nothing of personal value belongs so close to a hearth: “Whether the fire is going or not, it’s burning away the award. And it’s too prominent. You’re telling others that the award is your whole life.”
Among the most important variables in feng shui is an object’s standing in the overall footprint of the home, and one of the most common methods of keeping attuned to that is by using a bagua map. It’s a grid aligned with the points of the compass and broken into nine squares that denote different aspects of one’s life — wealth, reputation and fame, love, family, health, creativity and children, knowledge, career and travel. Some practitioners overlay the bagua onto the blueprint of an entire home, the top row justified with the southern side of the building, while others employ it room by room. So, if an Oscar means “fame and reputation” for its owner, it should be situated south and centered in a home or room. If it speaks more to career, the Oscar belongs north and centered. And should it be a creative motivator, the western-most wall might make more sense.
But what if an Oscar inspires complicated feelings?
Gwyneth Paltrow, who recently joked on Instagram that she uses hers as a doorstop at her Amagansett house, years ago said that her best actress trophy for 1998’s Shakespeare in Love reminded her of a tough time, and she kept it mostly out of sight. “An award should be a symbol of empowerment, but if it’s attached to a project or a time that caused trauma, put it somewhere you don’t often go,” says Colwell, “like a guest room or even in a beautiful box. So long as you know it’s there for the day when it will hopefully have less connection to pain.”
Celebrities, Oscar winners or not, are an accidental touchstone for many feng shui aficionados. The combination of Architectural Digest spreads and social media presence means that glimpses into their homes are often quite easy to come by — and some experts don’t like what they see. “I’ll watch those videos where movie stars walk through their homes, and I’m usually just screaming … they’re so bad,” says Jessie Kim, a third-generation certified feng shui consultant and real estate investor who operates across Southern California as Ms. Feng Shui. “But not Reese Witherspoon. When I saw her home, everything made sense. The layout is brilliant. No wonder she’s doing so well.”
Witherspoon’s Oscar is said to have migrated around her various homes and rooms over the years, and experts say that works, too. Like any object, an Oscar’s relationship with the person who won it is bound to change. And, if it feels right, even a little time in the bathroom probably won’t derail any careers.
“With perfect shui, you wouldn’t even have indoor plumbing,” says Kim, noting how so much of modern living defies the original practice. “So if Kate Winslet wants to keep her Oscar in the bathroom, and it lets people have fun, I think it’s a clever way of keeping the energy in that room up — instead of sending it down the drain.”
This story first appeared in the March 6 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
Consumer Reports: Feng Shui Tips for Every Room in Your Home
I was just sourced for an article in Consumer Reports about feng shui. Here it is:
Feng Shui Tips for Every Room in Your Home
How to channel positive energy throughout your home and reinvigorate your life
By Perry Santanachote
It’s springtime, finally! For many people, that also means it’s time for spring cleaning. But if you haven’t already, consider also applying feng shui principles to your home. You don’t need to buy anything—all it requires is an intentional approach to your surroundings.
Feng shui (pronounced fung shway) is an ancient Chinese discipline that literally translates to “wind water” and focuses on how to optimize the flow of positive energy—known as qi (pronounced chee)—in your home. “It’s basically considering how energy flows through your house as water or air naturally would,” says Jessie Kim, a feng shui consultant in California. “You want your home to be a space where you can relax and retreat, and feng shui is all about creating that space to make you feel recharged and rejuvenated so you can tackle the world the next day.”
The theory of feng shui is that the layout of a home and the placement of objects can maximize energy flow and improve your health, prosperity, and luck. But it’s also about balance. Master Pun-Yin, a feng shui consultant in New York, says that in order to increase the flow of qi, the five elements—water, earth, fire, wood, and metal—need to be in balance with each other. Think of it like a yin-yang quality, but five ways.
- Water is tied to intuition, sensitivity, fluctuation, and the flow of emotions.
- Earth represents practicality, stability, conservatism, and responsibility.
- Fire is associated with action, passion, ambition, and courage.
- Wood symbolizes organization, growth, persistence, and creativity.
- Metal assists with confidence, creativity, materialism, and making friends.
“You might realize something is off if you’re lacking clarity, motivation, serenity, or success in life,” says Pun-Yin. A feng shui consultation can offer more personalized insights, she says, incorporating Chinese astrology and an individual’s inherent five-element profile, but a good starting point is to follow some general rules.
Make Feng Shui Work for You
Talismans, such as dragons, tortoises, and laughing Buddhas, are associated with the commercialization of feng shui and are not necessary. “Unless you get to the root of the energy imbalance within your mind and your space, no crystals or tacky trinkets can alter your destiny,” says Pun-Yin.
“Just because you read somewhere that a golden toad is a great thing to have for prosperity, don’t have one in your home if you don’t like frogs,” says Kim. “Feng shui has to work for your personality and your décor. Creating a good feng shui space doesn’t mean it has to look like a Chinese restaurant exploded in your house.”
The things in your home should mean something to you (they should spark joy) and represent where you want to be in your life—kind of like dressing for the job you want. Some things from your past are fine to display, but don’t let them take over your space. “Be intentional about what you put inside your home and relentless with getting rid of junk,” says Kim. “Looking forward to the future will keep you growing as a person.”
Create Energy Pathways
Think of energy going through your home like a wind current or water stream. Look for potential blockages and leakages. One major leakage would be a front door that lines up with the back door. “You don’t want energy coming in the front door and immediately draining into the backyard,” says Kim. “You want that energy to meander through the house and refuel people living in it before making its exit.” Room dividers, bookcases, and tall plants are all great ways to divide up a room and create clear energy pathways.
Also, open the windows at least once a day to let in fresh air. “Make sure you get good circulation going,” says Kim. “Air conditioners, fans, and air purifiers are fine, but fresh air is better. And don’t let these appliances overrun your space or get in the way. Make sure they’re not blowing directly at you when you’re sitting or sleeping, too. It weakens your energy.”
Feng Shui Tips for the Entryway
Make an Entrance
Level up your front door, especially if you live in a condo or apartment building where yours is one of many. Kim says to make your door stand out so it attracts good energy by hanging a wreath or setting out a fun door mat. If your homeowners association doesn’t allow any fun, at least wash your door, making it cleaner and shinier than your neighbors, and make sure the numbers are clearly marked. “If people and qi can’t find you, it’s like good opportunities passing you by,” says Kim.
Declutter
The front door is the energy portal to your home, says Kim. Proper entranceway feng shui will make it feel welcoming. Make sure the area is clean and clutter-free, as in no pile of shoes or packages.
Set the Tone
The first thing you see when you open the door sets the tone for the entire home, so have pleasing objects on the major meridian positions to welcome you home with warmth and comfort, says Pun-Yin. These positions include the wall facing the entry, the corner diagonal to the entry, and the end of the hallway.
Feng Shui Tips for the Kitchen
Safeguard the Stove
Kitchens are seen as the prosperity and health hub of the house. “You fuel yourself and your family in the kitchen, so you want to make sure your flame—in this case, the stove—is protected,” says Kim. “An open window or doorway next to a gas stove weakens the flame, and that’s less energy going into your food.” For the same reasons, you also want to keep your stove clean and in good condition.
Feature Fruit
Place a bowl of fruit in the middle of your kitchen island or dining table to attract prosperity and health energy to that space, says Kim.
Coordinate Your Cookware
Having cookware and small kitchen appliances in coordinated colors or textures tie together and ground the kitchen’s energy field, says Pun-Yin.
Feng Shui Tips for the Living Room
Rethink Your Seating Arrangement
Each room has a commanding position, which is essentially an anchor point that allows you to control the energy in the room. It’s always farthest from the door but not in line with it, so you should be able to see who’s coming without being able to see directly out the door. Your sofa and main chairs should be in this commanding position, says Kim. You want to avoid configuring seating that forces people to have their backs to the door.
Soften the Edges
Remove anything with sharp edges or shiny surfaces that instantly get fingerprints and smudges on them. “The idea is to make this room soft, comfortable, and welcoming to your family and guests,” says Kim. “Make it conducive for people to gather, not like a sterile museum.”
Clear off the Coffee Table
A clutter-free coffee table is ideal, but if that’s unavoidable, Pun-Yin says to at least include something that soothes your mood. Fresh flowers or a plant, for instance, might induce good relationships in your life. (Take note: Dried flowers and dead flowers will do quite the opposite. Fake flowers are better, but they’re still not emitting the same kind of energy that fresh blooms would.)
Feng Shui Tips for the Bedroom
Reposition the Bed
Avoid having your headboard under a window or on the same wall as the door. “You want to be in the commanding position, so make sure you can see the door without being directly in line with it,” says Kim.
Only Calm Energy Allowed
Bedrooms should only be for sleeping, resting, and reconnecting with your partner. Electronics, books, bills or paperwork, and plants—anything that produces active energy—should not be in the bedroom. (Plants become active at night to produce oxygen, so they’re considered active energy.)
Even for kids, make sure to create a space for them to recharge and rest so they can grow healthy. Kim says active items, like toys, stuffed animals, and video games should be in the living room or another playroom. If it has to be in their bedroom, put it in a cubby or a cabinet that they can close up and put away at night.
Be mindful of where you place mirrors in your bedrooms, too. Kim says to make sure your body’s not being reflected in the mirror while you’re sleeping because mirrors are constantly reflecting and moving, just like water. “When your body is reflected in the mirror, you’re basically next to a wave that it is constantly crashing into you,” she says.
Propagate Parity
“If you share a bedroom with a partner, create an even ground,” says Kim. “Make sure both bedside tables are the same size, and use the same light fixture. You want to create a balanced relationship of both of you helping each other out.”
Feng Shui Tips for the Bathroom
One-Way Traffic Only
“When you dump things in a bathroom, you don’t want anything to come back out—literally or figuratively,” says Kim. Keep bathrooms clean and keep your toilet lid closed. If it’s a bathroom that is not in use regularly, keep the sink drains closed. Some people put river rocks in the sink and shower to cover up the drain, but it’s still usable.
Clear the Air
Pun-Yin says to avoid stagnant and humid energy in the bathroom by using a dehumidifier. Alternatively, keep the door partially open.
Have Fun With It
“People tend to view the bathroom as the last thing to decorate, or they shut the door and try to hide it,” says Kim. “But it is there, so why not make it fun and exciting? Meaning, energetically colorful, bright, and sparkly. Make it a space that you and your guests enjoy as well. Make it part of your home.” Plants, paint, towels, and decorations are all fair game.
Feng Shui Tips for the Office
Be a Boss
Again, prioritize the room’s commanding position and place your desk there. “Try to avoid having your back to a window,” says Pun-Yin. “If you can’t, counteract the energy imbalance by placing a plant behind your chair or hanging a piece of jade from the back of your chair.” Jade is a stone that is believed to improve the balance of energy.
Keep an Eye on the Prize
Place objects that represent your past achievements behind you, preferably on a bookcase, and place something that motivates you in front of you, so you’re always looking toward the future.
If you need more specific and custom guidance to improve your space and your life, I’m available to help. Learn more on my website today and book a virtual consultation. Better feng shui can help you in profound ways on life’s journey.
I am a 3rd generation feng shui expert and have helped thousands of people add harmony and balance to their homes and offices without making it look like a Chinese restaurant exploded.
I can help you attract the life that you deserve with feng shui. Contact me today!
6 Tips to Use Feng Shui to Improve Your Career and Finances
Feng shui can be a powerful tool to help improve your career, which in-turn can improve your financial success. By sprinkling a little feng shui into your home and workspace (even a home office), you can create a supportive environment to help you achieve your goals. Here are six tips that I often give on consultations for how to use feng shui to improve your career and finances:
- Activate your Career Area: In feng shui, the area of your home or office that represents your career as part of the bagua is located in the front-center of the space, just as you enter through the front door. To activate the Career Area, try hanging a picture or a painting of calm water that seems to flow into your home.
- Enhance your Fame & Reputation Area: The Fame & Reputation Area of your home or office is located in the far back center of the space when you enter through the front door. To enhance this area, add strong symbols like pictures of tall mountains, trees, etc. You can also use the colors of fire like red and orange. This can also be a great spot for other symbols of fire, like a fireplace or candles.
- Use the “command position”: In any room, the command position is the spot that allows you to see the door and have your back to a solid wall. You’ll feel more in-control and supported, which can be beneficial for your career, and thus your financial success. Try to sit in this position whenever possible, especially during work or study time.
- Keep your desk organized: A cluttered desk can block the flow of positive energy, which hinders your career and financial success. Make an effort to keep your desk organized to allow for a smooth flow of energy.
- Add symbols of success: Surround yourself with symbols of success, such as awards, certificates, or mementos of past achievements. You can even put up symbols of future success: pre-print that diploma or put up a fake Oscar award for now! They can help remind you of your accomplishments to provide motivation to continue striving for success.
- Invite in positive energy: Keep your home and office well-lit, which invites in positive energy. Open windows to let in fresh air and consider adding a water feature or plants to bring in a sense of abundance.
If you’re already familiar with feng shui, you might be wondering why I didn’t mention the Wealth & Prosperity Corner. We need to walk before we run. Be sure to get your career and basic finances figured out first.
Remember to keep an open mind. Have fun with the process so you can create some positive energy to improve your career and finances. The most important thing is to create a space that feels good to you and supports your aspirations.
If you need more specific and custom guidance to improve your space and your life, I’m available to help. Learn more on my website today and book a virtual consultation. Better feng shui can help you in profound ways on life’s journey.
I am a 3rd generation feng shui expert and have helped thousands of people add harmony and balance to their homes and offices without making it look like a Chinese restaurant exploded.
I can help you attract the life that you deserve with feng shui. Contact me today!
Feng Shui Your Holiday Gathering
You may cringe when you think of the arguments that often arise during family gatherings like Christmas. But, know that such holiday events can actually be harmonious.
Here are my simple tips on adding Feng Shui to your home and table for balance and happiness this holiday season.
Power Positions
When family and friends visit you for several days over the holidays, remember not to give up your “power positions.” Your power positions include the master bedroom and any rooms in the back part of the house. By maintaining your power position, you can keep guests from overstaying their welcome or getting overly involved in your life.
You may have to deal with this creatively if your typical guest room is in the back of the house. In this situation, try to swap out the guest room for the home office. Or set up an inviting area that can be used as a temporary guest room toward the front of the home, making sure guests feel welcome.
Table Setting
When setting the table, don’t let guests sit at the head of the table, Rather, always the head of the household should sit there.
Pull out your fancy china since you are gathering with family and friends who are your most prized “possessions.” This is not the time to use paper plates.
Furniture and Decorations
When arranging furniture and decorations, make sure that no sharp corners (poison arrows) point where people sit. Round or oval tables are best to avoid bad energy.
Keep heavy decorative items below the level of people’s heads. Having them high up can create nervous energy and encourage heavy conversations. With all of the recent news, it would probably be best to avoid heavy conversations!
Put all these tips to use and watch your holiday become a lot more harmonious!
Next Steps
Learn more about Feng Shui on my website.
If you are interested in improving your life through Feng Shui, I can help.
I am a 3rd generation Feng Shui expert and have helped thousands of people add harmony and balance to their homes and offices without making it look like a Chinese restaurant exploded.
I can help you attract the life that you deserve with Feng Shui. Contact me today!
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Feng Shui Your Holiday Table for Harmony This Season
For those who dread the arguments that tend to come with family holiday celebrations, know that it doesn’t have to be that way.
Here are some tips on how to Feng Shui your home and holiday table for harmony and happiness this season.
When families or friends are visiting for an extended period over the holidays, it’s important not to give up your “power positions.”
Keeping your power positions enables you to keep your guests from overstaying their welcome or meddle in your business. The first step in keeping your power position is not giving up your master bedroom or any of the bedrooms that are at the back part of the house.
It might take creativity if the guest room is in the back of the house. If this is your situation, before guests arrive, try to swap out the guest room for the home office or set up an inviting area that can be used as a temporary guest room toward the front of the home so that guests will feel welcome and your power position will be protected.
When determining your holiday table setting, always seat the head of the household at the head of the table. It’s also important to use fancy china because you are gathering with family and friends who are your most prized “possessions,” and who should never be served on paper plates.
Also if possible, avoid decorating with furniture that has sharp corners pointing to where everyone is sitting. The best furniture items would be round or oval tables, which naturally do not have edges. In Feng Shui, if furniture corners point a straight path to someone, we envision poison arrows shooting out of those corners and creating bad energy. You definitely don’t want to seat family and friends in that path of bad energy. Also, make sure there are no heavy decorative items that are above people’s heads because those decorations create nervous energy and encourage heavy conversations to flow.
Put all these tips to use and watch your holiday become a lot more harmonious!
Next Steps
Learn more about Feng Shui on my website.
If you are interested in improving your life through Feng Shui, I can help.
I am a 3rd generation Feng Shui expert and have helped thousands of people add harmony and balance to their homes and offices without making it look like a Chinese restaurant exploded.
I can help you attract the life that you deserve with Feng Shui. Contact me today!
Know of someone nervous about hosting Christmas dinner? Share this post with them on Facebook!
Be sure to register for my email newsletter or like me on Facebook to stay up-to-date with my latest posts.
