Feng Shui for your bedroom
What is Feng Shui?
Feng Shui is an ancient practice based on the idea that our homes are a mirror of what's happening inside us. The purpose of feng shui is to get your environment in alignment with who you are and where you want to go - to harmonize your energy with your home's energy. How to do it is to carefully consider what you bring in, how you arrange your rooms and how you maintain the place. Everything has energy, even inanimate objects. Feng shui helps guide that energy and let it flow freely through your home.
While feng shui flows through your whole home, there are many thoughts on how to best use feng shui for your bedroom. Not surprising - it is your personal sanctuary where positive energy should reign and flow abundantly.
Feng Shui for your bedroom
It is best to have an interplay of feminine and masculine details. For example create a bed that feels solid but sumptuous by combining a wood bed frame (masculine) with an upholstered headboard (feminine). Check out Mosaic design by Jessica Swift. The contrast ensures that the room feels balanced: energized, yet restful.
Where should the bed go?
Ideally, the head of the bed is on the wall farthest from the door but not directly across from it. Feet pointing directly out the door is known as the "coffin position" and should be avoided. A sidewall is also OK - but no matter what, make sure you have a clear view of the door.
If you are stuck with a layout that demands the coffin position, put a settee or a high bench at the end of the bed that 's slightly higher than the mattress, or place an upholstered screen between the foot of the bed and the entry to shift the energy.
Can one side of the bed be against a wall?
It's OK for kids. But for adults, leave space on both sides. Think about how both people feel in the room. Each should have adequate lighting and easy access to the bed without climbing over the other person.
How do you get that calm, feng shui feel?
It's a combination of safety, with an enveloping bed; coziness, with soft materials; and symmetry, with table lamps and nightstands that create a bookend effect. The bed feels like a little room within a room. Combined with Victoria Falls headboard your bed can feel like an oasis.
What about a light plugged in behind the bed?
That's tough to avoid. But keep lighting soft - unless you read in bed, in which case you can have good, focused lights on your nightstands.
Storage under the bed?
Stuff under the bed sends out energy all night long. The bedroom is a private space, and it's important to honor that. You need to protect your bed.
Assume no TV in the bedroom?
It's not the best. Bringing a public thing into a private space disrupts your energy. If you do have a TV in your bedroom, make sure it is not a focal point and maybe keep it in a cabinet.
In review, looking at flow, layout, lighting, and clutter clearing, how do we even start?
Sit in a room, close your eyes, relax, and breathe for a minute. Try to determine how it actually feels to be in the space. Open your eyes and slowly look around as if you've never seen the space before. Try not to label things, like Anna's chair of uncle Frans' painting. Just look and consider: is there room to move freely? Is one side of the room much heavier? Is there enough light in the corners? Does anything drive me crazy? How does the color make me feel? Note anything that feels off. Then make a list of adjustments to tackle one at a time, at your own pace. Feng shui is like life. It can be directed and guided, but not forced.
If you only do 3 things….
1. Clear clutter: mess is the number one enemy of feng shui. Dead or uncared-for piles sap your home's stregth and block positive energy from entering.
2. fix or toss broken things: they're impediments to vitality. Toss chipped plates, burned-out bulbs, and clothes with holes. Repair stopped clocks, clogged drains and loose cabinet pulls.
3. clean the windows and oil the doors: in feng shui, the windows are the eyes of a home, and the front door is its mouth. To bring clarity to the space (and to yourself), maintain them, making sure that they open, close, and lock well.
Enjoy the Season
For more insights on feng shui throughout your home contact feng shui master and interior designer Catherine Brophy.
Full article in January Issue of Real Simple by Nicole Sforza.
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