Olson Believes In Feng Shui Design
By Jessie Kim
Feng Shui Consultant
You might not be familiar with the principles of feng shui, or the Chinese practice of arranging the environment to create harmonious surroundings.
But, even if you aren’t, you’ll notice something different about a place designed along these principles. There’s a sense of quiet, a certain ease, a comfort that makes a house feel like a home.
That is why The Olson Company works with Jessie Kim, a renowned feng shui consultant, for many of its projects. Kim advises the company from the outset of a new project, helping orient buildings, laying out streets, and even selecting the artwork that hangs from the halls of the model homes. Once Olson became aware of her work, the company has consulted with her on a regular basis: “Olson saw the need for it and it has snowballed since,” she says.
The idea is simple: Day-to-day living involves movement and the flow of energy. Feng shui recognizes movement and the flow of energy and how it impacts the way that people live and relate to each other and their surroundings. And having recognized these principles, Kim offers advice on how to arrange the surroundings to make the flow of energy, the interpersonal interactions, the movement of day-to-day life better.
“It’s important because it creates harmony for the people who are living in a community or a home, and it brings a sense of well-being into the community,” Kim says. “When it comes to overall harmony for health, relationships, it helps make everything well.”
In her role as a consultant to The Olson Company, Kim typically is involved from the beginning. Given a particular site, she advises on the big picture – where the homes are located, where the streets flow, which way the homes are oriented.
“The earlier I am involved, the better,” Kim says, “because it’s easier than trying to change things that have already been set. And it’s better to do that before a project is approved by the city and everything has been set in stone.”
Kim’s input is apparent to homebuyers when they first visit the model homes. Kim advises on elements like colors, furniture, landscaping and the placement of objects within the model home.
“Even little simple things like artwork can affect the energy of the home and the energy of the buyer who’s walking through the house,” Kim says.
What is less visually identifiable but no less important is the floor plan of a home.
Placement and layout of the kitchen is an important element for buyers in new home design.
“Generally, you want to have good positioning of the kitchen,” Kim points out. “I try to make sure that the master bedrooms and the kitchen are in a good position, and that there are no stairs or a back door lining up to the front door. Some of it just seems like common sense and good design – and it is.”
The idea is not for people to walk in and academically analyze a home on its adherence to feng shui principles. It’s more about the experience that people have when they are in the home, Kim says. “It’s about how people feel walking through the house,” Kim explains. “It makes the families feel more at home if you have a well feng shui’d house. If the front door and back door are lined up, people don’t want to interact, but they tend to walk through and out of the house.
“In a well feng shui’d home, you feel this is a home where you want to sit down, relax and stay for a while. It makes you feel at home. If it is your home, you’ll feel more rested, and your family feels more in harmony. Things just go smoothly.”
Ultimately, while Kim’s work is on the design of a community and its buildings, the focus is on people and the way they live.
“The home is for the people living in it,” Kim says. “With feng shui, you’re trying to create a space where people are harmonized and well balanced together.”
(Hyun Jung “Jessie” Kim is a certified Feng Shui consultant and experienced real estate investor. Through her firm, Ms. Feng Shui, Kim provides personalized, professional, in-person and virtual Feng Shui consultations and seminars. Kim specializes in working with real estate, primarily working with homebuilders on new residential development projects.)
Reprinted with permission from The Olson Company. Originally printed in Vol. 5 / Issue 1 / Page 25 of In Town Living.
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