Decorating and Feng Shui – A True Blend of Art and Science!

When considering a home remodeling project, you may be interested in knowing how decorating and feng shui work together, and whether or not you can introduce some of these principles to your own home for your own benefit.

It may surprise you to know that decorating and feng shui are a true blend of not just art, but some science as well. Why do we say this? For one thing, there are no hard and fast rules about applying feng shui to your life. There are many so-called experts who can give you advice, but in the end, it will be up to you to make the decision of what you like and what you don’t. This is the aspect of decorating and feng shui that can be considered art; everything is subjective, and there are no real right or wrong answers. What appeals to one person may not appeal to another.

Additionally, there are many pieces of advice when it comes to de-cluttering your house and using color to create mood, tension, and energy, but again, there are no hard and fast rules here either. One person may breeze through your home and declare certain items and knickknacks as being cluttered and unnecessary, but to you, these are prized possessions. When applying the principles of decorating and feng shui, you need to exercise caution and show balance. What someone else sees as a lack of clutter, you might see as being cold and sterile, and vice versa. Again, no hard and fast rules, no right and wrong answers, just some principles that you need to interpret for yourself.

Decorating and feng shui is also part science, however. There are some real, biological facts behind its teachings regarding clutter, color, entryways, and so on. Scientists have researched how tense and anxious people feel when surrounded by a cluttered environment, and how color can and does affect one’s mood. Bold and bright colors are a great “pick me up,” while warmer colors make you feel soothed and relaxed. Softer colors can also be a calming influence, while those bold colors make you feel energized and in control.

Additionally, the entryway to one’s home and to every room in your house also does much to set a mood or tone. This is like the first impression you get when you meet someone, and that first impression can set the entire tone for the rest of your relationship with them. When applying the principles of decorating and feng shui, it’s important to think about that first impression you get when you walk up to your home or when you walk into a room. It helps to sometimes stand right in the entryway of your home or of each room and do a quick, honest evaluation. What is your impression of the atmosphere? How do you immediately feel? Does your home and each room therein feel warm and inviting, or are you somewhat “put off,” so to speak?

How to Analyze Feng Shui Principles for Your Home

When it comes time for redecorating or remodeling in order to bring health and energy into your home, you may want to analyze feng shui and see if it can truly help in these regards. For example, how does the use of color add vitality and energy, or on the other hand, calm and relax you? How can de-cluttering your environment do the same? By giving some time, consideration, and critical thought to these subjects, you can begin to analyze feng shui to see if it there are any real scientific principles that can be applied.

Feng Shui’s Use of Colors

When you analyze feng shui and its use of colors, you need to first of all understand how color affects your mood and your overall feeling. Bright and lively colors do energize you; imagine trying to be upbeat or perky in an all-black room. Doesn’t that harsh and stark color instead make you feel brought down, even depressed? Many kitchens, on the other hand, are painted bright shades of yellow or orange; when you analyze feng shui’s encouragement of the use of these colors for this room, you realize that they are upbeat and considered clean and sanitary.

Feng Shui’s Lack of Clutter

When people really begin to analyze feng shui, they see that this art encourages the lack of clutter or excessive items in the home or any other place where you are quite frequently. This is because clutter has been shown to make a person feel stressed and anxious. It is like a constant reminder of things that need attending to – clothes than need mending, appliances that need fixing, laundry that needs folding, and so on. This nagging voice in the back of one’s head does nothing to encourage positive energy.

Analyze Feng Shui for Your Own Home

How can you apply these two basic principles in your own home? Well, you don’t need to be a decorator or an interior designer to understand color. Take a good, honest look at each room of your home. How do you feel when you stand in the doorway? Are you energized, do you feel drawn into that room? Or does the overall look and feel depress you; do you avoid this room for any particular reason? When you analyze feng shui, you need to be able to have that overall look for your home’s rooms as well.

Also, there are no hard and fast rules about what constitutes clutter in any one area, but again, honesty is the key. Do the things you’re holding onto add value to your life, or just depress you and bring you down? What type of energy do you feel when you look at these things? Don’t think that you need to keep anything “just in case.” The negative energy that you’re introducing into your home far outweighs any supposed uses you think you might have for these things.

So if you take a few moments to analyze feng shui and its use in your own home and your own life, you will see that there are some great benefits you can derive just from these simple principles.

Using the Ancient Art of Chinese Feng Shui

There are many people today who are very interested in the ancient art and science that is Chinese feng shui. They are curious as to whether or not it can really usher in positive energy and vitality to their lives, and help with such things as wealth, health, and happiness.

While Chinese feng shui is no “magic bullet” that will cure any of your ailments or that will somehow cause a big bag of money to appear on your front door, there are many positive benefits one can receive when applying its principles to your life. Let’s take a look at a few.

For one, Chinese feng shui encourages peace and harmony in the home, and along those lines, encourages people to de-clutter their environments and their lives overall. Of course, it’s absolutely impossible to decide what exactly can and cannot be considered clutter in your home and your life; as the old saying goes, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” However, the application of Chinese feng shui is meant to encourage positive energy and to get rid of anything that drains you of this energy, or that introduces negative feelings and energy in your life. This is how the thought can be applied to not only your material possessions, but to your life overall. For example, if you have a so-called “friend” that only calls you when he or she needs something, and has a tendency to be so overly emotional that you feel drained and empty when you’re done talking? This person can be considered clutter in your life – adds nothing, and take everything.

It’s also true that the Asian cultures value hard work and applying one’s self to your family and your career. Chinese feng shui encourages you to use your energy in these types of positive ways; by doing so, you will be only encouraging more positive energy in your life. Think about how that might apply in your own family. Do you use your time, your resources, and your energy to encourage strong family bonds? Do you see your family as an investment opportunity for that energy? If you understand and apply the principle being taught by Chinese feng shui that positive energy begets positive energy, then you won’t hesitate to work hard at making your family bonds as strong as possible.

It is true too that Chinese feng shui puts a great deal of emphasis on the use of color in one’s home and environment, however, be careful that you don’t fall for folklore and myth when it comes to this aspect of the art. There is no real basis for thinking that a red front door is lucky or special in any way, or that certain colors will bring prosperity and wealth when used abundantly. Colors used in rooms and areas of the home are simply meant to create certain moods; bright colors will energize you while darker colors will calm and soothe.

In these few ways, you can see how Chinese feng shui can add positive energy and vitality in your own life.