The Art of Apartment Feng Shui
After a long, hard day at the office, the only thing on your mind is to get home and relax, but creating a relaxing atmosphere can often be tricky in a small apartment.
If you have just moved in your new place won’t necessarily have that ‘homey’ feeling yet, or perhaps you have lived there a while and just can’t seem to relax when you get in. Either way, there are some simple steps you can take to make the most of your cosy night in.
It’s All in the Arrangement
Feng Shui, simply put, is the practice of arranging objects (such as furniture) to help achieve good energy flows, and one of the core teachings is de-cluttering.
This is a good thing to bear in mind in your initial moving stage. Instead of packing everything you own into boxes, taking them into your new apartment, unpacking what you want and stacking the boxes in the corner, why not de-clutter a bit.
Throw out or sell what you don’t need, choose the items that will fit into the new apartment and put the rest of the stuff into storage.
Achieving the Right Angles
Feng Shui dictates that a room should be laid out in complete squares or rectangles in order to create a sense of harmony and stability.
The rule also states that within any room, energy must be able to flow freely. This means that you shouldn’t place furniture directly against a wall and you should have a minimum of three places to sit with an item of furniture, such as a coffee table, in the middle. This completes an inner-circle of the outer-square and allows you to have positive life experiences.
It is also a rule that a technical object, such as a TV, should never be made the focal point of a room, they should be placed in the outer-square area.
Creature Comforts
It is very important, according to Feng Shui consultants, to make sure that the objects you put in a room have a meaning to you. So, for example, flowers will show that you are in touch with nature, doves will show that you are peaceful etc.
And when it comes to fabrics, it is important to listen to your senses. You should keep your walls quite neutral in colour, but use soft furnishings to complement your senses. So, for example, if you want your living room to appeal to your cheery, fun side, use rugs, cushions and other décor that makes use of bright colours. Similarly, if you want a relaxing and calming atmosphere in your bedroom, choose pastel colours and more soothing earthy tones.
The scent of a room is also very important and often ignored by those new to Feng Shui. Everybody has a smell that makes them happy, so try to replicate this with your air freshener and don’t opt for chemical based ones that just make your apartment smell clean.
Harmonise
One of the worst things, but something that most of us probably do, is spoil our home environment by bringing work home with us.
It is all well and good creating a relaxing atmosphere to come home to, but by making business calls or carrying on with work once you get home will ruin it and you will be left feeling more stressed.
If you can’t leave your work at the door because you are self-employed and work from home, then create an additional space that is only used for work and don’t let it spill over into other areas of your home that have been created for another purpose.
Feng Shui consultants suggest that the human mind associates things with places, so if you start to leave your laptop in your bedroom, you will start to associate that room with work and before long will not be able to get a good nights sleep.
The main secret of Feng Shui is to keep your rooms or areas separate so that you can always switch off.
