FENG SHUI & HOW TO MAXIMIZE YOUR ENVIRONMENT

Feb. 19, 2012

FENG SHUI & HOW TO MAXIMIZE YOUR ENVIRONMENT

Use the Art of Placement help sell your home, or in any space, even your car!

WHAT'S FENG SHUI ANYWAY? The literal translation of this 3500 year Art of Placement is "Wind and Water" and it is about aligning the energies in your environment. No hocus pocus -- you can feel the energy in a place when you come into it -- just think of the room you entered right after somebody finished a big argument! Or the room you entered for a healing massage, cleared of excess clutter, inviting and serene. Using feng shui (pronounce it "fung shway") techniques to sell your home or get more productivity in your office is proven, just as staging techniques are. Look for those in next week's blog.

Here's the short list, and below I have the reasons why with a little more detail. If you do nothing else, do this:

1. Determine the purpose for the room or space (i.e.: the entry shouldn't serve as a drop off point for "stuff" -- it should be inviting you into the rest of the home)

2. Clear anything which doesn't support that purpose (eliminate all the excess and clutter, look at the space anew, it should all serve the core purpose)

3. Look at the space and make certain nothing is blocked - literally, don't place items in the way of your line of vision to a picture window, or block entry to another room or doorway -- if you have to skirt around something and keep bumping into the edge of the table or chair, it's not helping the energy circulate!)

When you have done the basics of clearing out the clutter and you have determined the purpose of the space, you can move on to refining your environment further. Have you ever moved furniture around until it just felt right? That's what you want to do. Anything which doesn't support you and what you need done in your office or home for sale is extraneous. Don't' keep a desk because you have an extra and don't want to waste it! Offer it freely to friends, family, or a charity and see how the desk you have already is finally being utilized more effectively since you now have room for a reading chair.

Home for Sale Feng Shui Tips:

If you want to give life to a home which isn't selling, to highlight the view from a windowseat where people are passing it by to get to the next room, or you have a house with an extra small bedroom, try this:

1. Create a destination by adding a chair and little table or a pillow and make sure you have placed it so that it invites the client to sit and enjoy the view.

2. Move furniture around so that there is a suggestion of the purpose for each room. Rather than a large bed which overpowers a small bedroom, use a single bed as a punee, or place a desk and chair to imply the perfect home office space, something today's buyer wants to see. Don't overdo it, just suggest it.

3. The most important moment in showing a home is the entryway -- it should be entrancing. Add a welcome mat (Hawaii style with flowers or "E Komo Mai" is especially nice), remove the shoes and slippers we usually see cluttered about the entry, and make sure the door is freshly painted and that the key enters smoothly so the agent doesn't have to struggle. Add a plant or flowers inside or outside so that there is fresh, inviting energy at the beginning of the potential buyer's tour.

If you want to apply the techniques to your office or your car, think about the basics again -- what's the purpose of this space and what supports that purpose? Then clear anything that doesn't help you (what doesn't serve you, depletes the energy), clean it all up, place just a few items which inspire you, and watch your environment begin to enrich your life every time you enter a space you have paid attention to.

Please feel free to contact me for more tips or a consultation. There is no charge for staging or for a feng shui consultation to my clients.

by Deborah Oakley-Melvin
Certified Feng Shui Consultant